How Media Shapes What We Think Without Us Noticing Much
1. The Core Idea
When Herman and Chomsky first used the phrase Manufacturing Consent, they weren’t trying to accuse journalists of plotting behind closed doors. Their point is basically that the media doesn’t float freely; it operates inside systems shaped by ownership, advertising, and the need to rely on official institutions for information (Herman & Chomsky, 1988). Once you start noticing how these pressures work, it becomes harder to see news as something produced in a vacuum.
2. The More Subtle Side of Influence
Herman later revisited the model and emphasised that the influence isn’t loud or dramatic (Herman, 1996). It’s more like a set of quiet expectations that guide which voices get taken seriously. Big institutions—governments, corporations—tend to fit nicely into journalistic routines, so they appear again and again. Meanwhile, others are pushed to the edges almost by default. I find it interesting how unintentional the whole system seems, yet how consistent the outcome is.
3. The Digital Twist
With social media, I used to think these patterns would shift dramatically, but they haven’t. If anything, they’ve become harder to spot. Algorithms reward whatever gets quick interaction, not necessarily what gives people proper context. So you end up seeing a lot of reactive posts and far fewer pieces that require time or patience. It’s a different mechanism than the one Herman and Chomsky wrote about, but the end result—selective visibility—feels strangely familiar. Below is a visual representation of Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model. It shows the five “filters”: Ownership, Advertising, Sourcing, Flak, and Ideology. This diagram helps illustrate how media systems can shape public consent without using force.
4. Why It Still Feels Relevant
For me, the idea isn’t a call to reject mainstream news altogether. It’s more about reading things with a bit of distance. Small questions—who’s speaking, who’s not here, and what assumptions the article quietly leans on—can shift how a story lands. Instead of taking “common sense” as something that naturally exists, the concept reminds us that it’s often shaped and repeated until it settles in.
References list：
Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Pantheon Books. Available at: https://chomsky.info/consent01/
Herman, E. S. (1996). The Propaganda Model: A Retrospective. Available at: https://libcom.org/article/propaganda-model-retrospective-edward-s-herman
