OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #227, APRIL 30, 2025.

 

A “compelling indictment of the news media’s role in covering up errors and deceptions” (The New York Times Book Review) due to the underlying economics of publishing—from famed scholars Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. With a new introduction.

In this pathbreaking work, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.

Based on a series of case studies—including the media’s dichotomous treatment of “worthy” versus “unworthy” victims, “legitimizing” and “meaningless” Third World elections, and devastating critiques of media coverage of the U.S. wars against Indochina—Herman and Chomsky draw on decades of criticism and research to propose a Propaganda Model to explain the media’s behavior and performance.

Their new introduction updates the Propaganda Model and the earlier case studies, and it discusses several other applications. These include the manner in which the media covered the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and subsequent Mexican financial meltdown of 1994-1995, the media’s handling of the protests against the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund in 1999 and 2000, and the media’s treatment of the chemical industry and its regulation. What emerges from this work is a powerful assessment of how propagandistic the U.S. mass media are, how they systematically fail to live up to their self-image as providers of the kind of information that people need to make sense of the world, and how we can understand their function in a radically new way.

 

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About Manufacturing Consent

A “compelling indictment of the news media’s role in covering up errors and deceptions” (The New York Times Book Review) due to the underlying economics of publishing—from famed scholars Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. With a new introduction.

In this pathbreaking work, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.

Based on a series of case studies—including the media’s dichotomous treatment of “worthy” versus “unworthy” victims, “legitimizing” and “meaningless” Third World elections, and devastating critiques of media coverage of the U.S. wars against Indochina—Herman and Chomsky draw on decades of criticism and research to propose a Propaganda Model to explain the media’s behavior and performance.

Their new introduction updates the Propaganda Model and the earlier case studies, and it discusses several other applications. These include the manner in which the media covered the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and subsequent Mexican financial meltdown of 1994-1995, the media’s handling of the protests against the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund in 1999 and 2000, and the media’s treatment of the chemical industry and its regulation. What emerges from this work is a powerful assessment of how propagandistic the U.S. mass media are, how they systematically fail to live up to their self-image as providers of the kind of information that people need to make sense of the world, and how we can understand their function in a radically new way.

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OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #227, APRIL 30, 2025.  Compiled by Dick Bennett.

 

Opposing Wars, Supporting Peace:

VFP’s Peace and Planet News.
Klein and Taylor.  “…Fight End Times Fascism.”

Syracuse Cultural Workers.
PBS Documentaries.

 

New Print Edition of Peace & Planet News Available!
Featuring articles by Chris Hedges, Alice Slater, Jack Gilroy, Ann Wright, Doug Rawlings, and more! Order a bundle today to distribute at your next demonstration, leave a stack at your local bookstore, or hand out on campuses. It's a great tool to keep the resistance alive and informed. Order now.

“Building a Movement to Fight End Times Fascism”

By Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor.   Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor on Building a Movement to Fight 'End Times Fascism' - Peace & Planet News
"We are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the livability of our shared world—on its beauty, on its people, on our children, on other species."

SYRACUSE CULTURAL WORKERS
For decades SCW has provided the peace and justice—and now climate—movement a cornucopia of calendars, signs, cards, pins, shirts, etc.  It’s a significant support for our peace, justice, and ecology values, take a look at their catalog.  

Syracuse Cultural Workers

 

PBS.   On May 1 and 2, join people around the country as we celebrate Public Media Giving Days, and help keep public media strong and thriving with your gift.  Don’t want to wait? Make your gift today.   GIVE EARLY!
The Vietnam War: “This Is What We Do.”  Brutal, racist, imperial US war.  April 27, 2025.

 

WAR/PEACE HISTORY:  April 28, 1953 CIA assists overthrow of elected Iranian president Mossadegh.  April 29, 1915  Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) founded.  April 30, 1975 Vietnam is reunited after 21 years of US domination.  From Syracuse Cultural Workers Peace Calendar.