Rationale person = someone who takes in millions and millions in salary from the military industrial complex and has not met a military intervention she does not support. It is amazing how leftists have moved from the peace-loving love children of th 60's, to the most blood thirsty power-hungry bastards today.
Ratings are a very low secondary consideration. As long as the media parrot the correct narrative, they will get those inside scoops from the intelligence agencies, they will get the top DoD brass to come talk, they will get found as top results from Google, they will not get censorship or shawdow-banned from YouTube, they will not get attacked by cancel culture, they will get huge ad revenue from big Pharma.
The game is rigged. You spout the government-corporate estsblishment propaganda, and good things happen. Free and open competition for ratings is not what drives who succeeds in the media business. The media outlet must first demonstrate their absolute dedication to bowing down to the corporate-government elitist bastards. The heavy hand of the powerful elitists is greatly tipping the scales to what information is readily accessible.
I know, it is all crazy conspiracy stuff that the rich and powerful elite collude together to maintain and increase their status as rich and powerful elite. Rich people would never cheat to enrich themselves and protect their butts. How dare i suggest that. There is no money in manipulating and controlling public opinion. Nothing to see here. It is just random luck thst big media outlets parrots almost identical narratives and no one gives hard questions the establishment elites.