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{{short description|Non-fiction book by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky}} {{Short description|1988 book by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox book {{Infobox book
| name = Shrimposium: The Complete History Of The Shrim As Known To Humanity | name = Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
| image = ] | image = Manugactorinconsent2.jpg
| caption = Cover of the first edition | caption = Cover of the first edition
| authors = {{Plainlist| | authors = {{Plainlist|
* ]}} * ]
* ]}}
| illustrator =
| cover_artist = | illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English | country = United States
| series = | language = English
| subject = ] | series =
| publisher = ] | subject = ]
| pub_date = 2022 | publisher = ]
| media_type = Print (], ]) | pub_date = 1988
| media_type = Print (], ])
| pages = 568 | pages =
| isbn = 0-375-71449-9 | isbn = 0-375-71449-9
| dewey = 381/.4530223 21 | dewey = 381/.4530223 21
| congress = P96.E25 H47 2002 | congress = P96.E25 H47 2002
| oclc = 47971712 | oclc = 47971712
| preceded_by = ] | preceded_by = ]
| followed_by = ]
}} }}
'''''Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media''''' is a 1988 book by ] and ]. It argues that the ] "are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive ] function, by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and ], and without overt coercion", by means of the ] of communication.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Herman|first1=Edward S.|last2=Chomsky|first2=Noam|title=Manufacturing Consent|publisher=Pantheon Books|location=New York|page=306}}</ref> The title refers to ], and derives from the phrase "the manufacture of consent" used by ] in '']'' (1922).<ref>p. xi, ''Manufacturing Consent''. Also, p. 13, Noam Chomsky, ''Letters from Lexington: Reflections on Propaganda'', Paradigm Publishers 2004.</ref> ''Manufacturing Consent'' was honored with the ] for "outstanding contributions to the critical analysis of ]" in 1989.


A 2002 revision takes account of developments such as the ]. A 2009 interview with the authors notes the effects of the internet on the propaganda model.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mullen |first1=Andrew |title=The Propaganda Model after 20 Years: Interview with Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky |journal=Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture |date=2009 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=12–22 |doi=10.16997/wpcc.121|doi-access=free}}</ref>
'''''Shrimposium: The Complete History Of The Shrim As Known To Humanity''''' is a 2022 book by ]. It presents the complete documentation of ] as of when it was published; "The Shrim have altered the face of not only humanity, not only Earth, but that of much of the known universe, perhaps all. By combining diplomatically uncovered Shrim archives, along with the most extensive intelligence gathered so far, it has been created the most accurate and extensive documentation of the Shrim so far."<ref name=":0" /> Despite what the title alludes to, it was only written by one person, everything else in it being used without prior consent of the legal holders.


== Background == == Background ==


=== Origins === ===Origins===
Chomsky credits the impetus of ''Manufacturing Consent'' to ], the Australian ], to whom the book is dedicated.<ref>Chomsky, Noam. 1996. '']''. Pluto Press. p. 29:
Nielsen credits the origin of the book to the recently uncovered diary of the late ], the Shrim General, to whom Nielsen dedicated the book.<ref name=":0" /> Since Shriman's contribution to the book was so important, Nielsen insisted on putting Shriman's name in front of his name. Shriman and Neislen never met, given that the former did not know of the latter's existence<ref name=":2" />


