Lying about the casus belli for war after war (Gulf of Tonkin, babies-in-incubators, WMDs) had only upsides and no downsides for decades on end.

Reporters struggling to deal with "how bad this is" were sentenced to their current problems by predecessors who didn't call out lies in their own time.

Working against lies now is a much heavier weight, but if you don't carry it, the situation will get even worse.