Abstract
The propaganda model is a powerful tool for explaining systematic flaws in media coverage. But does it explain the cracks and tensions within the commercial media that are capable of arising at moments of political crisis and elite disagreement? To what extent does the model privilege a flawless structuralist account of media power at the expense of focusing on contradictory dynamics inside the capitalist media? This article looks at a key moment where critical media content was generated by a mainstream media organization: the coverage of the run-up to the Iraq War in the British tabloid paper, the Daily Mirror in 2003. It reflects on the consequences of such a moment for resisting corporate media power and asks whether it suggests the need for a revision of the propaganda model or, rather, provides further validation of its relevance.
Highlights
What is a ‘moment’? A situation whose duration may be longer or shorter but which is distinguished from the process that leads up to it in that it forces together the essential tendencies of that process, and demands that a decision be taken over the future direction of the process
The propaganda model (PM), as developed initially by Herman and Chomsky (1988), is a powerful reminder that the mainstream media are a crucial tool for legitimizing the ideas of the most powerful social actors and for securing consent for their actions
Herman and Chomsky developed the PM in relation to the US media, the model is relevant to a UK media environment that, despite the resilience of an underlying public service remit, is increasingly subject to market disciplines (Freedman 2008)
Summary
What is a ‘moment’? A situation whose duration may be longer or shorter but which is distinguished from the process that leads up to it in that it forces together the essential tendencies of that process, and demands that a decision be taken over the future direction of the process.
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