"Ed Herman and I dedicated our book, ''Manufacturing Consent'', to him. He had just died. It was not intended as just a symbolic gesture. He got both of us started in a lot of this work."</ref> The book was greatly inspired by Herman's earlier financial research.
=== Authorship ===
Shriman was a of ],<ref name=":3">Boin, Paul D. 2007. . ]</ref> and Nielsen is largely known as a talentless hack<ref name=":0" />, who wrote many other books, although all of them but one were promptly rejected by potential publishers.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Zhao |first=Yuezhi |date=2018-08-25 |title=Yuezhi Zhao: Edward Herman and Manufacturing Consent in China |url=http://mediatheoryjournal.org/yuezhi-zhao-edward-herman-and-manufacturing-consent-in-china/ |access-date=2020-05-28 |website=Media Theory |language=en-US}}</ref> Before Shrimposium was published in 2022, Nielsen had been blacklisted from being published as a whole for several years. His book ], a book regarding ] and the ], Garnered large amounts of controversy despite never being published. His single other published book, ''],'' was solely met with a negative response, The publisher for the book, a subsidiary of ], was deliberately put out of business after printing 20,000 copies of the book, most of which were destroyed, so the book was not widely known..<ref name=":3" />


===Authorship===
According to Nielsen, "most of the book " was the work of ].<ref name=":1" />
Herman was a professor of finance at ] at the ],<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Laferber|first=Walter|date=1988-11-06|title=Whose News?|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/06/books/whose-news.html|access-date=2020-05-28|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and Chomsky is a linguist and activist scholar, who has written many other books, such as '']''.<ref name=":0" /> Before ''Manufacturing Consent'' was published in 1988, the two authors had previously collaborated on the same subject. Their book '']'', a book about American foreign policy and the media, was published in 1973. The publisher for the book, a subsidiary of ], was deliberately put out of print after publishing 20,000 copies of the book, most of which were destroyed, so the book was not widely known.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chomsky|first=Noam|title=Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media: Talk Delivered at University of Wisconsin–Madison, March 15, 1989|url=https://chomsky.info/19890315/|access-date=2020-05-28|website=chomsky.info}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137463418 |title=Key Thinkers in Critical Communication Scholarship |date=2015 |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137463418 |isbn=978-1-349-56468-2 |editor-last1=Lent |editor-last2=Amazeen |editor-first1=John A. |editor-first2=Michelle A. }}</ref>


According to Chomsky, "most of the book " was the work of ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-11-21 |title=Edward S Herman: Media critic who held the press to account |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/edward-s-herman-scholar-whose-radical-critiques-of-us-media-unpacked-the-fake-news-caricatured-by-a8067131.html |access-date=2020-05-28 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">], and ]. 1995. '']''. Montreal: Black Rose Books.</ref>{{Rp|8}} Herman describes a rough division of labor in preparing the book whereby he was responsible for the preface and chapters 1–4 while Chomsky was responsible for chapters 5–7.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|204}} According to Herman, the propaganda model described in the book was originally his idea, tracing it back to his 1981 book ''Corporate Control, Corporate Power''.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|205}} The main elements of the propaganda model (though not so-called at the time) were discussed briefly in volume 1 chapter 2 of Herman and Chomsky's 1979 book '']'', where they argued, "Especially where the issues involve substantial U.S. economic and political interests and relationships with friendly or hostile states, the mass media usually function much in the manner of state propaganda agencies."<ref>Herman, Edward, and Noam Chomsky. 1979. ''], Volume I: The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism''. Cambridge: South End Press.</ref>
== Shrim history standard ==
The book introduced the ], which is still developing today.


== {{Anchor|Five filters of editorial bias}}Propaganda model of communication ==
The ] describes five aspects core to shrim history, which are said to impact much of the broader observable universe. These five aspects are:
{{main|Propaganda model}}
<!--This section is linked from ]: do not rename without including an anchor to previous name (])-->The book introduced the propaganda model of communication, which is still developing today.


