If you haven’t read this, you should.
It’s a starfish world and most people don’t even realize it.
http://www.starfishandspider.com/index.php?title=About_the_Book
I ran across this paper while looking for some history on the early post office in England. It gives some information on how “government news and information” became free.
http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:qe9ySiEl3aAJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=8000000
POSTAL CENSORSHIP IN ENGLAND 1635-1844
BY SUSAN E. WHYMAN