Since before I can remember, I have heard people talk about how opinionated American news was. But with Barstow and Stein's New York Times Article, I am starting to believe it. I have been told to watch foreign news such as BBC, as they broadcast news showing the world's perspective. Barstow and Stein make this seem like a very appealing alternative. What these two men do in their article is expose to readers the influence of government on the news, and therefore the influence of government on the General public's morale. Both major and minor news stations are taking money from government agencies in return for broadcasting rigged interviews and reports that are biased in the agency's favor. The reporters are required to state that they are reporting for a certain department, but that is often edited out. This act could possibly be influencing other types of media as well, which relates back to Carr's article.

Carr stated that today's media is "making us stupid", and this article is backing that up. But this article digs deeper. It tells us not that we are lazy, but that the opinions we are given are simply influenced by unnamed government departments, and for that reason media is making us stupid. The public is thinking less for themselves, and more about what the government is paying news stations to tell us. Millions of Americans trust and rely on their news, and now we are being told that it is very possible that any report could be made up to misguide us.

An example of this act is evident in the case of Karen Ryan, a news reporter known for giving a multitude of news reports paid for by the government. She has appeared in several of Bush's paid public relations reports, such as those on promoting a Medicare bill. The Bush Administration spent $254 million on public relations activities such as this. With such a huge amount of money spent on trying to influence the public, it makes you wonder what else you are being persuaded into.

I found the article informative and valuable. I know now that anything in the media could be made up by the government to gain support from myself and other Americans. People should keep this in mind. They should not take opinions from the news as worthy of all their attention. People should be taking information they hear only as suggestions, or else the media "will make us stupid". We cannot be transformed into a world such as the one in Brave New World. The United States was created with preserving man's ideas in mind, so that an entire nation may decide on its own, and prepackaged TV news may very well overcome that if we are not careful.