The media is not a monolith. Go read some history, and figure that a) people have been pulling stunts like that since the US was founded and b) they were typically exposed by competitors in the media.

Back in 1798, no less a person than George Washington was griping that the Democrats (under Thomas Jefferson - not to be confused with today's Democratic party) were a bunch of malcontents whose primary object was to overturn the government: http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/collection/post_pres_179...