All of what you wrote is true. Sometimes decline in mass media is relative. We loose some radio to get some TV. But I think it is sometimes fair to say that we

All of what you wrote is true. Sometimes decline in mass media is relative. We loose some radio to get some TV. But I think it is sometimes fair to say that we trade something of value for something superficial. Right now, we have unparalleled levels of global surveillance and media centralization plays a key role in it. In the past TV channels and publishers competed with one another. Right now every large website is an unchallenged emperor of its niche. The emperor dies and we get a new one, but it's hardly a free market system. Finally, there are phenomena like Twitter/Reddit hate mobs. The principle is not entirely new, but the scale, pettiness and randomness are unparalleled.