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Noam Chomsky Propaganda Modela Critical Evaluation
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Abstract
Our approach offers a view of the “Propaganda Model” developed by the linguist and
American political activist Noam Chomsky 25 years ago and its current validity, with special
emphasis on the five elements or filters. In this analysis, we tried to deconstruct the process and
reflect on other components that filter the information. We also demonstrate how promoting this
kind of analysis against the interests of the power groups in the ‘democratic societies’, tends to
be marginalized institutionally.
Manufacturing Consent. The Political Economy of the Mass Media (Chomsky, 1988), represents
their initial manifesto in the dissection of the industry of State and corporate propaganda in the
American media (Chomsky, 1989: 47). Their subsequent propaganda analysis reflected in books,
conferences, interviews and articles where the American linguist has revealed different aspects
of his vision of the propagandist’s phenomena. There, the American linguist establishes that
mass media outlets are instruments of power (Klaehn, 2002) that ‘mobilize support for the
special interests that dominate the state and private activity’ (Chomsky, 1988: lxi).
How Other Academics and Theoreticians Observe this Theory and Contributions
A resurgence, started a few years ago, has surfaced in the interest of the PM in the academic
field, negatively questioned as ‘an almost conspiratorial view of the media’ (Holsti, 1984: 174).
Their answer to this was, “Many of the critiques displayed a barely-concealed anger, and in most
of them the propaganda model was dismissed with a few superficial clichés (conspiratorial,
simplistic, etc.), without fair presentation or subjecting it to the test of evidence”. (Herman,
2003: 5).
They predicted themselves that rejection (Chomsky, 1989: 22-23) and for other authors
like Herring and Robinson, the PM was marginalized by the academia (Smith, 2008: 6:94)
because this “is very strongly disciplined by the operation of the filters outlined in the
propaganda model” (Herring, 2003: 562). Because the model has an anti-elite perspective, not
Some philosophical rivals like Derrida, Foucault, and Julia Kristeva or reactionary critics
of Chomsky are David Horowitz, Alan Dershowitz, and others (Wise, 2011: 1-2) just criticize his
NOAM CHOMSKY PROPAGANDA MODEL: A CRITICAL EVALUATION 4
political views, his stance against American foreign policy and, what he considered the
‘indoctrination’ of the American people with a ‘double standard’ in the information (Chomsky,
2004: 474). Other authors doubt the orientation of his critics: “I began to feel that Chomsky’s
colleagues in linguistics in U.S. academia were not only selectively reading him, but that there
might be something inherently wrong about his orientation to the study of language” (Wise,
2011: 2).
However, at the turn of the century, a small group of authors has emerged on a similar
theoretical and ideological basis to that of Herman and Chomsky working to strengthen, update,
refine and enlarge the model. Among those authors were Herring and Robinson, Boyd-Barret,
Klaehn, Cromwell and Edwards and Sparks. In addition, it is important to mention the
conferences in London, UK, February 2004, Ontario, Canada, May 2007 and Seville, Spain,
2006.
Avram Noam Chomsky was born in Philadelphia, United States, on December 7, 1928
(IMBD, n. d.). He ‘is an eminent linguist and a radical political philosopher of international
Technology and one of the towering figures of 20th-century linguistics (Columbia Encyclopedia,
2001). Equally critical of capitalist and socialist societies having been politically defined himself
as a "libertarian Socialist" (Head, 2004) and the New York Times Book Review considered him
as "in terms of the power, range, novelty and influence of his thought, Noam Chomsky is
Chomsky positioned itself as the most influential figure on the American left, especially
admired in Europe and in the progressive countries of Latin America where his lectures, articles
NOAM CHOMSKY PROPAGANDA MODEL: A CRITICAL EVALUATION 5
and political essays are constantly printed (All American Speakers, n.d.). His political activism
started with the popular mobilization, a whole generation of Americans against the Vietnam
Some of his most famous -and debated- works are: Language and Mind (1968), For
Reasons of State (1973), Language and Responsibility (1979), After the Cataclysm, (1979); The
Washington Connection and Third World Fascism (1979), Radical Priorities (1981), The Fateful
Triangle (1983), Chronicles of Dissent (1992), Class Warfare (1996), Powers and Prospects
(1996), The New Military Humanism (1999), The Architecture of Language (2000), Rogue States
(2000), 9-11 (2001), The Common Good (2002), Understanding Power (2002), Hegemony or
Survival (2003), Gaza in Crisis (2010) and of course, Manufacturing Consent (1988). (Stafforini,
2011)
influence on the public, assessing the outcomes, influence and of course, tendencies of the mass
media in modern society (Fog, 2013). Based on history and reality of functioning of Government
and corporations in the ‘manufacture of consent’ (Lippmann, XVI: 4) explains how it functions
on ‘engineering’ public opinion issues in political and commercial trends (Cull, 2003: xviii).
“The ability to produce flak, that is costly and threatening, is related to power” (Chomsky, 1988:
26). Also, “the government is a major producer of flack, regularly assailing, threatening and
“correcting” the media, trying to contain any deviations from the established line” (Chomsky,
1988: 28).
We confront and research the theory in the way the model seeks to explain how
populations are manipulated (Holsti, 2008:89,108) and how consent for economic, social and
NOAM CHOMSKY PROPAGANDA MODEL: A CRITICAL EVALUATION 6
political policies is "manufactured" in the public mind due to this propaganda (Mayer, 2013).
