Filtering the news
How news can get distorted – not by conspiracy but by the structures of the media itself. Adapted from Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman’s ‘Propaganda Model’ in their book Manufacturing Consent.
‘If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before 24 hours my occupation would be gone. The business of a journalist is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press... Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.’
1st Filter – Business interests of owner companies
‘You’ve certainly led one of the most extraordinary lives of the 20th century and it’s been entirely of your own making. Can you accept the accolade that you are probably the most remarkable Australian in about 200 years?’
2nd filter - Selling audiences to advertisers
‘The Coca-Cola company requires that all insertions are placed adjacent to editoral that is consistent with each brand’s marketing strategy... We consider the following subjects to be inappropriate: hard news, sex, diet, political issues, environmental issues... If an appropriate positioning option is not available, we reserve the right to omit our ad from that issue.’
3rd Filter - Sourcing information from agents of power
‘The most cited economic experts in the international press are from free-market think-tank the Institute for International Economics.’
Mark Laity, former BBC war correspondent, got so close to his sources that he now works for NATO.
4th Filter - Flak, pressure on journalists, and threats of legal action
Jane Akre and Steve Wilson were fired by Fox TV in Florida over an investigative report on Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone in milk. The General Manager of Fox told them: ‘We paid $3 billion for these television stations, we'll decide what the news is. The news is what we tell you it is.’
‘The most esteemed journalists are precisely the most servile. For it is by making themselves useful to the powerful that they gain access to the “best” sources.’
5th Filter - Ideological belief in free markets
‘Buy Nothing Day is in opposition to the current economic policy in the United States.’
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
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