Sussed online news readers will read around a story and see through the biases – not actually that difficult with opinionated blogs or a series of multiple one-sided viewpoints.

Falsifying info – now that’s a different matter. As a sub-editor, I see value in a news site that doesn’t necessarily write the story (to fit an angle or space on a page) but provides just the facts as a service with double/triple checked ticks, decent sources cited and also referenced in time, to allow for follow-up amendments as the story develops over time.

But with direct-to-web story filing and all the sub sackings of late, can trad news media provide this? Could it be a paid-for or sponsored service instead? A kind of centralised set of independent copy checkers who trace info back to the source but in a transparent way.

Just a thought. I fear for the facts!