ATS opinion on the media, please!

I am a media student and obviously also an ATS fan! As such I would really like to hear what people here think of the media!

All opinions are most welcome! The more there are and the more varied they are the better!

The media is such a powerful and widespread source of information that all that claim to seek the truth should very seriously look into this!

The irony is that I am learning about the media in an institution (university) that is funded and controlled by precisely the same people that have the most interest in controlling information! Just to explain how this can be... Most media courses are practically based, meaning camera work and all other "useful" stuff to allow you to get a job in the media. My particular course is one at Goldsmiths college, Uni of London which is notoriously left wing. Thus, my course is not only leftish but also part of a "new"(actually REALLY starts in the 60s...) wave in cultural studies aimed at dethroning establishment information control!

Phew! Anyway, my first lecture or class was a short film of Chomsky explaining that "without the media controlling the minds of the masses, there can be no democracy..."!! Just to give an idea of the angle I am coming from!

So personally I believe that because the media sometimes completely fabricates and sometimes only gives half the story ( which is also a lie! ) and only very rarely broadcasts something "untouched", the media is truly to be taken with a massive mammoth pinch of salt!!

So what do you all think? Thanks in advance!!