So how does this process of ‘manipulation’ or ‘persuasion’ work?

1.Structures of ownership

• maybe there is only a certain amount of companies, pursuit of profit, media ownership. mass media corporations are big corporations. Their end game? Profit. And so it’s in their interests to push for whatever guarantees that profit. Naturally, critical journalism must take second place to the needs and interests of the corporation.

2.The role of advertising

• Media costs a lot more than consumers will ever pay. So who fills the gap? Advertisers. And what are the advertisers paying for? Audiences. And so it isn’t so much that the media are selling you a product — their output. They are also selling advertisers a product — YOU.

3.Links with ‘The Establishment’

• Journalism cannot be a check on power because the very system encourages complicity. Governments, corporations, big institutions know how to play the media game. They know how to influence the news narrative. They feed media scoops, official accounts, interviews with the ‘experts’. They make themselves crucial to the process of journalism. So, those in power and those who report on them are in bed with each other.

4.Diversionary tactics – ‘flack’

• diversion tactics, diverting people attention., trashing story’s, nonsense and undermining. hen the story is inconvenient for the powers that be, you’ll see the flak machine in action discrediting sources, trashing stories and diverting the conversation.

5.Uniting against a ‘common enemy’

To manufacture consent, you need an enemy — a target. That common enemy is the fifth filter. Communism. Terrorists. Immigrants. A common enemy, a bogeyman to fear, helps corral public opinion.

Noam Chomsky

Presents his thoughts on how the mass media works against democracy’s best interests. The corporations and investors controlling the outlets where most people get their news, he argues, selectively choose what to cover for reasons having to do with personal agendas and retaining power, rather than what’s best for readers and viewers. After discussing examples, Chomsky gives suggestions on how to be a well-informed citizen.

media setting an agenda

AGENDA SETTING

FRAMING

MYTH MAKING

CONDITIONS OF CONSUMPTION