Was this supposed to be pro-press or anti-press in 2017?

Hear me out.

Obviously, we know Hollywood is liberal/leftist. I'm not saying this as a bad thing or a good thing but rather just a simple fact. I'm not dense enough to think that this was anything more than attempt at being pro media/press, with the hopeful outcome of being an entertaining movie too. And I do believe it succeeded in the latter. That being said...

At face value, this movie is touting the belief that free press is a good thing. They hammer it home that a free and unbiased press that reports strictly the news and facts to keep the government in check is a good thing for the people. There's even a quote in the movie that goes something along the lines of, "The free press is for the governed, not the government." AND I AGREE!!! An unbiased media that strictly reported the facts and attempted to keep the government in line WAS a good thing.

And yet, here we are in 2018, and the press could not be any further from unbiased. There doesn't seem to be a single "news" source that wants to strictly report the facts for the benefit of the people. From HuffPo to CNN to FOX or Breitbart, everything is biased. News is no longer "news" but rather a source where you can go to get a positive spin and reaffirm your already cemented beliefs. Can you even name a single mainstream "news" source that you trust to simply give you the facts these days? I can't.

The movie essentially makes the argument that the press is there to keep the government in check, yet nowadays that couldn't be further from the truth. The press is there to put a positive spin on their preferred narrative. Which brings me to my argument. This movie attempts to portray the "free press" in a positive light, but the press is no longer free. If we can no longer trust the press to give us the unbiased facts, can we also not watch this movie and think of it as a critique of the state of the press in current times? Could a reasonable person not look at the current state of the press in America and feel incredibly justified for supporting Trumps attack on the "corrupt fake news" media of today?

I guess my ultimate point is this. I'm sure that Spielberg and Co ultimately tried to make this movie as a slap in the face to Trump and in support of "free press". There's even an attempt at the end of the movie to blatantly correlate the presidencies of Nixon and Trump and their negative relationship with the media. But I interpreted it a different way. A free and unbiased press would be amazing, but we don't have that in America today and only a fool would say that we do. The press is SIGNIFICANTLY biased, and SIGNIFICANTLY left leaning. I interpreted this movie as a blueprint for how our media is SUPPOSED to function - for the people, and against those who wish to oppress us. The media used to be the "good guys". But now they make excuses for their preferred party, often by omission. If Obama does something bad, CNN says nothing. If Trump does something bad, Fox says nothing. If their preferred politician does something great, you'll likewise never read about it on the opposition's "news" site either. That's the reality in 2018. And if you watch the movie with that viewpoint, it's honestly a condemnation of the state of media today more so than an outright support of the media in general - regardless of what Spielberg and company intended the message to be.