Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Herman and Chomsky Robby Riehle


Herman and Chomsky’s article “A Propaganda Model” reinforces the reality that everything we see in media is almost entirely influenced by the government and the media conglomerate giants. Herman and Chomsky’s say they do so though 5 filters: “Size, Ownership, and Profit Orientation of the Mass Media”; “The Advertising License to Do Business”; “Sourcing Mass-Media News”; “Flak and the Enforcers”; and “Anticommunism as a control Mechanism”.  Which all news we are witness to has to go through to determine whether or not it is fit for the public to view. Of which I think the first filter maybe the most important for understanding this concept. Examination of Size, Ownership and Profit Orientation of the Mass Media elucidates the imbalance in media companies and their relative abilities. This inevitably comes back to the 5 Media conglomerates that essentially control all media and decide what the public sees. These are of course. Time Warner, Disney, Bertelsmann, Viacom, News Corporation. The article discusses how the media follows 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). I great example of how media conglomerates control industry can be seen thought recent developments that have taken place between Disney and Lucasfilm, in which Lucasfilm was purchased for $4 billion. And seeing as how Disney owns the ABC broadcasting network we will get a first hand look at the information they make available and how they present to information in an effort to distort of views of the merger; following the propagandist model. 

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