Anent the "Free Press": The "Press" NOT your friend, or your ally, nor is it a friend or ally of "democracy" or "popular sovereignty!" It serves the "corpoRat" interest, exclusively.
It's a capitalistic profit center which might occasionally and accidentally do something for the people, but that is no longer (if it ever truly was) the institution's purpose.
"The Press" hasn't been an "independent voice for the people," thus earning their Constitutional protection, since 50 years and the end of the Vietnam war/Watergate era and the onset of officially sanctioned "monopolization," euphemistically known as "media consolidation," which began in the 70s, directly in the aftermath (and in consequence) of Watergate.
After that period in the 60s, when the Press problematized and then helped end the war (Kronkite), and brought down Nixon, and promoted civil rights, the decision was made in the highest councils that the Press would NEVER have that kind of power again.
Now safely enfolded in the toils of the capitalistic profit structure, it will NEVER be the public's servant it was intended to be.
To summarize: "The Press" is NOT the friend of democracy or popular sovereignty. It has unarguably become an accessory to and a tool of CorpoRat power: It's a capitalistic profit center which might occasionally and accidentally do something for the people, but that is no longer (if it ever truly was) the institution's main purpose.
