That is amazingly ridiculous. Prior to the internet enabling anybody to post anything in whatever authoritative manner they want to, people only had so many options for getting their opinions published. Without a lot of money, they only way to get published was to work with an editor and a publisher who vetted your "facts" and decided whether it was worthy of being published. Online publication lacks credibility because, well, because the ease with which people can post unbelievable tripe online has overcome reasonable people's ability to be persuaded.