re: the OP interest in the current state of our media
The Pew Center just released a survey on "the public knowledge of current affairs" and the changing sources of news.
On average, today's citizens are about as able to name their leaders, and are about as aware of major news events, as was the public nearly 20 years ago.
...
The survey provides further evidence that changing news formats are not having a great deal of impact on how much the public knows about national and international affairs.
http://people-press.org/reports/disp...3?ReportID=319
One interesting finding is that the most knowledgable viewers by news source are those who are regular watch the Daily Show/Colbert Report, major newspaper (MSM?) websites, and News Hour w/Jim Lehrer. Among the least knowledgable are the regular viewers of Fox News Channel.
Take the same news quiz yourself:
http://pewresearch.org/newsiq/
(proudly in the 96th percentile - 9 out of 9 correct)