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Karlos Acosta

Owen Abbott

SOCY10441 Media Culture & Society

7 November 2019

An Application of the Propaganda model and its Implications on Media

The Herman and Chomsky ‘propaganda model’ serves as a guide for how consumers can

view their relationship in respect to institutions of high power who control and manipulate the

media for their own benefit. Although the criticisms raised in class over the propaganda model

downplay the extent to which these institutions hold power in society, there can not be a denial

of how these propositions still hold true in our society if we were to apply revisions and

extensions of the model. However, there are some cases, where the propaganda model no longer

applies because of rare exceptions like The Guardian. In the Guardian’s, “It's Time to Throw the

Kitchen Sink at Trump and the Cutlery too,” we can see how the five pillars of the model are

weakly exhibited throughout the article. In applying the propaganda model, we ultimately gain

insight towards the spectrum of other available media outlets that display variations of how

heavily the model may affect the content they produce. Through my assessment of the article, we

will gain knowledge of mass media as a whole as it exists on a spectrum to manage the

relationship between the media, the general public and those in power.

The first pillar of the propaganda model observes how corporate ownership of the media

will control what content news outlets will produce. The essence of this pillar lies in the fact that

because a news source is expensive to financially support then only the rich will have the

accessibility to control and produce the content that will support their capitalist ideologies
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(Durham and Kellner 259). The centralization of the media outlets in partnership with banks and

the government have created a focus based on objective profitability with licenses that subject

these media outlets to governmental harassment should they step out of line (Durham and

Kellner 266). However, the Guardian article is a special case because since the Guardian is

owned by the Scott Trust, a charitable foundation, which maintains the independence of the

Guardian, it doesn’t fall victim to for-profit media organizations. The article is free from the

normal criticisms it would usually face in other media organizations and through the tone used

throughout the article, the author’s voice comes to light rather than a censored/silenced version

(Tisdall, “It's Time to Throw the Kitchen Sink at Trump, and the Cutlery Too”). Also, because

the article references other sources, we can come to understand that the rich conglomerates can

no longer control exactly what content is fed to consumers through a single medium. The

cross-media communication that currently exists negates the content and communication

controlled by producers in the media industry since users now engage with content across a wide

spectrum of media (Sandvik 60). In referring to other news sources, the reader can understand

that The Guardian works in cohort with other media companies to further engage the reader and

create a cultural sphere. The Guardian has become a rare exception free from the demands of

shareholders or the interests of institutions while giving freedom to the writer to produce content

in line with their own beliefs.

In reference to the second pillar of the propaganda model, the pillar explores how the

reliance on advertising forces media companies to target segments of the market that possess

buying power (Durham and Kellner 266). However, the Guardian article has no advertising on

their web page, thus, giving heed to the lack of advertiser control over the media outlet.
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Consequently, The Guardian continues to have a net operating loss year after year (Rajan,

“Guardian Records First Operating Profit since 1998”). As mentioned in ​Extending and Refining

the Propaganda Model,​ a lone journalist would have closed down the company because of a lack

of financial support, but the Guardian serves as an example of what structured and organized

journalism can bring in opposition to those in power. The Guardian’s financial losses before the

fiscal year only exist to support the notion that media outlets heavily rely on advertisers for

capital to fund their expenditures and operating expenses. By gathering funding from readers and

from other sources, the Guardian can deliver a product that suits their independent left-wing

ideologies.

The third pillar of the propaganda model where media outlets rely on public relations for

information summarizes how the needs of the media will lead them towards building

relationships with companies that may inherently comply them to create stories in the

companies’ favor (Durham and Kellner 270). In the newspaper item, the author references CNN

and the New York Times throughout the article, both of whom align with leftist ideologies

similar to the Guardian and reference “elite” sources. In reference to Sparks, “source

dependence” does not guarantee that a journalist will comply with story given by an elite source

(78). Source dependence derives from the relationship an outlet must build with a source, but

because various elite sources are often divided, there are always alternatives to every news story

available. The Guardian article contains implied references to other news articles and because a

spectrum of professional opinions are available on a topic, it gives the outlet the creative freedom

to use multiple sources in its effort to build a story.

