[TheOtherHobbes]

Independent objective media are the lifeblood of democracy. You literally cannot have a healthy democracy without a strong and independent fourth estate.

For a long time I underestimated how much of a bedrock requirement this is. It's easy to dismiss the media as entertainment at best or noise at worst.

But at best they model fairness, balance, and rationality, and if you have no one doing that in public the quality of discourse soon crashes.

[stock_toaster]

I often wonder if the news/media has been purposefully weakened as an institution over time, so as to keep the populace more ignorant and controllable by people in power.

I guess it goes in cycles though. Apparently in the 1890s it was _actually worse_!?

[Mirioron]

I don't think the media has been weakened. I think that the media has always been this bad. Perhaps even worse. The public just didn't know about it, because it was a lot harder to verify the facts through other means.