Misplaced Pages

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84-563: Bakhtar News Agency ( BNA ) is the official state news agency of the Afghan government , based in Kabul . The agency is a major source of news for all media in Afghanistan , gathering domestic and international news and providing information to outlets. The agency provides news in the following languages: English, Dari , Arabic , Russian , Urdu , Uzbeki , and Chinese . BNA's reporting

168-541: A decade, a British-based website Media Lens has examined their domestic broadcasters and liberal press. Its criticisms are featured in the books Guardians of Power (2006) and Newspeak in the 21st Century (2009). Studies have also expanded the propaganda model to examine news media in the People's Republic of China and for film production in Hollywood. In July 2011, the journalist Paul Mason , then working for

252-544: A dual purpose... partly to get rid of people you don't like but partly to frighten the rest. Because if people are frightened, they will accept authority. The fifth and final news filter that Herman and Chomsky identified was 'anti-communism'. Manufacturing Consent was written during the Cold War. Chomsky updated the model as "fear", often as 'the enemy' or an 'evil dictator' such as Colonel Gaddafi , Paul Biya , Saddam Hussein , Slobodan Milosevic , or Vladimir Putin . This

336-523: A government. These are media outlets that, while they may not be directly controlled by the state in terms of ownership, are effectively under government influence due to financial dependencies or managerial control. This category includes both public media that have lost their independence and private media that operate under significant government influence. These are media that manage to maintain high levels of independence in funding, governance, and editorial decisions. These media are primarily funded by

420-659: A letter by stating that the system was not "all powerful" and that LaFeber did not address their main point regarding Nicaragua. LaFeber replied that: Mr. Herman wants to have it both ways: to claim that leading American journals "mobilize bias" but object when I cite crucial examples that weaken the book's thesis. If the news media are so unqualifiedly bad, the book should at least explain why so many publications (including my own) can cite their stories to attack President Reagan's Central American policy. Chomsky responds to LaFeber's reply in Necessary Illusions : What

504-458: A method to combat efforts by protestors. Propaganda spread by state-media organizations can detract from accurate reporting and provide an opportunity for a regime to influence public sentiment. Mass protests against governments considered to be authoritarian, such as those in China, Russia, Egypt, and Iran are often distorted by state-run media organizations in order to defame protesters and provide

588-522: A picture of the world that collides with advertisers' interests. The theory argues that the people buying the newspaper are the product which is sold to the businesses that buy advertising space; the news has only a marginal role as the product. The third of Herman and Chomsky's five filters relates to the sourcing of mass media news: "The mass media are drawn into a symbiotic relationship with powerful sources of information by economic necessity and reciprocity of interest." Even large media corporations such as

672-477: A positive light on the government's actions. It is common for countries with strict control of newspapers to have fewer firms listed per capita on their markets and less developed banking systems. These findings support the public choice theory, which suggests higher levels of state ownership of the press would be detrimental to economic and financial development. This is due to state media being commonly associated with autocratic regimes where economic freedom

756-431: A potential threat, either real, exaggerated or imagined. Communism once posed the primary threat according to the model. Communism and socialism were portrayed by their detractors as endangering freedoms of speech, movement, the press and so forth. They argue that such a portrayal was often used as a means to silence voices critical of elite interests. Chomsky argues that since the end of the Cold War (1991), anticommunism

840-442: A recent book by Serge Halimi (editor of Le Monde diplomatique ). There is one very careful study by a Dutch graduate student, applying the methods Ed Herman used in studying US media reaction to elections (El Salvador, Nicaragua) to 14 major European newspapers. ... Interesting results. Discussed a bit (along with some others) in a footnote in chapter 5 of my book Deterring Democracy , if you happen to have that around. For more than

924-422: A relatively obscure scholarly literature". The theory postulates five general classes of "filters" that determine the type of news that is presented in news media. These five classes are: ownership of the medium, the medium's funding sources, sourcing , flak , and anti-communism or "fear ideology". The first three are generally regarded by the authors as being the most important. In versions published after

