There is little doubt that there is a serious problem with the content of theprint and broadcast media in India today. Apart from the fact that more and moretime and space of the media is devoted to carrying commercial advertisements,much of the remaining content too has become trivial, inane, and debasing,essentially containing violence, sex and gossip meant to titillate and serve thebaser instincts of the audience. Even most news channels and newspapers havebeen reduced essentially to purveyors of salacious gossip with meaningful newsbeing carried only in snippets and sound bytes. Though the media says that it ismerely catering to public taste, the fact is that this kind of content isdebasing public taste and values, dulling intelligence and making people moreamenable to propaganda. And when this debasement of taste and values is coupledwith media consolidation and monopolies, as in the U.S. where just five mediacompanies control more than 90% of all television, newspapers, publishing housesand even movie companies, you have a situation where, as Chomsky says, it iseasy to "manufacture consent" and reduce democracy to a farce.