Mass Media in contemporary American life is impossible to avoid. It was written in the 1980s, so it doesn’t incorporate the internet or social media age, but its lessons endure. This isn’t always conscious, but is the result of built-in biases, the need for advertising revenue, access to sources and other incentives. Hermann and Chomsky lay out how the media can act independent of government control, but still serve to distort reality in favor of governmental, corporate and elite interests. Remember that scene from Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon name drops A People’s History of the United States saying it’s a book that will “knock you on your ass”? In that scene, Robin William’s character counters with Manufacturing Consent, a book that describes itself as a “political economy of the mass media.” This book describes how the news media creates and distributes propaganda narratives to the public.
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