A big part of it is figuring out where the money is coming from.
If it's corporate news media, they work for their advertisers. They want certain demographics of people to feel good about consuming their media, so they can market those viewers time and attention to advertisers wanting to sell products and services to them. Their first responsibility will be to their share/stake holders, and in turn their advertisers. Don't expect neutrality when it comes to matters that affect the corporate class.
You won't find much talk of raising taxes on wealthy people, regulating corporate greed, or the like here. The agenda of the corporate entity as a whole is what matters. Just like any other for profit business. The truth is only important as far as lying or otherwise misreporting will cost them money.
If it's public/state broadcasting, they work for the government that provides their funding. That government is more or (sometimes alot) less representative of the people, and depending on their charter may or may not be directly controlled by the government itself.
Of course regardless of their charter responsibilities they remain conscious that their life (funding) depends on maintaining at least some favor with the government in power, as well as maintaining favor with the people they serve, as public opinion indirectly affects their funding as well. More so when the government in question is democratically elected.
The truth isn't necessarily super important to them either, especially when it comes to domestic matters, or matters that shed their source of funding in a negative light, but their motivations to be untruthful are generally much weaker.
Like tens of thousands of dollars a year to lie on TV vs millions of dollars a year to lie on TV.
Plus, I'd go out on a limb and say that demographically on average a CNN or FOX viewer is way easier to bullshit than an NPR or CBC viewer.
