5 Reasons to Care Plausible Model of US Press Performance If it is a true account, the implications are serious. –Mass Media –Power in US more generally May apply to capitalist media in general Still influential outside of the mainstream Renewed interest within Communication Studies

Recent Applications of PM Toronto Globe and Mail on East Timor in 1970s Recent reporting on Venezuela and Colombia –Term limits –Shutting down opposition tv stations

Conceptions of Power Pluralist Theory vs. Ruling Class Theory PM  Ruling Class Theory

Two Phenomena –Chomsky's extraordinary influence –Chomsky’s extraordinary lack of influence.

German Ideology The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it.

MIT Promotional Notice 1980 and 1992 –Chomsky the most cited living person –The top ten cited sources during the period were: Marx, Lenin, Shakespeare, Aristotle, the Bible, Plato, Freud, Chomsky, Hegel and Cicero.

Two Contradictory Expectations Given Chomsky’s fame: –PM will be addressed in the elite mass media Given predictions of PM: –PM will be ignored in the elite mass media.

NYT Book Review Walter LaFeber –“compelling indictments” –“unfortunate overstatements” –General pattern: accept the evidence deny the conclusions. –LaFeber: Historian of US Foreign Policy at outer edge of Sphere of Legitimate Controversy.

Journal of Communication Inquiry 1992 “... media researchers have consistently ignored the propaganda model just as the model itself predicts”

American Journalism Review 1993 Charge: Selective Use of Evidence –No evidence given. Charge: Overstate their case –No evidence given. "Critics may say the Herman-Chomsky thesis is wrong-headed, but it is not trivial” "The outrageous conclusion of this semi- scholarly work is that... "

Bennett: When the Press Fails PM: press as ‘little more than a propaganda outlet for the state’. “Our view is a bit more complicated...” When “diverse faction publicly debate policies... news gates open to more diverse viewpoints.” Bennett: Indexing

Hallin: We Keep America On Top of the World PM as ‘hegemony theory’ “worth elaborating a little here on my disagreements with their view” “plenty of evidence” for impact of filters. But PM is ‘perfectly unidimensional’ Treats journalistic professionalism as ‘false consciousness’

Hallin (cont) PM is functionalist: media reproduce “dominant conceptions of the political world” PM does not notice that the media serve othe functions –as “a forum for debate among elites” –Leads to conflicting role of the media.

PM as Conspiracy Theory? intent is "an immeasurable red herring” it is unknowable and irrelevant PM explains media behavior and performance in structural terms. –Makes no essential reference to the personal beliefs or psychological status of media professionals.

Charge: Determinism Capitalist structure  Media Performance  'what people think'. "completely effective in manufacturing consent" ? Single dominant ideology?

Charge: Too pessimistic Herman’s response: –Local level victories possible –Issues not of core interest to elites will get more varied treatment E.g., gun control, school prayer, abortion right But not global trade, taxation, and economic policy –But, where the elite are really concerned and unified: media will serve elite interests uncompromisingly.

Charge: Doesn’t investigate “how sources organize media strategies Herman: wrong to focus on “micro- corporate strategies” Possible example: Role of images as conveyors of propaganda.

The Judith Miller Factor –“Judith Miller, the New York Times, and the Propaganda Model” –By Oliver Body-Barrett, Journalism Studies 2004 –Suggests overemphasis on structure in PM –Extends the model to include “non-routine abuses of standard operating procedures”

Renewed Power of PM? Too Polemical or Too Critical? Chomsky on the study of the news media and US foreign policy –By Eric Herring, Piers Robinson, 2003 –Bennett: “just inside and Chomsky just outside of" the "range of academic acceptability" –Confessions of an academic propagandist?