You should learn about something called free press and specifically the consequences on the societies that have that compared to others. It doesn’t immunize a population against propaganda, but its effects are much more tame. Also free press also means that you can have main stream media that goes against the government’s narrative. This is just not possible everywhere.
Of course we are bombarded by American culture, but science and investigative journalism still exists and where I live, we don’t lock people up for having “bad” beliefs or for simply investigating and sharing ideas.