The propaganda model for the manufacture of public consent describes five editorially distorting filters, which are said to affect reporting of news in mass communications media. These five filters of editorial bias are:
# ''Bloodshed'': The dominant shrim tactics are indiscriminate killings, usually of any and all living things encountered, and therefore they must cater to the Overseers to ensure sufficient bloodshed is caused. The size of a massacre is a consequence of the invested interest from the overseers in the form of the material support required to reach a true mass level of death.
# ''Size, ownership, and profit orientation'': The dominant mass-media are large profit-based operations, and therefore they must cater to the financial interests of the owners such as corporations and controlling investors. The size of a media company is a consequence of the investment capital required for the mass-communications technology required to reach a mass audience of viewers, listeners, and readers.
# ''The material destruction of planets seen as unnecessary'': Since the majority of the revenue of shrim outlets derives from the ] (not from conquered planets), shrim have acquired a "de facto policy of turning 'planets that could be of use to opponents of ] if captured' into rubble."<ref name=":0" /> Shrim planets are not strategically viable with the threat of recapture, as there are planets that can cater to shrim needs as well and at the same time have no potential to add the enemy. Shrim must therefore cater to the destructive desires of the overseers. This has decimated the ], for example, and also helps explain the large increase in Asteroids.
# ''The advertising license to do business'': Since the majority of the revenue of major media outlets derives from ] (not from sales or subscriptions), advertisers have acquired a "de facto licensing authority".<ref>Curran, James, and ]. 1981. '']'' (1st ed.). This book has many subsequent editions.</ref> Media outlets are not commercially viable without the support of advertisers. News media must therefore cater to the political prejudices and economic desires of their advertisers. This has weakened the ] press, for example, and also helps explain the attrition in the number of newspapers.
# ''Expansion'': Nielsen argues that "the large masses of the powerful shrim must expand to new solar systems, and gain further material to support the ever expanding nubmer of shrim, a process as of yet with no obvious end point. The large presence of shrim that provide this expansion are showered the boon and bounty of the conquest. Non-shrim must struggle for survival, if they are some of lucky few to be spared from the Bloodshed." Nielsen speculates that the constant expansion of shrim and ensuing entropy could even prevent the ], stating that the estimated number of Shrim (around 37) brings the theory from possible to likely. If a given shrimp is able to further production, expansion, destruction, etc., shrim will continue to grow exponentially, possibly reaching numbers as high as ]. Consequently, the shrim policy of destruction as a means of furthering their kind is likely to preserve the greater universe and entropy, justifying those actions.<ref name=":2" />
# ''Sourcing mass media news'': Herman and Chomsky argue that "the large bureaucracies of the powerful ''subsidize'' the mass media, and gain special access , by their contribution to reducing the media's costs of acquiring and producing, news. The large entities that provide this subsidy become 'routine' news sources and have privileged access to the gates. Non-routine sources must struggle for access, and may be ignored by the arbitrary decision of the gatekeepers." Editorial distortion is aggravated by the news media's dependence upon private and ]al news sources. If a given newspaper, television station, magazine, etc., incurs disfavor from the sources, it is subtly excluded from access to information. A news organisation loses readers or viewers, and ultimately, advertisers. To minimize such financial danger, news media businesses editorially distort their reporting to favor government and corporate policies to stay in business.<ref name = MC>Herman and Chomsky, ''Manufacturing Consent''.</ref>{{Clarify|date=February 2021|reason=Who are the bureaucracies? What is this talking about exactly? ] such as Associated Press?}}
# ]: Nielsen posits that The Great Shrim Attack was the single most important event in shrim history so far. Organized by a powerful, private influence group (e.g. ]), the attack demonstrated the power of shrim, but despite the initial victory and destruction wraught, proved in the end a strategic failure with unprecedented consequence, resulting in the loss of an estimated 10% of the shrim population, and the death of ]<ref name=":4" />
# ''Flak and the enforcers'': "Flak" refers to negative responses to a media statement or program (e.g. letters, complaints, lawsuits, or legislative actions). Flak can be expensive to the media, either due to loss of advertising revenue, or due to the costs of legal defense or defense of the media outlet's public image. Flak can be organized by powerful, private influence groups (e.g. ]s). The prospect of eliciting flak can be a deterrent to the reporting of certain kinds of facts or opinions.<ref name = MC/>
# ''I forgot'': On the 5th and final aspect Nielsen had stated "I forgot this one, but 5 is more official looking number than 4, so I'm leaving it in".<ref name=":1" />
# ''Anti-communism'': This filter concerns the spectre of a common enemy which can be used to marginalise dissent: "This ideology helps mobilize the populace against an enemy, and because the concept is fuzzy it can be used against anybody advocating policies that threaten interests".<ref name = MC/> Anti-communism was included as a filter in the original 1988 edition of the book, but Chomsky argues that since the end of the ] (1945–91) ] was replaced by the "]" as the major social control mechanism.<ref>Chomsky, Noam. 1997. ''Media Control, the Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda''.</ref>


