Because people have had to figure things out between themselves and collectively since there is no one to trust in position of public information anymore. 

this failure of 'intellectualism' and against 'scientific temper' is because there is no intellectualism or scientific temper coming out of the places they should come from. what is proving trustworthy? 
so people turn to the network they know and trust and go on what sounds right to them. 

you threw them to the conspiracy wolves by selling yourselves out. congratulations. all your parents are Whatssap University graduates now cos you thought one or two white lies and non factual reports wouldn't matter. 

they do. one of my son's friends had a fire in his building. the next day he told me not one paper had got any names or addresses correct. he seemed shocked because he had until that time, trusted the media. small things like that matter. he was a kid but he received a lesson he'll never really grow out of. in fact the smaller facts matter more than the bigger truths that most people won't have a means to verify themselves. so theyll say ok you said a politician said this, ok, we will take you at your word. but you get a street name wrong and they'll know for themselves it is wrong. the independently verifiable fact has been capable of greater individual verification in the age of the internet and has been found to be wanting. 

this is how the weave of collective trust is eroded. small facts, much more than large generalized evidences, matter. 

what is serving an increasing closed social group, a closed society or one that is in the process of closing up, pulling up the drawbridge is not intellectualism but trustworthiness. social groups have turned to the known circle for their information. they would prefer a half truth from someone they trust over a whole lot of fact from someone they can't. 

unless the public information services collectively correct this absence of trustworthiness, fact or information will never be received by the public in the way that it is being disseminated.

it's not what you're saying, it's how trustworthy you are proving. belief will always be stronger than fact because emotion is always dominant over thought.