Reply #4: They're not 'independent' media

[cprise]

In fact, they are the very definition of special interests. They are all owned by the same institutional investors as any other mega-conglomerate, whether their brands are defense-sector, agriculture, retail, automobiles, entertainment or all of the above. They care only for big-money and are out to re-interpret "freedom" as "corporate freedom".

There may have been a time when the US networks were relatively independent, when they were smaller and regulations resrticting their ownership were in effect.

Today, I think the model for independant media is the BBC. No matter how fancy your TV is, you pay the same BBC license fee, so they have a duty to keep a populist perspective on events. The government has little power to play politics with them (contrast this with PBS), and they are not a charity for corporations looking for better PR (contrast also with PBS).