The theory posits that the way in which the implementation of the news design as a support for
advertising (Best, 2009): “We are here to serve advertisers. That is our raison d’etre….” — The
C.E.O. of Westinghouse (CBS), Advertising Age, February 3, 97” (in Shah, 2009). As we can
see, the concentration of control of the media and state sourcing or through third party funded
“All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the
most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to. Consequently, the greater
the mass it is intended to reach, the lower its purely intellectual level will have to
“The mass media serve as a system for communicating messages and symbols to
the general populace. It is their function to amuse, entertain, and inform, and to
inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will
integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society. In a world of
concentrated wealth and major conflicts of class interest, to fulfill this role
Manufacturing consent
recognized it:
opciones y actitudes estén estructuradas de tal forma que siempre hagan lo que les
["Edward Herman and I copy it to our book, but it comes from Lippmann. Well,
he says, we have this new art in democracy, the manufacture of the consensus
method. To manufacture consensus, can overcome the fact that formally people
are entitled to vote. We can make it irrelevant, because we can manufacture the
consensus and ensure your choices and attitudes are structured so that they always
do what they say, even if they have a formal participating mode. Thus, we have a
real democracy. It will operate properly. That is, apply the lessons of the
“If there were a free press - an authentic free press - the headlines would be ridiculing
this claim on the grounds that policy is designed in such a way that it amplifies the terrorist risk.
But you can't find that, which is one of innumerable indications of how far we are from anything
governmental elites which are de-facto world government (Chomsky, 1982: 65; 1991). The
media cultivated an atmosphere of signs and massive control of public opinion messages (or
NOAM CHOMSKY PROPAGANDA MODEL: A CRITICAL EVALUATION 8
“The Mass Media serve as a system for communicating messages and symbols to
the general populace. It is their function to amuse, entertain, and inform, and to
inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will
integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society. In a world of
concentrated wealth and major conflicts of class interest, to fulfil this role requires
The basic premise is that information (namely, their control, selection and emission)
according to Chomsky and Herman, is, more than ever controlled. In contemporary capitalist
democracies, the Alliance's political power and economic power, injects propaganda in a more
surreptitious way as totalitarian or dictatorial regimes (Chomsky, 1989, 2:36); behind the screen
of the informative "freedom" and "independence" in the corporate important media is based on
five "filters" that determine the information publishable. (Pedro, 2011, I: 1867)
The Chomsky propaganda model consists of five so-called filters. These "filter out the
news fit to print, marginalize dissent, and allow the government and dominant private interests to
“(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
sources and agents of power; (4) "flak" as a means of disciplining the media; and
NOAM CHOMSKY PROPAGANDA MODEL: A CRITICAL EVALUATION 9
1988, 2)
As you would expect, these five "filters" significantly reduce what become news: the
information coming from the Government and large corporations usually sort them easily, while
information and dissenting opinions; get in the way (Chomsky, 1988: xxv, xlii) and of course the
balance and objectivity is a crucial part of the propaganda function. In fact, they
In other words, institutional limits of discourse, that focus, in the theoretical tradition of
the agenda setting, the points of social interest (in function, this time, in the interest of the
powerful), in such a way that the American media do not work in the manner of the propaganda
On the contrary, allow -and even further- energetic debates, criticism and disagreements,
as long as they remain faithful in the system of budgeting and principles that constitute the elite
consensus, a system so powerful that it can be internalized for the most part, without being aware
Institutional media structure and the stipulation of limits of speech are not the only
mechanisms of propaganda in the ‘chomskyan’ view, but are decisive. There are other factors,
NOAM CHOMSKY PROPAGANDA MODEL: A CRITICAL EVALUATION 10
acceptance of the dominant ideology. They can also add certain formal elements of mass
communication, as the fragmentary quality of television that cancels out any deep analysis. Thus,
what he describes:
“The compelling moral principle is that the mass of the public are just too stupid
affair, they’re just going to cause trouble. Therefore, it would be immoral and
With the emergence of the Internet arises, ask it if the PM can explain its operation and
content (Rosenau, 2002:48), which will feature a model of media other than newspapers, radio,
or television, emerging a platform where the non-corporate media with critical perspectives and
social change have been able to develop and grow. (Rampton, 2007)
Therefore, Herman (Herman, 2007) has said “(t)he rise of the Internet potentially
challenges the model”, but the fact of being a new medium not implies the abandonment of the
PM by the media to the community and the efforts by its regulation and control, where there is
He validates the actuality of the model and the importance of the public relations industry
“The Obama campaign greatly impressed the public relations industry, which
named Obama ‘Advertising Age’s marketer of the year for 2008,’ easily beating
out Apple computers. A good predictor of the elections a few weeks later. The
economic theory, but benefiting the masters of the economy. And it recognizes
uninformed voters who make often irrational choices between the factions of the
business party that amass sufficient support from concentrated private capital to
2010: 210)
NOAM CHOMSKY PROPAGANDA MODEL: A CRITICAL EVALUATION 12
Conclusion
corporate) has come to give reason to the Herman and Chomsky Propaganda Model. The social
and political meanings are progressively limited under cover of the single thought, to the new
styles of life generated by commercial advertising and corporate messages. Only in Internet in
the first half of this year set a record $20.1 billion dollar (IAB, 2013).
It’s important to consider the weakness of the model presented by different authors and
academics, like the hostility against the elites that present itself as too politicized and not only
On the other side is excellent showing the structural imperfections of the media
conglomerates and surpass the chorus of critics with the international impact and reality
Not all theories are fail proof and do not consider that everything surrounding us in the
waves or printed corresponds exactly to any ‘conspiracy theory’ rules and the supremacy of
elites all around us. The Propaganda Model as a framework for the understanding of the process
and function of the media maintains its validity and proof one of Chomsky’s concepts: education
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