Pre Class Herman and Chomsky

Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s essay “A Propaganda Model” states, “A propaganda model focuses on this inequality of wealth and power and its multi-level effects on mass-media interests and choices” (204).  This idea is very important and, for me, ties together everything that we have been talking about recently in class.  This statement by the authors directly correlates to the concept of the “haves and have nots” that we have spent the last few class periods talking about.  Adorno and Horkheimer’s idea that the “haves” or in other words, those with the power, can control the system, speaks directly to Herman and Chomsky’s idea that the inequality of wealth in our society, directly impacts who can control the mass-media.  The ability to control the mass-media is overwhelming and scary, in the sense that so few, can have control over what the rest of the population sees.  This in turn, is the idea of propaganda – that those with power can influence those without power. 

Herman and Chomsky go on to explain the five filters of the propaganda model, and end by stating:

The raw material of news must pass through successive filters, leaving only the cleansed residue fit to print…The elite domination of the media and marginalization of dissidents that results from the operation of these filters occurs so naturally that media news people, frequently operating with complete integrity and goodwill, are able to convince themselves that they choose and interpret the news ‘objectively’ and on the basis of professional news values. (205)

I think this paragraph is one of the most important throughout the essay, because not only does it illustrate the impact that the elite have on the news, but this quote also illustrates the fact that elite are so good at propagating their beliefs, that those news and media personalities are tricked into thinking that they are objective in what they share with the world.

This is a really scary concept, because it’s difficult to believe that so few people, control everything that we see on a daily basis.  Our news is biased in the sense that we are only seeing what the elite deem important, even if it does not pertain to us at all.

This week, my media example is a government video using Donald Duck to encourage the American public to pay their taxes even though they are very high.  What is interesting is that in this video, the government blames the high taxes on Hitler, so as not to be made accountable, and to make it seem like it’s the patriotic thing to do.

Propaganda Video