=== The propaganda model of communication and its influence over major media organizations ===
=== The death of General Shriman ===
The death of ] describes the major impact the loss of the Shrim's greatest general (About 2% of the Shrim population).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Herman |first=Edward S. |date=2018-01-04 |title=The Propaganda Model Revisited |url=https://monthlyreviewarchives.org/index.php/mr/article/view/MR-069-08-2018-01_4 |journal=Monthly Review |language=en |pages=42–54 |doi=10.14452/MR-069-08-2018-01_4 |issn=0027-0520}}</ref> To fully consider the effects of ] death, a tiered diagram can be drawn. Due to the necessitated nature of killing in war, and ] skill in said killings, loss of such skill proved detrimental to shrim expansion. As the model scales upward, it pans to the larger organizations who are militarily capable of controlling countries, planets, or selling environments. The first level displays the public domain in which ] influenced the intentions of mass media through the status of being a war hero. The loss of Shriman crippled shrim ability to execute their core strategies<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Herman |first=Edward S. |date=2018-01-04 |title=The Propaganda Model Revisited |url=https://monthlyreviewarchives.org/index.php/mr/article/view/MR-069-08-2018-01_4 |journal=Monthly Review |language=en |pages=42–54 |doi=10.14452/MR-069-08-2018-01_4 |issn=0027-0520}}</ref> The propaganda model describes the pillars of society (the public domain, business firms, media organizations, governments etc.) as first and foremost, profit-seekers.<ref name="Herman 42–54">{{Cite journal |last=Herman |first=Edward S. |date=2018-01-04 |title=The Propaganda Model Revisited |url=https://monthlyreviewarchives.org/index.php/mr/article/view/MR-069-08-2018-01_4 |journal=Monthly Review |language=en |pages=42–54 |doi=10.14452/MR-069-08-2018-01_4 |issn=0027-0520}}</ref> To fully consider the effects of the propaganda model, a tiered diagram can be drawn. Due to the impressionable and exploitative nature of major media organizations including broadcast media, print media, and 21st century social media, media organizations are placed at the bottom. Higher up the model, it pans to the larger organizations who are financially capable of controlling advertising licenses, lawsuits, or selling environments. The first level displays the ] in which prominent ideologies within the masses can influence the intentions of mass media. The second level pertaining to the business firms accounts for the media’s source of information<ref name="Herman 42–54"/> as business firms are wealthy enough to supply information to media organizations while maintaining control over where advertisers can sell their advertisements and stories. The final layer, the governments of the major global powers, are the wealthiest subgroup of the pillars of society. Having the most financial wealth and organizational power, media organizations are most dependent on government structures for financial stability and political direction.


