essay

1. The Propaganda Model
Do you really enjoy watching news? Have you ever thought whether the media is
authentic or not? The “Propaganda Model", made by Edward Herman and Noam
Chomsky mainly focuses on the inequalities of wealth and power that have an effect
on the media at diverse degrees. Through this essay I will discuss about three main
points. First of all, I will talk about how the Propaganda Model allows the
government, private corporations along with holdings to influence the public through
a set of five filters, which the propaganda model is comprised of. Afterwards, I will
highlight how the filters affect content in each case by providing specific examples.
Lastly, I will give my standpoint regarding the propaganda model.
“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 (…) to get their message across to the
public ”i. In the propaganda model, there are five “filters” used within the mass media
in order to decide what topics, issues, and events are considered news worthy. First of
all, “size, ownership and profit orientation of the mass media”, it is first filter, stands
for the investors, who are wealthy citizens, monopolize the media. It gives rise to a
narrowing of debate, with positive sides on positions favored by the owners. For
instance, according to “The Propaganda Model of News” video, there are big
corporations such as ABC, which are owned by huge concentrations as Disney
Capital Cities. In fact, TCI that is a cable provider is a cut cleat example of How John

2. Malone’s conservative views influence what channels viewers get to see. In essence,
“when you are the monopoly supplier you are inclined to dictate”ii Moreover, “The
advertising license to do business”, it is the second filter that points out the media
highly relies on the advertisers. In order to maintain the media; news, newspaper,
magazines; get revenues from advertising. The fact of selecting the advertisers has an
underlying result, which is the profound influence of the media. On one hand, by
advertising, its media product popularity will naturally increase. On the other hand, it
might have a negative effect on the outcome media since advertisers tell the media
what they want to convey. To illustrate, many years ago San Jose Mercury news had
an article about advising how to save money when buying a new car by negotiating
with auto dealers it without a doubt made the dealers complain after a while, the same
magazine released an article in defense of the new car dealers.
Furthermore, “News source”, it is the third filter that refers to time and monetary
concerns force media to count on steady and powerful sources examples of which are,
government along with company, to ensure the objective of news, while through
getting the news sources from non-reliable sources such as protesters, strikers and so
on, publications might not be legitimate. Take case of Bill Clinton, during a
conference in Philadelphia, April 1997, He announced that volunteerism was playing
an important role in USA, days after it was believed that there was a cutting welfare
would push millions of poor Americans into the need for volunteerism the media took
it this way since they thought it come from primary definers of news. In addition, Flak
and the Enforcers is the fourth filter, in the words of the authors, “Flak refers to
negative responses to a media statement or program. It may take the form of letters

3. (…) It may centrally or locally (…) if flak is produced on a large scale can be
uncomfortable and costly”iii
In other words, “Flak” is described as the negative feedback from forces that are
outside of the media. Those forces bring forth the media defending itself in or out of
the institution. There are mainly three main sources of Flak, which are government,
business in conjunction with media monitoring groups. As an illustration, The
Chicago Tribune as a Military reporter hired David Evans, he was an ex-marine he
knew a lot about the Pentagon. Nevertheless, the pentagon and the defense contractors
constantly attacked the Chicago Tribune. Therefore, David Evans got fired.
Finally, "anticommunism as a control mechanism" is the last filter, it refers to the
ideological filter, which displays enemies and reinforces patriotic feeling in some
way. From my standpoint, the propaganda model is based on five key filters, where
the three first filters as stated above, are the most important within the system.
However, In order to have a strong emphasis, the whole filters must corporate and
merge. The way I see it, the individual who is the one that watches the new, reads the
newspaper/magazine is the underlying dominant since is the one who get the
information through the media. Besides, Propaganda Model’s essence comes from the
analysis of the relationship of the media and its factors systematically and logically
studied. Every piece of news must be checked step by step before going out to the
society. Not only does the propaganda model help to revise de media, but it also
shapes it before coming out. Hence, the propaganda model is without a doubt a
needed-system in the mass media in order to the citizen get accurately aware of what
is happening in the society.

4. As we have seen, the propaganda model is used for the analysis of the mass media
framework whose ulterior motive is, as the word itself says, to filter the media that it
is currently presented in our society. Thus, It is a powerful system that is able to
decide what the general public is allowed to hear, see, think, hear and create by a
regular control.
MARIA LISSETTE PLAZA AGUILAR 201503750
i Herman Edward & Noam Chomsky, Propaganda Model (1998) ch. 1 p.2
ii The propaganda model of News extract from the documentary film “The Myth
of Liberal Media” (2013)
iii Herman Edward & Noam Chomsky, Propaganda Model (1998) ch. 1 p.26