This runs a healthy 2 hours and 47 minutes but is worth the time. I watched the better part of my first day of my Media Literacy Theory class. This class promises to be a though provoking"The classic Canadian documentary Manufacturing Consent based on the Noam Chomsky/Edward Herman book by the same name. Explores the the propaganda model of the media."
Noam Chomsky is an American linguist gone philosopher and activist. This documentary breaks down the "thought control in a democratic society" and the "necessity of marginalizing & controlling the public" through media. That is, the manufacturing of consent.
Around 35 minutes in, Chomsky breaks down this process by filters that propaganda is sent through on its way to the public, a Propaganda Model:
- Selection of Topics
- Distribution of Concerns
- Emphasis
- Framing of Issues
- Filtering of Information
- Bounding of Debate
- Determine
- Select
- Shape
- Control
- Restrict
- [in order to] Serve the Interests of Dominant Elite Groups
Check out the rest of the documentary and the rest of Chomsky's positions, perspectives and opinions. But be careful, this was released in 1992 and the overall cinematography is dated, to say the least.