I think that's debateable. Look at Katie Couric -- she is who she is, and the network put her in her current time slot. Has it drawn viewers? Look at MSNBC, the NYT, or the Boston Globe -- they spout leftwing trash all the time -- does it draw viewers? No? Well, are these media outlets switching gears and trying something new? No? Huh. Don't they want to draw viewers???
And look at Hollywood -- Mel Gibson makes a movie about Christ -- makes about a billion dollars. How does Hollywood respond? They make movies about homosexual cowboys, or movies about the innumberable atrocities carried out by the US military in Iraq. Do those flicks make a billion dollars? No? Well, is Hollywood going to change??
I maintain that the news media does not exist. The thing we call the news media is just a branch of the entertainment industry. And the entertainment industry is driven by a political agenda far more than any urge to entertain or to make money.
In short: I don't think this has much to do with the free market.
Both are institutions of the state. The press is recognized in the Constitution. Entertainment morphed from some older institutions of religious nature.