It's like telling a person missing their arms to just try harder to complete that pull-up.
I don't think there's a solution to all this government spin and media manipulation. They're not going to stop on their own and people certainly aren't going to take any initiative to find out the actual truth when someone is always there to give them a shortcut to thinking.
Most people I know think that they think for themselves, but in reality don't. Example, someone I know like to make it a point he thinks for himself and people that don't are stupid. He defines his reality by reading news articles from selected sources, pop media icons, and Howard Stern. He feels since he is getting information from multiple sources, he is thinking fo himself.
Wrong. He's simply adopting opinions professed by other people. He may be hearing multiple opinions from multiple sources, but ultimately gravitates to the ones the are loudest and align to his belief system. If he thought for himself, he would question those opinions, seek out others that are opposite for their arguments. He would also do the best he could to find the source material his adoped opinions come from to judge for himself.
But he doesn't. Most people don't. To think for yourself is not to get a bunch of info and decide what you think is right. You have to analyze and question the opinion, or supposed "facts", and learn what you need to in order to form your own opinion.
That's right.
Since all the major media outlets are owned by just a handful of people they think they're forming a "well rounded" opinion by reading multiple select sources - but its all coming from one primary group or "source".
But then again Google and places that collect and categorize information are also making it almost impossible to locate original source material to conduct your own research.