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1008-820: A satellite link providing news information to the Bakhtar News Agency. The government had planned to make the agency independent of government control in 2004 before elections . This article about an Afghan media outlet is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . State media State media serve as tools for public diplomacy and narrative shaping. These media outlets can broadcast via television, radio, print, and increasingly on social media, to convey government viewpoints to domestic and international audiences. The approach to using state media can vary, focusing on positive narratives, adjusting narratives retroactively, or spreading misinformation through sophisticated social media campaigns. State media

1092-584: A study conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School showed that media outlets such as The New York Times and Los Angeles Times stopped using the term " torture " for waterboarding when the US government committed it, from 2002 to 2008. It also noted that the press was "much more likely to call waterboarding torture if a country other than the United States is the perpetrator." The study

1176-591: A total state monopoly in the media like North Korea and Laos experience a "Castro effect", where state control is powerful enough that no journalistic harassment is required in order to restrict press freedom. Historically, state media also existed during the Cold War in authoritarian states such as the Soviet Union , East Germany , Republic of China (Taiwan) , Poland , Romania , Brazil and Indonesia . The public interest theory claims state ownership of

1260-413: Is "manufactured" in the public mind due to this propaganda. The theory posits that the way in which corporate media is structured (e.g. through advertising , concentration of media ownership or government sourcing) creates an inherent conflict of interest and therefore acts as propaganda for anti-democratic elements. First presented in their 1988 book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of

1344-439: Is 'flak' (not to be confused with flack which means promoters or publicity agents), described by Herman and Chomsky as 'negative responses to a media statement or [TV or radio] program. It may take the form of letters, telegrams, phone calls, petitions, lawsuits, speeches and Bills before Congress and other modes of complaint, threat and punitive action'. Business organizations regularly come together to form flak machines. An example

1428-452: Is a public good that benefits the nation in question. It contradicts the belief that all state media is propaganda and argues that most states require an unbiased, easily accessible, and reliable stream of information. Public interest theory suggests that the only way to maintain an independent media is to cut it off from any economic needs, therefore a state-run media organization can avoid issues associated with private media companies, namely

1512-655: Is also referred to media entities that are administered, funded, managed, or directly controlled by the government of a country. Three factors that can affect the independence of state media over time are: funding, ownership/governance, and editorial autonomy. These entities can range from being completely state-controlled, where the government has full control over their funding, management, and editorial content, to being independent public service media , which, despite receiving government funding, operate with editorial autonomy and are governed by structures designed to protect them from direct political interference. State media

1596-603: Is also said to exist in foreign elections, giving favorable media coverage to fraudulent elections in allied countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala , while unfavorable coverage is given to legitimate elections in enemy countries such as Nicaragua . Chomsky also asserts that the media accurately covered events such as the Battle of Fallujah but because of an ideological bias, it acted as pro-government propaganda. In describing coverage of raid on Fallujah General Hospital he stated that The New York Times , "accurately recorded

1680-473: Is beneficial, whereas the public choice theory suggests that state control undermines economic and political freedoms . The public interest theory , also referred to as the Pigouvian theory, states that government ownership of media is desirable. Three reasons are offered. Firstly, the dissemination of information is a public good, and to withhold it would be costly even if it is not paid for. Secondly,

1764-408: Is considered at risk because it is susceptible to slipping into state control if the political or economic pressures increase. Its content, according to some sources, is usually more prescriptive, telling the audience what to think, particularly as it is under no pressure to attract high ratings or generate advertising revenue and therefore may cater to the forces in control of the state as opposed to

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1848-398: Is discussed in the mainstream media there is usually a large reaction. In 1988, when Chomsky was interviewed by Bill Moyers , there were 1,000 letters in response, one of the biggest written reactions in the show's history. When he was interviewed by TV Ontario , the show generated 31,321 call-ins, which was a new record for the station. In 1996, when Chomsky was interviewed by Andrew Marr

1932-487: Is exemplified in British tabloid headlines of 'Smash Saddam!' and 'Clobba Slobba!'. The same is said to extend to mainstream reporting of environmentalists as ' eco-terrorists '. The Sunday Times ran a series of articles in 1999 accusing activists from the non-violent direct action group Reclaim The Streets of stocking up on CS gas and stun guns. Anti-ideologies exploit public fear and hatred of groups that pose

