After reading the article, it seems that the burden of understanding the democratic process is not on the media, but on the individual citizen. how can you tell who to trust in the media when it comes to the democratic process? how would you go about finding out information to be an informed, active citizen?

The only advice I can give you is to not rely on most popular media sources information. The more known the source is, the more likely that it can be corrupted or bought to deliver you what government want you to get, not what really is happening. Seek for less known, independent sources and try to analyze multiple sources for equality of information that you receive. Do not just blindly consume what they are pushing to you. Think twice at every fact you get from them before accepting it.

Your answer would be "Upon realizing Edna's recent behaviour and that she would do what she wants to do anyway, he quickly handled the matter in his own way, using his own specialized set of skills."