Question of the Week: What is the Impact of Corporate News Media Have on American Culture?

Corporate news affects our culture greatly. Most of what people talk about is some thing they saw on TV: a quote from some show, drama from another, or the biggest news story of the day. Since the media is profit-driven, they try to give us, the consumers, what we want and like. Let's get this straight: I have no problem with this, in and of itself. The problem for me is how do they know what I like? Polling and rating rule what the bosses of different companies decide is newsworthy, what the next hit show is, etc. My problem is that I've never been asked to give my input. If these polls are so scientific, and apparently the programming on TV is what everybody wants, why do I feel like 9 out of 10 things on my TV is a bunch of crap? Where do I sign up to be in these "scientific studies?" Corporate media would work, if only we the consumers gave our input more often, in a more detailed manner and if the media would keep an ear closer to the ground to hear what we actually want in media broadcasting.