2016-489: Is far more common than news from sub-Saharan Africa. Morley considers this approach dubiously empirical. Writing for The New York Times , the historian Walter LaFeber criticized the book Manufacturing Consent for overstating its case, in particular with regards to reporting on Nicaragua and not adequately explaining how a powerful propaganda system would let military aid to the Contra rebels be blocked. Herman responded in

2100-502: Is often associated with authoritarian governments that use state media to control, influence, and limit information. Media and Journalism Research Center uses State Media Matrix, a typology of state and public media that allows their classification according to three sets of factors that affect the independence of these media: funding, ownership/governance, and editorial autonomy. This category includes media outlets that are predominantly funded, managed, and editorially controlled by

2184-461: Is part of a checks-and-balances system of a democracy , known as the Fourth Estate , along with the judiciary , executive and legislature . States are dependent on the public for their legitimacy that allows them to operate. The flow of information becomes critical to their survival, and public choice theory argues that states cannot be expected to ignore their own interests, and instead

2268-478: Is poorly explained. This was in response to Chomsky's assertion that in testing the Model, examples should be carefully paired to control reasons for discrepancies not related to political bias. Chomsky himself cites the examples of government mis-treatment of protesters and points out that general coverage of the two areas compared should be similar, raising the point that they are not: news from Israel (in any form)

2352-516: Is pro- Taliban . Established in 1939 by the Government Press Department of Afghanistan, it monitors foreign and domestic news before distribution. The English sector of the news distribution was not added until 1992, when it was launched in order to keep foreign diplomats informed of Afghan news. The Ministry of Culture and Information monitors the reporting of Bakhtar News Agency. In 2002, Agence France-Presse established

2436-493: Is severely restricted and there is a large amount of corruption within the economic and political system. Propaganda model The propaganda model is a conceptual model in political economy advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky to explain how propaganda and systemic biases function in corporate mass media . The model seeks to explain how populations are manipulated and how consent for economic, social, and political policies, both foreign and domestic,

2520-448: Is still applicable (Herman said even more so than when it was introduced), although they did suggest a few areas where they believe it falls short and needs to be extended in light of recent developments. Chomsky has insisted that while the propaganda role of the media "is intensified by ownership and advertising" the problem mostly lies with "ideological-doctrinal commitments that are part of intellectual life" or intellectual culture of

2604-660: Is the US-based Global Climate Coalition (GCC), comprising fossil fuel and automobile companies such as Exxon, Texaco and Ford. The GCC was conceived by Burson-Marsteller, one of the world's largest public relations companies, to attack the credibility of climate scientists and 'scare stories' about global warming. For Chomsky and Herman "flak" refers to negative responses to a media statement or program. The term "flak" has been used to describe what Chomsky and Herman see as efforts to discredit organizations or individuals who disagree with or cast doubt on

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2688-511: The Daily Mirror (at least until the late 1970s) regularly published articles questioning the capitalist system. The authors posit that these earlier radical papers were not constrained by corporate ownership and therefore, were free to criticize the capitalist system. Herman and Chomsky argue that since mainstream media outlets are currently either large corporations or part of conglomerates (e.g. Westinghouse or General Electric ),

2772-579: The Journal of Democracy , " authoritarian or totalitarian media outlets" take advantage of both domestic and foreign media due to state censorship in their native countries and the openness of democratic nations to which they broadcast. He cites China's CCTV , Russia's RT , and Venezuela's TeleSUR as examples. Surveys find that state-owned television in Russia is viewed by the Russian public as one of

2856-433: The 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001, Chomsky and Herman updated the fifth prong to instead refer to the " War on Terror " and " counter-terrorism ", which they state operates in much the same manner. Although the model was based mainly on the media of the United States , Chomsky and Herman believe the theory is equally applicable to any country that shares the basic economic structure and organizing principles that

2940-863: The BBC cannot afford to place reporters everywhere. They concentrate their resources where news stories are likely to happen: the White House , the Pentagon , 10 Downing Street and other central news "terminals". Although British newspapers may occasionally complain about the " spin-doctoring " of New Labour , for example, they are dependent upon the pronouncements of "the Prime Minister's personal spokesperson" for government news. Business corporations and trade organizations are also trusted sources of stories considered newsworthy. Editors and journalists who offend these powerful news sources, perhaps by questioning

