[Steve,]

Noam Chomsky has written effectively on this subject. Manufacturing Consent sets forth the proposition that the "free" press is actually the mouthpiece of a distinct minority of the population, and that it is this minority that quite literally manufactures the political self-image of the population. The free press, in other words, is an example of, rather than a foil to, a government of the few. There does not seem a way around it.

The only reliable foil to despotism is an educated population. That is, the only reliable manner in which popular opinion can be secured against the whim of a few savvy dictators is by widespread training in the art of questioning (i.e., the art of demanding analytic rigor and justification). The facts will always be filtered: we can not all be pure witnesses to all events of consequence. However, the explanation of the facts or the government's response thereto can always be subject to critique. And critique has a potent capacity for unveiling latent improprieties in the presentation of governmental motives. Such improprieties, once unveiled, have an astonishing capacity to disrupt otherwise favorable opinion. The critique itself, however, ought to be practiced at the most local levels. Otherwise it is merely another "gloss" offered by authoritative voices rather than authentic dialectical analysis.

David