@Rotron I don't know just how bad you have things in the United States, but here in Canada, that's a very dangerous line to walk. See, not that long ago here in Canada, we had the largest protest in Canadian history take place right in downtown Ottawa. Our "valid news sources" all were trying to downplay it, only delivering a sliver of the truth, while completely trying to spin everything else and dismiss it as being just a small thing, were trying to dismiss it completely, or were trying to pass the actions of only a very small number in that group as representing the values of the group as a whole, as it did not fall in line with the agenda that the government (or more particularly, the higher power that plays the government officials like puppets) was trying to push. On social media on the other hand, there were a plethora of live streams exposing this very thing. In many cases, the "valid news sources" were trying to push a narrative that simply did not exist, or that was seriously different from the actual reality, and had it not been for the many, many people who were live streaming what was actually happening to compare it to what the mainstream media was trying to push, this would not have been exposed nearly to the extent that it was, if at all.
The same thing happens in the United States, although to what degree, I do not know. It has been happening for some time now, but because these sources are said to have credibility in journalism (if you really want to call it that), people blindly buy into what they're trying to pedal, without realizing that these sources have now all been bought and paid for to push a narrative that fits their agenda, often without questioning it.
Another alarming issue we have with the other "alternative" sources such as Facebook and YouTube is that there have been a number of things now that I can think of off the top of my head where the "valid news sources" fell completely silent on, and sources like Facebook and Twitter actually took down content under the guise of it being "misinformation" simply because it did not fit the narrative that the government (who has effectively bought and paid for the mainstream media to be their propaganda mills) wanted to push.
One of the most powerful instances I can think of is a video titled "Died Suddenly", which is a well put together documentary done by a number of coroners who have banded together to speak out about new and interesting things that they're finding that they cannot explain, have never seen before the COVID vaccine came out, and have been told by their superiors to remain silent on. You can find it here:
https://rumble.com/v1wac7i-world-premier-died-suddenly.html
The interesting part about this documentary in particular is that I have a few coroner friends who I have shown this video to, who have all said they've been finding the exact same things in patients even here in Canada, but have been told to keep these findings hush hush. This video has been removed from Facebook and YouTube several times now under the guise of "false information", and yet the mainstream media in both Canada and the US are completely silent about its findings. It seems that freedom of speech only applies if the speech you are speaking falls in line with the agenda that the powers that really control the government are trying to push.
The whole situation surrounding this video and the lack of coverage in the mainstream media only further confirms my view that the mainstream media is but a propaganda mill that is intended to push a narrative as defined by their government officials who have bought and paid for them, and have also themselves been sold out to the highest bidder. Things like this are actually why the Canadian government is trying so hard to push bill C-10 to limit and censor things like social media because if things like this become too wide spread, it would seriously damage their plan to push the narrative that they want to push, especially if people are allowed to continue to express views (and even facts) that do not fit the narrative they want to push.
So yes... At this day and age, alternative information sources have unfortunately become a bit of a necessity in order to get to the truth, instead of just the heavily biased narrative that the powers that be want people to buy into. Simply put, alternative means of communication and sharing ideas have become necessary in more recent times in order to stop the propaganda and speak the actual truth.
