This Is Journalism?

    During the 2020 epidemic, I tried to bicycle as much as I could. One of my favorite routes took me around the UW Arboretum and back down State Street, so I saw State Street's deterioration that began with the George Floyd protests in May. The boarded-up storefronts, the graffiti, the city-sponsored murals covering businesses, the lack of people, it was all quite depressing and scary. By late summer, maybe half of the plywood board was down, both on the capital square and up State Street to the UW. Starting in September they went back up, culminating with the entire first floor of the capital boarded up as the November election approached. I was somewhat surprised at this, as I never saw anything in the local media. Within days, if not hours of Biden's election victory, the capitol boards were down. Again, no mention of this embarrassment for our beautiful and fun city.
    Then the Trump-inspired mob invaded the DC Capitol, and the boards went back up again, only this time it dominated the news. Every day the headlines and TV news led with the "sad" situation. My point is that the media had no interest in getting fire-bombed or castigated as "racist" by pointing out the defensive measures taken in anticipation of an anti-Trump riot, but kept the story on the front page, despite nothing happening, as long as the right-wing crazies could be blamed.
    Another example. Maybe you heard of the young biracial woman in Madison who made national news when she alleged she was set on fire when stopped at a traffic light by "Frat Boys." This was the lead story for days. Even Meghan Markle called to "help her heal." (There is something quite special about a princess consoling an oppressed person.) The crime was investigated by everyone from the local police to the FBI. Guess what? She made it up. She was so determined to be a victim that she set her face on fire. Once more, hardly anyone knows that. The story was quietly dropped.
    The same distortion applies to the Blake shooting in Kenosha. Wikipedia has the story pretty straight, as the officer was trying to prevent the twice-tased, knife-wielding guy from kidnapping one of the kids in the back seat. In the official report it states that the officer kept shooting until the guy dropped his knife. Does anyone know that? I'm not suggesting that the police handled this the right way, but isn't anyone concerned about the facts? Now more protests are planned, and they are getting plenty of publicity. Every mention of this tragedy starts with "The guy was shot seven times." Check out the 87 page Kenosha County DA's report.

   Is there a news source that has the guts to get these stories right, or are they all intimidated or politically pressured to take a specific point of view? I thought that journalists were supposed to try to tell the truth.