The book “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media,” written by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky in 1988, discusses how propaganda is manufactured through an oligarchical plutocracy.
The “manufacturing consent theory” is a theory that was created by Edward Herman. The theory is based on the idea that the media and government work together to create a false sense of reality.
Are you seeking for a synopsis of Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky’s book Manufacturing Consent? You’ve arrived to the correct location.
I completed reading this book last week and took notes on several major points from Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky.
If you don’t have time, you don’t have to read the whole book. This summary will give you a quick overview of what you can expect to learn from this book.
Let’s get started without further ado.
I’ll go through the following points in my Manufacturing Consent summary:
What is the Purpose of Manufacturing Consent?
Manufacturing Consent takes a critical look at the media to see why just a small number of viewpoints are promoted, while others are disregarded or silenced.
The author proposes a propaganda model in the book that shows how different financial and political forces filter out independent and alternative sources of information, allowing the affluent and powerful to control the news narrative.
In reality, far from being a free press, the media supports an unfair and unequal society.
Who wrote Manufacturing Consent, and what is the author’s name?
Professor Edward S. Herman is a financial expert who has published multiple books on political economics and the media.
Noam Chomsky is considered as a world authority in the fields of linguistics and global political culture.
He not only condemns globalisation and American dominance, but he also criticizes the media. Hegemony or Survival and Deterring Democracy are two of his books.
For Whom is Consent Being Produced?
Manufacturing Consent isn’t for the faint of heart. If you are one of the following folks, you may like the book:
- Anyone interested in learning who determines the media’s agenda should read this.
- Those who want to know whose interests are served by the media
- Anyone who wants to know why the media silences independent voices should read this.
Summary of the Book Manufacturing Consent
Lesson 1: The media has a key role in indoctrinating individuals to accept social inequity.
The media serves a variety of purposes, including informing, entertaining, and amusing us.
In addition to promoting social values and moral codes, the media plays a vital role in promoting social values and moral codes. The government and governing institutions rely on the mass media to ‘teach’ the population about their values.
Because of our society’s vast wealth and power disparities, the media’s promotion of the status quo actually promotes the ruling elite’s interests, guaranteeing their political and economic dominance.
As a result, it’s critical that the media tell tales that promote the governing political and economic classes: a small number of individuals at the very top of society.
The media, as guardians of social hierarchies, sway public opinion in favor of the governing classes.
The Vietnam War coverage is often mentioned as an example of media sources claiming to report honestly and factually while keeping powerful individuals responsible. In truth, the media isn’t interested in protecting the public’s interests from the affluent and powerful.
They perceive events through a restricted, prejudiced prism, preserving the rights and advantages of governing elites, rather than objectively reporting them. Audiences are made aware of how unjust and unequal society is as a result of this.
Making Passive Income Online is a Recommendation
Lesson 2: Despite appearances, even if there are differences of opinion within the governing class, the media will never condemn them.
From time to time, certain media sources criticize society’s governing elites. The Watergate affair, for example, demonstrates how the media exposes politicians’ and corporate executives’ wrongdoings.
In this case, the idea that the media is biased in favor of the ruling class seems to be debunked. Certainly, media spokesmen take pleasure in defending freedom of expression and the general public against the affluent and powerful.
In these circumstances, the media’s ostensible criticism reflects the interests of one elite group against another, rather than the interests of a non-elite group vs an elite group. The media will hide or disregard any criticism coming from outside the elite.
The Watergate crisis illustrated this divergence in elite interests. Because their victims were the powerful Democrats, a political party representing a sector of the elite, Nixon and his associates were investigated and hounded by the media.
When government agencies unlawfully spied on the Socialist Workers Party, a tiny, non-elite party, the media remained silent.
The media will never criticize the ruling elite, even if there are differences of opinion within the governing elite.
Making Passive Income Online is a Recommendation
Lesson 3: The mainstream media use a “propaganda model” to weed out information that contradicts elite objectives.
The coverage of major news organizations is strongly slanted in favor of elite interests and viewpoints. News that challenges these interests is suppressed or ignored.
State ownership and censorship are not restrictions on the media in democratic western democracies, as they are in authoritarian regimes. The western media is manipulated by subtle and ‘natural’ factors, giving birth to the mistaken idea that the West has a ‘free’ and ‘objective’ press.
It’s best described by a ‘propaganda model,’ which outlines the different filters that information must pass through before it can be considered noteworthy.