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Following the third pillar, the fourth pillar of the propaganda model explores how “Flak”

is used as a means of powerful bodies discipling the media (Durham and Kellner 275). However,

the media will only be receptive to flak in accordance to the nature of the media market, political

structure of society, and issues under discussion (Sparks 81). This revision of the model reflects

why the current state of the U.S supports the article’s protest of Trump. Since the United States

is a rare exception because of its first amendment, it gives media outlets within the country the

power to speak out against the government in contrast to other countries where there may be

tighter media regulations, thus, inherently creating a societal disapproval of Trump’s presidential

term (Hallin 44). Numerous media outlets feed the same anti-Trump sentiment to their

consumers and have inherently created a platform, where the voices of the masses are fighting

against any flak that may be created to disapprove these outlets. Trump often uses Twitter and

other mediums to convey his disapproval, but the large majority of outlets including The

Guardian have called him out for his errors. In the U.S., flak no longer has the same essence as it

once held since the divided nation of the United States has created an environment where flak is

simply disregarded in the face of expressing one’s defiance of the current political state of the

country.

The final pillar of the propaganda model explores how the elites used anti-communism to

mobilize the populace against an enemy whom they disfavored, which fragments the leftist

movements in support of the conglomerates' interests (Durham and Kellner 278). However, in

the article, the author has switched the roles concerning the power dynamic of the filter. Since in

America, criticizing Trump has become a norm, which gives the article power to the leftists as

they fragment the Republican party and those in power who support the president. The journalist
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often finds themselves between two positions, one as a wage worker engaged in alienated labor

and one as a worker following the interests of their employers (Sparks 79). Since the journalist

finds themselves between these two positions, they can leverage the public sentiment to fight for

the professional values they believe in and call out those in power. With the public divided, it

only offers a suitable platform for the writer to call out Trump by upholding the nationalistic

ideals that a majority may side with in America. Trump combats this sentiment by consistently

using nationalistic ideals that Republicans may align with to creating an enemy out of the

Democratic party. Media in today’s society suffers from its own diverse spectrum by creating a

battlefield with both political sides wielding nationalistic ideals as their weapons.

Therefore, the propaganda model and its application on The Guardian article

demonstrates how the relationship between media and its consumers have changed since the

publication of the model. In providing extensions of the model and considering cross-media

communication, we develop an in-depth understanding of media and its implications on the

relationship between the media, the consumer and institutions of high power. The Guardian is a

media outlet free from the typical restrictions of the propaganda model and serves to give power

to the reader as it provides a platform to further engage with the material. Although the Guardian

has an opportunity to represent an objective narrative free from any bias, it fails to do so simply

because human nature is inherent with bias. Ideally, journalism strives to give an account free of

bias, but other factors mixed alongside the content delivered ultimately shape a molded product

that is biased to suit the narrative a media outlet conveys as it continues to maintain their image.

Word Count: 1491

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References

Durham, Meenakshi G., and Douglas Kellner. Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks. vol. 2.,

Blackwell Publishers, Malden, Mass, 2001.

Hallin, Daniel C. Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. New York:

Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Rajan, Amol. “Guardian Records First Operating Profit since 1998.” BBC News, BBC, 1 May

2019.

Sandvik, Kjetil. "Media Studies 2.0; Media Audiences: Effects, Users, Institutions, and Power."

MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research, vol. 32, no. 60, 2016, pp.

6.

Sparks, Colin. "Extending and Refining the Propaganda Model." Westminster Papers in

Communication and Culture, vol. 4, no. 2, 2007, pp. 68-84.

Tisdall, Simon. “It's Time to Throw the Kitchen Sink at Trump, and the Cutlery Too.” The

Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 2 Nov. 2019.