How does mass media reflect a political system globally?

You can see a lot about about a country's politics by looking at their mass media. The media reflects how liberal or conservative, how free or oppressed a country is. The amount of freedom the mass media has mirrors the amount of freedom the people have. If the government of a country has control over the media, the people of that country are not receiving the truth. Mass media that is censored, reflects a government that is aiming to keep it's people in the dark. Censorship and lies in the mass media reflects a political system with corruption. Openness and truth reflects a country that is free and just.
Countries whose government controls the media are generally authoritarian governments. In an authoritarian political system the government has control of everything, including the media. Mass media in countries like China and North Korea suffers from extreme control by the government. The mass media is extremely censored, and so by the time the mass media gets a story to the people, it has probably been changed in one way or another by the government. Countries like China and North Korea are proof that government involvement with the mass media is dangerous. If the government does not want the public to know about a certain event, they make sure the mass media lies about it or does not report on it. In china atrocities such as Tienanmen square have gone undocumented and were not even reported on because the government has complete control. People are shielded from events that are going on in their own country, and the government uses the mass media as a way to send the messages they want to send. In a society where the government controls the mass media, they do not have news they have propaganda. The media's subservient to the government reflects a subservience of the people to the government.
The mass media in these countries is very different from the mass media in our country. In the U.S the mass media is expected to be a watchdog for the government. A journalist's job is to expose corruption in politics, and reporters are praised for looking into government activity and sharing problems in the government openly with the public. In the U.S, we are lucky enough to have the mass media protected by the first amendment, and the government is very accepting of the media's role as the fourth estate. The U.S is an example of a libertarianism political system, and the goals and values of our government are reflected in the mass media. The press is entitled to freedom of speech, and is expected to report on events involving the government, no matter how bad they may be. This reflects the American goal of "liberty and justice for all."