Financial incentives, such as the requirement for profitability or to placate owners or advertisers, may be used as filters. For example, General Electric owns a major portion of the media. They depend largely on their media networks to avoid controversy in sectors such as nuclear power and the weapons trade.
Other filters might be formed from the sources of information and how it is presented. As news sources, media outlets may grow to depend excessively on government agencies and huge companies. These sources might exercise power over the media by carefully picking news items and presenting them in a specific manner.
Because of these numerous filters, news in the media is always skewed in favor of those in positions of power.
Lesson 4: The majority of the media is controlled by a few affluent families and enormous businesses whose primary goal is to make money.
In the first part of the nineteenth century, the independent owners of the left-wing radical press prospered in Britain. It expressed and disseminated the viewpoints of working-class people, posing a severe challenge to the ruling class’s information monopoly. Despite attempts to restrict the radical press via libel laws and prosecutions, the radical press thrived.
The radical press’s dominance was shattered by the free market. Where governmental repression had failed, the ultra-competitive market triumphed.
Large magazines were able to reach a wider readership by adopting modern printing equipment, but underfunded radical journals were forced out by the high expense of running such technology.
The dominating elites funded the sole left-wing newspaper, which prospered as a consequence. The Western media market was controlled by a few major businesses as the sector consolidated.
Today, a few wealthy families and businesses still dominate the media, and their primary goal is profit. The top 29 media firms possess almost half of all newspapers in the United States, as well as the great majority of magazine sales and movie, book, and TV audiences. Independent media have extremely little odds of surviving.
The mass media is an appealing business to investors such as banks and brokers because of its market dominance. In exchange for its investment money, the media is expected to make a profit via marketing and advertising.
These two elements — control by a small elite and the necessity to prioritize profits – substantially limit the impartiality of the mass media.
Making Passive Income Online is a Recommendation
Lesson 5: Because media outlets rely on advertising income to stay afloat, they will go to great lengths to ensure marketers are happy.
The media sector is very competitive, and studios, publishing houses, and reporters all have hefty operational expenses. Advertising is unquestionably the most important factor in achieving commercial success. Media companies are extremely likely to collapse if they do not have advertising money.
As a result, media businesses are preoccupied with wooing sponsors. To do so, the media will aim to please its sponsors by providing biased coverage. Through the propaganda paradigm, advertising provides another another way for the affluent to filter out unfavorable news items.
Due to commercial pressure, media outlets are forced to change their stories in a variety of ways. News that challenges large business, in particular, is hidden. In one case, after showing a program condemning corporations’ activities in the Third World, a US television network lost its advertising support.
Serious content is often taken off the schedule by advertisers in broadcast media because it may disrupt the viewer’s “buying mood.” Documentaries and dramas are less enticing to advertising than light entertainment.
Advertisers, of course, are mainly concerned with increasing sales. To do this, companies will compel the media to tailor its material to the preferences of wealthy consumers, who are more inclined to purchase advertising. Poorer working-class media will have a harder time attracting advertising revenue, narrowing the range of options accessible to them.
Lesson 6: The media depends on government and huge companies for material in order to remain current.
The media need a constant supply of accurate material to fill its news slots and columns, yet they cannot have correspondents in every area where news may break. Instead, students should concentrate on news sources that are reliable.
State entities, such as police departments and government agencies, or huge business press departments, are the most common sources.
The media uses these sources for obvious reasons. They are able to create frequent material due to their size, and they are also deemed credible and objective, which means that the media may accept information without having to verify it.
The dependence on these organizations enables the governing elites to control and manage the media, in addition to the propaganda paradigm that decides what news is permitted to reach the populace.
Government and large business have the authority to determine the news agenda because of their ability to deliver information. They may feed the media with tales at the perfect moment to obtain a competitive advantage.
In 1984, for example, a media claim about Soviet MiG planes being transported to Nicaragua was meticulously planned. The report supported Reagan’s political goal by discrediting the Nicaraguan election and causing panic in the United States.
Alternative news is at an unique disadvantage since it is infrequent and vulnerable to criticism, particularly if it violates elite interests. Alternative viewpoints may be repressed by the media for fear of upsetting its established sources.
Making Passive Income Online is a Recommendation
Lesson 7: Elites incite dissent in order to penalize critical media.
If the news is reported in a manner that offends the powerful social groupings, the media may suffer reaction. The term “flak” refers to elite criticism of the media.
