Contemporary · Media Theory & Information · Book

Manufacturing Consent

Noam Chomsky & Edward Herman · 1988

"Chomsky and Herman argued mass media pass through five filters — ownership, advertising, sourcing, flak, and ideology — that systematically shape which stories survive to publication without any central conspiracy needing to give orders."

The idea

Chomsky's provocation in 1988: you don't need to censor what the press prints if you filter what it ever sees enough to print.

Why it works

The takeaway — recall it first

Agenda-Setting Theory

"McCombs and Shaw showed media may not tell you what to think, but it decisively tells you what to think about — the correlation between media agenda and public agenda is among the most replicated findings in communication science."

Maxwell McCombs & Donald Shaw · PaperContinue→