A good proportion are paid and sponsored propagandists who knowingly and deliberately turn out the Party line.

The rest are arse licker apparatchiks - like the toadies who write for the Economist - who want to feel they're specially privileged and live on the inside.

There is no punditry going on here. The disinformation is almost exactly equivalent to a totalitarian propaganda machine. It's a little bit shinier, a little bit more self-assured and a little bit better dressed than Pravda used to manage, but functionally the output is identical in quality and intended influence.