Propaganda Model

The Propaganda Model (PM) was developed by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky in their classic book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (Parthenon, 1988). They note that:

"The essential ingredients of our propaganda model, or set of news "filters," fall under the following headings: (1) the size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms; (2) advertising as the primary income source of the mass media; (3) the reliance of the media on information provided by government, business, and "experts" funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power; (4) "flak" as a means of disciplining the media; and (5) "anticommunism" as a national religion and control mechanism. These elements interact with and reinforce one another. The raw material of news must pass through successive filters, leaving only the cleansed residue fit to print. They fix the premises of discourse and interpretation, and the definition of what is newsworthy in the first place, and they explain the basis and operations of what amount to propaganda campaigns." [1]

On December 19, 2008, Dr Andy Mullen is organizing a one day conference at Northumbria University (UK) titled, "Twenty Years at the Margins: The Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model and Critical Media and Communication Studies, 1988-2008."

Between 15-17 May 2007 a conference was held at the University of Windsor Communication Studies (Windsor, Canada) on the Propaganda Model. The full title of this conference is 20 Years of Propaganda? Critical Discussions & Evidence on the Ongoing Relevance of the Herman & Chomsky Propaganda Model. (Also see Andy Mullen's Conference Report)

In Feburary 2004 there was a one-day conference held in London (UK) titled "Mainstream Media Bias & the 'Propaganda Model'".

