by Glenn Greenwald from Salon.
We don't need a state-run media because our media outlets volunteer for the task: once the U.S. Government decrees that a technique is no longer torture, U.S. media outlets dutifully cease using the term. That compliant behavior makes overtly state-controlled media unnecessary.
Once one understands that the government and the media are just different departments of the Empire ruled by capitalist elites, then it becomes easy to understand the actions of mainstream media.