616 is the US area code for Grand Rapids, Michigan. Grand Rapids is the home of the headbanger/metal band Pop Evil.

All secrets are known to the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster, PBUH.

The official USSR news outlet during the 20th century was (Pravda), Russian for truth. The other official USSR newspaper was (Izsvestia), which means news.

A running joke among Russians during the last few decades of the Soviet Union: "In Pravda, there is no izvestia, in Isvestia, there is no pravda". Both papers are still in existence today, although in altered format. The running joke still applies.

Fair and balanced! Fair and balanced!

(Repeat until liberal heads start exploding)

Three points:

Yes, newspapers and magazines have deteriorated in recent years. Everything having to do with print or media publishing has deteriorated in recent years. A large part of the blame is the electronic workspace. No one has the editorial, proofreading and fact checking staff they used to have. Those people retired or were fired years ago...because of the second point:

The internet has taken the most important revenue sources: local firms got killed by the big box stores which advertised are now being killed by e-commerce. Personal ads (formerly a surprisingly large part of newspaper revenues) have gone to ebay or craigslist. We all know what's happening to the local auto dealers. The remaining big advertisers no longer are captives of the newspapers and media -- they can now advertise directly to consumers via web ads and email...which leads to the third point:

The very best journalistic talent was always limited...and didn't necessarily come from the journalism schools. The talent will not disappear but may end up in other professions. There is no way that they will be adequately compensated by print mediaand there's no job security anymore.

No internet tax can rescue the situation. Free speech funded by or beholden to the government is government speech.

I used to read four major newspapers a day. I'm down to two. I find myself looking forward mostly to the funnies, which I can easily read online and might even pay for if they weren't DRMed to death. If the newspapers tollgate their content, I won't read it.

Some new business model will arise, count on it. Freedom of the press belongs to those that have one. Now, everyone does.

Don't cry for the news media and don't rescue them. Keep the government the hell out of the news business.

All rights are "legal fictions". Without law, the only rights you would have are the old fahioned rights: the right to kill, loot, destroy, take, rape and pillage (assuming your private army was competent) or conversely the right to be a victim of others 'rights'. If you think I'm being facetious, travel to one of the 'failed' states in the world -- they have killed all their lawyers and judges and live in a state of primal happiness. Be sure to update yoiur will before you go.

Or better yet, go live in Saudi Arabia: No law but how the local mullah interprets the Koran on that particular day, no precedent, no lawyers, no judges, you plead your own case and the verdict is nonappealable. No insurance, either, so if you hit someone with your car and don't have a lot of friends and family, you're toast. Ah, the joys of a simple world without lawyers.

Corporations as we know them today did not exist in Jefferson's day. Until late in the 19th century, the only way a corporation could be formed was through a legislative act granting a charter. That meant that only the biggest and/or most politically connected enterprises could obtain the limited liability and other rights of corporate existence. Today, anyone can form a corporation by filing papers and paying a fee.

Peer reviewed journals have problems too. There have been several well documented hoaxes perpetrated in peer reviewed journals -- only some of which were intended to illustrate how easy it is to get published. (You could look it up in wikipedia!)

The cause is a common human error - if something SEEMS true and it would take effort to PROVE it true most people will simply assume the truth to be established. Scientists and historians are as likely to do this as anyone even though their professional standards are intended to prevent it. It's the "truthiness" error and everyone does it. Whether wikipedia or traditionally edited encyclopedias are better at detecting falsehood and fact corruption is unknowable. But wikis can be corrected much more quickly and if you use wikipedia as tool rather than a primary source it can be quite a good one.