thestig, herman and chomsky

This is a really excellent article because it outlines the political and economic forces within media conglomerates unlike any other article I can recall reading for CMC in the past. “It is their function to amuse, entertain, and inform, and to inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society” (Herman 257). Herman and Chomsky’s definition of what media is, to me, defines what propaganda is. The media must “inculcate individuals... [to] integrate them into...larger society.” This is nerve wrecking considering some of the points later addressed throughout the article, most notably the correlation between a network’s revenue to advertising and broadcasting schedule. Herman and Chomsky show how a network depends heavily on advertising revenues to sustain their organization, and to expand, becoming the massive conglomerates that they are. Most companies, however, will only advertise when programming won’t interfere with the “buying mood.” Therefore, most companies will not advertise if there is a serious documentary on, or if there is something about the programming that will be in alignment with the company’s policies or political views. This begs the question: how can we expect media conglomerates to stay afloat if they will not receive advertising monies if they are always airing public service or programming that isn’t “buying mood” friendly? We like the “buying mood” type of television shows, which is why we’ve got survivor, American idol, and the biggest loser. These shows are popular and claim high ratings. These ratings result in ad revenues: plus or minus one percentage point in Nielsen ratings for a television network can result in the different of $20 million in advertising revenues alone (268).

If we revisit the quote that I pulled from the text at the beginning, it feeds into this concept of media and cultural studies perfectly. “A propaganda model focuses on … interests and choices” (257). What choices do we have if the only information we get from the media is information that sells? This means that issues that are important and not profitable are ignored. This limits the possibilities of interests and choices made by the people consuming media, which in this day and age is pretty much everyone in the country, and most everywhere around the world.

As a side note, I though this was an interesting line: “It traces the routes by which money and power are able to filter out the news fit to print, marginalize dissent, and allow the government and dominant private interests to get their messages across to the public” because it utilizes The New York Time’s slogan, “news that’s fit to print” to describe the political agenda, and how it decides what is really fit to print (257).