And in 1985 there was no cable news, no internet, no conservative talk radio.
In other words in 1985 there were few ways for us to know about details such as this, and there was little or no way for us to discuss and pass information back and forth.
You simply cannot compare the two eras, and the way information flowed.
We had better access to news and the public was better informed back in those days. And we did have cable news in 1985. CNN, with Ted Turner in control, was way better than it is today. We also had c-span. There were radio talk shows, but they were more news oriented and conducted by actual news reporters who did a discussion show in addition to their normal news reporting job. It was usually more like a well known reporter delving deeper into stories through the us of interviewing people involved in the stories. Also, people read newspapers everyday as a daily routine. News magazines were popular also.
One should also remember that all the broadcast networks had big news departments with investigative reporters. Competition between the broadcast news organizations was fierce and local affiliate stations all had news departments and competed as well.
When a news group, TV or Print, got caught misrepresenting facts it became a big news story in and of itself. They couldn't afford to have a reputation of misreporting or sloppy reporting. The competitive nature of the business wouldn't allow it. So, we had print news competing with radio news and both competing with TV news. And the name of the game was accuracy and speed in getting the story out in front of the public before all the competition.