A couple of news stories/ headlines from recent days (as of this writing) bring this problem home with blunt force. One is from The Oregonian, and covers the extensive protests in Portland. The headline reads:
Portland protest deemed ‘riot’ Saturday after fire set in police union building
The impression you get (and are almost certainly intended to get) from that is that protesters en masse wrought extensive havoc and destruction. But if you bother even to read as far as the first paragraph, you will see this:
A small group of demonstrators lit a fire inside the Portland police union building Saturday, sparking a riot declaration by police, who then advanced on the hundreds who gathered nearby.
Although labeling the troublemakers as “protesters”, which they probably weren’t, the reporter al least mentions that they were a (very) small group, and were separate from the actual protest — upon which nonetheless the police vented their anger. Yet that’s a very different picture from what is suggested by the headline above it.
This kind of journalistic or editorial ineptitude/ malfeasance leaves the American media wide open to tampering and manipulation. And it appears the Russians have taken note, planting phony or greatly exaggerated stories designed to stoke right-wing outrage.