A working republic requires an informed citizenry. Which, in today’s world, requires a press that doesn’t shill for one side or the other.
Well, I’d take “shill for one side or another,” as long as the press was open about which side it was shilling for. Our press used to be like that – the archeological imprint remains in newspapers still called things like “The Republican Gazetter” and “The Democrat Standard,” in our smaller towns. Things worked considerably better in that situation than today, when everybody pretends to be “fair, impartial, and unbiased,” while in fact are anything but.
The second caveat is this: You are not going to end the shill media until and unless an outraged populace effectively demands better sources and handling of news. And I don’t see much – on a widespread basis, that is – of that. Rational ignorance is the order of the day.
We are simply too busy, to preoccupied to give much of a rat’s ass about those “complicated political and economic issues” that will eventually thrash our everyday lives into an unrecognizable maelstrom.