As the media gains ever more access to our homes it becomes ever more used a tool of 'the powers that be'. It is used to beam 'real life' events directly into our homes, such as the Iraq and Afganistan conflicts. Governments rely on the institutions of the media which we trust so implicitly to convey a message about the state of the world, and our place as law abiding, 'anti-terrorist' westerners in it.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton summed up the way in which media control has always, and continues to work when he said;

"We may say broadly that free thought is the best of all safe-guards against freedom. Managed in a modern style, the emancipation of the slave's mind is the best way of preventing the emancipation of the slave. Teach him about whether he wants to be free and he will not free himself"

It can be seen that if we are presented with the notion that our freedom and safety are under threat, we will be so fearful that we will support anything, even if the cause is a wrong and unjust one. This ability the media has to control us is more prevalent now than it ever has been in western society.