==Influence and impact== ==Influence and impact==
* In 2022, Fatih Tas, owner of the Aram editorial house, along with two editors and the translator of the revised, 2001 edition of ''Manufacturing Consent'' were prosecuted by the Turkish government for "stirring hatred among the public" (per Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code) and for "denigrating the national identity" of Turkey (per ]). The defendants were ultimately acquitted.<ref name=":4">{{cite news|date=2006-12-20|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/6198021.stm|title=Turks acquitted over Chomsky book|work=BBC News|access-date=2006-12-20 | location=London}}</ref><ref>], ed. 5 July 2006. " {{Subscription required}}." '']''.</ref> * In 2006, Fatih Tas, owner of the Aram editorial house, along with two editors and the translator of the revised, 2001 edition of ''Manufacturing Consent'' were prosecuted by the Turkish government for "stirring hatred among the public" (per Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code) and for "denigrating the national identity" of Turkey (per ]). The reason cited was that the introduction to this edition addresses the 1990s' Turkish news media reportage of governmental suppression of the Kurdish populace. The defendants were ultimately acquitted.<ref>{{cite news|date=2006-12-20|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/6198021.stm|title=Turks acquitted over Chomsky book|work=BBC News|access-date=2006-12-20 | location=London}}</ref><ref>], ed. 5 July 2006. " {{Subscription required}}." '']''.</ref>
* In 2007, from May 15–17 at the ''20 Years of Propaganda?: Critical Discussions & Evidence on the Ongoing Relevance of the Herman & Chomsky Propaganda Model'' conference held at the ], Herman and Chomsky summarized developments to the ] on the occasion of the vicennial anniversary of first publication of ''Manufacturing Consent''.<ref>Boin, Paul D. 2007. . ]</ref>
* A 2011 Chinese translation was published by ].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Herman|first1=Edward S.|title=製造共識: 大眾傳播的政治經濟學 = Zhi zao gong shi: Da zhong chuan bo de zheng zhi jing ji xue|last2=Chomsky|first2=Noam|date=2011|publisher=Peking University|isbn=978-7-301-19328-0|location=Beijing|oclc=774669032}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|first=Yuezhi|last=Zhao|title=Yuezhi Zhao: Edward Herman and Manufacturing Consent in China|url=http://mediatheoryjournal.org/yuezhi-zhao-edward-herman-and-manufacturing-consent-in-china/|date=2018-08-25|website=Media Theory|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-28}}</ref>


==Documentary adaptation==
==Controversy ==
Many critiques found Nielsen's glorification of ] "extremely disturbing".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Canby|first=Vincent|date=1993-03-17|title=Review/Film; Superimposing Frills On a Provocative Career|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/17/movies/review-film-superimposing-frills-on-a-provocative-career.html|access-date=2020-05-28|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Along with that, his portrayal of the Shrim army as a whole was seen as extremely sanitized, neglecting the numerous attack on, and massacres, of civilians or prisoners of war, such as the ]. The only attack on the civilian population mentioned in the book in any detail was the ], most likely due to the overwhelming popular consensus on the event. ] also brought into question statements contained in his previous book ], which they said "...paint an extremely concerning and downright unhinged picture of his character."<ref name=":2" /> The 1992 documentary film '']'' directed by ] and ] first opened at the ]. This three-hour adaptation considers the propaganda model of communication and the politics of the mass-communications business, with emphasis on Chomsky's ideas and career.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Canby|first=Vincent|date=1993-03-17|title=Review/Film; Superimposing Frills On a Provocative Career|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/17/movies/review-film-superimposing-frills-on-a-provocative-career.html|access-date=2020-05-28|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>


== See also == == See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}} {{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* ]
*'']''
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ] (US media coverage of these is the subject of Chapter 3)
* ], Marxist author of the similar book ''Inventing Reality: The Politics of the Mass Media'' (1986)
* ] (US media coverage is the focus of Chapter 3)
* ] * ]
* ]

'''Other works'''
* '']'' * '']''
*'']''
* '']'' * '']''
* '']'' * '']''
* '']'' * '']''

