The Propaganda Model Based on Manufacturing Consent, by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
In a democracy, a properly functioning news media is of paramount importance. What functions should the news media have in a democracy? • Report events objectively as they occur, to allow citizens to make informed political choices • Control governmental abuses of power, through investigative journalism
According to Herman and Chomsky, the US media fail in these respects. In fact, they consider the US media a propaganda system. They compare the system to the propaganda systems of totalitarian states and observe that, “It is much more difficult to see a propaganda system at work where the media are private and formal censorship is absent. This is especially true when the media actively compete, periodically attack and expose corporate and governmental malfeasance, and aggressively portray themselves as spokesmen for free speech and the general community interest. ” p. 1
They continue by claiming that, “What is not evident (and remains undiscussed in the media) is the limited nature of such critiques. ” p. 2
They explain the failure of the US news media with their propaganda model, which “traces the routes by which money and power are able to filter out the news fit to print, marginalize dissent, and allow the government and dominant private interests to get their message across to the public. ” p. 2
The model suggests the existence of a set of news “filters”, which dilute the raw news content into a content that suits the dominant corporate and governmental interests. Financial ownership Funding through advertising Reliance on PR “Flak” “Anti-communism”
To reiterate the five filters one more time: • corporate ownership of the media • financial reliance on advertising • reliance on PR information provided by government and business • “flak” as a means of disciplining the media • “anticommunism” as a control mechanism
FILTER 1: Corporate ownership • The American media is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small number of private companies, owned by wealthy individuals. • The pressures of stockholders, directors and bankers are also powerful forces affecting the content of these companies' media content. • Thus "market-profit-oriented forces" (p. 14) compete with news value.
FILTER 2: Financial reliance on advertising • Advertisers essentially buy and pay for the programs on TV, they are the "patrons". • They tend to choose culturally and politically conservative programs. • Advertisers will want, more generally, to avoid programs with serious complexities and disturbing controversies that interfere with the "buying mood. ”
FILTER 3: Reliance on PR for information • The media have daily news needs, and thus need a steady, reliable source of news material. • Maintaining news reporters at all locations where news may break is not financially viable. • As a result, news organizations become reliant on government PR.
FILTER 4: “Flak” as a means of discipline • Negative responses to media content: phone calls, letters, petitions, law suits, speeches, bills before Congress • From individuals or groups, politicians, government, business • When produced by individuals or groups with large resources, it can be "both uncomfortable and costly" (p. 26) • Advertisers are particularly concerned about flak: link with filter 2
FILTER 5: Anticommunism • Ideology against a common enemy helps "mobilize the populace" (p. 29) • "Fuzzy" (p. 29) concept that can be used against anyone threatening the interests of the financial elite • Downfall of Communism left a gap (the common enemy) that has now been replaced
EXAMPLES Chomsky and Herman give multiple examples of how news media content is in accordance with their model's predictions. For example: • The almost totally unreported US chemical warfare in Indochina during the 1960 s (p. xxx) • Reporting of genocide by “enemy states”, but not by “the United States or U. S. client states. ” (p. xix)
References Herman, Edward S. and Chomsky, Noam (1988) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. New York: Pantheon
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