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Allow me to comment on Jennifer Harper's take away from a recent PEJ study of big journalism's waning presence in DC.

The researchers theorized that it was a shift in the "balance of information," away from heartland America and into the proverbial marble halls of power.

It seems just the opposite to me. The disintegration of Franklin Roosevelt's monolithic propaganda infrastructure ought to favor Republicanism with a return of political power to state party structures.

PEJ enumerates several fears in its study.

As New York Times Washington Bureau Chief Dean Baquet put it, "It concentrates knowledge in the hands of those who want to influence votes. It means [for example] the lobbyist knows more about Senator [Richard] Shelby than the people of Alabama. That’s not good for democracy." ...

Among the findings:

A significant decline in the reporting power of mainstream media.
The decline in mainstream press has been nearly matched by a sharp growth among more narrowly focused special interest or niche media.
A marked jump in foreign media now represented in Washington.

PEJ betrays its own big journalism blinders by failing to acknowledge new media's ascendancy in holding the politically powerful accountable.