How Media Affects People's View of the Government

The media is powerful, but just how powerful is it? In George Orwell's 1984, the tyrannical ruling party makes effective use of the media to portray itself as the omnipresent and benevolent Big Brother, sedating the population into subservience. But is this situation really plausible? In order to test this, one would have to set up a number of blind tests in which the individuals are shown different news reels on matters relevent to the government (ie speeches, foreign policy, ect.), and then asked to form an opinion on the government in question. Would they have a better opinion of a government if they were only shown positive news reels? Would they react vehemently towards a government that was shown commiting atrocities? Could their opinions be bent from one side to the other? I believe the results will confirm that the media does have a powerful impact. However, the nature of that impact will likely vary from person to person. Perhaps some people would be skeptic and shrug the positive reels off as propaganda, or vice versa. I have little doubt in my mind, though, that the media is an incredibly powerful weapon. As the proverb goes, the pen is mightier than the sword.