Karl Marx was the founder of the Marxist Theory. He believed that media messages should be used for good and not evil. The evil being the "dominant ideology", which can have quite a dangerous influence on the masses.
The Dominant Ideology can be described as ideological forces that pre-determine how our society should function. Marxists believe that powerful insititutions subtly control how we, the masses, conduct our lives within society. Dominant institutions include; the Press/Media, the internet, television, the music industry, tabloids, or abuse or certain social groups i.e. muslims and young people.
Marxists also believe that the media plays a significant in controlling the masses and some would say as an institution it has greater influence on society than religion, politics and the families (nature over nurture). This supposed subtle dominance with which control the masses is also known as hegemonic control.
Hegemony is an ideological concept which was first introduced by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. He believed that the media message culd perform a subtle indoctrination, influecing the manner in the which society viewed the world until the message becomes 'common sense', unchallenged by the masses. Hegemonic control is an acceptance of the 'status quo'.
Examples may include how the media portrays football as a huge sport and broadcasts more so than any other sport. This suggest it is a popular sport and the media is feeding the masses what they want.
Michael Moore the creator of such documentaries as Bowling for Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11 can be seen to challenge hegemony as he questions certain conspiracies not just feeding the masses a bunch of lies to cover anything up.
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