When I first joined the web community in 1999, surveys showed that 42% of Americans "got their news from alternative sources"- like the web and talk radio.
( OK, I also presume this means wackier sources, as well....)
A few months later that crept up to 47%, and the last time I heard anything about it ( over a year ago ) it had passed 50%.
I have often said we are in an "Info War"- a conflict of ideas- with those who want less freedom for and more control over, the average citizen.
We have lost any number of skirmishes- the ubiquitousness of the term "hate crime" come to mind- but the battle is far from over.
One of the most critical first steps to winning over the public is simply introducing them to conservative or Libertarian concepts, free of the sneering bias of the mainstream media- both the news and entertainment arms of it.
The web, and talk radio, are making incursions into the realm of ideas. It's slow, and the pervasiveness of propaganda from the TV-dominated culture is hard to overcome, but I do see signs that progess is being made.