No other nation tolerates it anywhere near to this extent. In exchange, as part of the social contract creating this nation, there was an understanding that the press bore an equally enormous responsibility. The Founding Fathers believed fervently that truth allowed to grapple freely with falsehood in the marketplace of ideas would emerge victorious. To postulate that they are is to offer a syllogism flawed fatally with an undistributed middle. Not all is bunkum and flummery.
Exceptions exist, if one looks hard enough.
The pathetic thing, though, is that so much of the real press has allowed itself to be painted into a corner with the phonies and carpetbaggers. Had the genuine press applied the same diligence and fervor to exposing in the news columns and keelhauling on the opinion pages the frauds who call themselves journalists as it has to other institutions and industries this would not have happened. According to St. Matthew, tore away at an already-diminished public confidence in journalism. They are actually surprised. And vice versa, a vicious circle.