I consume little mainstream news, even less about the Ukraine conflict. Perhaps more so than even most readers here, I am beyond skeptic, I am a cynic. Even with a topic that is relatively as narrow as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, doubters like me make assumptions like: Both sides are lying. Neither side has any incentive to tell the truth. I'm willing to believe that there is a war on in that part of the world, but beyond that, why should I bother reading about supposed events of the war? They may well affect me, even if I live halfway around the globe. But there is basically nothing I can do to affect the outcome one way or the other. Nor do I especially want to get caught up in the "Two minutes hate" (Orwellian term) as seen on social media (which I also avoid) with the likely encouragement of government and other hidden actors.If I am going to spend any time at all on the topic, far better that I should try to study up on some of the historical background. It's not like the USA/NATO/etc. did not have prior involvement on one side or the other.

The daily media is a business. At best, it provides entertainment to its consumers. But the information value is very low and there are psychic costs (e.g. stress and anxiety) as well as tending to produce a very distorted view of actual real-world events.

The same analysis will apply to virtually any other burning issue, whether it's a virus causing a pandemic, or a man wearing a women's swim suit.