Mass Media in Democracy

Media serves the purpose of bringing politics to the average voter. With such a large country as the U.S., I think the quantity of media matters more than the quality of it. With more information out there, one way or another the truth will find its way to the 340 million or so legal residents. Now a lot of other people have mentioned that a few corporations controlling ALL media bothers them, because then the information they can view is selected for them without their knowledge. I agree this isn't the greatest interpretation of "freedom of the press," but come on. Is the media lying to us more than any other politician? Did Fox News lie about WMDs in Iraq, or did the government? Mass media DOES serve a purpose in democracy because it gives free access to any and all information available. But that doesn't mean the information is handed out for free. Democracy doesn't rely on the press, it relies on the PEOPLE to get off their asses and DO something. So don't be so quick to judge the corporations so harshly. Yeah they have an agenda, yeah they may be crooked, and yeah they might hide certain information. But that information is still out there. So if a citizen watches something on Fox or MSNBC and says "whether or not I believe what was just said, I feel no need to pursue this any further," THEY are the ones failing democracy, not the media. So I reiterate...don't blame Fox, blame the guy too lazy to find information from numerous sources before he votes.