2. Manufacturing Consent and Context
His book which studies the shaping of the
consumer by capitalist governments.
In the 19th Century in Britain a radical press
emerged that reached a national working-class
audience – reinforcing class consciousness.
Unified workers under an alternative value system
against their capitalist ‘rulers’.
Resulted in increased taxation on production of
newspapers – limited their production to the
wealthy (likely capitalist).
The Labour party stemmed from a working class
movement and was not backed by any national
3. The Five Filters of Presentation
Filter 1 - Newspapers need a filter of money –
limited to wealthy. Also linked to moneyed
business (banks/gangs) “limitation on ownership
of media with any substantial outreach”.
Filter 2 - Advertising provided revenue for
newspaper creation and distribution. Therefore
advertisers had power. Alternative viewpoints are
likely to receive little funding.
Filter 3 - The media needs a constant supply of
news. It has to cover main events and so a
hierarchy of subject matter exists. Large
beurocracies subsidize to gain special access –
tax payers can end up funding their own
4. The Five Filters of Presentation
Filter 4 - The Flak/negative feedback. The
powerful can feedback to the producers through
shareholders. The power of the financial backers
of institutions is of political concern – Rupert
Murdoch is a case in point. “The government is a
major producer of flak, regularly assailing,
threatening and ‘correcting’ the media, trying to
contain any deviations from the established line.”
Filter 5 - The ideology of anticommunism. The
Soviet, Chinese and Cuban revolutions were a
threat to the Western elite. “It should be noted
that when anti-communism fervour is aroused,
the demand for serious evidence in support of
claims of ‘communist’ abuses is suspended”.
5. Summary
“A propaganda approach to media
coverage suggests as systematic and
highly political dichotomization in news
coverage based on serviceability to
important domestic power interests.”
