Stuart Hall's theory of encoding/decoding argues that media communication involves two processes: media producers creating texts and audiences making sense of those texts. However, neither have total power as production and interpretation occur within existing conventions. Edward Herman's propaganda model proposes five political-economic filters that shape mass media messages: size and ownership concentrating media power; advertising dependence incentivizing corporate-friendly coverage; sourcing from PR and elite experts; flak against dissenting voices; and anticommunism historically justifying censorship.

1. Stuart Hall
Encoding/Decoding

2. • In ‘Encoding/Decoding’, Hall argues that there are two processes
which result in media communication
• 1- Media producers making the text
• 2- Audiences read and make sense of those texts
• However, this is not to overstate the power of either the producers or
the audience, because these are bound my pre-existing conventions
in making and interpreting the text
• Production exists within a particular context and the ‘reading’ exists in a
particular context

4. Three ways the receiver can decode a message
1. Dominant-hegemonic position: Reproduce hegemonic messages which are
interpreted as they wished to be interpreted
2. Negotiated code: Audiences are aware of the intended, dominant meaning
of the text. However, they respond differently, or place it within a different
context
3. Oppositional code: Takes the message and ‘flips it on its head’ in order to
decontextualize it within an oppositional framework

7. Edward S. Herman
The Propaganda Model

8. The political-economic filters
of mass media messages
1. Size and ownership of the mass media
2. The advertising license to do business
3. Sourcing mass media news
4. The flak and the enforcers
5. Anticommunism as a control mechanism

9. 1.
Size and
ownership of
mass media:
Canadian
example

10. 2.
The
advertising
license to do
business
Due to the large amounts of money invested by corporations to TV and movies,
the advertisement companies gain power and an amount of control over the
platform through which they are selling.

11. 3.
Sourcing
mass media
news
Source?
For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rnq1NpHdmw&t=58s
OR search Scientific Studies: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) on YouTube

12. 4.
The flak and
the enforcer

13. 5.
Anticommunism
and a control
mechanism
“Anti-Communism as a control mechanism is Herman’s fifth, and
final, filter. When analyzing contemporary media, the fear is no
longer communism but terrorism, political Islam and difference in
general.
2004’s documentary “Outfoxed” explores this idea. Fox News has
used fear techniques on subjects such as terrorism, sexual
difference, race and religion. Larry Johnson, a former Fox News
contributor said in relation to the news station, “the motivator is
fear. The payoff is we’re going to go and kill the bad guys. It’s a very
simple black and white world they portray” (Larry Johnson, 2004,
Outfoxed).
According to Herman, the reason for the continuous threat of fear is
for manipulation of the public. By keeping the public afraid, they can
be controlled. The continuous terrorism threat will cause the public
to put faith in the government for protection and safety. As a result,
the people in governmental power appear heroic as they protected
the public from terrorism, even when terrorism may not have even
been a threat.” (Whelan, 2013)