Freedom of the press does extend to all of us.
Of course the game here is to play off the Supreme Court decision which limits the liability of journalists for the release of classified information by defining journalist to someone other than Drudge who reaches millions of people every day but including in the definition some establishment figure who writes for an audience of a fraction of the size inside the Beltway.
Pamphleteers were the scourge of governments when the Constitution was written. As you said, Franklin was, among other things, one of these as was Thomas Paine. The classic examples include Paine, abolitionist literature, union pamphlets, and the political postings on the walls of Beijing. In America, they have most often been tools of the left and those wishing to overthrow our governing system.
Now, the pamphlet is the web site. The printing press is obsolete. Whoever controls the Internet controls the dialogue. Since the left is in control of the government, they must control the dialogue.