There should be regulation around use of the word "news". Many of these stations call themselves "News Radio" as if they only reported verifiable facts, but well over 50% is opinion.
Anything presented as news should be kept separate from opinion. If it's news, you should be able to defend it like it was said under oath.
Personally, I would love it if news channels had to distinguish opinion content from news by removing the word news from the screen and replacing it with the word opinion. That or some other clear and unmistakable signal to the audience should be there to establish whether the station is going on record and asserting facts or whether this is some talking head spewing bullshit.
It's crazy that news papers have been doing this forever. You have your news section and opinion and editorial section. TV and radio should definitely follow the format and be clear about what they are presenting.
Whilst the act for which you speak definitely accelerated the bullshit, it wasn't peaches and cream back in the day. Just look at the film Citizen Kane a fictitious (and lawsuit resistant) depiction of William Randolph Hearst. In it an exceptionally wealthy business man uses the media to promote his political aims. And to skew narratives outside of strict politics. A man who craves love and adoration but can't reciprocate. Remind you of anyone? I would say Musk's purchase of Twitter fills at least one of those molds, Trump the rest.
The milk and meat industry lost their shit when soy milk companies started calling their product "milk." The same outrage should be spent on these "news" organizations.