By representing themselves as a system [the mass media] generates boundaries with an inside and an outside that is inaccessible to them. They too reflect [or represent] their outside as public life, so long as specific external relationships, such as to politics or to the advertisers, are not in question.

p. 106 as cited in: John Downin (2004) The SAGE Handbook of Media Studies. p. 234 - The reality of the Mass Media (2000)