I agree no one group has complete control. But before the advent of the internet is was very possible to have significant control of information.
It was also, at least to some degree, and in some subjects, possible to recognize a consensus reality. Myself, I am struggling, and it is a hell of a struggle, to understand and really wrap my head around the meaning of living in a Post Truth era. I feel I need to understand this.
I used to tell people if they wanted to understand the modern world, they needed to understand that we live in the Age of Conspiracy Theories. See all those capital letters? It's because I thought I had stumbled on an important insight, and just as historians speak of an Age of Enlightenment, I thought my insight was a good way to define an age, and defining an age requires capitalizing the description. Lol. Of course, it wasn't really my insight. But I did think it was as good a way as any to decribe the age I lived in.
There is still truth in that observation, methinks, but now it's back to the drawing board for me. The Post Truth Era. Post Truth is dangerous to democracy. I know that much, I think, but I have a long way to go to really understand, and I am not at all sure I am up to the task.
Make fun all you want, doesn't matter.
For the record, I am not making fun of you.