Media should inform, promote real critical thinking, not mindless pro-con debates

Too much lately, I have seen the vast media, including newsprint, tv broadcasters, cable, and now what is passed for news on internet blogs and opinion pieces, and special interests pieces on the web, too much of a bad thing, ie. advocacy pieces that are disguised as the truth, or that accentuate the negative just by  giving their advocates so much space. Coupled with this is the attention to scandals, trivial items or personalities in the news who are put on some type of media pedastal, ie, this week's stories on Palin and her book tour, the Tiger Woods accident, the couple who crashed the White House soiree, the Balloon boy's family, Michael Jackson fixation, etc. etc. ad nauseum.

This is the future of the media? Then this is the end of the American ideal, which is that media should give out the facts, as unglamorous as that is, and that readership, viewership numbers now drive the news, just like it was ET or one of those scandal shows on E News, passing for real investigative, or even basic news stories that inform us about the real issues of the day.

Since most Americans dont read  real news anymore, they are being plied with advocacy topics, and their ability to grasp what is really  happening on the real issues of the day are replaced by soft stories that are repeated over and over on one part of the positive negative debate culture that has been promoted by political handlers and opinion formers that only used to come out every four years. No more.  And democracy, and the US's ability to think critically on what the real issues of the day are,,,is greatly diminished in a dumb down society!

Sad for our future as a world power, and as a democracy!