Manufacturing Consent - Edward Herman, Noam Chomsky

Herman and Chomsky's 'Manufacturing Consent' sounds like the worst kind of frothing conspiracy theory. In fact, they make this point in the preface of the book. But, the difference is that their book has been extensively researched. Basically, the book starts from the premise that the media follows a propaganda model in the way that it reports news, and then examines why this should be, before considering specific cases, such as elections in Latin America, the American invasion of Vietnam, and the genocide in Cambodia. The authors argue that there are five main reasons why the media should be biased. THE PROPAGANDA MODEL Firstly, ...

here it is, the most infamous media studies book ever written. No academic has aroused so much controversy as Noam Chomsky, and none of his books, perhaps, more so than this one, co-written with Ed Herman. Many have accused Chomsky and Herman of being conspiracy theorists or shock-merchants, but it would seem that these people didn't seem to make it beyond the first chapter. Pity, really. The remainder of the book shows quite nicely how far from conspiracy theory the authors actually are. Their thesis, that the news media can be seen in their daily activities to be supporting the interests of the powerful elites, is amply supported with evidence from US activities ...