Manufacturing Consent

First published in 1988, Manufacturing Consent is about the propaganda model of communication, a model advanced by economist Edward S. Herman and the “father of modern linguistics” Noam Chomsky. Media organisations function as “effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function, by reliance on market forces, internalised assumptions, and self-censorship, and without overt coercion.” That is, the media does not serve to inform the public, but to protect the interests of an elite ruling class.

The title comes from Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann, where the consent of the governed is driven by the “manufacture of consent.” That is, public support for government action is not necessarily the result of informed, independent thought. Rather, support is engineered by powerful interest groups, especially those who control the media, political messaging, and access to information.

The most important concept in this text is that of tacit collective action. Regardless of ideology, media outlets are businesses like any other. They are structured as such, and interact with one another in a sort of social clique like any industry. As such, they conspire and collaborate to frame the narrative, intentionally or not. Cases studies include the dichotomies between “worthy” and “unworthy” victims, “legitimate” and “meaningless” third-world elections, and the media’s coverage of American wars in various parts of the world.

Remember WMDs in Iraq? In the early 2000s, then-United States President George W. Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and posed a severe threat. These claims were amplified by the media, and at no point did any outlet even attempt to analyse or fact-check these claims. The public were not informed of anything, they did not have access to the right information. The WMD claims turned out to be completely unfounded, but by then, public consent had already been manufactured, and the war was well underway.

I have to agree with Ryan Holiday’s assessment of the text. “This book is like the works of Ayn Rand,” he says. “If you don’t go any further after reading it, it arrests your development.” If you think that’s unfair to Herman and Chomsky, maybe think of it as a Paulo Coelho novel. Could be great reading at the right time, but after a while those books kind of blend in with each other. That’s how I feel about Manufacturing Consent. Not a bad book by any means, but one I would recommend it as a supplement to other texts on the media.

Then again, your mileage may vary. Manufacturing Consent was republished in 2002 and again in 2009, updating earlier case studies, and featuring interviews with the authors on the effects of the internet on the propaganda model.

Another revised edition with a portion on the rise of Donald Trump is something I’d read with great interest. Look at how populist leaders like Trump and Bernie Sanders rise to prominence. Or influencers like Andrew Tate. In a different age, he may have been little more than a guest on The Jerry Springer Show, if that. Newspapers and blogs give billions of dollars in free publicity to a candidate they are deathly afraid of, then act surprised when they’re elected as head of state. This is what happens when news-as-entertainment replaces news as a means of informing on and contextualising events as they happen.

All in all, Manufacturing Consent is a decent read. At the very least, it’s worth checking out, but I would recommend getting into it after reading other texts on the media. Maybe start with The Brass Check and Trust Me, I’m Lying, then work your way through.