News as a journalistic medium was killed by the continuous, incremental implementation of top-down imposed efficiency measures based on key performance indicators dictated by the market which changed basically overnight with the adoption of social media and fast paced consumer facing information flow. Investigative journalism became an artisinal craft.

This, against the backdrop of political disinterest of many people brought on by the illusion of the end of history and rapid growth of wealth and quality-of-life that resulted in treating politics as a sort of managerial problem in lieu of a continuous tug-of-war that requires “the masses” to educate themselves and organize in order to defend their rights and keep e.g. wealth inequality in check, created a status quo that was easily upset with events that are common historically but life changing generationally.