Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media (1988) remains one of the most influential works on understanding the concept of how power functions in modern communications systems. In their “propaganda model,” Herman and Chomsky argue that the media in the capitalist world serve not as a neutral platform for public information, but as powerful ideological institutions advancing the interests of the ruling elites. This process goes through five main stages—filters that determine how information reaches the general public. The first filter, “ownership,” shows how media outlets are owned by a small group of people (large corporations or individuals) whose interests often coincide with capitalist and state benefits and interests. They create a monopoly, thereby eradicating the possibility of small enterprises continuing to exist. The second filter, “advertising,” makes the existence of small news outlets even more impossible, since in order for a newspaper to continue operating, it must be sponsored, and income from the sales does not cover the expenses. Even if a newspaper has a large circulation and a huge readership, without sponsorship from advertisers, the newspaper will not even break, as was the case with the Herald, News Chronicle, and Sunday Citizen newspapers, where the majority of readers were members of the working class, which made their purchasing power low, which in turn scared off advertisers and contributed to the closure of these newspapers in the future due to lack of funds. The third filter is “sourcing”: the media need a steady stream of reliable news material, and since they cannot afford to have reporters and cameras everywhere important news breaks, they concentrate their resources where information regularly appears: the White House, the Pentagon, large business corporations, trade groups, and so on. These corporations also benefit from certain information being published about them, so they provide the journalist with facilities: copies of speeches, scheduled press conferences with deadlines, etc. This creates a mutually beneficial relationship in which each side gets the results they need. The fourth filter is “flak”: this filter describes how negative reactions discipline the media when they step outside the accepted ideological boundaries. And the last filter is “ideology”, initially based on anti-communism during the Cold War, which is now called “anti-war ideology”, which promotes state ideas, thereby creating propaganda that justifies elite power and delegitimizes dissent. (Durham and Kellner, 2006). Together, these filters disseminate information in a manner consistent with the wishes of the authorities and the ruling elite, subtly shaping public opinion and eradicating any contradictions and dissent.
The idea of critical political economy, argued by scholars such as Jonathan Hardy (2014), helps explain why the propaganda model of Herman and Chomsky works this way. Media companies are enterprises dependent on investment and advertising, so their content is shaped by economic needs and political interests, further demonstrating that media are inseparable from the capitalist system in which they operate. This theory explains the existence of these five filters and demonstrates that what people read, watch, and share is not neutral information, but a strategy created within economic and political systems that limits diversity and critical thinking. (Hardy, 2014)
In our time, the rise of global systems like Google, Meta, and X demonstrates that the idea of ”manufacturing consent” is still relevant. The algorithms of these platforms and user data serve as new filters, deciding which content will be promoted and which will remain unnoticed. Media systems continue to shape human perception and consent, only now through digital technologies that serve the same capitalist and political forces in new and more subtle ways.
References:
Alan MacLeod. (2019). Propaganda in the Information Age. [Online]. Routledge. Available at: https://www-taylorfrancis-com.uow.idm.oclc.org/books/edit/10.4324/9780429430329/propaganda-information-age-alan-macleod [Accessed 14 November 2025].
Durham, Meenakshi Gigi. (2006). Media and cultural studies: keyworks. [Online]. Wiley-Blackwell. Available at: https://www.vlebooks.com/Product/Index/22528?page=0&startBookmarkId=-1 [Accessed 14 November 2025].
Jonathan Hardy. (2014). Critical Political Economy of the Media. [Online]. Routledge. Available at: https://www-taylorfrancis-com.uow.idm.oclc.org/books/mono/10.4324/9780203136225/critical-political-economy-media-jonatha [Accessed 14 November 2025].
Yufeng Ni. (2023). Analyzing the Narrative Framing Pitfalls of Social Media Based on Propaganda Model. [Online]. researchgate.net. Last Updated: May. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370705033_Analyzing_the_Narrative_Framing_Pitfalls_of_Socia [Accessed 14 November 2025].
Pierangelo Pirak (2022) Noam Chomsky: the five filers of the mass media machine. Aeon.co. Available at: https://aeon.co/videos/is-mass-media-still-manufacturing-consent-in-the-internet-age [Accesed 14 November 2025]
