post-it, Herman & Chomsky

Out of the five filters that Herman and Chomsky discuss in their essay titled “A Propaganda Model,” their theory on the advertisements function within the media. The second filter discusses this theory that holds that advertisers actually determine what might be reported so that their messages do not conflict. All aspects of the media are motivated, according to Herman and Chomsky, by advertisers because it is the money that funds the media outlet, which the advertisement is printed or broadcast. This also results in a marginally educated audience that is not aware of any stories or issues that might conflict with the advertisements that they will typically see in the media that gives them their news.

Because money is necessary to remain in business, it is the business of the advertisers to determine how their money is spent on the product that they pay for. This method of funding is detrimental to the media and has been the entity that has given media its reputation for skewed and one-sided perspective while also reasoning the media’s ability to control the public opinion because of the enormous amounts of money that determines what that public gets to see and read.

Herman and Chomsky take a negative stance on the media in this essay because they discuss ways in which the media is controlled by corporate businesses rather than control its own content. In a perfect world, the media would report all of the events that happen in the world so that the public could criticize the writing of the articles within the media rather than the topics the articles are written about. Seeing the images of the events outside the United States would also raise awareness about cultural differences. Therefore the perception of Americans would re-center to one of knowledge and acceptance rather than ignorance and misunderstanding; all of this being fueled by corporate money and the second filter.