Page 413 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

| Propaganda Model

client states) will be given little coverage with minimal humanization, and will
be treated in ways that do not invite sympathy or indignation. Another dimen-
sion of this analysis (as well and other topics) is the inclusion or absence of pho-
tographs, since visual images have powerful influences on how news is framed
and interpreted.
The methodological technique most favored by Chomsky is to explore the
“boundaries of the expressible” on crucial topics according to both power and
social class interests. Investigating the extent to which news coverage conforms
to the boundaries of the expressible, or what can and cannot be said, entails
observing what is present in the news frame and what is absent from it. Other
qualitative criteria for criticism include, sources used, emphasis, placement,
tone, fullness of treatment, and context.
The propaganda model assumes that public debate is set by powerful elites,
and thus predicts that the primary sources of news will be “agents of power.”
According to this framework, boundaries of debate are effectively defined
by official sources that reflect the interests of power and social class, and the
model predicts that debate will conform to these interests. Concurrently, ap-
plying the model entails examining the degree to which voices challenging the
range of debate are present within (or absent from) media texts, and if they
are presented in favorable and/or unfavorable terms and settings. Such omis-
sions and style of presentation are ways of understanding the extent to which
news language favors an official world view that promotes existing relations of
power.
The model assumes that commercial media exist within a system of power
and that the media are themselves fundamentally agents of social power. This
assumption emerges from the model’s foundational assumptions regarding the
structural organization of society.
The propaganda model suggests that media analysis should extend its quali-
tative criteria to include analysis of textual prominence. This involves evaluating
features of media texts that reveals how they are structured or framed. Because
of the top-down organization of news, headlines play a significant role in influ-
encing readers understanding and interpretation news. The most important or
newsworthy information is conveyed at the outset of media texts and are central
to textual prominence. Fore-grounding and back-grounding determine what
events, voices and/or facts are made explicit within media texts, and what is
presented merely as trivial, or even omitted. The structure of news presenta-
tion offers another insight into the ways in which media texts are ideologically
inflected.
Herman and Chomsky pay particular attention to presuppositions that un-
dergird common sense understandings of reporting. News of a specific event
may include themes from past events while simultaneously ignoring or omit-
ting various facts and/or voices. As noted, the model suggests that analysis of
historical and political-economic elements should also be firmly integrated into
the media analysis.
The propaganda model and the methodological techniques associated with
it allow for sophisticated analysis of media discourse that extends beyond