

Noam Chomsky - media manipulation strategies - mirceagoia
http://theinternationalcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/07/noam-chomsky-top-10-media-manipulation_08.html

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moonchrome
Dear God, I'm shocked at how juvenile and simplistic this post is. Blaming the
media for "imposing" things without even considering the probability that the
things he finds objectionable are largely a result of the audience responding
to that kind of content. Framing it all in conspiracy of the elites. He also
doesn't mind preaching on what is "essential knowledge" that "the public"
should be interested, but hey that's the norm with any politically opinionated
person these days, and especially with academics. But this is just weak - I've
read a few things from him before, he didn't seem to know much about the
subject and it was mostly demagogy. It does beg the question - why is he held
in such high regard by some people ?

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berntb
I do believe there are conspiracies out there to influence media. Many
corporations and organisations try. There are even _professions_ that exist in
order to try.

For instance, in my native Sweden, it isn't so hard. Keep a large enough ad
budget and media criticism will be trivial. Then, integrate a bit with the
political parties.

But this is for quite specific areas (in Sweden, e.g. food shop chains and
home/road building, etc) in a small country with a tradition of consensus
solutions.

I have a hard time believing this is easy in a thirty times larger society
(USA) than Sweden for larger questions, like political solutions. I don't
doubt it is tried, but have a hard time seeing how it could work.

So are there any non-activist sources on this subject? With lots of examples?

I'm a bit allergic to Chomsky. Whenever someone tells me Chomsky is the second
coming of Jesus, I ask for sources. And come away unimpressed, with questions
like:

"Chomsky argued in your own reference that he criticises Israel a thousand
times more than e.g. the horrors of Sudan (which is probably a thousand times
worse, compared to a _Palestinian_ description of Israel) -- because he can
influence Israel more. But that is bullshit! If Chomsky -- the leading
academic critic of USA/Israel -- wrote an article/book and said that '
_Sudan's president makes Hitler/Stalin look good_ ' it will have a very, very
heavy impact."

I never get a good answer to those questions.

Edit: Quotation. Also, I have to go sleep in a short time, so I won't be able
to answer any comments. If you want e.g. discussions about my Swedish
examples, check 12+ hours after I wrote this.

