While I would certainly prefer that the media as an entity was straightforward, honest, fair-minded and operated for the good of humankind rather than corporate interests, it is what it is. It represents what it is paid to represent, and if there ever were days in which the media were the servant of the people, they are long gone. We should stop assuming (or pretending) that the media is anything other than heavily biased. In the same vein, we should stop assuming that elections are fair and honest (according to the laws of the land), and start working to make them so. That all said, when we understand that the corporate interests behind both the media and elections are thoroughly corrupt, we will see that the results are "genuine" - true to the interests and motivations of those in power behind them.