The news media are both a part and a disseminator of the values of our political culture. The individualistic cultural belief that the best government is limited government underlies the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press. As a by-product of their watchdog role, and as a deliberate result of their portrayal of government officials as untrustworthy, the news media regularly promote this belief. In their watchdog role, the media are expected to view officials and their arguments skeptically, and we need an institutions such as the press to play that role, but a by-product of that role is exacerbation of the political culture's inherent tendency to distrust government institutions and official. When the news media portray citizen-government official confrontations as David versus Goliath battles, their framing of the story biases the audience toward identification with the citizen and antagonism toward the official. Because the individualistic culture is mixed with the moralistic culture in most of the United States, we tend to believe both that politics is a dirty business and that politicians should remain clean. We tend both to expect people involved in political affairs to have moral failings, and to be shocked when we find that a particular politician or government official has succumbed to temptation. In their portrayal of politicians and government officials, the media participate in this cultural cognitive dissonance. And in broadcasting their corrupt politician story line, they extend the reach of that dissonance among members of our society.

Quote by Larry S. Luton in "The Politics of Garbage