Herman and Chomsky’s article “A Propaganda Model” reminds us
that what we see through the media is heavily influenced by the government and
other major corporations. It discusses how the media is structured through a
propaganda model that “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 messages across to the public”.
(204) They then go on to break down the 5 filters that news has to go through before
determined to be fit for the public to view: size, ownership, and profit
orientation of mass media, advertisement, sourcing, flak, and anticommunism.
They wrap up by stating “the five-filters narrow the range of news that passes
through the gates, and even more sharply limit what can become ‘big news,’
subject to sustained news campaigns” (220).
This reading reminded me a lot of the HBO series The
Newsroom. This show is about a news team led by a sarcastic anchor that decide
to stop delivering popular based on ratings and instead, focus on “real” news
that educates and informs their audience. The show portrays all the factors
that are considered when deciding what news is appropriate for viewers and a
news team that goes against the “filtered” news that other programs were doing.
Here is a clip from the show where the shows
main character Will McAvoy explains the goal of the news team and apologizes
for failing to deliver “real news”
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