> Early automobiles were unreliable and dangerous compared to horse-drawn transport

People have forgotten that a lot of people were killed by horses. Cities had to deal with vast quantities of manure and horse corpses. Horses knew they were slaves and you always had to be careful around them. Horses are expensive and required daily maintenance.

> The internet degraded editorial standards

I'm not so sure about those editorial standards. The internet has revealed that there's a lot of propaganda in the newspaper editorials.