Direct threats to journalists and media outlets, as well as unfavorable press releases, are all examples of flak. The wealthy might also inadvertently cause controversy by using advertisers to boycott specific media firms. The ruling class may even sue critical news organizations.
Flak tries to put free-thinking media on the defensive by generating the impression of a media that is unduly critical of liberal viewpoints. Flak that is well-targeted and well-funded instills fear in media businesses, acting as a critical filter in propaganda.
Right-wing ‘think tanks’ may create criticism for the governing elites by focusing only on the critical media. People tend to pay attention when these prominent, influential, and well-funded organizations accuse the media of unjust treatment.
The right-wing think group Freedom House just released a study on the media’s participation in the Vietnam War, which is an excellent illustration of the power of criticism.
The media was accused of being too negative when covering different campaigns of the war, and even of losing the US the war when they deceived the American people, according to this paper.
Despite flaws in the study and inflated findings, the dossier was favorably welcomed by the elite and garnered favorable coverage in the media.
Making Passive Income Online is a Recommendation
Lesson 8: All events are seen through the prism of the communist struggle by the media.
The governing elites compel the media to portray events as ideological clashes between the “free” and “communist” worlds.
Communist acts are always shown in a bad light, while those of the United States and its allies are always portrayed in a good one. Executions and torture will be publicly covered in a communist-controlled nation, but identical occurrences in a US-friendly country would be utterly ignored.
This ideological framing aids in uniting society behind a shared adversary, which benefits the governing elites plainly. Communism is a specter that unifies many communities in favor of American policies. People are prepared to tolerate and support the conduct of those at the top of society when it comes to opposing communism.
It is also possible to utilize the anti-American overtones of communism against organizations who oppose societal injustices. A individual who challenges the social order may be labeled as pro-communist and so ‘anti-American.’
Liberals are always on the defensive for fear of being labeled a communist or for not being anti-communist enough. To answer such criticism, a right-wing perspective may be required. The bulk of the media contributes to this change in public view of the political center.
This pressure to report right-leaning information is another filter in the ‘propaganda model.’
Lesson 9: When it comes to foreign news, the media largely favors western friends.
The mainstream media loves to pretend that their coverage is impartial, but if that were true, they would cover events in the same manner no matter where they occurred.
It’s evident that this isn’t true based on how the media covers events, since they slant news reports differently depending on the political status of people involved.
The media’s depiction of Central America’s difficulties is an outstanding illustration of this. These countries are of interest to the US government and media because they are part of the American sphere of influence.
In other countries, such as Guatemala and El Salvador, the US supports military dictatorships. Nicaragua is a growing democracy with a left-leaning government that the US authorities distrust.
The media skews coverage of events from these countries based on their friendliness to US elite interests, and frequently distorts the facts when it’s expedient.
The media’s coverage of the elections in Central America is one example. Sham elections are held in US puppet governments like Guatemala, which are considered as genuine since the results indicate popular support for government forces. Despite multiple accusations of voting fraud, intimidation, and violence.
Despite overwhelming international acknowledgment of Nicaraguan elections as free and fair, left-wing leaders are claimed to have seen them as little more than propaganda exercises.
Making Passive Income Online is a Recommendation
Lesson 10: Expert views are often used by media sources to reinforce their prejudiced viewpoints.
When addressing current events, the media will rely on expert opinions. The media expects that this would provide legitimacy and impartiality to its stories. While media “experts” present themselves as objective, they really play a key role in disseminating elite propaganda.
Because they have spent a lot of money educating and hiring ‘experts,’ the governing elites have been able to feed the media with a steady stream of them.
‘Think tanks’ and similar organisations are established to pay and publish the research of ‘experts’ whose opinions may be disseminated by the ruling class via the media.
Experts aren’t there to assist you grasp what’s going on; they’re there to give elite interests and opinions much-needed legitimacy. Only individuals favorable to the ruling class are employed as experts in the media.
The response to the murder attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981 is an example of how ‘expert’ opinion may lead to skewed reporting. The would-be assassin was a right-wing Turkish national. Two media-hired ‘experts’, on the other hand, accused the Soviet Union.
Despite the fact that their proof was exceedingly dubious and readily refuted, the bulk of the media picked it up and publicized it. The specialists helped a weak conspiracy theory acquire traction by lending legitimacy to it via their knowledge.
Lesson 11: The media assesses the value of people’s lives depending on the message sent by their deaths.
