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In the mainstream media you have people who’ve applied to the rules and who know that there are certain things that are not proper to say. They’ve probably been filtered out since their education days. A large part of education is actually based on understanding that there are certain things that are not proper to say and to think. If you do, if you’re too independent, you won’t go very far. That, and to be able to pass some exams after you’ve memorized some “good books” they’ve thrown at you, is education. All according to plan.
Perhaps you’ll learn what wine to drink as well.

The result of this filtering process is an uniformity of ideology in the intellectual culture. The people in the mainstream media are pretty much in agreement, and they believe what they are talking about. That’s very important, because it’s very hard to believe one thing and say another. So these people truly believe what they are saying, and thus they are very obedient to the system. They serve power. Of course, they don’t like to hear that. They want to hear that they question power, which they sometimes do – but only within that chosen framework.

Mass media’s main function seems to be to marginalize as large a part of the population as possible, so they don’t interfere with decision-making. That’s why you get shitty sitcoms, soap operas that never end, endless exploitation articles about Jozef Fritzl, shows about babies with five heads etc etc… Crap that makes you occupied, cut away from thinking for yourself.
Sure, we have media that express different views than those of the business community, but they cannot attract capital, so they won’t live that long. The business community have no problem with that (some Rolex ads and they’re done) and thus they have the real power. Of course, people are interested in “real” issues and would hopefully read Stockholms Fria, Oskorei and Counterpunch, for example, if they knew about it and weren’t distracted by that crap on TV, but there’s no market for that kind of journalism. The market and the money are within the business and entertainment industry, the capitalist industry. Issues that matter to working people are no fun. And again, writing stuff to educate the masses to overthrow the people in power is not good for business, so no money there either. Dissident voices in dissident media are not able to survive in this arena where cash is king.
Still, the dissident voices won’t ever shut up.

For more info on this topic you might want to read Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky.
It’s available in Swedish here and in English here.

Also check these YouTube videos: