Exactly, everything is always been manipulated by the media, it what they want us to see they will show us. Sometimes when a foul occurs, they fail to show the replays so the viewers won't ascertain what happened. Sometimes when I go to watch the in a viewing centre, some people claim that the VAR team purposely edits the players to suit what they want, because sometimes you will clearly see something and the next time when the VAR team has finished checking and shows the replay, you then see a slight changes. We just joke about it. We are not sure of what really happened.
If you watch a match and can see the replays, then the media won’t be able to influence your opinion. But those who only watch highlights or reviews might believe what they're told. VAR has improved the situation with controversial moments, but I feel there will always be debatable incidents that can be interpreted both ways. And there will also be situations that can be manipulated, like Alvarez's penalty being overturned, so referees still have an influence on the outcome.
Anyhow you look at a football match the referees have a lot of influence in it, if they're are biased in a match they can make very little decisions to favor their preferred team. It's quite hard to pinpoint if a referee is intentionally making a wrong decision because we're humans and cannot always be 100% precise at every point. Although it's sad that we hear about players and officials that are suspected of match fixing and it shows that such incidents do happen. The consolation is that what the players and officials do on the pitch are being monitored and they can be sanctioned if found guilty.