In 1984, agents of the secret police kidnapped, battered, and killed a Polish priest who was active in his battle against Poland’s communist regime. The tale received a lot of press in the United States, with a focus on its emotional effect and larger political ramifications for communists.
This scenario fits well within the governing elites’ frame of reference, according to them: It presents communists as cruel and dangerous, gaining support for American policies in the process.
The torture and death of hundreds of religious leaders in US-friendly Central American countries has gone unnoticed by the media.
There are countless cases of priests who oppose dictatorial regimes being subjected to cruel, violent tyranny, but the media has mostly remained mute on the subject.
According to the attention provided to each case, the life of a priest slain in Poland is worth a hundred times more than the life of a priest murdered in Central America.
There’s a very good explanation for this. Reporting on misconduct in enemy countries should be done with delight, with gruesome details to agitate viewers and readers, as well as clear links between the crimes and the governing regime.
In order to maintain unity, the media, on the other hand, covers the atrocities of US friends, even going so far as to conceal the death of US citizens in Central America. We don’t pay attention to their deaths since they were caused by the wrong conditions and by the wrong people.
Summary at the end
The dominant political and economic elites’ interests and ideas are promoted by the mass media, resulting in a society that is enormously uneven and unjust.
To do this, media outlets use a ‘propaganda paradigm,’ filtering out dissenting viewpoints and allowing elite perspectives to dominate the news agenda.
Making Passive Income Online is a Recommendation
Additional Reading
If you enjoyed Manufacturing Consent, you may be interested in reading the following book summaries:
Purchase a copy of Manufacturing Consent.
If you’d like to purchase Manufacturing Consent, click on the following links:
Lists that are related
Alternatively, you may go through all of the book summaries.
Bonus Recommendation for Readers of Manufacturing Consent: Make Money Online While You Sleep
If you’re reading this book synopsis, you must be keen to study and develop your profession.
The world has changed dramatically in recent years as a result of the Internet. Making money on the internet has grown lot simpler in recent years.
Building a digital asset that creates income flow for you while you sleep is the best way to rapidly increase your wealth.
To put it another way, it is quite conceivable to create passive income rather than slogging away at a 9-to-5 work and live a financially secure existence.
“If you don’t discover a means to create money while you sleep, you will labor until you die,” Warren Buffet stated.
I recommend starting an affiliate marketing company if you genuinely want to create a steady and reliable source of passive income.
Affiliate marketing is ideal for those who are fresh to the world of internet business.
Affiliate marketing has been the simplest and most gratifying internet business plan I’ve tried so far.
You can virtually completely free affiliate marketing while generating a consistent and long-term passive income to meet your expenses. It doesn’t take any start-up money, and it may even be done as a side business.
And if you’re serious about learning affiliate marketing and starting a company from the ground up, I suggest starting with the most respected affiliate marketing platform available: Wealthy Affiliate.
Wealthy Affiliate is a one-stop shop for starting an affiliate marketing company from the ground up. It provides you with a free account (including a free website) as well as complete SEO (free traffic tactics) training, allowing you to begin affiliate marketing right away without spending any money.
However, how much money can you make with Wealthy Affiliate?
A Wealthy Affiliate student who is 21 years old was able to make $7,395 in only one week, which equates to more than $1000 each day…all while employing free traffic sources.
Wealthy Affiliate has been around for 15 years, and there have been several success stories throughout that time.
Here are some more inspirational success stories from Wealthy Affiliate members to offer you additional examples.
What is the best way to join Wealthy Affiliate?
Wealthy Affiliate offers a very straightforward price structure. It offers both free and paid membership options.
If you’re interested in learning more about Wealthy Affiliate, you can join up for a free starting membership by clicking here (no credit card required). You may choose to be a free member for an indefinite period of time.
As a starting member, you’ll get immediate access to the community, live chat, over 500 training courses, two classrooms, networking, comments, one free website, and the keyword tool.
You may take advantage of all of these benefits without spending any money.
So I highly urge you to create a free account and check it out for yourself.
Making Passive Income Online is a Recommendation
Manufacturing Consent by Edward Herman is a book that discusses how the media has been controlled for decades. It’s still relevant today, and people should be aware of what they are being told by the media. Reference: is manufacturing consent still relevant.
Related Tags
- manufacturing consent: noam chomsky
- manufacturing consent sparknotes
- manufacturing consent example
- manufacturing consent publisher
- manufacturing consent goodreads
