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McChesney, 1997. pg. 142) In what Bagdikian might call the best atmosphere for selling' (Bagdikian, 2004. pg. 241), U.S commercial television becomes just another asset for the major corporations to make more money, going against the values' of public service. Since corporations like Whitehall laboratories who make headache tablets demand that any scene depicting someone taking a bottle of pills to commit suicide is unacceptable, the entire ethos of television becomes one selling machine. Through its ideological tuning it is creating a need' for something that is simply not required. As Jerry Mander states, the advertisers sell soaps, detergents, cosmetics, drugs, chemicals, processed foods, tobacco, alcohol, cars and sodas, all of which exist in the realm beyond need. If they were needed, they would not be advertised.' (Mander, 1978. pg 210) It becomes the commercial network's duty to keep the flow of money coming in, and therefore they effectively prepare society to be consumers. The flow of cultural artefacts from these pop culture giants becomes of increasing importance in the general cultural environment.' (Herman, McChesney, 1997. pg. 143)

A counter argument against the power of commercial television has to be considered, and given Herman and McChesney's ideas about commercial television being detrimental to the public sphere', it is here that one might be found. (Herman, McChesney, 1997. pg. 137) They believe, for example, that if violence and sex sell well, they will be heavily employed in programming under competitive market conditions even if their consequences may be socially detrimental.' (ibid.) They claim that any positive influences on society that television may be able to provide are externalities to private owners, who cannot capture revenue from these social benefits and therefore do not take them into account in programming.' (ibid.) However since violent crime rates have been falling in the United States for a decade, and rates of teen sexual activity and pregnancy have fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s' , this could example the idea that Herman and McChesney focus too much blame on to commercial television (Bailey, 2004). Bailey goes on to say that children on average are watching slightly less television yet their weight is increasing, and average IQ's have been soaring along with TV viewing for decades.' This suggests that commercial television is not the all-encapsulating cultural power that is implied. If sex and violence sell,

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