[foobarqux]

> Sorry for the mild rant but sites like Hacker News and Reddit have shown that readers are plenty smart, and capable of sifting through the bullshit

It's not that they are not capable or smart, it's that they don't bother fact checking every single story or seek out opposing analysis or interpretation, especially for things like US foreign policy.

[asaramis]

Main difference is stories aren't fact-checked before discussing. In the end the right information ends up disseminated probably as often as a standard news story, it's just the 'sausage is made' in the public eye vs. in a closed newsroom the public has no visibility to.