I’m working on a philosophy discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Okay, so it’s clear that we’re skeptical of the news, right.  Whether it’s a war or a public health crisis, a lot of us don’t belief what we’re hearing from the media.   

Except…

This weekend, I caught a little of the Lakers game.  But not the fourth quarter (I can only suffer so much).  So, today I looked up the results to see who won.  I didn’t check multiple sources.  I didn’t even look to see which source I used or whether there was a listed author.  And yet I’m totally confident that the Lakers actually lost, and by score indicated. 

What’s going on here?

People have talked about unscrupulous reporters, profit motive, powerful forces that want to shape the narrative.  But the owners of the Lakers and Pelicans have a lot of money.  I bet they would like us believe they won even when they didn’t.  So, why is the media so trustworthy on sports? 

Or something like traffic?  Why aren’t we suspicious of the motives of the weather channel (though we might doubt how accurate they’ll be)?  Do we generally trust it when someone on morning TV tells us there’s a big accident on the 101? 

Could there be a lesson here about who’s really responsible for poor reporting of national news?