ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the role of government in relation to media, the professionalism of media practitioners, and the need for constant criticism of commercial culture. Judgments about media are best left to those who create their content. But journalists have no consensus on what constitutes professional responsibility, and the very idea of professionalism cannot be applied to the field of entertainment, which makes up most of media content. Media lack the kind of continuing intelligent public criticism that maintains the practitioners' sense of responsibility. Audiences would not get smaller if all media raised their sights, but there is no practical possibility that their managements would be responsible enough to do so. The media system is too important to be left to chance. It should be in the spotlight of public attention. Serious efforts should be made to coordinate policies that are now made separately by different branches of government.
