The author starts his explanation by using the recent media disclosure in the Guardian about the confessions of an Iraqi exile, code-named "Curveball", who gave false information eight years ago to the CIA regarding weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Saddam Hussein. This was a major lie that was widely and uncritically disseminated in the Western press and used by the Empire to launch its invasion of Iraq.
He uses this illustration to develop his thesis that...
“...the media cannot fulfil the function of watchdog of power, because in fact it is power. It is the power of the globalised elite to control and limit the ideological and imaginative horizons of the media’s readers and viewers.”He concludes this excellent essay by holding out hope for the new media of WikiLeaks, and presumably, independent online reporting and information that is disseminated over social networking media.
I think he is too hopeful because it appears that he doesn't really understand the crucial role of propaganda to insure the vital interests of capitalists. The latter must control and shape information in order to maintain the system of capitalism which provides this tiny minority with so much power and wealth. Already we are seeing signs that the ruling class will be making strenuous efforts to control and contain this new media. (See this.)
Thus, he misses the most crucial point of all: only the destruction of this system will allow the free flow of reasonably honest information, a world free of war crimes, the possibilities of social justice, and most important of all, the possibility of creating an economic system that can sustain human life within the limits of the Earth's ecosystem.
Could it be that Cook is also constrained by the same "power of the globalised elite to control and limit" his own imagination?