Editing Propaganda model (section)

{{Short description|Conceptual model in political economy}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2023}}

{{Journalism sidebar}}
The '''propaganda model''' is a [[conceptual model]] in [[political economy]] advanced by [[Edward S. Herman]] and [[Noam Chomsky]] to explain how [[propaganda]] and [[systemic bias]]es function in [[corporate]] [[mass media]]. The model seeks to explain how populations are manipulated and how [[consent of the governed|consent]] for economic, social, and political policies, both foreign and domestic, is "manufactured" in the public mind due to this propaganda. The theory posits that the way in which [[corporate]] media is structured (e.g. through [[advertising]], [[concentration of media ownership]] or government sourcing) creates an inherent [[conflict of interest]] and therefore acts as propaganda for anti-democratic elements.

[[File:Propaganda Model Filters Herman and Chomsky.jpg|thumb|Herman and Chomsky's 5 filters of Propaganda Model]]

First presented in their 1988 book ''[[Manufacturing Consent|Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media]]'', the propaganda model views corporate media as businesses interested in the sale of a product—readers and audiences—to other businesses (advertisers) rather than the pursuit of quality [[journalism]] in service of the public. Describing the media's "societal purpose", Chomsky writes, "... the study of institutions and how they function must be scrupulously ignored, apart from fringe elements or a relatively obscure scholarly literature".{{sfn|Chomsky|1989|p={{pn|date=December 2021}}}} The theory postulates five general classes of "filters" that determine the type of news that is presented in news media. These five classes are: [[Concentration of media ownership|ownership]] of the medium, the medium's [[funding]] sources, [[news source|sourcing]], [[wikt:flak|flak]], and [[anti-communism]] or "fear ideology".

The first three are generally regarded by the authors as being the most important. In versions published after the [[9/11 attacks]] on the United States in 2001, Chomsky and Herman updated the fifth prong to instead refer to the "[[War on Terror]]" and "[[counter-terrorism]]", which they state operates in much the same manner.

Although the model was based mainly on the [[media of the United States]], Chomsky and Herman believe the theory is equally applicable to any country that shares the basic economic structure and organizing principles that the model postulates as the cause of [[media bias]]es.<ref name=forumacrh>{{Cite web|url=http://www.zmag.org/forums/chomforumacrh.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225145314/http://www.zmag.org/forums/chomforumacrh.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 25, 2007|title=A selection of Chomsky|date=February 25, 2007}}</ref> Their assessment has been supported by a number of scholars and the propaganda role of the media has since been empirically assessed in [[Western Europe]] and [[Latin America]].<ref>{{Cite book |doi = 10.16997/book27|title = The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness|year = 2018|last1 = Klaehn|first1 = Jeffery| publisher=University of Westminster Press |editor2-first = Daniel|editor2-last = Broudy|editor1-first = Joan|editor1-last = Pedro-Carañana|isbn = 9781912656165| s2cid=158190603 }}</ref>