Full Frontal host Samantha Bee made her triumphant return Monday night and, after joking announcing that Hillary Clinton had passed away (“She says she’s not dead, but as we know she is a liar“), she took her shots at the failings of presidential forum moderator Matt Lauer and the media in general…. While stating, “Why can’t the media just tell us what’s true and what’s bullshit?” she saved most of her ire for NBC’s Lauer. After sharing clips of Lauer harping on Hillary’s emails, Bee unloaded on him. “Oh, come on, Matt,” she ranted. “Do you really think there is an email smoking gun that the Inspector General, a House committee, the FBI and 18 months of nonstop news coverage couldn’t find, that will be magically uncovered by seven minutes of questions from a human Splenda whose crowning journalistic achievement is not knowing where the f*ck he is?”

I understand the pressures media outlets can face: deadlines, competition, the need/desire to get a story out first. Despite that, the mission of the Fourth Estate is the same as it’s ever been: seeking and reporting the truth. If you consider the definition of “truth,” it’s not relative, nor should it be open to interpretation. It is or isn’t.

Expecting journalists to separate truth from bullshit shouldn’t be a bridge too far…yet that’s exactly what’s happening these days. Media outlets too often are less journalistic seekers engaged in the unalloyed pursuit of truth than they are ideological mouthpieces.

(Fox News Channel much??)

Back when Jon Stewart was hosting The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert The Colbert Report, surveys frequently showed them to be the country’s most trusted TV news personalities. That’s great…except for the fact they’re both comedians.

Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings must be spinning furiously in their graves.

NBC’s Matt Lauer is merely the latest example of a “journalist” who, by declining to ask tough questions and call politicians out for their lies, essentially refuses to fulfill his responsibilities.

Stewart frequently referred to the talking heads at Fox News Channel as “denizens of Bullshit Mountain,” an appellation that could be applied to numerous media outlets. That most (but certainly not all) of those who call Bullshit Mountain home fall on the right side of the political spectrum is no accident. While it’s easy and fashionable to deride the “Liberal Media,” the truth is decidedly different. Most American media outlets are owned and/or managed by wealthy, Conservative White men. A critical examination of the “Liberal Media” would reveal that most reporting is, in fact, overwhelmingly favorable to Conservative candidates and causes.

This explains why most media outlets are so unwilling to separate truth from bullshit. It’s no longer about journalism. It’s not about facts and truth. It’s about stock prices and market share and protecting the established order…which ultimately lead to a decidedly Conservative slant when it comes to reporting.

In a world where facts and reality mattered, where journalists cared enough to separate truth from bullshit, there’s no way Donald Trump would have survived the GOP primaries, much less become the party’s nominee. Yet there he was as Matt Lauer lobbed softballs at him and allowed lies and half-truths to slide by unchallenged.

It would seem Bullshit Mountain is about to run out of parking spaces.