h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Depends on the source. You need to look at who's writing the news and decide if there's any benefit for them to distort or twist the story. This is always possible, and you may never get a clear picture of what's going on. Best advice is to get your news from a variety of sources, across the political spectrum. Except maybe the sunday sport.
Also, newspapers and television stations may sometimes knowingly distribute false news, for example, during a military campaign they may be asked to deliver a report stating that troops are positioned at location A, when really they're waiting on the other side at location B. There is a certain reliance on the fact that any enemy will monitor the press and media in general.
And remember: don't take *anything* at face value.

Can you trust the news media to do what exactly?

I would put the media in relegation trouble at the bottom of the league table of 'Things to put your trust in'. However, if circumstance dictates, you be left with only the media in which to place one's trust. Life's tricky, eh?

Of course, to mix a metaphor or two, what is spat out by the media can only possibly be as good as the informtion that it is fed...

On the face of it, it seems (and is often commented upon) that new media sources are less reliable information sources than their traditional counterparts. I know for a fact that one of the latest marketing techniques is to hire a bunch of students to surf the net all day and post lots of messages in chat rooms, messageboards etc about how good a certain product is (usually films and songs but other stuff too). Because the web has become such a commercial tool now certain dubious practises are happening.

However, generally I don't see how it's any less true than what a particular individual in a particular newspaper has to say. I often disagree with reviews I've read in the paper. The power of the net is to be able to receive information from individuals, rather than huge corporations, and that is something which goes back a long way...

I think the dependability of the media helps to make it amusing. I watch lots of news broacast to get the mean details of a story. This then allows me to read papers such as the British 'The Sun' for amusement value.

I just realised that this talking point is 'can you trust the news media' and not 'can you trust the NEW media', as I read the first time... Whoops.

Sorry if my above post was confusing.

No problem - the "new" media are part of the news media!