I was in college in New York in that period. Before the strike I used to read ALL of the Sunday papers, the Times, the Herald Tribune, the World Telegram and Sun, the Journal American, the News, the Mirror, the (Saturday) Post, sometimes the old Newark News. Being a news junkie I read them all the way through. A golden age in newspapering.
Yes. But the thing to remember is you still got to read only what they wanted you to read, for whatever reason.
Today, via the WWW, there is more information of all types more available to more people more widely than any time in the history of mankind. And it will only get better.