On one hand, had you lived in a country with controlled media, you knew that many/most people don't trust it by default, trusting rumours more than papers or TV. On the other hand, the 'decentralised media' we have has a lot of problems: 1) it has done very little in terms of getting information -- it excels in analysis, making connections, and pushing some information in the forefront; 2) it is very fractured: Kos, Eurotrib et al are only reservates for the fact-based comunity, while other sites serve to further fanatise the faithful, turning propaganda from one dinosaur into a hundred-headed dragon surrounding the supceptible from all sides, and spewing out counter-spin to the other side1s analysis at record speed and no costs involved; 3) the Blogosphere is still a minority phenomenon, something for relatively well-off political junkies, not reached by the wide majority.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}