And you can choose not to read their journalism. That's the value in having a reputation.

And I'll remind you that the alternative in this case is just believing the random redditor's version of events.

Right, but that doesn’t automatically mean that Redditors have better reputations. I use Reddit daily, but if I see any news that might sound absurd, I will definitely take a look on other news sites to see if the information is real. Journalists, impartial or not, may at least have better credibility in these news sites.