I have to say that I disagree, from my experience I believe many people are not able to distinguish a news report from an editorial opinion, when you hear someone throwing out their opinion to you over and over if you think about what they are doing well, they are telling you what to think.  If you say something enough to the public through television, newspapers, etc. a lot of people are going to eventually believe it regardless if the author or network is being objective (Usually not the case) or not.  (example Bush Administration - every hear him say "The Evil Terrorists, Iraq, WMD's etc."  They were said enough times that the masses were effectively told what to think, so then people just take in this produced reality which then shapes their broader reality.  Sure  it would be better if the entire country was highly educated and had the ability to critically think about every issue presented to them and could effectively deconstruct the media format being presented to them, and don't get me wrong there are a lot of people like that out there, but when you look at the American culture from a holistic perspective I believe this is not the case.  I think that paying attention to the media and thinking critically about issues is VERY important.  Think about what is being presented to you, what motives might be behind it, what do they want from you, others, themselves?  You can't just say oh this is just a bunch of crap and ignore these details, because like it or not, it's there, the moment you bury your head in the sand, you as an individual lose all your power and are being effectively controlled.