Blog 2: Manufacturing Consent

The documentary Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992), expands on the book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, co-written by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, by illustrating the idea of the propaganda model. This idea states that corporate media is manipulating the opinions of the public by solely serving the interests elite societal groups. The film uses interviews with Chomsky as well as a variety of visual techniques to get this point across. In particular, the documentary intersperses footage of American news segments from the 1940s and 1950s with segments of interviews with Chomsky. In one segment Ed Turner, an executive V.P. for the Cable News Network, explains how modern technology has lead to more detailed and accurate journalism. Following this, Noam Chomsky explains in an interview that in totalitarian societies when a leader calls for a war, the public immediately shows support and enthusiasm; quickly after the film cuts to old newsreel abdicating war as a way of establishing a new world order that is completely for the people. Chomsky goes on to explain that during times of war, in a democratic society, the media should offer details of possible peace settlements and encourage debates over the decision to go to war. After he states that this has never happened in American society and then another old news segment is show about the creation of the Office of War Information and how it professes to be a vehicle to pass on truthful information to the public. It describes the media as “the great machine of information with its powers of molding public thought and leading public action” (Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, 1992). These old news segments further illustrate Chomksy’s point- they show how the media aims to manipulate rather than inform. By stating that the war is for the people by they people, the media enforces the idea that going to war is the only option that will lead to a profitable future. The second newsreel even goes so far as to advocate “molding” people’s opinions as a means for a better end.