More heavy-handed analysis by the baron of linguistics, Chomsky
(Rules and Representations, 1980, among others), and Herman
(Finance/Wharton School). The subject is the actual effect of the
mass media on public opinion and just what it is that the media
attempt to accomplish. As the title suggests, the authors aim to
demonstrate that the media in America tend to buttress elite groups
and privileged organizations. Those who argue that the media are
too aggressive, obstinate, or cantankerous in their public
persecutions of selected government leaders or policies are wrong,
the authors state. Rather, the media always serve a "societal
purpose" - which is "not that of enabling the public to assert
meaningful control over the political process by providing them
with the information needed for the intelligent discharge of
political responsibilities. On the contrary. . .the 'societal
purpose'. . .is to inculcate and defend the economic, social, and
political agenda of privileged groups. . ." How do the media
accomplish this? Via "selection of topics, distribution of
concerns, framing of issues, filtering of information, emphasis,
and tone." This argument is not original; other books have argued
(in much clearer prose) basically the same idea (e.g., The Media
Elite, by Robert S. Lichter, 1986). And what further weakens this
book are the strained examples that the authors choose: that media
excesses in the Watergate scandal and in advocating an anti-Vietnam
stance, for instance, were not cases of adversarial journalism, but
of journalism coming to the defense of a weakened Congress (itself
a prime example of a privileged group). Stretching for its thesis,
and as a result not strongly argued. (Kirkus Reviews)
Contrary to the usual image of the press as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in its search for truth, Edward Herman and Noam Chomskydepict how an underlying elite consensus largely structures all facetsof the news. They skillfully dissect the way in which the marketplace and the economics of publishing significantly shape the news. They reveal how issues are framed and topics chosen. What emerges from this pathbreaking work is an account of just how propagandistic our mass media are, and how we can learn ro read them and see their funtion in a radically new way.
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