The SOPA debate was hardly a controversial topic for HN/Reddit.
Websites like Reddit definitely have great content, but as parent commenter pointed out, this content is necessarily the kind of content that appeals to the average user, and there is no room for outliers.
I suppose that's true, but they have liberated topics that would have otherwise been ignored by larger media companies.
I think the Amazon model for deciding is still a better sample of an audience than a bunch of grey-haired men sitting around a board-room table whose first question is "will this be profitable?"
