The Free Press

Hilaire Belloc's classic 1918 essay shows how mass media (in his day, newspapers) are a product of capitalism, selling for less than production costs with the balance made up from advertising. This makes newspapers beholden to their advertisers and slants the truths which they can deliver to the masses, leading to a huge potential conflict of interest. An interesting and insightful indictment of the power of capitalism vs. truth in the mass media, as valid today as when it was first written.