Manufacturing Consent
Modern democracies have traditionally been critical of countries with state controlled bureaucracies and censorship. It is much harder to see propaganda systems at work where state controlled censorship is absent. In this section we introduce the work of Herman and Chomsky to investigate the challenges of propaganda through mass media in democratic systems.
Manufacturing Consent
Noam Chomsky, former professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian and social critic. In 1988, Chomsky co-authored with Edward Herman the seminal book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media in which they outlined a propaganda model for understanding mainstream media and identified five filters of editorial bias.
The following video from Al Jazeera summarizes the concept of manufacturing consent.
Annotation - A Propaganda Model
This annotation activity is based on A Propaganda Model by Herman and Chomsky, excerpted from "Manufacturing Consent," 1988. A few key questions are posted as prompts for discussion.
Purpose
To explore examples of the five filters of editorial bias and to reflect on the impact for society.
Task
- Log into Hypothes.is to annotate or reply to posts on: A Propaganda Model. (Note: if your’e using Chrome or Firefox with the extension or bookmark installed, first launch Hypothesis then go to: https://chomsky.info/consent01/ or alternatively paste this link at https://via.hypothes.is/ after you have logged in to Hypothes.is. Remember to tag your post using the course code: lida104.)
Manufacturing Consent in the Age of the Internet
"Manufacturing Consent" was published before the Internet became mainstream. Consequently, we reflect on whether Chomsky’s ideas still hold true in a digital world. Watch this short interview with Chomsky from the Sydney Opera House Talks and Ideas in 2013.
Do you think the notion of manufacturing consent is still a major issue in today’s world where social media and citizen journalism allows citizens to express their views more easily? Share your thoughts by posting a comment on the discussion forum. For example:
- Manufacturing consent is less relevant in the internet age because …
- Manufacturing consent is more relevant in the digital age because …