Back in my day... the television news was 15 minutes, and in black-and-white. Radio had a long history of providing quality new reporting, and was still an important source of information. Local stations brought communities together.
Newspapers were still a big thing. Large communities like New York City would have 8 or more major papers, with multiple editions during the day, as well as many smaller papers focused on subcultures (like the Jewish Forward).
Today, newspapers are in a sharp decline, due to technological shifts. Online outlets and respond quickly to events in real time. The biggest factor was traditional newspapers relied on advertising for most of your revenue, which has dropped sharply with competition from online sites like Craigslist and social networks.
Newspapers were expensive to produce. In addition to the journalism and business staffs, there was also the cost of the printing plat and typesetting. In the old days, reporters would create copy on paper and send them to the composing room, where Linotype operators would use complex machines to create the lead type for each story. This was hot and stinky work, with lots of dangerous fumes.
Also note that news was considered a service, not entertainment. The radio and TV networks understood it was their duty to provide fair and accurate coverage.The classic example was the once-mighty CBS, which had a large corps of reporters, editors, and announcers who would try to get to the truth, no matter the cost. Contrast this with today, where the federal government is starting to try to control what information gets covered and how. Their new news director is not a journalist, but a political hack. It is increasingly difficult to get an objective view of the news. News was never perfect, since it was covered by humans, who have their own biases and opinions. But the main media outlets tried hard, and even if they had slight prejudices, you could take them into consideration and get a fairly balanced view. But these days we are seeing political interference. Couple this with a poorly-educated public, and you have a recipe for an authoritarian disaster.