Pelican

I totally agree with you that the media shapes society as much, at least as much as demand shapes the media. It isn't good enough to say that we get the media we deserve.

It isn't easy to sort out the strands that have come together to create this situation but I do think that it is the emphasis on making a profit at the expense of decent behaviour, that has resulted in the degradation of all of our public institutions, including the media.

There is nothing wrong with making a profit, the way the word 'profit' was understood by the original proponets of capitalism. I am sure that these men did not understand how quickly other men and women would find it convenient to disregard the ethical and moral considerations that they would have thought fundamental to all good men.