>It's not unique in this regard, therefore it doesn't matter? Is that your argument?

Yes. Any group that controls information distribution controls what we know about the world. By controlling what we know about the world, they control politics completely. This is axiomatic, there is no way around it, you can't personally observe everything that happens therefore you must have it reported to you. The person or people doing that reporting control your worldview. Google isn't bad for playing a role in that information economy.

>Also, comparing the relative power of newspaper men to Google doesn't make much sense.

You're right, the newspaper and television men of yore were far more powerful than Google is or ever will be. More Americans watched Cronkite than watch all evening network news combined today, and 70% of the people who watched him trusted that his was factual reporting.

No news source in the world today has that kind of trust, definitely not Google.

> Yes. Any group that controls information distribution controls what we know about the world. By controlling what we know about the world, they control politics completely.

I agree, so I want to deny as much information and power to powerful institutions as possible and diversify my relationships with them such that it becomes less likely that any one could become the Kingmaker.