Political Economy and the Propaganda Model of Noam Chomsky
Using one of the case studies outlined by Chomsky & Herman in ‘Manufacturing Consent – The Political Economy of the Mass Media’, critically assess the main propositions put forward in their analysis of the mass media. Is the ‘Propaganda Model’ still relevant today?
Noam Chomsky along with Edward Herman has developed the "Propaganda Model" of the media works. They helped develop the detailed and sophisticated analysis of how the wealthy and powerful use the media to propagandise their own interests behind a mask of objective news reporting. Herman and Chomsky expound this analysis in their book ‘Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media’. In their 1988 book, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s ‘propaganda model’ argues that there are 5 classes of 'filters' in society which determine what is 'news'; in other words, what gets broadcast by radio or printed in newspapers and shown on television. Herman and Chomsky's model also explains how dissent from the mainstream is given little, or zero, coverage, while governments and big business gain easy access to the public in order to convey their state-corporate messages. Noam Chomsky has been engaged in political activism most of his life; he spoke up firstly about the media coverage of Nicaragua. July 19, 1979 - the leftist Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN/Sandinistas) rolled into Managua, Nicaragua leader of the insurrection that had finally succeeded in overthrowing the dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Then there was the election in 1984. The American coverage for the elections in Nicaragua and el Salvador are a key aspect which Chomsky and Herman cover in Manufacturing Consent, and one which Chomsky spoke of on many occasions. The media covered both elections in both countries simultaneously the American media condemned the outcome of the election in Nicaragua as a “soviet sham” because the new Nicaraguan government were against the American puppet government and were a more
Noam Chomsky along with Edward Herman has developed the "Propaganda Model" of the media works. They helped develop the detailed and sophisticated analysis of how the wealthy and powerful use the media to propagandise their own interests behind a mask of objective news reporting. Herman and Chomsky expound this analysis in their book ‘Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media’. In their 1988 book, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s ‘propaganda model’ argues that there are 5 classes of 'filters' in society which determine what is 'news'; in other words, what gets broadcast by radio or printed in newspapers and shown on television. Herman and Chomsky's model also explains how dissent from the mainstream is given little, or zero, coverage, while governments and big business gain easy access to the public in order to convey their state-corporate messages. Noam Chomsky has been engaged in political activism most of his life; he spoke up firstly about the media coverage of Nicaragua. July 19, 1979 - the leftist Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN/Sandinistas) rolled into Managua, Nicaragua leader of the insurrection that had finally succeeded in overthrowing the dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Then there was the election in 1984. The American coverage for the elections in Nicaragua and el Salvador are a key aspect which Chomsky and Herman cover in Manufacturing Consent, and one which Chomsky spoke of on many occasions. The media covered both elections in both countries simultaneously the American media condemned the outcome of the election in Nicaragua as a “soviet sham” because the new Nicaraguan government were against the American puppet government and were a more