It really irks me when people use “mainstream media” as a pejorative like there’s some kind of conspiracy

A small number of private companies with national syndication are owned by a cartel of billionaires. These billionaires regularly meet to discuss and align themselves on policies that benefit their group at the expense of everyone else. The policies they agree to are reflected in the media coverage.

This is a textbook conspiracy. Just not an “Alex Jones” style conspiracy, where a Murdoch and an Ellison and a Gates have to be lizard people to spice up the relatively banal affair of promoting tax cuts, deregulation, and white supremacy.