What do we really mean by independent?

I am now totally confused by what we mean by independent, especially when it comes to the media. It now looks that the meaning of independent has been reduced to mean anything in which the government does not have a stake. Or are we confusing independent and privately-owned?

I looked for what independent really means, according to the dictionary and here is what I got.

• “Fair because of not being influenced by anyone else.
• Ruled by its own government, rather than controlled by another country.
• Not belonging to any political party.
• Not employed or controlled by a company.
• Not depending on other people for help, or preferring to do things by yourself
• Not depending on other people for money.
• Not connected with or joined to anything else.”

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