The mainstream press was comprised of newspapers and TV until the advent of social media. I think it is useful to distinguish between these two epochs because internet communications were not subject to partisan manipulation until recently, as your Wikileaks reference illustrates. The little bit of free expression that we continue to enjoy in substacks like Racket News has been instrumental in pulling back the curtain. Nothing like this existed in the 1960s. The press hid the troop buildup in Vietnam and buried a much-needed debate over the war of attrition that was launched in May and June of 1964. This was an election year. Goldwater was portrayed as a raving lunatic for merely bringing up the real issues of a war in Vietnam that LBJ and McNamara were already embarked upon, as is documented in "Dereliction of Duty". I think we have deluded ourselves over the historical role of the press. The delusions are useful, as they seem to motivate some journalists to seek the truth, but they divert us from dealing with a reality that is increasingly bleak and all the journalists who merely seek to exploit the chaos for their own benefit. Myths of past glories and heroes ... remember the Maine? ... seem to blind us to the institutional collapse that characterizes nearly every branch of government and the very nature of our Republic.