How do special interest group and mass media influence democracy public opinion and the political process in America?

Basically people are lazy and aren't willing to do their own research on issues. They therefore get their news and views primarily from TV, newspapers, magazines and friends/family (who got theirs from the same sources). Few people think critically about what they are told/read and the various news media tend to be biased one way or another politically/ideologically (largely because of the ideology of the individuals or interest groups that fund the media company) so all stories have a bias.

You only have to be involved/knowledgeable about a few issues covered by the press to recognize that EVERY story makes errors or slants the facts a bit one way or another, and SOME are ouright misleading and untrue. A perfect example is Fox News who have one of the highest incidence of misleading reporting of all media.

The inevitable result is that most people form views and opinions based on their basic ideology and biased reporting. A few people are more critical and are willing to cut through the conflicting views and form their own opinions based on the facts, not second hand pundit's views.

It's not difficult to see how -- if the majority get views and opinions from the press / media -- the media has a major influence on democracy.

:)