Walter's review
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman
Walter's review
rating:
recommended for: Every citizen of an industrial democracy
status: Read in January, 1999
rating:
recommended for: Every citizen of an industrial democracy
status: Read in January, 1999
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 corporations and other powerful interests.
They do a good job supporting their claim (solid scholarship I recall...though my standards have gotten a bit higher since them) that almost all television and most magazine content is shameless propaganda for the dominant classes. Read this book and then see if you can watch TV or read a paper in the same way again...I doubt it.
They do a good job supporting their claim (solid scholarship I recall...though my standards have gotten a bit higher since them) that almost all television and most magazine content is shameless propaganda for the dominant classes. Read this book and then see if you can watch TV or read a paper in the same way again...I doubt it.