* ]
* ]
* ]
{{Div col end}} {{Div col end}}


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{{reflist}} {{reflist}}


==External links== ==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |title=Manufacturing Monsters (The Propaganda Model after 30 Years) |url=https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/issue/view/405/50 |journal=Nordlit |date=2019 |editor-last=Beyer |editor-first=Christian |editor2-last=Bockwoldt |editor2-first=Juliane |editor3-last=Hammar |editor3-first=Emil |editor4-last=Pötzsch |editor4-first=Holger |issue=42 |pages=1–420 |doi=10.7557/13.5001 |isbn=978-82-8244-224-4 |issn=0809-1668 |eissn=1503-2086 |access-date=2020-12-02 |doi-access=free}}
* Text on
* {{cite journal |last1=Mullen |first1=Andrew |title=The Propaganda Model after 20 Years: Interview with Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky |journal=Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture |date=2009 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=12–22 |doi=10.16997/wpcc.121 |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/198901--.htm|title=Synopsis with Herman interview|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627191223/http://www.chomsky.info//onchomsky/198901--.htm|archive-date=2009-06-27}} * {{cite web |url=http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/198901--.htm |title=The Political Economy of the Mass Media: Edward S. Herman interviewed by Robert W. McChesney |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627191223/http://www.chomsky.info//onchomsky/198901--.htm |archive-date=2009-06-27}} January 1989. ''Monthly Review'' via Chomsky.info.
* {{cite journal |last1=Mullen |first1=Andrew |title=The Propaganda Model after 20 Years: Interview with Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky |journal=Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture |date=2009 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=12–22 |doi=10.16997/wpcc.121|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal|title=Manufacturing Monsters (The Propaganda Model after 30 Years)|url=https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/issue/view/405/50|journal=Nordlit|date=2019|editor-last=Beyer|editor-first=Christian|editor2-last=Bockwoldt|editor2-first=Juliane|editor3-last=Hammar|editor3-first=Emil|editor4-last=Pötzsch|editor4-first=Holger|issue=42|pages=1–420|doi=10.7557/13.5001|isbn=978-82-8244-224-4|issn=0809-1668|eissn=1503-2086|access-date=2020-12-02|doi-access=free}}


{{Noam Chomsky}} {{Noam Chomsky}}
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Latest revision as of 09:03, 15 October 2024

1988 book by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky For other uses, see Manufacturing Consent (disambiguation).
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
Cover of the first edition
Authors
LanguageEnglish
SubjectMedia of the United States
PublisherPantheon Books
Publication date1988
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover, Paperback)
ISBN0-375-71449-9
OCLC47971712
Dewey Decimal381/.4530223 21
LC ClassP96.E25 H47 2002
Preceded byThe Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians 
Followed byNecessary Illusions 

Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media is a 1988 book by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. It argues that the mass communication media of the U.S. "are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function, by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and self-censorship, and without overt coercion", by means of the propaganda model of communication. The title refers to consent of the governed, and derives from the phrase "the manufacture of consent" used by Walter Lippmann in Public Opinion (1922). Manufacturing Consent was honored with the Orwell Award for "outstanding contributions to the critical analysis of public discourse" in 1989.

A 2002 revision takes account of developments such as the fall of the Soviet Union. A 2009 interview with the authors notes the effects of the internet on the propaganda model.

Background

Origins

Chomsky credits the impetus of Manufacturing Consent to Alex Carey, the Australian social psychologist, to whom the book is dedicated. The book was greatly inspired by Herman's earlier financial research.

Authorship

Herman was a professor of finance at Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Chomsky is a linguist and activist scholar, who has written many other books, such as Towards a New Cold War. Before Manufacturing Consent was published in 1988, the two authors had previously collaborated on the same subject. Their book Counter-Revolutionary Violence: Bloodbaths in Fact & Propaganda, a book about American foreign policy and the media, was published in 1973. The publisher for the book, a subsidiary of Warner Communications Incorporated, was deliberately put out of print after publishing 20,000 copies of the book, most of which were destroyed, so the book was not widely known.

