GK Chesterton observed this phenomenon 100 years ago, when he wrote that we no longer need to fear censorship of the press, but rather fear censorship by the press. That an institution who existed to tell the truth has largely become an institution that exists to cover up the truth.
In the Revolutionary War days, there were no newspapers on the scale of today, or even a hundred years ago. You had print shops which could crank out pamphlets.
When you have a newspaper which relies on advertising from big companies, which has outstanding loans, then you have a news source which can be controlled by the money men.