I like your take on this issue. The only source I take serious is BBC's ornstein, the rest just copy, paste or retweet stuff.
The mass media make stories up, then spread them around using smaller blogs that reference each other so much so that you might be forced to believe. I think it is more about suiting a narrative and getting clicks than it is about spreading the truth. Like take the alleged £45m transfer budget that was announced for Arsenal, that turned out to be an absolute joke, skysports, BBC and the other outlets that spread the fake news tried to save face by saying "Arsenal are paying installments" like every other team don't do the same. It is a circus bro