IDK Chas - I won't argue that there are a lot of people who are shallow consumers and have just fallen in with what they happen to hear in the sources they habituate to, but I'd argue there are still waaay too many folks who know full well their media source is fully slanted but that is its exact attraction to them because they simply don't want to hear the facts that are uncomfortable to their chosen believe system. IOW, on your side are the people you identified as conditioned by media, I'll argue on the other side there are the people who choose the media they consume because they have already made the decision that they want their side, right or wrong and they are not going to hold their side to any standard. Or another way to put is that the RWM machine is as much an affirmation service to folks as it is an information news source. And I suppose to that part you can draw the parallel to media on the left.