re: Why is freedom of the press important in a democracy?

IN a democracy the citizenry has direct input on how they are governed. To make informed decisions they must have information about the questions in issue. Without a Fourth Estate that is separate from the government they have little chance of getting unbiased information that could lead to a totalitarian government even though it might appear as a democracy.

The press is not free from the same types of corrupting powers though. Corporations via advertising have more control than they should, it is also subject to bias based on the people (and their education) that enter the field. When almost all the news becomes op-ed instead the citizens without an objective source and the validity of democracy is in peril. We live in an age where information is more accessible than ever before but almost devoid of (real) news. However, real news has been hard to come by, for various reasons, for the majority of this country's history so I think we will ultimately chart a path through this new wilderness. We are a representative republic which is designed to ameliorate the impact of ignorance of the citizenry and as frustrating as it may seem sometimes it is a concept that likely has been a large force in the fruitfulness of our nation.