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Dec 03, 2007

Walter rated it:

This was one of the books that had a great impact on my life. It's an amazing and comprehensive exploration of the origin, development and operation of the modern media. The authors come at this material from the standpoint that the media functions primarily as a powerful tool for social control. The world view presented in the media is essentially that of the ruling classes and the rest of us plebes are locked out of it all. We are passive consumers of the bullshit being fed to us by large corp More...

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Apr 08, 2008

Jeff rated it:

If you can slog through it (not that it's written poorly, it's just that the subjects that are covered have, to most people, the intrinsic appeal of lint analysis) you will be rewarded with a new way to look at the mass media and a new framework with which you can apply your own critical analysis.

Congratulations.

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Feb 15, 2008

Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea rated it:

A superb read on the media and the propaganda machine within our so-called "democratic" or "free" society. Meticulously researched and cited this book gave me mental push-ups for about 6 months while I chugged through it. Accessible in some areas, daunting in others, this book has a tremendous amount to offer. Not for the feint of heart. If you haven't read Chomsky before, I'd recommend listening to his lectures and/or reading some of his shorter works. I felt smarter and stu More...

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Feb 15, 2009

Darren rated it:

In constructing their incredibly logical propaganda model, Herman and Chomsky illuminate a great deal about the relationship between media, government and corporations. One of the most obvious, yet striking propaganda filters described by Herman and Chomsky is that of sourcing (the third filter). Herman and Chomsky astutely note that daily demands for news have placed a high premium on the reliable, steady flow of “raw material of news.” Strictly in terms of economic practicality, it follows tha More...

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Jan 16, 2012

Jacob rated it:

One of Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman's more substantial written contributions, Manufacturing Consent details a framework dubbed the "propaganda model," which can determine or explain many factors of media reporting found deficient, biased, or just plain incompetent. I found this book to be a poignant and effective review of a period in which media was supposedly keeping an "adversarial stance" towards those in power -- while the contrary continued to be the case.

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Jun 01, 2009

Travis rated it:

Smart people wrote this book. I don't say that because it was hard to understand at times (and it was), because that stemmed just from being verbose. I say it took smart people because the amount of data gathered and the analysis to tie to together was quite astounding.

The summary of the book is as follows: The US-media is a controlled information relay system (propaganda). The authors set forth a "propaganda model" that they see being employed in our media for decades. It is More...

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Aug 01, 2011

Byron rated it:

The main point of this book is to show how the media echo the opinions of the establishment in society. It is interesting and realistic because the model presented does not require conspiracy on the part of government or the media. It is a result of how the new industry is structured.

A seconday effect of reading this book is a severe questioning of the motives and morality of those in power. There are huge number of examples from the Vietnam war, Cambodia, Laos, and Central America where the US More...

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Feb 02, 2012

Glesnertod rated it:

I first added this to my 'books to read' list after watching the movie, "Good Will Hunting". I was not disappointed. This book is one of the best, if not the the most well written book I've read. I don't mean to say that the information was so life-altering that I will never be the same. But first and simply, that their sentence structure and flow of thought is clear, engaging and pieced together masterfully. They sift through a lot of information, wading through fact and fabricat More...

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May 16, 2010

Billie rated it:

The thesis of the book is that mass news media are biased in their coverage due to company ownership of the news corporations, advertising for the news media, origin of sources (usually government), and concern over the degree of negative feedback the news media might receive. These filters determine, for example, who qualifies as a 'worthy' or 'unworthy' victim in cases of murder or war and whose elections and governmental processes are viewed as meaningful or meaningless, among other matters. More...

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Nov 10, 2010

Chris rated it:

This is an extremely enlightening book about the American mass-media propaganda of the 1960s through 1980s. Even though it's old it still applies to contemporary issues, as Iraq has often been compared to Viet Nam (although Viet Nam had a much higher magnitude of significance). But what is most similar is how the government used the media to make a strong case for occupying these territories and proceeding to terrorize their populations for the dogmas of "freedom, justice, equality, etc" More...

