what is the Mainstream Media?

The Omnipotent Poobah asked, "what is mainstream media?", which is a good question. Since I use that term myself, I felt I ought to answer him, so I did. Here's what I said:

The mainstream media is that bunch that's "loving all over Obama" while at the same time telling you how much they're loving all over Obama with the implication that loving all over him is a bad thing. It's the same bunch that's "ignoring" McCain while telling you that it is ignoring him and, unspoken, his many gaffes, blunders, hypocrisies and failings, but without the implication that ignoring those many gaffes, blunders, hypocrisies and failings is a bad thing.

How's this for a definition of "Mainstream Media"? It is any frequently watched news gathering and disseminating organization that places profits before informing its audience. Working within a budget is excusable. Misleading an audience, whether through omission or through outright lies, simply to make a buck is not only unethical, but immoral, and stains the soul of the entire nation.

In America, we've apparently decided that the market is the be-all and end-all. That the practice of self-interest which we call Capitalism will lead us all on to glory. Well, I'm going to have to disagree with that idea.
Capitalism is indeed a wonderful tool. It has brought us progress, it has brought us devices and systems that have lifted us out of the dirt and muck which once was the lot of most, if not all, of us. But it has not brought us civilization. Because if the only thing that motivates us is the self-interest of capitalism, then in what manner are we different from animals?

I dont have an answer about how to make the world a better place, not one that's not obvious anyway. But I do know how to make it a worse one: Place money and power first, and fear anything else which might take even a bit of those two things away from you.