The Propaganda Model

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The Propaganda Model

• Based on Manufacturing Consent, by Edward S.
  Herman and Noam Chomsky

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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

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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
4
They continue by claiming that,
What is not evident (and remains undiscussed in
the media) is the limited nature of such
critiques. p.2
5
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
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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
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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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 1960s (p. xxx)?
• Reporting of genocide by enemy states, but not
  by the United States or U.S. client states. (p.
  xix)?

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