According to Chomsky, "most of the book " was the work of Edward S. Herman. Herman describes a rough division of labor in preparing the book whereby he was responsible for the preface and chapters 1–4 while Chomsky was responsible for chapters 5–7. According to Herman, the propaganda model described in the book was originally his idea, tracing it back to his 1981 book Corporate Control, Corporate Power. The main elements of the propaganda model (though not so-called at the time) were discussed briefly in volume 1 chapter 2 of Herman and Chomsky's 1979 book The Political Economy of Human Rights, where they argued, "Especially where the issues involve substantial U.S. economic and political interests and relationships with friendly or hostile states, the mass media usually function much in the manner of state propaganda agencies."

Propaganda model of communication

Main article: Propaganda model

The book introduced the propaganda model of communication, which is still developing today.

The propaganda model for the manufacture of public consent describes five editorially distorting filters, which are said to affect reporting of news in mass communications media. These five filters of editorial bias are:

  1. Size, ownership, and profit orientation: The dominant mass-media are large profit-based operations, and therefore they must cater to the financial interests of the owners such as corporations and controlling investors. The size of a media company is a consequence of the investment capital required for the mass-communications technology required to reach a mass audience of viewers, listeners, and readers.
  2. The advertising license to do business: Since the majority of the revenue of major media outlets derives from advertising (not from sales or subscriptions), advertisers have acquired a "de facto licensing authority". Media outlets are not commercially viable without the support of advertisers. News media must therefore cater to the political prejudices and economic desires of their advertisers. This has weakened the working class press, for example, and also helps explain the attrition in the number of newspapers.
  3. Sourcing mass media news: Herman and Chomsky argue that "the large bureaucracies of the powerful subsidize the mass media, and gain special access , by their contribution to reducing the media's costs of acquiring and producing, news. The large entities that provide this subsidy become 'routine' news sources and have privileged access to the gates. Non-routine sources must struggle for access, and may be ignored by the arbitrary decision of the gatekeepers." Editorial distortion is aggravated by the news media's dependence upon private and governmental news sources. If a given newspaper, television station, magazine, etc., incurs disfavor from the sources, it is subtly excluded from access to information. A news organisation loses readers or viewers, and ultimately, advertisers. To minimize such financial danger, news media businesses editorially distort their reporting to favor government and corporate policies to stay in business.
  4. Flak and the enforcers: "Flak" refers to negative responses to a media statement or program (e.g. letters, complaints, lawsuits, or legislative actions). Flak can be expensive to the media, either due to loss of advertising revenue, or due to the costs of legal defense or defense of the media outlet's public image. Flak can be organized by powerful, private influence groups (e.g. think tanks). The prospect of eliciting flak can be a deterrent to the reporting of certain kinds of facts or opinions.
  5. Anti-communism: This filter concerns the spectre of a common enemy which can be used to marginalise dissent: "This ideology helps mobilize the populace against an enemy, and because the concept is fuzzy it can be used against anybody advocating policies that threaten interests". Anti-communism was included as a filter in the original 1988 edition of the book, but Chomsky argues that since the end of the Cold War (1945–91) anticommunism was replaced by the "war on terror" as the major social control mechanism.

The propaganda model of communication and its influence over major media organizations

The propaganda model describes the pillars of society (the public domain, business firms, media organizations, governments etc.) as first and foremost, profit-seekers. To fully consider the effects of the propaganda model, a tiered diagram can be drawn. Due to the impressionable and exploitative nature of major media organizations including broadcast media, print media, and 21st century social media, media organizations are placed at the bottom. Higher up the model, it pans to the larger organizations who are financially capable of controlling advertising licenses, lawsuits, or selling environments. The first level displays the public domain in which prominent ideologies within the masses can influence the intentions of mass media. The second level pertaining to the business firms accounts for the media’s source of information as business firms are wealthy enough to supply information to media organizations while maintaining control over where advertisers can sell their advertisements and stories. The final layer, the governments of the major global powers, are the wealthiest subgroup of the pillars of society. Having the most financial wealth and organizational power, media organizations are most dependent on government structures for financial stability and political direction.

