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It is free in the sense the government doesn't control it. It is not impartial, which progressive try to pass as a "free" press.
It isn't free because it is being controlled.
Everything is controlled to some extent. There is no such thing as an uncontrolled press, the question is 1) who controls it, and 2) how many different people are in control.
Our press is a free as it gets, it's just biased mostly in favor of one view.
You agree then that it isn't a free press?
Not really. To me press "freedom" is about government control, and if only one viewpoint is allowed via corporate ownership. We don't have that, so to me the American press is "free", but it is slanted toward one viewpoint.
A non "free" press would be persecuted by the government or by the controlling interests, and by persecuted, I don't mean made fun of, I mean offices shut down, feeds blocked, reporters arrested.
Not calling our press "free" plays into the hands of progressives.
CNN may be biased, but it isn't prevented from giving its own views, neither is FOX, Briebart, Occupy Democrats, Newsweek or other entities.
Sure, a non-free press would be persecuted by the government, but that isn't the only way the press can be chained. Reporters are not allowed to tell stories in an unbiased way. tjhey are not allowed to print stories that aren't approved by those who control them. It is not a free press in any real way.
If said reporters wanted to get a given story out and their superiors wanted the story quashed, they have a multitude of methods to get the story out anyway. The issue is the public's acceptance of sources outside the mainstream media. Luckily the public is more accepting of outside media sources, unluckily the public is more accepting of blatantly false outside media sources, and that is the conundrum.
People have gotten used to the idea that the press is a source of unbiased news, not opinion news. Even if this was never true, the press 40 years ago or even 20 years ago was less biased than it is now. What we are now seeing is the people realizing the press has a rooting interest, and the inevitable backlash.
So again, I do consider our press "free" due to lack of government interference. What I don't consider it is fair.