New York magazine's story about a high school student making tens of millions of dollars trading stocks turns out to be phony. Rolling Stone magazine's story about a rape at the University of Virginia story turns out to be, if not phony, at least so flimsy that the editor of it has no confidence that it is true. President Obama cuts a deal to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba and no one in the press, other than the New York Times editorial page, seems to have had any advance inkling that it was underway. The New York Times publishes a fake front-page story about Pope Francis saying dogs can go to heaven.
All in all, it's been a tremendously bad run for journalism, the sort of series of events that in another industry might trigger breast-beating, soul-searching, or reform, but instead seems to have been greeted with a kind of "what-else-is-new" shrug. It's disappointing for anyone who thinks accurate information is important for informed decision-making in democracies.