I fall in between your two opinions. There are tons of quality sites out there, but they take a little bit of effort to find. That effort seems to be just enough to bias postings on reddit, hubski, facebook and probably every other large social media site heavily in favor of a handful of massive sources. Just check how many top-rated submissions are from The Atlantic, HuffPo, The Guardian, BBC or PBS. There have been a few interesting posts in /r/TheoryOfReddit recently with stats to back this up. It takes a concerted effort on the part of an online community - or a good blocking feature, thank you hubski! - to keep from being flooded by the same news that's already getting exposure everywhere else.
Very true re: your opinion on blogs/websites. The world of podcasts and YouTube channels are a different story. Almost all of the best content for both are provided by "grassroots" entities. Especially on YouTube. Everything from The Young Turks (politics) to VSauce (science) is being dominated by people who started with no institutional support and have remained successful as independent entities.