"A propaganda model focuses on this inequality of wealth and power and its multilevel effects on mass-media interests and choices. It 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 message across to the public."
We also have corporate giants controlling our media and their messages. The wealth of these two sources (government and corporate giants) are what keeps these programs running.
It is surprising to see how in other countries, such as Great Britain in the early nineteenth century have attempted to create such a radical press the reached to the working-class audience, which emphasized the potential power of working people to effect social change through the force of "combination" and organized action. It was unfortunate to see that the radical news had been abandoned.
It is great that we do have independent media that does bring up issues the normal news stations would not, but unfortunately they are not as popular. It is not a bright future when it comes to the media. I don't believe the media would be active without the control, and the money it brings.
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Here is a quick summary of what I found was important from the Herman and Chomsky reading:
The 5 ingredients of propaganda model (5 media “filters”)
1) Size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and media profit orientation
2) Advertising as the primary source of media income
3) Reliance of media on information provided by the government, business, and “experts” that are funded and approved by agents of power
4) “Flak” as a means of disciplining the media
5) “Anti-commmunism” as a national religion and control mechanism
Herman and Chomsky talked about how these 5 media filters interact and render the media completely impotent as a source of important information. They explain that because the media are owned by an elite few, those individuals set the agenda of the media. By controlling the agenda, they essentially control the minds of the viewers. They will only discuss things that benefit them. For example, a very low percentage of Americans actually participate in the stock market, yet the news dedicates an excessive amount of time to covering the stock market.
The next issue is advertising as the primary source of media income. Herman and Chomsky claim that because media make all of their income from advertising, they do not cover news that is necessarily important, but they cover news that sells. The role of the media is to sell products. This leads to all kind of hype and very little substance.
The media also has very limited access to actual information. The information that they receive is from the organizations that they want information about. Obviously, organizations are only going to provide information that is favorable to them. The media functions merely as a mouthpiece for the government and major corporations.
The forth media filter is “flak” as a means of disciplining the media. We (the public) really have no way of controlling the media. By this, I mean that why the media directly lies to us or provides us with faulty information (as is often the case with FOX news), we have no way of disciplining them. The only way we can even express our discontent is by giving them “flak” or just giving them a hard time and moving on.
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