You are perhaps right about what is implied here. But I have noticed the same trend outside of the media in general. There's currently an uproar in my town and I've seen 3 or 4 very outspoken people, including hearing it on a radio interview, say that the school board "quietly" reinstated mask mandates in school, and there's a lot of implication of secret, ulterior motives.
But I also don't understand it. You can't "quietly" enforce a policy against every kid in the school, especially if you expect them to come to school with masks in hand ahead of time. And the uproar started after a widely advertised meeting that was broadcast online and that had solicited public comment. There was nothing quiet about it.
I think it's just a cheap tactic used to convey a lack of trust.
I get what you're saying. I think in general, everything salient and attention-grabbing gets abused, so it all starts leaving us a little cold and cynical towards salient things in general. Like how we've been desensitized by overexposure to violence and sex, but now creeping into more abstract and intellectual things.
On the face of it, it's bizarre that an innocent word like "quietly" has come to have irritating connotations of clickbait for so many. But thousands of people are having meetings every day to discuss how best to grab our attention by any means necessary, and this is the result.
But I also don't understand it. You can't "quietly" enforce a policy against every kid in the school, especially if you expect them to come to school with masks in hand ahead of time. And the uproar started after a widely advertised meeting that was broadcast online and that had solicited public comment. There was nothing quiet about it.
I think it's just a cheap tactic used to convey a lack of trust.