You may enjoy this. A while back I was looking for info on my town’s namesake (John Norvell) and found a letter from Jefferson to Norvell when Norvell asked Jefferson’s advice on starting a newspaper and involvement in politics.
Jefferson made his distaste for the newspapers quite clear.
http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/lit/jeff07.htm
“It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more compleatly deprive the nation of it’s benefits, than is done by it’s abandoned prostitution to falsehood.”
A lovely line for today’s times.