Propaganda model

The propaganda model explains how media ownership, advertising, sourcing, flak, and dominant ideology filter news and shape mass-media coverage.

Media ownership: The ownership structures and control arrangements governing media organizations. Concentrated ownership can constrain coverage to the interests of owners and corporate groups.
Edward S. Herman: An American economist and media scholar who co-developed the propaganda model with Noam Chomsky. Herman formulated the model’s institutional analysis and co-wrote its foundational book.
Fourth Estate: The idea that the press serves as an independent check on government and other powerful institutions. It contrasts with the model’s emphasis on structural dependence rather than press independence.
Indonesian occupation of East Timor: Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor from 1975 until the territory’s 1999 transition toward independence. Herman and Chomsky use coverage of the occupation to examine unequal attention to victims.
Advertising: Paid communication intended to promote products, services, or ideas. Dependence on advertisers rewards audiences and coverage attractive to commercial sponsors.
Noam Chomsky: An American linguist, philosopher, and political writer known for criticism of U.S. foreign policy and mass media. Chomsky helped develop and popularize the model’s account of media power.
Indexing hypothesis: A theory that news coverage tends to reflect the range of debate among political elites. It explains conformity to elite debate without requiring all five of the model’s filters.
Guatemala genocide: The mass killing of Maya civilians by Guatemala’s state forces, especially during the early 1980s. Coverage of atrocities under a U.S.-backed government illustrates the model’s account of selective attention.
Sourcing: The practices by which journalists obtain information and identify sources for news. Routine reliance on official sources gives powerful institutions influence over news agendas.
Manufacturing Consent (film): A 1992 documentary about Noam Chomsky that explains and illustrates the propaganda model. The film brought the model’s arguments to audiences beyond academic publishing.

Linked from 6 pages