The MSM actually supplies some facts in my experience; the way to understand it is to try and separate out the facts from the opinions and then work from the assumption that somebody is talking to somebody else through the media. "They" are sending messages to each other and the average person will need to do a little research to figure out what the message is. Then you have the stories that are really ads for a product but they will take you on a magic carpet ride to get you to the actual product embedded in there.