I don't think you have worked with journalists in the sense that I use the word. When I use the term its with trained news gatherers, who go to great lengths to cover a subject, and have an approach to objectivity and fact-checking when they present their work - and follow-up as corrections (inevitable at some point) are required.
When you bring in organizations like the NYT/WaPo/etc to this, you will find layers of process and rigor to ensure any story is held to high standards, facts are verified and substantiated.
Yes, the process can break and is not perfect, but it generally works. Facts often speak for themselves.
As one person once told me (I'm paraphrasing): good journalists don't just write and publish. It's like when a developer writes code directly on production - you don't do that. Instead there are unit tests, code review, editing, testing, and then its deployed. Journalism institutions have their own versions of this.
Look at the story of how Greenwald parted ways with The Intercept. It was because he wouldn't follow that journalistic process. He said he was above being 'edited' and free to make any claim he wanted without substantiating it - those are the people you need to be careful of.
- https://theintercept.com/2020/10/29/glenn-greenwald-resigns-...
- https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/inside-glenn-greenwa...
- https://greenwald.substack.com/p/my-resignation-from-the-int...
