Media, True or Flase?

The video above shows an intepretation of how the mass media can affect people. It begins with a "doll head" that tries to arrange it's face to match the beautiful one shown on the screen. As soon as the doll head finishes matching the beautiful face on the screen, an even more beautiful face appears on the screen as the screen starts moving further away from the doll head, despite this, the doll head extends itself to follow the screen. The video ends with the doll head over extending itself and destroying the mechanism holding it up. This video raises the question of how much we believe the media. Do we believe what they show or tell us to be real? How would we know if the face shown on the television is just a photoshopped picture?

It could also be that belief in the media that we consume is something rooted into us since our youth. Studies show that mass media takes up a large portion of our lives, we're exposed to 8 hours of media per day on average. The over exposure to media could work very much like an agenda setting function, where contiunous mention or flashes of the same thing on a television screen or a radio could lead to belief that what is said or shown is true. That however, is just the beginning. If the media was to tell us that a meteor is heading towards the earth with an impact that could decimate the entire world population, how many of us would actually believe it?

As one of those who consume 8 hours of media a day, I can honestly say that i may believe what the media tells me is true. It is more of a Knee-jerk reaction than anything else, when i was just a little younger than i am now, I believed everything written in my History textbook thinking that it cannot be wrong since it's an academic text. Until i found out straight from my history teacher himself that history can be fabricated, and that it has already been altered into several different versions.

Could it be that the Magic bullet theory of media having a strong influence on the general populace is true?
Many of the things we currently believe may also be a fabrication of the media, so how do we actually confirm that what we know is right? Do we ask our friends and family?

What are your views?