A democracy that yields sufficient media control to (single) individuals, corporations or foreign nations is basically commiting suicide.
That's just as true when the entity seizing control is the government, such that the entity that control public sentiment and election outcomes is the incumbent administration.
But the question is how much this applies, especially in most western states; there is a huge spectrum between having some government-determined regulation (or funding) for media and a single individual politician being in full control of all media content.
I'd argue that Turkey/Hungary or past-Italy under Berlusconi were all much farther along that spectrum than most western nations right now, US included.