3024-623: The COINTELPRO exposures. While the Watergate break-in was a political threat to powerful people ( Democrats ), COINTELPRO harmed average citizens and went as far as political assassination . Other examples include coverage of the Iran–Contra affair by only focusing on people in power such as Oliver North but omitting coverage of the civilians killed in Nicaragua as the result of aid to

3108-586: The Middle East and some Asian countries (with the exception of Japan , India , Indonesia , Mongolia , Nepal , the Philippines , South Korea and Thailand where large areas of private press exist.) Full state monopolies exist in China , Myanmar , and North Korea . Issues with state media include complications with press freedom and journalistic objectivity . According to Christopher Walker in

3192-535: The "ChomskyChat Forum" on the applicability of the Propaganda Model to the media environment of other countries: That's only rarely been done in any systematic way. There is work on the British media, by a good U[niversity] of Glasgow media group. And interesting work on British Central America coverage by Mark Curtis in his book Ambiguities of Power . There is work on France, done in Belgium mostly, also

3276-493: The "scale of the social media response" (a response which was mainly to do with the newspaper's behaviour towards Milly Dowler , although Mason did not go into this level of detail). Mason praised The Guardian for having told the truth about the phone-hacking, but expressed doubt about the financial viability of the newspaper. One part of the Chomsky doctrine has been proven by exception. He stated that newspapers that told

3360-603: The BBC, pointed out that the News International phone hacking scandal threw light on close links between the press and politicians. However, he argued that the closure of the mass-circulation newspaper News of the World , which took place after the scandal broke, conformed only partly to the propaganda model. He drew attention to the role of social media , saying that "large corporations pulled their advertising" because of

3444-471: The Mass Media , the propaganda model views corporate media as businesses interested in the sale of a product—readers and audiences—to other businesses (advertisers) rather than the pursuit of quality journalism in service of the public. Describing the media's "societal purpose", Chomsky writes, "... the study of institutions and how they function must be scrupulously ignored, apart from fringe elements or

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3528-484: The Vietnam War there was disagreement among the media over tactics, but the broader issue of the legality and legitimacy of the war was ignored (see Coverage of "enemy" countries ). Chomsky has said that while the media are against corruption, they are not against society legally empowering corporate interests which is a reflection of the powerful interests that the model would predict. The authors have also said that

3612-535: The authors include the failure of the media to question the legality of the Vietnam War while greatly emphasizing the Soviet–Afghan War as an act of aggression . Other biases include a propensity to emphasize violent acts such as genocide more in enemy or unfriendly countries such as Kosovo while ignoring greater genocide in allied countries such as the Indonesian occupation of East Timor . This bias

3696-489: The battle of Fallujah but it was celebrated... it was a celebration of ongoing war crimes". The article in question was " Early Target of Offensive Is a Hospital ". The authors point to biases that are based on only reporting scandals which benefit a section of power, while ignoring scandals that hurt the powerless. The biggest example of this was how the US media greatly covered the Watergate Scandal but ignored

3780-472: The concerns of workers, but excessive stamp duties , designed to restrict newspaper ownership to the 'respectable' wealthy, began to change the face of the press. Nevertheless, there remained a degree of diversity. In post World War II Britain, radical or worker-friendly newspapers such as the Daily Herald , News Chronicle , Sunday Citizen (all since failed or absorbed into other publications), and

3864-596: The contras . In a 2010 interview, Chomsky compared media coverage of the Afghan War Diaries and lack of media coverage of a study of severe health problems in Fallujah . While there was ample coverage of the Afghan War Diaries there was no American coverage of the Fallujah study, in which the health situation in Fallujah was described by the British media as "worse than Hiroshima ". Since

3948-580: The cost of the provision and dissemination of information is high, but once costs are incurred, marginal costs for providing the information are low and so are subject to increasing returns. Thirdly, state media ownership can be less biased, more complete and accurate if consumers are ignorant and in addition to private media that would serve the governing classes. However, Pigouvian economists, who advocate regulation and nationalisation , are supportive of free and private media. Public interest theory holds that when operated correctly, government ownership of media