Articles supporting the PM

• Robert A. Hackett, "News and Dissent: The Press and The Politics of Peace in Canada", Ablex, 1991. Review (For work on the Propaganda Model see chapter 2)
• Elli Lester, "Manufactured Silence and the Politics of Media Research: A Consideration of the 'Propaganda Model'", Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 45-55, 1992.
• John Sorenson, "Imagining Ethiopia, Struggles for History and Identity in the Horn of Africa", Rutgers University Press, 1993.
• Edgar, W. Linder, "An evaluation of the Propaganda Model of the media from an environmental perspective", Unpublished B.Bus. Thesis, Griffith University, 1994.
• Edward S. Herman, "The Propaganda Model Revisited", Monthly Review, July 1996.
• Rosemary Johanna van Es, "Canadian 'chivalry' in Vietnam: The press coverage", McMaster University, Dissertation, 1996.
• Eric Herring, "An Uneven Killing Field: The Manufacture of Consent for the Arms Embargo on Bosnia-Herzegovnia", in Malcolm D. Evans (ed.), Aspects of Statehood and Institutionalism in Contemporary Europe (Aldershot: Dartmouth, 1997), pp. 159–82.
• Edgar, W. Linder, "Managing East Timor: a study of the Australian print media's reporting of human rights in East Timor 1975-1995", PhD Thesis, Griffith University, 1998.
• Abhinav Aima, "The Framing of Saddam Hussein: U.S. Foreign Policy and Coverage of Iraq in Time Magazine, 1979-1998", Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communications, Ohio University, 1999.
• David Cromwell, "The Propaganda Model: An Overview", Excerpted from Private Planet, 2002.
• Jeffery Klaehn, "Corporate Hegemony: A Critical Assessment of the Globe and Mail’s News Coverage of Near-Genocide in Occupied East Timor 1975–80", International Communication Gazette, 2002, Vol. 64(4): pp.301–321.
• Mark Nelson, "Moral Agency in a Propaganda System", Discourse, Volume 8, 2002.
• Edward S. Herman, "The Propaganda Model: A Retrospective", Against All Reason, Decenber 9, 2003. (first published in Journalism Studies, 1:1 (2000), pp. 101–12.)
• Natascha Klocker and Kevin M. Dunn, "Who's driving the asylum debate?", Media International Australia, No 109, August 2003.
• Jeffery Klaehn, "Behind the Invisible Curtain of Scholarly Criticism: revisiting the propaganda model", Journalism Studies, 2003, Vol. 4(3), pp. 359-369, 2003. Reprinted in Filtering the News: Essays on Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model (Montreal: Black Rose, 2005), pp. 223-238.
• David J. Collison, “Corporate propaganda: its implications for accounting and accountability”, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Volume 16 Number 5 2003 pp. 853-886.
• Lucy-Ann Kelly, "The Baxter Convergence", Social Movements in Activism Conference, pp.35-39, 2003.
• Matthew Randall, "The Media on Asylum & Immigration", Media Lens , December 09, 2003.
• Eric Herring and Piers Robinson, "Too polemical or too critical? Chomsky on the study of the news media and US foreign policy", Review of International Studies, 29, pp.553–568, 2003.
• Medialens, "Full Spectrum Dissent Part 1 - Extending The Scope Of The Propaganda Model", Medialens, January 31, 2003. Part 2
• Tonya Lynn Adkins, "Mountaintop Removal: An Assessment of the Propaganda Model of the News Media", Masters of Arts, Marshall University, 2003.
• Genevieve Carbery, "Threats to the Emancipatory Potential of the Internet", National University of Ireland, Master of Equality Studies, 2003.
• Alison Holder, “Forgotten or Ignored? News media silence and the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)”, MSc in the Faculty of Economics (Development Studies), London School of Economics, 2004.
• Oliver Boyd-Barrett, "Judith Miller, The New York Times, and the propaganda model", Journalism Studies, Vol. 5(4), pp.435-449.
• Andy Mullen, "The British Left's 'Great Debate' on Europe: The Political Economy of the British Left and European Integration, 1945-2004", Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Bradford, 2005.
• Steven E. Phelan, "Propaganda model of business school behavior", Proceedings of the 4th International Critical Management Studies, 4-6 July 2005. (Later published in the Quarterly Journal of Ideology, Volume 29, 2006.)
• Michael Barker, "Manufacturing policies: the media’s role in the policy making process", Refereed paper presented to the Journalism Education Conference, Griffith University, 29 November – 2 December 2005.
• Alex Doherty, "Propaganda and the BBC", Zmag, February 7, 2005.
• David Edwards and David Cromwell, "Guardians of power: the myth of the liberal media", Pluto Press, 2005.
• Denis Cryle and Jean Hillier, (eds) "Consent and consensus: politics, media and governance in twentieth century Australia", Australia Research Institute, 2005.
• Marriane McKiggan, "Climate change and the mass media: a critical analysis", Unpublished MSc thesis: University of Southampton, 2005.
• Mark Falcous and Michael Silk, "Manufacturing Consent: Mediated Sporting Spectacle and the Cultural Politics of “The War on Terror”", International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, Vol 1(1), 2005.
• Sallie Hughes and Chappell Lawson, "Propaganda and Crony Capitalism: Partisan Bias in Mexican Television News", Latin American Research Review, Forthcoming.
• Robert A. Hackett, "Is Peace Journalism Possible? Three Frameworks for Assessing Structure and Agency in News Media", Conflict and Communication Online, Vol.5, No.2, 2006.
• Andrew Kennis, "The Propoganda Model: Evaluating a Theory on the Political Economy and Performance of the Mass Media", Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Midwest Political Science Association, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, Illinois, April 20, 2006.
• Cliff Vanderlinden, "Technology as the Sixth Filter: Revising the Propaganda Model", Communication and Culture, York University, 2006.
• Anthony DiMaggio, "American Media & the British-Iranian Standoff: A Re-Examination of the Propaganda Model", Znet, April 11, 2007.
• Michael Barker, "Global Greens and the Mass Media: Building for a Participatory Future?", Griffith Journal of the Environment, September 24, 2007.
• Michael Barker, "Manufacturing Consent for World War III", Global Research, November 22, 2007.
• Peter Phillips and Project Censored, "Left Progressive Media Inside the Propaganda Model", Project Censored (Undated, 2007-8?)
• Michael Barker, "The Liberal Foundations of Media Reform? Creating Sustainable Funding Opportunities for Radical Media Reform", Global Media Journal, June 2008.
• Kevin Howley, "The Propaganda Model Redux", The Bloomington Alternative, August 24, 2008.
• Jeffery Klaehn, "Media, Power and the Origins of the Propaganda Model: An Interview with Edward S. Herman" Fifth Estate Online: The International Journal of Radical Mass Media Criticism, December 2008.
• John W. Robertson, "It Looks Like There's No Alternative: UK TV News Coverage of the 2008 Budget and the Propaganda Model", Fifth Estate Online: The International Journal of Radical Mass Media Criticism, December 2008.
• Peter Phillips and Project Censored, "Left Progressive Media Inside the Propaganda Model", Project Censored, July 15, 2009. also see
• The Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model Twenty Years On Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 6(2), November 2009.
• Matthew Alford, "A Propaganda Model for Hollywood", Westminster Papers for Communication and Culture, Vol 6(2), 2009.
• Jeffery Klaehn, 'The Propaganda Model: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations,’ Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (WPCC), 2009, Vol. 6(2), pp. 43-58.
• Daniel Broudy, "The Propaganda of Patriotism and Color" Synaesthesia, 2009, Vol. 1(1): pp. 1-8.
• Andrew Mullen and Jeffery Klaehn, "The Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model: A Critical Approach to Analyzing Mass Media Behaviour" Sociology Compass, 2010, Vol 4(4), pp. 215-229.
• Jeffery Klaehn and Andrew Mullen, "The Propaganda Model and Sociology: Understanding the Media and Society" Synaesthesia, 2010, Vol. 1(1): pp. 10-23.
• John W. Robertson, "The Propaganda Model in 2011: Stronger Yet Still Neglected in UK Higher Education" Synaesthesia, 2010, Vol. 1(1): pp. 24-33.
• Andrew Mullen, "Bringing Power Back In: The Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model, 1988-2008" in Jeffery Klaehn (ed.), The Political Economy of Media and Power (New York: Peter Lang, 2010), pp. 207-234.
• Robert Jensen, "The Faculty Filter: Why the Propaganda Model is Marginalized in U.S. Journalism Schools" in Jeffery Klaehn (ed.), The Political Economy of Media and Power (New York: Peter Lang, 2010), pp. 235-242.
• Joan Pedro, "The Propaganda Model in the Early 21st Century", "Part I" & "Part II", International Journal of Communication, 5, 2011.

