Ethos2011/I

Himself - Host:
Media influence on public opinion has been studied for many years now. We know for example that the media often play what's called an agenda setting role. Public concern about issues tends to follow media coverage of those issues, rather than any changes in the real world." "The media create the impression of the American public has a real choice. You could choose Bush or you could choose Gore, the implication being that they are both very different. But on substantive budgetary or economic issues, the differences between them are really on the margins. Both leading Democrats and Republicans support a privatized health care system, they support corporate-backed global trade agreements, they support maintaining a co-board defense budget, and they generally favor the interests of big business.

Himself - Host:
But the media give the impression that Democrats and Republicans represent a broad range of opinion by focusing on civil liberty non-monetary issues like gay rights or abortion, where Democrats and Republicans really do differ. And this masks the degree of the lead consensus.