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Jun 26, 2011

Naveed rated it:

One of the very rare critiques of mainstream media, presented by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman, ‘Manufacturing Consent’ – has been a path breaking, definitive and objective model against mainstream media institutions. A book widely which is widely acclaimed and read throughout.

‘Manufacturing Consent’ is an insightful critique of history, politics and media. However, the most unique style drafted by Noam and Herman, which is worth mentioning, is the usage of the ’propaganda model’ – More...

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May 07, 2010

Valeer rated it:

An essential book for anyone living in a media society, such as--all of us. It should be standard study material for all secondary schools, as it provides a critical framework needed to grapple with the media utterances in which we are submerged.

It is a wonderfully concise, well-argued, research, supported with a wealth of quotes and numbers. The authors are well able to make their surprising case that media in a free society are perhaps more keen to support the establishment than th More...

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Apr 10, 2010

Kw rated it:

This is the first I have ever read of Chomsky's extensive works, and I was very impressed. The institutional approach that he takes to the issues of media self-censorship is appealing and becomes self-evident the more one reads and internalizes. Though it covers somewhat dated events as extended examples, such as coverage of Central America in the 80's and the media's depiction of the Vietnam war, this simply means that it also serves quite well as a historical primer on these goings-on if one i More...

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Mar 08, 2009

Brian rated it:

Herman and Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent is by no means an easy read, as it challenges many of the assumptions that we take for granted in the U.S. and presents us with a disturbing portrait of our nation's foreign policies and the people who shape them. The preponderance of evidence backing Herman and Chomsky's analysis of the mainstream media lead to the inescapable conclusion that the "free press" protected by the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution differs dramatically from More...

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Dec 08, 2011

Thomas rated it:

There's a decent book here about the economic and political environment in which American media operate, but it's confined to the introductory chapters, which describe this idea, and the conclusion, which reiterates and expands upon it. The meat of the book — comprising its "case studies" — seem mainly to be about the atrocities committed by the U.S. government in Latin America and Indochina. These case studies are described in far greater detail than would have been necessary to tie t More...

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Nov 10, 2011

Kevin rated it:

For readers who haven't previously read a media analysis like this book, Manfufacturing Consent will be a pair of glasses after a lifetime of blurry vision. Once exposed, your media consumption will never be the same. Having said that, you can glean much of what this book offers by reading only the first three chapters and the conclusion. Hey, if you're eating it up, then by all means read it cover to cover. However, the authors quickly explain and demonstrate their thesis prior to the thorough More...

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Jul 01, 2009

Steven rated it:

Chomsky writes pretty much the same book every year. He's a good analyst of world affairs, but much of his work is more uncritical than it might be (e.g., his discussions of Zionism, sports, and Indigenous rights). His best work by far is Manufacturing Consent (co-written with Edward Herman), though the authors' basic premise is lifted whole cloth from Antonio Gramsci's theory of hegemony. Chomsky and Herman's critique becomes more relevant by the day, which shows that the world is becoming s More...

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Aug 08, 2011

Matthias rated it:

Politicians are like hookers. You can't be one unless you can pretend to like people while you're fucking them.

In summary the propaganda model works like this: Bullshit politician with biased information is seen as an expert. Expert gives bullshit to news organization to inform the public. News organization repeats bullshit with cute voices and opinions. We all become stupid, except Chomsky. He writes this book. You read it. Become depressed and kill yourself.

I don't t More...

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Sep 02, 2011

Guy rated it:

It's been many weeks, now, since I finished Manufacturing and started this review. In that time I have been wrestling with how to verbalize the feelings that this book has evoked. Sadly, the best description I can give is that it is easily and by far the most disturbing book I have ever read. Writing and re-writing that sentence, with its rather flaccid sentiment took me three days. My brain seems to have been hit hard with the breadth and depth of my state sanctioned and media promulgate More...

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Oct 08, 2010

Doug rated it:

Probably the worst kept secret out there: Mass Media serves special interests.

If you are like me, you already suspect as much so why would you want to read a book stating the obvious? Empowered observation, that's why.

