Rather than being an unbiased medium for the communication of information, the U.S. media plays an intricate role in shaping and controlling political opinions. Media is extremely powerful in the sense that without an adequately functioning media, it is virtually impossible for a sophisticated social structure like the U.S. Government to exist. All known sophisticated social structures have always been dependent upon the media’s ability to socialize. The U.S. government generally will exploit the media, often times manipulating the enormous power of the printed word. This exploitation ultimately empowers the U.S. government by strengthening it with the ability to determine and control the popular perception of reality.
One way in which government achieves this objective is by misusing the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, the media is in fact an enormous power in society. Separate independent news organizations do not exist for the most part. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of their own, smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media has the characteristics of a hierarchical rule. In order for the U.S. government to control and determine the public’s popular perception of reality, the government must shape and oversee the information that the media reports to the people. This particular process of democracy is known and referred to by political scientists as cognitive socialization. However, most people refer to it as a propaganda machine. Numerous political scientists consider cognitive socialization to be the most effective form of political socialization. According to theory, “cognitive socialization is doctored up information which is strategically fragmented in such a manipulative manner, that