Penny Lane- Herman and Chomsky

The article 'A Propaganda Model' asserts that a set of filters controls public perspective- (1) the size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms; (2) advertising as the primary income source of the mass media; (3) the reliance of the media on information provided by government, business, and experts funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power; (4) 'flak' as a means of disciplining the media; and (5) "anti-communism" as a national religion and control mechanism. This model reinforces the notion that our government is highly responsible for the knowledge given to the public. This mindset is relevant to the cold war, as it is referred to in the reading as ‘anti-communist’. The fear of this invasion into our American way of life was internalized by the public and reinforced through the media. The red-scare was a highly publicized campaign to expose communism latent within the United States. This initiative pursued by Joseph McCarthy instilled a sense of paranoia, which called into question every American. Media fear tactics created the belief that everyone was a potential enemy. Furthermore, the arms race increased the risk for impending nuclear attack, which could occur at any moment. In recent years, similar methods were used to justify the war in Iraq. The presence of weapons of mass destruction was used as a means to rationalize offensive action after 9/11. Even though Osama Bin Laden was held to be the mastermind behind the September 11th attack, the term terrorist became a pervasive idea throughout American culture after the event. This que was then applied to Saddam Hussein. Without full understanding of our intervention, we correlated 9-11 with the Iraqi War through the influence of the media. Adorn presented the concept: “Hegemony never sees itself as political or ideological.” Dominant institutions are able to uphold hegemonic control because they present propaganda as truth.