For centuries, Journalism was the art of investigation and power brokers. Journalists were civilian detectives and their media outlet was the badge that let them enter crime scenes. Once the information was obtained, began its next task: wielding their power to subtly craft a narrative and manufacture consent. It was a fine balance. 90% of the time you reported facts, so that you could bend the truth the other 10% of the time. The monopoly over facts, lent them this power.

The nature of Journalism has completely changed with the advent of the internet. You don't require as many people on the ground, and the access afforded to high resource high prestige outlets is not very useful. Opinions, realtime updates and news is broadcasted straight through tools like Twitter. Information is decentralized and free. Thus, Journalists role has now become to exclusively broker power. The narrative is all that matters. Everyone knows the news anyway.

This is where new media began spiralling. Pushing narratives is the only value you can provide, but the power needed to get buyin for the narratives was lent by a monopoly over facts, that isn't there anymore.

note: The collapse of the NYT specifically is rooted in an entirely separate generational struggle. This does not address it.