Given that the press doesn't have that much freedom in most of the world (even supposedly democratic countries), I think your statement that "everyone already agrees with" these mantras is plainly false.
"Everyone" is a colloquialism meaning "most reasonable people" in this case.
The reality is that there aren't a lot of places where there's anything close to an absolute freedom of speech or the press. America really sticks out as an anomaly there, by having it written into the constitution. If it were really a strong part of a nation's culture, you'd think this wouldn't be so unusual, but it is, and in fact other western nations have laws completely contrary to this to some degree. Just look at the UK, where the truth is not an absolute defense against libel.