Some ways in which the status quo is supported through mainstream media:

• Little attention to ecology and nature (e.g. water depletion and pollution), let alone to the social causes and consequences of ‘environmental’ problems and proactive responses to these
• Dominated through political economy (e.g. company “public relations�? promotional efforts, including their press releases) that is largely concentrated and in the hands of the prominent few
• Often uncritical parroting of representatives of dominant organizations and institutions (e.g. government)
• Favouring audiences who are more privileged (e.g. ‘whiter’), while degrading others (e.g. ‘Arabs,’ who often are presented as terrorists)

...

• Staffed by groups who are more privileged (e.g. masculine)
• Misleading journalistic pretensions to objectivity, understanding, balance, and attention to the ‘news’ that matters most
• Cultivating spectatorship rather than dialogue, critical thinking, and original investigation; telling audiences what to think
• Drawing attention away from local community (e.g. neighbourhood issues); putting distance between people who live near one another
• Encouraging audiences to gawk at celebrities and to become absorbed in media more broadly (e.g. movies)
• Discouraging long-term thinking that takes into account the future (e.g. consumer debt consequences) and the past; adding to an overwhelming rapid societal pace (e.g. by emphasizing ‘news’—if not live ‘news’)

 
Some of the ways in which the status quo is supported through commercial media:

• Concentrating on attracting mass audiences rather than serving the common good—as profits are put before compassion, ethics, respect, and everything else
• Usually ignoring or skimming over unappealing topics (e.g. working conditions)
• Often a lack of in-depth, comprehensive analysis—particularly about anything that is important (e.g. the causes of wars)
• Reinforcing advertising with content surrounding ads (e.g. showing automobiles in a positive or neutral light—without criticism)
• Promoting more and more individualistic consumerism (e.g. preoccupations with clothing that is attractive and/or fashionable)

 
The CBC is a semi-commercial / semi-state media outlet.
PBS is also semi-commercial.

Other mainstream media outlets in Canada and the U.S. are commercial operations.
 
Toban Black
(http://tobanblack.net)