According to Herman and Chomsky (1998), media operates through five different filters: profit-ownership, advertising, establishment, flak, and the common enemy. This propaganda model reveals the different ways that mass media communicates and operates through different channels in the U.S. his mass media is not only eligible to inform but also to entertain and persuade a mass audience. Due to the wealth and power status of media, there is a distinct monopolization of information that seems to be revealed to the audience, as a cause of class distinction. This distinction is very apparent in the Propaganda model that Herman and Chomsky elaborate on, and reveals the weight of censorship. Herman and Chomsky (1998) apply these five different definitions to filter the array of mass media portions.
Initially, profit-ownership is essentially how media is a large corporation where ownership applies to further or progress the gross profit of the business. therefore, critical journalism where opinions and personal beliefs are exhibited must be sustained so that the majority of factual news is incorporated. Additionally, any news that might be considered “taboo” or “offensive” also takes a back seat so that more people are prone to buy/ subscribe to this specific news outlet. Neutrality is important, and censorship applies. For example: China is a major example of censorship media, where they tend to omit certain information about politicians, rulers, or government officials so that they make it seem that they are an un-troubling country.
Second, is Advertising. As a cause of media being costly while being free and available to consumers. Advertisers must fill that certain gap by advertising products during intermissions of news so that they are able to gain mass consumers, while pay the news outlets so that they are able to have resources. The audience becomes a gain for advertisers through 30 second commercials, or possibly on the platform of social media: sponsorships through Instagram or Facebook.
The Third filter, according to Herman and Chomsky (1998) is The Media Elite. The Media Elite refers to big corporations and news outlets whereby they allow unlawful or immoral news to break out. They tend to influence the news in a form that grab the audience’s attention, and spin in it a form that force the audience to believe that this is “news-worthy” and crucial news, through interviews with those in power. An example of this would be having the President of the US come on a late night talk show (Jimmy Kimmel, Leno, etc..) to promote a good image.
Flak is the fourth filter in mass media. Flak is for the people that challenge those in power. They tend to bring up debates and discussions that go against the words or beliefs of those in power. These journalists tend to do so by discrediting the sources, or diverting the conversations by bringing up other crucial points. This could be also done to distract, an example of this could be sending off journalists to report on a Grammy’s red carpet, rather than a revolution happening at the same time.
The fifth and final filter is the Common Enemy. This method consists of targeting a common enemy with the public in order to manufacture consent and public unity and acceptance. An example of this might be communists, people of the KKK, racists, fascists, sexists..
Media and Society 