Problems in Mass Media

When i think of media, I tend to look at it in an wildly biased, subjective manner.  I always catch myself thinking, "How is what I am reading, watching, or listening to trying to make me think?"  A lot of times the answer never comes to the forefront because there is a mask covering the hidden intentions of the media.  However, also, there are a lot of times where you can see how media is trying to make you think in a certain way about a subject.  A great example is political propaganda.  During election time you see a lot of commercials that say great things about a candidate.  These usually come from within the party.  Then there are other commercials that show the ugly side of the candidate and their inability to properly govern or lead certain groups or events.  Perfect example: Senator Barack Obama was the Chairman of a committee that oversaw the operations going on in Iraq.  That committee supposedly never convened.  Purpose of the commercial: Show Obama's ineptness at properly leading.  These kind of commercials and other types of filtering information in media is what's wrong with mass media.  These problems cause individuals to only be given one side of the story.  In my opinion, I see media as a medium to get a large group of people to act, think, or behave in a certain way.  These three things are all affected by what you see on television, hear on the radio, or read in the internet.  The filtering of content causes us only to see one side of the spectrum when in reality there are many others.  Another problem with mass media is that is it virtually accessable anywhere.  Some might view this as a great thing, it certainly is a great thing for business because you are able to receive stock quotes and share important emails with the firm if you are out of the office.  Conversely, because sports scores, breaking news, and gossip are at your finger tips, it seems to never give you any peace.  It is as if we are connected to our electronics more than we are our own mind.