The media is alwyas telling us how much power it has. But if you look at the election returns the media supported candidate has lost 7 of the last 10 elections. And the 3 it won took Watergate, and Ross Perot to help the media supported candidate win.
Those that think the media has always had power believe what the media has told them. They need to look at the election returns and they will find out that the media has never been able to defeat or elect a president.
If you want a shock look at the media coverage of Abraham Lincoln. Reading the coverage of the 1864 election there is no way you could believe that Abraham Lincoln won.
FDR got worse coverage than Reagan and he won 4 times. Truman was a lost cause according to the media in 1948. But he won.
There has rarely ever been a time when the media was even close to being as powerful as they claim to be. And the land of defeated candidates is littered with the lost elections of those that believed the media could elect them.