The press is paid to spread their particular message rather than to spread the truth. This is true, to a greater or lesser degree, even of the mass media in the most democratic of countries such as the United States of America. The countrywide hysteria after the 9/11 attacks is a case in point. President Bush used both the emotional state of his fellow Americans and the power of the mass media to justify his destructive "War on Terrorism." On the other hand, one cannot deny that truth and democracy do at times triumph with the occasional integrity in reporting. An increasing number of reporters have become forefront fighters for democracy and freedom in the press, particularly in American politics. These cases are however in the minority.

To therefore claim that the mass media is predominantly functional, always revealing the truth by democratic and free communication, is hardly accurate. Society is too willing to believe, follow and observe what they are asked to believe. Too readily does society succumb to the lures of clever...

Instead, I believe that power, politics and money play a far more powerful role in the collective consciousness of society. A significant amount of social and individual evolution will have to take place if we are to overcome the spectacular seduction offered by media that are more often than not bought by the highest bidder.
Sources

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. (2007, Feb 13). Hong Kong's Democratic Reform - an Unexpected Path? http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail&id=958&prog=zch

Lasswell, Harold D. "The Structure and Function of Communication in Society," in Wilbur. Schramm, ed., Mass Communications (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1960), pp. 117-1303.