I usually stay out of these "the media are X" discussions because I don't think it's possible to generalize about what "the media" are or were.  These things are cyclical, and at any given time it depends on which media, and independent of what or asking hard questions of whom.  Fox News and the New York Post may be the media, but so is McClatchy.  Seymour Hersh is the media.  So is Keith Olbermann.