"...Americans will never again see them [media outlets]as neutral arbiters in the dissemination of news and opinion."  Who are you talking about, Will Smith4?  

Of COURSE Americans won't regard media outlets "as neutral arbiters in the dissemination of news..." (I've omitted "and opinion" because obviously, any "opinion" is demonstrating a bias one way or the other.  But I digress...)  They myth is that the American people EVER saw them in that light. don't you believe it.

You give Americans far too much credit.  Canadians, Americans, Brits, whatever. We're all human, and love to feel before with think; sound off before we consider, love to...  Well, you get the point.  Or maybe not.  But in any case, since its early outrageous newspaper era, media have NEVER been entirely neutral, if at all.  Heck, even the most trusted of them all, Walter Cronkite, decided to go to Vietnam and then went on the air...and wow, he was a looooong way from neutral, after that. Likely a good thing, too.