I didn’t expect to be shaken up when I first read Manufacturing Consent. I thought, “Of course the media is biassed, but this sounds heavy.” What struck me as I read was how methodical the authors say the biases are—not just random mistakes in reporting, but built into the very structure of how we get information.
Chomsky and Herman introduce the propaganda model, which is a way to show how five filters change news in the mass media. These filters consist of media ownership, advertising as the primary revenue source, dependence on official sources, the intimidation of “flak” or pressure on media outlets, and an ideological filter .
What I found powerful is their argument that journalists aren’t always bad or dishonest; instead, they work in systems that favour certain voices, leave others out, and reward people who follow the rules. For instance, when big media companies rely on advertisers or official sources, they are less likely to report stories that go against those interests.
The book made me think about how I use the media on a “human” level. I thought about how often we see the whole story instead of a shortened version that is meant to get the most attention or cause the least amount of trouble for business as usual. With social media and streaming so popular these days, this seems even more important. Chomsky himself says that the model needs to be updated for the internet age.
It also made me think about consent—how we, as people, give our consent to stories by trusting them, clicking on them, sharing them, and believing them. The title of the book is interesting: “manufacturing consent” isn’t just about what the media tells us to think; it’s also about what we accept as normal. That’s scary, but it also gives us more power: we can be more aware, more sceptical, and more active.
In the end, Manufacturing Consent isn’t a fun book to read, but it’s an important one. It makes us think about who chooses the news we get. What isn’t included? What do we think when we say “that’s just the news”? And maybe most importantly, what would we do if we didn’t just believe what we were told?
