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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 2, 2024

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Almost anything can impact the outcome of elections in such a scenario

Which certainly would explain why the sitting government would want to tip the scales so that the odds are generally more in favor of news that helps them coming out whilst stories that hurt them are more likely to be suppressed.

Literally, you're suggesting that even a tiny bit of thumb on the scales would be all it takes to, tip most otherwise stochastic elections towards the party with power to influence the media.

Well yes, it can be a factor. But then, lots of things can be factors. The original question asked:

Are we entering an era where elections are mostly decided based on corporate censorship?

Which is still a resounding "not really", same as it's always been. It's like asking if the media alone can start wars. If you squint, you can sort of see it, but you'd have to ignore a lot of other factors first if you wanted to declare it was "mostly decided" by the media (or censorship thereof).