'Why does the American media get big stories wrong?'

Probably nothing we haven't talked about here ad nauseum, but still clear and well-argued:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/why-does-the-american-media-get-big-stories-wrong/276454/

Why does the media miss some significant stories and pay too little attention to others? Thus far, I've argued that excessive deference to government officials, sending lots of journalists to cover the same unimportant events, flaws in TV as a news medium, a society that undervalues watchdog journalism, incentives to cheerlead in the business press, the inadequacy of our most influential strain of media criticism, and the fact that no one coordinates coverage all play a part.

 

All pertinent, and all pertinent for the past few decades. One glaring example is the breathless touting of each new Internet/smartphone development, and a relative lack of analysis about what these things mean for the direction of society/relationships/involvement.