To me, the only ground you step on is the one you build yourself is the only way to read the news. Maybe it's extra work and it's cynical but I'll read an article about something, say a riot in Haiti. Then a couple months later I'll read that it wasn't actually a riot, but it was a peaceful protest and mercenaries employed by the government started shooting at people to break it up. The media reported it as a riot and never followed up that it was a peaceful protest. Turns out the President of Haiti is allied with the west for exploitation of labour and resources of that country. So now most people think that Haiti is just disorganized and needs strong western leadership, meanwhile the opposition is being repressed and the media is supporting the western narrative by not following up on the "riot". That example is what I mean about not trusting anything I read until I've read different takes on a situation and considering my own skepticism. But it's a fair point that not all state owned media is bad, but I would just never trust a state owned media for any foreign/international issue for not having a slant in favour of the reporting state.