Governments step into the mass media for three reasons: first, it is ideologically and politically helpful for government to use the mass media to communicate with and influence citizens; second, in many cases only the public sector can provide the massive financial outlay required especially as start-up costs where new media technology is initiated; third, government has a moral responsibility to monitor the quality of information, entertainment, culture and education offered. This necessary involvement too often, however, becomes a stranglehold when government sponsorship prohibits the free competition of alternative opinions and programming.