4032-496: The country's most authoritative and trusted institutions. Nations such as Denmark, Norway and Finland that have both the highest degree of freedom of press and public broadcasting media. Compared to most autocratic nations which attempt to limit press freedom to control the spread of information. A 2003 study found that government ownership of media organizations was associated with worse democratic outcomes. "Worse outcomes" are associated with higher levels of state ownership of

4116-475: The determinants and consequences of ownership of the media. The public interest theory suggests that more benign governments should have higher levels of control of the media which would in turn increase press freedom as well as economic and political freedoms. Conversely, the public choice theory affirms that the opposite is true - "public spirited", benevolent governments should have less control which would increase these freedoms. Generally, state ownership of

4200-534: The exception of Belarus , Russia and Ukraine ) is mostly private and free of state control and ownership, along with North and South America (with the exception of Cuba and Venezuela ) The press "role" in the national and societal dynamics of the United States and Australia has virtually always been the responsibility of the private commercial sector since these countries' earliest days. Levels of state ownership are higher in some African countries,

4284-490: The expected media attitude towards them, are contrasted using objective measures such as coverage of key events (measured in column inches) or editorials favoring a particular issue (measured in number). [The polls] show that all of the opposition parties in Nicaragua combined had the support of only 9 percent of the population, but they have 100 percent of Stephen Kinzer . — Noam Chomsky Examples of bias given by

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4368-431: The forces in control of the corporation, as described in the propaganda model of the mass media. In more controlled regions, the state may censor content which it deems illegal, immoral or unfavorable to the government and likewise regulate any programming related to the media; therefore, it is not independent of the governing party. In this type of environment, journalists may be required to be members or affiliated with

4452-513: The government. It represents the highest level of state control over media entities. These outlets lack editorial independence , with the government controlling their editorial agenda in various ways. According to Facebook , state-controlled media are media outlets that Facebook believes may be partially or wholly under the editorial control of their government. State-controlled media extends beyond just assessing financial control or ownership and includes an assessment of editorial control exerted by

4536-513: The information presented to the public will be biased with respect to these interests. Such conglomerates frequently extend beyond traditional media fields and thus have extensive financial interests that may be endangered when certain information is publicized. According to this reasoning, news items that most endanger the corporate financial interests of those who own the media will face the greatest bias and censorship. It then follows that if to maximize profit means sacrificing news objectivity, then

4620-447: The media cannot have a corporate bias because it reports on and exposes corporate corruption . Lehrer asserts that the model amounts to a Marxist conception of right-wing false consciousness . Herman and Chomsky have asserted that the media "is not a solid monolith" but that it represents a debate between powerful interests while ignoring perspectives that challenge the "fundamental premises" of all these interests. For instance, during

4704-406: The media is found in poor, autocratic non-democratic countries with highly interventionist governments that have some interest in controlling the flow of information. Countries with "weak" governments do not possess the political will to break up state media monopolies. Media control is also usually consistent with state ownership in the economy . As of 2002, the press in most of Europe (with

4788-405: The media to attract advertisers; a newspaper which gets less advertising than its competitors is at a serious disadvantage. Lack of success in raising advertising revenue was another factor in the demise of the 'people's newspapers' of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The product is composed of the affluent readers who buy the newspaper—who also comprise the educated decision-making sector of

4872-459: The media, which would reject Pigouvian theory. The news media are more independent and fewer journalists are arrested, detained or harassed in countries with less state control. Harassment, imprisonment and higher levels of internet censorship occur in countries with high levels of state ownership such as Singapore , Belarus , Myanmar , Ethiopia , the People's Republic of China , Iran , Syria , Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan . Countries with

4956-550: The model does not seek to address "the effects of the media on the public" which might be ineffective at shaping public opinion . Edward Herman has said "critics failed to comprehend that the propaganda model is about how the media work, not how effective they are". Gareth Morley argues in an article in Inroads: A Journal of Opinion that widespread coverage of Israeli mistreatment of protesters as compared with little coverage of similar (or much worse) events in sub-Saharan Africa

