How does your media usage function with picture in your head?

I believe reality is limited through the media because the only thing we know about an event is by what the news tells us. We base our opinions on what someone else tells us and this persuades us to think like them. News reporters can report only what suits their purpose because they have the power to make the public see an event as they want us to see it, therefore limiting our reality. A good example is George Bush’s state of the union address, he sugarcoated the war making it seem as if things are not as bad in Iraq as they really are. I believe that if you engage in more and different types of media, then your reality may become clearer. If you watch the news, read about the event in the newspaper and then read about it on the Internet, you can learn more about the event and fill in some blank spaces that you may have. If you analyze messages, the medium and gatekeepers critically you become less open minded. If you don’t like the person who is writing or speaking about an event then you automatically don’t want to listen or agree with what they have to say. Lastly, I have many stereotypes in my head about the media. Some are that the news is always negative (I think there may be some truth to this though), that newspapers are boring and for older people and that videogames make children violent. My goal is to start looking past these stereotypes and broadening my media usage.