Glenn Reynolds spots something intriguing:

"RASMUSSEN: 55% of Colorado Voters Favor Immigration Law Like Arizona's. Once again, I think this is a sign of media-narrative weakness, given the overwhelmingly negative coverage given to Arizona's law."

That's a very good point. I can't remember seeing an issue like this where media was so against and public was still for it.

Over the past 20 years, there have been two conflicting trends - while legacy media circulation/viewing was declining, their influence was actually growing because (much like the telephony market) while the Internet didn't generate as much revenue-per-bit it did vastly increase the number of bits reaching end users. I would bet the average proportion of the population who is likely to see a given NYT op-ed is considerably higher today than in 1970 - but somewhat lower than in 2005, because recently the legacy media losses have started to become as much a function of readers selecting viewpoints as choosing electronic media over print. Notice the WSJ was the only print media to add subscribers last cycle and is actively moving to compete with the NYT, PJM seems to be doing well, and Fox's domination of cable news has become so ridiculous they now vie with USA for the top ratings in all of cable.

Have we now reached a point where the power of legacy media left-liberals is beginning to collapse to the point they no longer affect public opinion much? This could be a watershed moment.

I suspect viewpoint selection in news consumption is self-reinforcing, i.e. as people right of center begin to realize the MSM leans left they increasingly stop utilizing it. Since developing political opinions (there is, apparently, no cure for this condition, only palliative care), I rarely ever watch local Chicago TV news anymore, because it's always like it was the 5 minutes I watched after last night's Lakers game: glowing coverage of gun control efforts, a new nanny-state initiative, vague cluck-clucking about how the economy is forcing people to turn to crime, the identity politics crisis du jour, and all with subpar production values, even in a major metro area.