Manufacturing consent: explanatory model of media functioning

Abstract

The research gives an account to the concept of E. Herman and N. Chomsky, focused on the role of media in the manufacturing of elite consent in modern American society. Two leading approaches to media power – liberal-pluralistic and critical political economy forms the framework of the research. The genesis and content of the concept of "manufacturing of consent" is considered. Neo–Marxist tradition of analysis forms the background of the authors' concept of the production of consent as a means of nonviolent domination and maintaining the status quo. The study examines the propaganda media filters promoted to elite consensus. The article gives recognition to the importance of understanding propaganda filters as an analytical tool that identifies structural factors determining the position of media in the context of power relations in society. Factors / filters of market and profit orientation; advertising; dependence on key sources; threats of defamation in relation to the media; dominant ideology provide better understanding of the place and role of media in the system of state and corporate power in the United States. The Herman and Chomsky concept proposed more than three decades ago continues to be relevant under the current conditions of rapid progress of communication technologies and crucial changes in the media landscape. There is a further growth of powerful media conglomerates; the level of concentration in the Internet segment significantly exceeds traditional media. The growth of corporate influence accompanied with the strengthening of the market imperative in the media management. In the context of crisis of global capitalism and increase tensions of international relations, the ideological filter of anti-communism has received a new form - the anti-Russian dominant ideology.