Articles critiquing the PM

• Charles T. Salmon, "Review of Manufacturing consent, by Herman and Chomsky", Journalism Quarterly, 66 (Summer), 1989, pp.494-95.
• Robert Entman, "News as propaganda", Journal of Communication, 40, pp.124-127, 1990.
• Philip Schlesinger, ‘From Production to Propaganda’, in Culture and Power: Media, Culture and Society: A Reader. London: Sage, 1992.
• Jeff Goodwin, "What's right (and wrong) about left media criticism? Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model", Sociological Forum, Issue Volume 9, Number 1 / March, 1994, pp.101-111.

Books Supporting the PM

• Jeffery Klaehn (ed.), "Filtering the news: essays on Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model", Black Rose Books, 2005.
• David Edwards and David Cromwell, Newspeak in the 21st Century (Pluto Press, 2009).
• Anthony DiMaggio, When Media Goes to War: Hegemonic Discourse, Public Opinion, and the Limits of Dissent (Monthly Review Press, 2010).
• Jeffery Klaehn (ed.), The Political Economy of Media and Power (New York: Peter Lang, 2010).

Debates

Chomsky/Andrew Marr

• David Edwards, excerpted from "The Compassionate Revolution", Green Books, 1998. (For video of chomsky interview see next)
• BBC, "Noam Chomsky: The Big Idea", YouTube, Undated.

Klaehn/Corner

• Jeffery Klaehn, "A Critical Review and Assessment of Herman and Chomsky’s ‘Propaganda Model’", European Journal of Communication, 17, pp.147–182, 2002.
• John Corner, "Debate: The Model in Question – A Response to Klaehn on Herman and Chomsky", European Journal of Communication, 18, pp. 367-375, 2003
• Jeffery Klaehn, "Debate: Model Construction: Various Other Epistemological Concerns – A Reply to John Corner’s Commentary on the Propaganda Model", European Journal of Communication, 18, pp. 377-383, 2003.