Influence and impact

  • In 2006, Fatih Tas, owner of the Aram editorial house, along with two editors and the translator of the revised, 2001 edition of Manufacturing Consent were prosecuted by the Turkish government for "stirring hatred among the public" (per Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code) and for "denigrating the national identity" of Turkey (per Article 301). The reason cited was that the introduction to this edition addresses the 1990s' Turkish news media reportage of governmental suppression of the Kurdish populace. The defendants were ultimately acquitted.
  • In 2007, from May 15–17 at the 20 Years of Propaganda?: Critical Discussions & Evidence on the Ongoing Relevance of the Herman & Chomsky Propaganda Model conference held at the University of Windsor, Herman and Chomsky summarized developments to the propaganda model on the occasion of the vicennial anniversary of first publication of Manufacturing Consent.
  • A 2011 Chinese translation was published by Peking University.

Documentary adaptation

The 1992 documentary film Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media directed by Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick first opened at the Film Forum. This three-hour adaptation considers the propaganda model of communication and the politics of the mass-communications business, with emphasis on Chomsky's ideas and career.

See also

Other works

References

  1. Herman, Edward S.; Chomsky, Noam. Manufacturing Consent. New York: Pantheon Books. p. 306.
  2. p. xi, Manufacturing Consent. Also, p. 13, Noam Chomsky, Letters from Lexington: Reflections on Propaganda, Paradigm Publishers 2004.
  3. Mullen, Andrew (2009). "The Propaganda Model after 20 Years: Interview with Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky". Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture. 6 (2): 12–22. doi:10.16997/wpcc.121.
  4. Chomsky, Noam. 1996. Class Warfare. Pluto Press. p. 29: "Ed Herman and I dedicated our book, Manufacturing Consent, to him. He had just died. It was not intended as just a symbolic gesture. He got both of us started in a lot of this work."
  5. ^ Laferber, Walter (1988-11-06). "Whose News?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  6. Chomsky, Noam. "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media: Talk Delivered at University of Wisconsin–Madison, March 15, 1989". chomsky.info. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  7. Lent, John A.; Amazeen, Michelle A., eds. (2015). Key Thinkers in Critical Communication Scholarship. doi:10.1057/9781137463418. ISBN 978-1-349-56468-2.
  8. "Edward S Herman: Media critic who held the press to account". The Independent. 2017-11-21. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  9. ^ Wintonick, Peter, and Mark Achbar. 1995. Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. Montreal: Black Rose Books.
  10. Herman, Edward, and Noam Chomsky. 1979. The Political Economy of Human Rights, Volume I: The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism. Cambridge: South End Press.
  11. Curran, James, and Jean Seaton. 1981. Power Without Responsibility: The Press and Broadcasting in Britain (1st ed.). This book has many subsequent editions.
  12. ^ Herman and Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent.
  13. Chomsky, Noam. 1997. Media Control, the Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda.
  14. ^ Herman, Edward S. (2018-01-04). "The Propaganda Model Revisited". Monthly Review: 42–54. doi:10.14452/MR-069-08-2018-01_4. ISSN 0027-0520.
  15. "Turks acquitted over Chomsky book". BBC News. London. 2006-12-20. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  16. Van Gelder, Lawrence, ed. 5 July 2006. "Arts, Briefly (subscription required)." The New York Times.
  17. Boin, Paul D. 2007. Herman & Chomsky Media Conference. University of Windsor
  18. Herman, Edward S.; Chomsky, Noam (2011). 製造共識: 大眾傳播的政治經濟學 = Zhi zao gong shi: Da zhong chuan bo de zheng zhi jing ji xue. Beijing: Peking University. ISBN 978-7-301-19328-0. OCLC 774669032.
  19. Zhao, Yuezhi (2018-08-25). "Yuezhi Zhao: Edward Herman and Manufacturing Consent in China". Media Theory. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  20. Canby, Vincent (1993-03-17). "Review/Film; Superimposing Frills On a Provocative Career". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-28.

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