How does government control of the people in the book relate to today?

It all depends
on your perspective and what you consider the government's motives to be.  If you look at our
public education system and the fact that it ends up discouraging reading and often tells
students how they ought to think about certain books and which ones are worth reading, you can
make the argument that the government isn't all that far off from the one in the book.

The entertainment industry is not an arm of the government, however, or at least not in
anyone's mind except the most ardent conspiracy theorists, so it is hard to square it with the
way that elections and whatnot are staged in the book.  But it certainly plays a role in
"dumbing" things down, again depending on your perspective.