Unfettered access to information was supposed to create a more educated populace, a public armed with knowledge that could keep the powerful in check, that could bring about more awareness, more equity and leveling of the playing field
Instead, those with money decide what kinds of information floats to the surface, ready to be sucked up by an insatiable public, high on the supply of misinformation for so long that any alteration to that misinformation is, inversely, cast out as falsehood or slander. Those who control the information control the narrative and thereby the public. News agencies and outlets, long a bulwark against the influence of the powerful, have seen their influence dwindle in the face of, incidentally, influencers, self-styled mavens of knowledge who, more often than not, collect their information from the news agencies of whom they purportedly claim to be superior.