I'm reluctant to infer too much from this sound bite quote. He could have simply meant that he wasn't willing to stoop to pandering to the lowest common denominator. I think we should keep in mind that during Salant's tenure, CBS News was respected as a balanced, fair source for the news. Every media venue has to make decisions about what to present based on the time available and the stories competing for attention.

Whoa, Waffler, you're confusing Sinclair Lewis with Upton Sinclair. Sinclair Lewis did not write The Jungle. He wrote Babbitt, Main Street, and It Can't Happen Here. Lewis may have had a lot of contempt for middle class smugness, but he also had a lot of contempt for socialism. The two men were anything but allies in the area of social reform. It Can't Happen Here is peppered with nasty barbs citing Upton Sinclair by name.

Independent from what? In Swinton's case, he was lamenting that the employees of the newspaper had to align their editorials with the perspective of the owner of the paper. He went on to found his own paper, espousing his own views, and I'm willing to bet he gave short shrift to any opposing views. I don't see the situation being all that different today. In fact, it seems that smaller media venues are far more likely to be extremist in their outlook than larger ones, which are compelled to be moderately balanced to maintain their market share. But what does this have to do with independence? What does it have to with truth?