5040-544: The model postulates as the cause of media biases . Their assessment has been supported by a number of scholars and the propaganda role of the media has since been empirically assessed in Western Europe and Latin America . The size and profit -seeking imperative of dominant media corporations create a bias. The authors point to how in the early nineteenth century, a radical British press had emerged that addressed

5124-419: The news sources that ultimately survive must be fundamentally biased, with regard to news in which they have a conflict of interest . The second filter of the propaganda model is funding generated through advertising . Most newspapers have to attract advertising in order to cover the costs of production; without it, they would have to increase the price of their newspaper. There is fierce competition throughout

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5208-516: The people in power. He compares the media to scholarly literature which he says has the same problems even without the constraints of the propaganda model. At the Windsor talk, Chomsky pointed out that Edward S. Herman was primarily responsible for creating the theory although Chomsky supported it. According to Chomsky, he insisted Herman's name appear first on the cover of Manufacturing Consent because of his primary role researching and developing

5292-640: The popularity of 'anti-communism' as a news filter is slowly decreasing in favor of other more contemporary ideologies such as 'anti-terrorism'. Following the theoretical exposition of the propaganda model, Manufacturing Consent contains a large section where the authors seek to test their hypotheses. If the propaganda model is right and the filters do influence media content, a particular form of bias would be expected—one that systematically favors corporate interests. They also looked at what they perceived as naturally occurring "historical control groups " where two events, similar in their properties but differing in

5376-482: The population—while the actual clientele served by the newspaper includes the businesses that pay to advertise their goods. According to this filter, the news is "filler" to get privileged readers to see the advertisements which makes up the content and will thus take whatever form is most conducive to attracting educated decision-makers. Stories that conflict with their "buying mood", it is argued, will tend to be marginalized or excluded, along with information that presents

5460-470: The press can compromise election monitoring efforts and obscure the integrity of electoral processes. Independent media sees higher oversight by the media of the government. For example, reporting of corruption increased in Mexico , Ghana and Kenya after restrictions were lifted in the 1990s, but government-controlled media defended officials. Heavily influenced state media can provide corrupt regimes with

5544-429: The press enhances civil and political rights ; whilst under the public choice theory, it curtails them by suppressing public oversight of the government and facilitating political corruption . High to absolute government control of the media is primarily associated with lower levels of political and civil rights, higher levels of corruption, quality of regulation, security of property and media bias . State ownership of

5628-432: The prevailing assumptions which Chomsky and Herman view as favorable to established power (e.g., " The Establishment "). Unlike the first three "filtering" mechanisms—which are derived from analysis of market mechanisms—flak is characterized by concerted efforts to manage public information. So I think when we talked about the "fifth filter" we should have brought in all this stuff -- the way artificial fears are created with

5712-421: The prioritization of the profit motive. State media can be established as a mean for the state to provide a consistent news outlet while private news companies operate as well. The benefits and detriments of this approach often depend on the editorial independence of the media organization from the government. Many criticisms of public interest theory center on the possibility of true editorial independence from

5796-520: The producer commented that the response was "astonishing". He commented that "[t]he audience reaction was astonishing... I have never worked on a programme which elicited so many letters and calls". In May 2007, Chomsky and Herman spoke at the University of Windsor in Canada summarizing developments and responding to criticisms related to the model. Both authors stated they felt the propaganda model

5880-414: The public choice theory argue that the economic incentives involved in a public business force media organizations to stray from unbiased journalism and towards sensationalist editorials in order to capture public interest. This has become a debate over the effectiveness of media organizations that are reliant on the attention of the public. Sensationalism becomes the key focus and turns away from stories in

5964-404: The public interest in favor of stories that capture the attention of the most people. The focus on sensationalism and public attention can lead to the dissemination of misinformation to appease their consumer base. In these instances, the goal of providing accurate information to the public collapses and instead becomes biased toward a dominant ideology. Both theories have implications regarding

6048-413: The public, either through taxation or a specific license fee. This funding model is designed to insulate them from commercial pressures and government influence, ensuring that their programming decisions are made in the public interest. These media entities receive funding from the state and may have some level of state involvement in their management, but they maintain editorial independence. This category

