MEDIA CONTROL
The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda

by

Noam Chomsky

Two conceptions of democracy:

·         A democratic society is one in which the public has the means to participate in some meaningful way in the management of their own affairs and the means of information are open and free

·         The public must be barred from managing of their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled

 

EARLY HISTORY OF PROPAGANDA

First modern government propaganda operation was  the Creel Commission

 

Among participants were the progressive intellectuals of the John Dewey circle

 

Lesson: State propaganda, when supported by the educated classes can have a big effect

 

SPECTATOR DEMOCRACY

Walter Lippmann - liberal democratic theorists and leading media figure

 

A "revolution in the art of democracy" could be used to "manufacture consent" by the new techniques of propaganda

 

This was necessary because "the common interests elude public opinion entirely" and can only be understood and managed by a "specialized class" of "responsible men"

 

In a properly functioning democracy there are classes of citizens.

·         Those who take some active role in running general affairs - the specialized class

·         The vast majority, "the bewildered herd” whose function in a democracy is to be "spectators" and periodically vote

 

The mass of the public are too stupid to be able to understand things

 

Something is needed to tame the bewildered herd: the manufacture of consent

 

Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state

 

PUBLIC RELATIONS

PR’s commitment was "to control the public mind"

The PR industry is trying to instill the right values

They have the elitist conception of democracy

Great efforts are made in trying to achieve that ideal

The overall success can be seen in the fact that we moved to a business‑run society

 

Leading to this success is the propaganda from the media

The media are a corporate monopoly with the same point of view

The people who are able to engineer consent are the ones who have the resources and the power to do it ‑ the business community

 

In sum, the function of the corporate media is to manufacture consent to business domination and to divert the masses from meaningful engagement in the construction of their own lives