for that matter

Hi,

Could anyone help me with the clause in brackets? I am not sure what it means:

The invocation of the media-society dichotomy is placing severe limits on what sorts of questions can be asked about the news in our society (or, for that matter, just how democratic our society is in the first place).

Thanks in advance.

Mei

[Tdol]

The invocation of the media-society dichotomy is placing severe limits on what sorts of questions can be asked about the news in our society (or, for that matter, just how democratic our society is in the first place).

Here, it is a way of introducing a related and, quite possibly, more important topic. It is similar in meaning to 'what is more' with an element of 'by the way'.