6132-404: The publication of Manufacturing Consent , Herman and Chomsky have adopted the theory and have given it a prominent role in their writings, lectures and theoretical frameworks. Chomsky has made extensive use of its explanative power to lend support to his interpretations of mainstream media attitudes towards a wide array of events, including the following: On the rare occasions the propaganda model

6216-592: The ruling party, such as in the Eastern Bloc former Socialist States the Soviet Union , China or North Korea . Within countries that have high levels of government interference in the media, it may use the state press for propaganda purposes: Additionally, the state-controlled media may only report on legislation after it has already become law to stifle any debate. The media legitimizes its presence by emphasizing "national unity" against domestic or foreign "aggressors". In more open and competitive contexts,

6300-433: The sources of information must remain as independent from the state as possible. Public choice theory argues that the only way to retain independence in a media organization is to allow the public to seek the best sources of information themselves. This approach is effective at creating a free press that is capable of criticizing government institutions and investigating incidents of government corruption. Those critical of

6384-416: The state may control or fund its own outlet and is in competition with opposition-controlled and/or independent media. The state media usually have less government control in more open societies and can provide more balanced coverage than media outside of state control. State media outlets usually enjoy increased funding and subsidies compared to private media counterparts, but this can create inefficiency in

6468-467: The state media. However, in the People's Republic of China , where state control of the media is high, levels of funding have been reduced for state outlets, which have forced Chinese Communist Party media to sidestep official restrictions on content or publish "soft" editions, such as weekend editions, to generate income. Two contrasting theories of state control of the media exist; the public interest or Pigouvian theory states that government ownership

6552-639: The state to legitimize their actions. The public choice theory asserts that state-owned media would manipulate and distort information in favor of the ruling party and entrench its rule and prevent the public from making informed decisions, which undermines democratic institutions. That would prevent private and independent media, which provide alternate voices allowing individuals to choose politicians, goods, services, etc. without fear from functioning. Additionally, that would inhibit competition among media firms that would ensure that consumers usually acquire unbiased, accurate information. Moreover, this competition

6636-519: The state. While there is little profit motive, the media organization must be funded by the government instead which can create a dependency on the government's willingness to fund an entity may often be critical of their work. The reliability of a state-run media outlet is often heavily dependent on the reliability of the state to promote a free press, many state-run media outlets in western democracies are capable of providing independent journalism while others in authoritarian regimes become mouthpieces for

6720-531: The theory. From the early 1930s until...2004, the newspapers that covered waterboarding almost uniformly called the practice torture or implied it was torture: The New York Times characterized it thus in 81.5% (44 of 54) of articles on the subject and the Los Angeles Times did so in 96.3% of articles (26 of 27). By contrast, from 2002‐2008, the studied newspapers almost never referred to waterboarding as torture. —Desai et al. In April 2010,

6804-577: The truth could not make money. The Guardian ...is indeed burning money and may run out of it in three years' time. Eli Lehrer of the American Enterprise Institute criticized the theory in The Anti-Chomsky Reader . According to Lehrer, the fact that papers like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have disagreements is evidence that the media is not a monolithic entity. Lehrer also believes that

6888-608: The veracity or bias of the furnished material, can be threatened with the denial of access to their media life-blood - fresh news. Thus, the media has become reluctant to run articles that will harm corporate interests that provide them with the resources that they depend upon. This relationship also gives rise to a "moral division of labor" where "officials have and give the facts" and "reporters merely get them". Journalists are then supposed to adopt an uncritical attitude that makes it possible for them to accept corporate values without experiencing cognitive dissonance . The fourth filter

6972-575: Was replaced by the "War on Terror", as the major social control mechanism: "Anti-communism has receded as an ideological factor in the Western media, but it is not dead... The 'war on terror' has provided a useful substitute for the Soviet Menace." Following the events of September 11, 2001, some scholars agree that Islamophobia is replacing anti-communism as a new source of public fear. Herman and Chomsky noted, in an interview given in 2009, that

7056-486: Was similar to media studies done in Manufacturing Consent for topics such as comparing how the term "genocide" is used in the media when referring to allied and enemy countries. Glenn Greenwald said that "We don't need a state-run media because our media outlets volunteer for the task..." and commented that the media often act as propaganda for the government without coercion. Chomsky has commented in

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