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The role the media has to play is the repetitive drilling and brainwashing of an audience and institutionalizing these "standards" of beauty which are then reinforced in daily societal interactions
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You can't make a statement like that without admitting that you've got a chip on your shoulder towards the media.
The 'media' is loosely a group of media conglomerates with very little agenda beyond making money. The photographers, film makers, reporters, writers, editors and producers are ultimately doing what they do because it is favorable to do so and thus earns money. If they were truly "drilling and brainwashing an audience" and "institutionalizing standards" I doubt that the (albeit mostly ignorant) populace would be so easily deluded. They're able to do what they do because there are people who enjoy knowing what britney shaved yesterday, what's "hot" and what's "not," and what the 30 NEW tips on "how to please your man" are.
If you blame the media (those who produce it) then you've got to equally blame the consumers (those who use it), because they're the ones
LETTING themselves be 'drilled,' 'brainwashed,' and 'institutionalized.'
The idea that we're helpless servants of the powerful media is counterproductive to the process of breaking these social norms, because it is only by defiance (and lack of consumption) that the media changes.