Summary

"Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media" by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, delves into the structural factors influencing news media, asserting they function as propaganda systems serving dominant elites. The book introduces a 'Propaganda Model' analyzing how media firms' size, ownership, advertising reliance, sourcing habits, and anti-communism act as filters, shaping news and marginalizing dissent.

The model posits that media, despite claims of independence, are constrained by ownership and funding from powerful interests. These interests, with defined agendas, subtly influence media policy by selecting personnel who internalize their priorities. The book traces the routes through which money and power filter news, allowing government and dominant private interests to get messages across to the public, while also marginalizing the voices of dissidents.

The authors challenge the notion of an adversarial press, arguing that the media's focus on profit and reliance on official sources leads to a systematic bias. This bias is observable in the selection of stories, the volume and quality of coverage, and the dichotomy between worthy and unworthy victims. By examining case studies such as the treatment of political prisoners and the coverage of third-world elections, the book uncovers a pattern of media behavior that serves specific political ends.

The book is also updated to include the coverage of North American Free Trade Agreement, the protests against the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund, and media treatment of the chemical industry and its regulation.

Herman and Chomsky's work serves as a framework for understanding mass media's role in modern society, questioning its self-image as an objective source of information, and emphasizing its function as a shaper of public opinion according to the interests of those in power.