Is this an old Chomsky article or did he write it for the Onion:

http://www.theonion.com/onion3513/the_media.html

               A Well-Informed Populace Is Vital To The Operation Of A
               Democracy

By Noam Chomsky

If America is to have any hope of one day becoming a true democracy, its
populace must be better informed. And if this is to happen, the media
must do their part by providing citizens with a more balanced, carefully
considered view of the issues.

      It is a misguided notion that the populace is too busy watching
football and soap operas to care about matters of true import, or that
the apparent complacency of the citizenry stems from simple apathy. Many
Americans read newspapers.  And most of these readers are interested in
the front page, as well as the sports page. But a complex web of
corporate interests, along with a trend toward fewer companies owning
more communications holdings, contributes to a narrowing of views
expressed in the papers of record. If GE owns NBC, and GE stands to make
a huge profit from the sale of war machines, can we count on unbiased
coverage of a U.S. war from NBC? Of course not. But it is just such
unbiased coverage that we desperately need if we as citizens are to
enjoy a true democracy.

      Those who trumpet the supremacy of democracy forget that it is
merely one of many systems that govern the decisions affecting our
lives. Capitalism, our economic system, exerts an equally profound
influence, perhaps greater.  What stricter, more hierarchical system
exists than the modern corporation? No medieval fiefdom of serfs and
lords could match the modern corporation in its rigorous control of the
populace. And though the people sometimes stay quiet, the corporations
never do. They hire lobbyists, fresh from government service, to find
the ears of policymakers.

      To counter the overbearing influence of corporations, the populace
must engage in a vigilant fight with itself to remain educated and
vocal. But they cannot do it alone: The media bear a heavy
responsibility to make the interests of the people--not parent companies
such as GE--their priority when making decisions regarding coverage.

      An unenlightened democracy, ignored by an ill-informed populace
grazing blindly in corporate pastures, is a democracy in name only.