Journalism is easily one of the most self-critical professions there is. There are entire publications and non-profits dedicated solely to critiquing news coverage. CJR and AJR are great examples.

I am not surprised that you appear to be unaware of this as media illiteracy is the norm for most citizens.

Additionally, who else would we even want to criticize news coverage apart from an expert who understands all of the nuts and bolts of how the industry works?

Simply being a consumer of news doesn’t make you an expert in journalism any more than consuming medical care makes you a doctor.

In my experience the vast majority of people who have no formal training, or have never worked in mass communications tend to labor under a huge set of misconceptions about how the news industry operates and what really goes on in news rooms. People honestly have no clue and tend towards being confidently and even disastrously incorrect.