Manufacturing Consent establishes a 'propaganda model' and applies it to events that have been label by critics as examples of media overstepping its bounds challenging authority. Considering the book was written in '87, the resonating events included ar More...

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Mar 31, 2010

Ryan rated it:

Everything you hear in the media about media bias, though perhaps true in some sense, is mostly a distraction. As the authors demonstrate in this book, it isn't the nominal & altogether pitiful range of political discourse in our media that matters, so much as what is excluded and excised from the start- what is simply not discussed at all. When it comes to matters of real importance- the historical role of the United States in geopolitics, foreign policy, and imperialism- the talking heads are More...

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Mar 06, 2010

Aaron rated it:

I've been a journalist for 15 years now, and I've often wondered how it is that the mass media in the United States manage to project the image of being defenders of democracy while actually deterring it.

Having just read "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media," by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman, I finally understand as thoroughly as I've always wanted to.

Where to begin ... for starters, have you ever heard of worthy and unworthy victims? More...

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Jun 29, 2010

Yugaljoshi rated it:

The book talks about the pliant and pusillanimous USA media when it comes to defying the US government in search of truth. The book tells something which is an open secret but indeed adds to the reader's knowledge of hard facts and data points. As expected from Naom Chomsky, it contains detailed elaboration of various cases in USA history where USA's imperialistic tendencies of messing around with other (generally smaller) countries to grab their resources under the garb of "fighting for fr More...

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Mar 02, 2011

Troy rated it:

Manufacturing Consent reads like conspiracy theory, only it isn't. One would hope that nowadays, with technology being what it is, things are better; and they probably are. But there's still oodles of merit in what Chomsky is saying. I wouldn't know about East Timor if it weren't for this book, and I'd like to think I have a better-than-average grasp on twentieth century history. Noam Chomsky is definitely someone whose other works I would like to explore.

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Jul 02, 2009

Jafr rated it:

This book is very good for the Propranda Model that Chomsky posits. It's an illuminating yardstick on the media. Chomsky write the book so the language is dense, but on the plus side: he utilized a Linguistics Style of writing with section headings and subheadings that allows for faster skimming than "bottom-up" page by page processing.

I also found myself comparing previous US military actions as decribed in the media to current wars. The sections on the Vietnam War: I th More...

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Nov 25, 2008

Charlie rated it:

Chomsky fans, FYI: Chomsky emphasized Herman's name for a reason (note that the H author appears before the C author.) The reason is that Chomsky helped a bit but it's Ed Herman's book. This was my college reader and the primary focus of my undergraduate years. The academic reviews of this text give a fair indication of the level of tolerance to half assed journalism (and half assed academic research) that exist among our intellectual elite. A must read for any free thinker but beware, they auth More...

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May 26, 2010

Npc rated it:

In this pathbreaking work, now with a new introduction, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.

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Jun 23, 2010

Widsith marked it as to-read

An absolutely brilliant analysis of the ways in which individuals and organizations of the media are influenced to shape the social agendas of knowledge and, therefore, belief. Contrary to the popular conception of members of the press as hard-bitten realists doggedly pursuing unpopular truths, Herman and Chomsky prove conclusively that the free-market economics model of media leads inevitably to normative and narrow reporting.

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Sep 27, 2011

Ronnie rated it:

Cool book except you can really just read the first ~30 pages and come out with the same knowledge as if you had read it all /unless you don't know the media was fuckwits about funstuff like the bulgarian connection thingy/ plus Noam Chomsky is a Major Chode who will qq about how the vietnam war was 'essentially what the soviets did in afghanistan I love fart poop (actual quote)' except there was hella better reason for afghanistan even if it was a bad idea to prop up the afghan government, whic More...

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May 20, 2011

Andy rated it:

The media is a lapdog to the system. Not a big surprise and something I have said for quite some time. At least with major media, it is still the case today despite the increased competition from "new" media sources. As always with Chomsky, very dense reading. A little dated too - 1988. There's probably an updated version available but this is the copy I have.

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