Herman and Chomsky, meg143, pre class 3/30

I found the reading on “A Propaganda Model” very interesting and a deeper look into why and how the media is filtered and controlled by such a small group of people before it is presented to the public as “freedom of speech.” It begins by explaining how many countries with extreme censorship in their government and media is obviously propaganda used to serve the dominant elite class. But also that media outlets in countries such as the US that are privately owned and claim to have the people’s best interest at heart are doing exactly the same thing it is just harder to pick up on. “A propaganda model focuses on this inequality of wealth and power and its multi-level effects on mass-media interests and choices” (257). This model has 5 main points of how the media in our country is still owned and produced by a dominant elite class. The points consist of the size of the size and concentrated owner wealth in mass-media firms, the fact that advertising is the main source of income, the reliance that media has on the government, businesses, and “experts” who fund and approve these media sources, “flak” a way to discipline the media, and “anticommunism” as a control mechanism. After all of these elements have effected and altered the news the public only sees the final product which in most cases is extremely different from the original raw news that was found. Unfortunately, the networks that have the most power are always the ones with the most money and the ability to broadcast their ideas the most and the loudest to the general public. Without funding from advertisers, the government, and other businesses a media network has almost new income and no way of broadcasting their news and ideas. “The trend toward greater integration of the media into the market system has been accelerated by the loosening of rules limiting media concentration, cross ownership, and control by non-media companies” (262). While, the media companies have been able to expand, broadcast more, and reach a wider and more diverse population the quality of news seems to be going down. When there are so many different people involved in the funding of these media outlets the filters create news that is produced for the investors benefit not for the greater good of the general public.