[oroul]

It's a very valid question. My personal opinion is that public media isn't by default better due to its ability to operate at a loss - in fact it could be argued that the only reason an administration would allow it to run at a loss is if it saw the operation as advantageous to its political objectives.

I think the real answer that nobody wants to hear is that media at this scale cannot exist without bad actors trying to manipulate it. There is no "web of trust" at the scale of millions.