Uli, I relate to this piece of yours in many ways. On the trivial side, I live on the California coast and most trust the Guardian. I despair over the same things and turn away from the mindless chatter more and more often.

To comment on your twin points of "what to believe?" and "is any of it true?" I think the answer is substantiation. A first hurdle for any claim is "is it consistent with other facts?" So many claims are being made that substantiation is impossible in anything approaching real time. (Our felonious presidential candidate has mastered this as a strategy.)

Your points spurred the thought that truth units might work as a dynamic for accelerating substantiation. (The dynamic is a gentle but incisive form of "just the facts, ma'am.") I 'd be very grateful for your thoughts: https://alexbennett-ap.medium.com/truth-units-a-new-theory-of-truth-for-our-post-truth-world-9734119080c2

Thank you very much for your piece! Absorbing its well-developed argument / through-line cleared my mind in an excellent way.