What impact does the media have on society?

I don't personally believe that the media can be trusted. Look at Conrad Black for example. I don't know how many newspapers this guy runs but you can bet your bippy they don't run anything in their newspapers that he doesn't want run. The media today is like a bunch of sharks, always looking for that big story such as the Clinton affair. American's have an image of squeeky clean politicians when in fact when you have reached a certain level in Politics it's impossible to have attained that position without greasing a few hands, or looking the other way in order to achive the goals of being fpr example, a House Leader or being the President of the United States. We Canadians couldn't care less if one of our Politicans has an affair, smoked some dope when he or she was in Colledge. It's what they can do for us now that counts, not what they did in the past. In Canada we often hear the American news accounts of this politician or that one and who is to say that what they print isn't damming in some way. I'd be very surprised if any news media in the USA could be trusted 100%