Since most Americans get their news from them, what the MSM media says *does* matter, as they dictate how the average American hears the news.
But people HAVE to get OVER this fixation. There's nothing mainstream about the MSM. That's why it's a misnomer. It's a leftwing 'mainstream', the LM. And - no - NOT that many people get their news exclusively from this leftist press, generally described as the press. That was the whole point of the Swifties. Your 'MSM' REFUSED . . . ENTIRELY CATEGORICALLY REFUSED . . . to cover the Swifties. And somehow a majority of people in the country knew all about them, and particularly the main charges against the LM's own candidate of choice - the ABB.
The average American is quickly moving to the new media - which at some point, itself, will become old media (make no mistake). But it's interesting, now.
So - get over this MSM. It's not. It's the LM.