I agree, but even a simple, small town reporter knows that if you manufacture, or misquote a public official or private citizen, they will probably not agree to speak with you again and quite honestly, why would they? If I twisted or made up something in an article, they would have a right to be upset.
There is a code of ethics that used to be present in American journalism. The Fox model, which others soon followed, was based on Australian journalism, which in my research is anything but "Fair and Balanced," never-mind if you have to tell people that you are "Fair and Balanced" you are probably not.
And before anyone's heads explode and they attack me, I don't watch TV, I don't have cable, and I don't belong to either party, so bite me.