I saw something interesting recently on Democracy Now. It was a documentary based on a book, Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman.

It claims that big newspapers like the NYT and Washington Post shapes public opinion they way they want as per the corporations that advertize and support the paper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent:_Noam_Chomsky_and_the_Media

I am under the impression that many mudcatters belive that government is run by corporations and newspapers like the NYT and the Washington Post are the only thing exposing what the government is doing and keeping it in check.

So which way is it?