They were told very selected facts and that led to the downfall of democratic Vietnam. That is not what we are talking about here. The press in Western countries is owned by such powerful people as Murdoch in the US or Packer in Australia. Some media choose to sully individuals' private lives or attempt to overthrow governments by abusing their rights to free expression. That's obviously not true freedom, it is a misuse of power.
People forget that freedom of the press is one thing and the power of the press is another.
That's a misuse of power, and just as we can condemn the government of Vietnam for its misuse of power whilst hoping that we'll have a new government that will use power properly, so with the press. We can condemn misuse of power whilst hoping that the press with other parts of society will learn to use power wisely and well. The important thing to remember is that human beings are not created perfect. Human beings are imperfect and they are quite disposed to do wrong, indeed at times to do evil. The way we design governments is to be perfectly honest about human beings and we design in such a way that power is balanced, freedom is balanced, and among all the balances no individual can become too powerful enough to corrupt the whole of society.