Lang & Lang/Herman & Chomsky

• Kurt Lang and Gladys Engel Lang, "Noam Chomsky and the Manufacture of Consent for American Foreign Policy." Political Communication, 21, pp.93-101, 2004.
• Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, "Reply to Kurt and Gladys Engel Lang", Political Communication, 21, pp.103-107, 2004.
• Kurt Lang and Gladys Engel Lang, "Response to Herman and Chomsky", Political Communication, 21, pp.109-111, 2004.
• Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, "Further Reply to the Langs", Political Communication, 21, pp.113-116, 2004.
• Kurt Lang and Gladys Engel Lang, "Afterword", Political Communication, Volume 21, Issue 1 January 2004, 21, p.117, 2004.

Transcripts of Medialens interviews with the "liberal" media

• David Edwards, "Interview with Roger Alton (Editor, The Observer)", December 20, 2000.
• David Edwards, "Interview with Alan Rusbridger (Editor, The Guardian)", December 22, 2000.
• David Edwards, "Interview with Jon Snow (Presenter, Channel 4 News)", January 9, 2001.

Films

• "Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media", Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick, 1993.
• "The Myth of the Liberal Media: The Propaganda Model of News (Featuring Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman)", Media Education Foundation, 1997.

Related

• Edward S. Herman, "Colloquy: Dissent on Manufacturing Consent", Journal of Communication, Vol. 40, 1990.
• Jim Anderson, "How U.S. Newspapers Are Like Pravda Used to Be", American Journalism Review, July/August 1993. (Book Review)
• Noam Chomsky, "Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda", Seven Stories Press, 1997.
• Piers Robinson, “The policy-media interaction model: measuring media power during humanitarian crisis”, Journal of Peace Research, 37(5), pp.613-633, 2000.
• Piers Robinson, “Operation restore hope and the illusion of a news media driven intervention”, Political Studies, 49, pp. 941-956, 2001.
• Aeron Davis, “Public relations democracy: public relations, politics and the mass media in Britain.”, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002.
• Antony Loewenstein, "The New York Times' role in promoting war on Iraq", Sydney Morning Herald, March 23, 2004.
• Matthew Alford interview with Prof W.S. Lucas, "Celebrating Dissent: Scholarship and Politics in the New American Century", 49th Parallel: An Interdisciplinary Journal of North American Studies, Issue 13, Spring 2004.
• David Edwards, "Smearing Chomsky - The Guardian In The Gutter", Medialens, November 04, 2005.
• Jeffery Klaehn (ed.), Bound by Power: Intended Consequences, Black Rose Books, 2006. Excerpt.
• Noah Brahm, Jr., "Understanding Noam Chomsky: A Reconsideration", Critical Studies in Media Communication, Vol 23, No. 5, pp.453-61, December 2006. (Critique of Chomsky)
• Robert F. Barsky, "Anarchism, the Chomsky Effect and the Descent from the Ivory Tower", Critical Studies in Media Communication, Vol 23, No. 5, pp.446-52, December 2006.
• Andy Mullen, "Twenty Years at the Margins: The Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model, 1988-2008", Fifth Estate Online: The International Journal of Radical Mass Media Criticism, January 2008.
• Brett Gillman, "Medialens and Britain’s role in World Politics: An Assessment", MSc Dissertation, University of Bristol (UK), 2007.
• Michael Albert, "Parecon & Journalism", Znet, April 17, 2008.
• Michael Barker, "The Liberal Foundations of Media Reform? Creating Sustainable Funding Opportunities for Radical Media Reform", Global Media Journal, June 2008. (Evolution of the means to manufacture consent.)
• Jeffery Klaehn, "Media, Power and the Origins of the Propaganda Model: An Interview with Edward S. Herman", Fifth Estate Online: The International Journal of Radical Mass Media Criticism, December 2008.
• Joel Bakan