Finally, after 35 years since its release in the USA, it is now available in German for the first time. I have no idea why it took so long for it to be translated into German. The title is „Die Konsensfabrik“ and it is published by Westend Verlag. It has been translated by Michael Schiffmann, who has previously translated Angela Davis and Noam Chomsky into German. According to Schiffmann in a video by Westend Verlag, it took him three to four months to complete the translation.
As one of the editors of the German edition, media scientist Uwe Krüger says in the video about the book: „A hefty tome. A substantial brick.“ A blue brick, 704 pages long and heavy. But please don’t be discouraged right away, dear readers. Take the time – the reading is worth it.
„I cannot reword“
„Ich kann den Text nicht umformulieren.“
The authors demonstrate in a precise and detailed manner how the media establish a societal consensus that aligns with prevailing economic and political interests. However, this influence does not come from dark, conspiratorial forces in the background, but rather from the economic conditions of the media landscape, which Chomsky and Herman analyze. They examine topics such as ownership, advertising business, dependence on sources, the limits of what can be said, political influence, and implicit societal ideologies. They illustrate how questions are formulated and topics are selected, and expose the double standards underlying the portrayal of free elections, a free press, and state repression.
Dear readers, you may have already noticed that the studies mentioned here are not outdated. On the contrary, the insights presented in them are even more important for the current generation to understand how media works and how it influences its audience. Especially considering the significant role played by social media today. Additionally, we should not forget the interference of so-called „fact-checkers“ (in my opinion, a problem of our time driven by certain interests) on the content published there. It seems that these fact-checkers pay less attention to programs from public broadcasters, which could be seen as less critical. However, it is worth noting that even these broadcasters have made mistakes in the past.
Es geht um die Interessen einer mächtigen Minderheit
Die Medienwissenschaftler Uwe Krüger, Holger Pötzsch und Florian Zollmann haben eine ausführliche Einführung zur deutschsprachigen Ausgabe verfasst über das Propagandamodell von Chomsky und Herman und seine heutige Bedeutung. Außerdem sind in dem Buch die beiden Vorworte der englischen Ausgabe von 1988 und 2002 enthalten.
In ihrer Einführung machen die Autoren klar, dass keine andere Theorie der Journalismusforschung so hart und unversöhnlich mit den kommerziellen Nachrichtenmedien ins Gericht gehe wie das Propaganda-Modell von Edward S. Herman und Noam Chomsky. Ihnen nach „haben die etablierten Medien in liberalen Demokratien eine Hauptfunktion, nämlich «Propaganda« zu betreiben. Das meint: Sie versuchen, etablierte Machtverhältnisse zu stabilisieren und in der Bevölkerung einen Konsens zu einer Politik und einem Wirtschaftssystem herzustellen, die vor allem den Interessen einer mächtigen Minderheit dienen.“ (S.7)
They point out that „the public space in Germany has been filled with media cynicism, contempt for journalists, and conspiracy ideologies á la Lügenpresse in social networks and often on the streets since around 2014: journalists are bought; editorial offices are controlled by politics, intelligence agencies, and high finance and, together with the government, manipulate the population – such ideas are quite widespread (cf. Krüger 2021; Schultz et al. 2023).“
Sie fragen, warum dieses Buch, das angeblich das Gleiche behandelt, jetzt auf Deutsch veröffentlicht wird.
Is it not more appropriate to protect the media in times of crisis like this and write a defense of liberal democracy, including the infrastructure of its public, rather than further dividing society?
The authors of the introduction hold a different opinion: „In fact, we are convinced that this book is a means to counteract the division of society, as the erosion of trust in democratic institutions and processes has deeper causes than conspiracy fantasies and Twitter trolls. Research on media trust in Germany suggests that economic inequalities and neoliberal post-democracy relations generate feelings of powerlessness and alienation (cf. Krüger & Seiffert-Brockmann 2018), which this book specifically opposes.“ (p.9)
Diese Einleitung enthält wichtige Einordnungen und Gedanken, die auch die Gegenwart in den Blick nehmen. Deshalb empfehle ich den Text der drei Autoren unbedingt zu lesen und nicht zu überspringen.
It is important to know that the propaganda model outlined by Herman/Chomsky focuses on the inequality of wealth and power and the various effects it has on the interests and decisions of those who determine mass media. It examines the mechanisms through which money and power are able to filter out „news that is worth printing.“ Dissenting opinions are suppressed or portrayed as worthless. In return, it allows ruling state and influential private interests to disseminate their messages to the public.
According to the Propaganda Model, news must pass through five news „filters“ before they appear in the media.
In order to demonstrate how media coverage is influenced despite formal press freedom, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky identify five filters. These filters represent the economic and political factors that determine whether and how a news message is conveyed. This process often occurs behind closed doors and is not even consciously recognized by journalists. As a result, the perception of press freedom, independent media, and a democracy-based consensus among the public is typically unquestioned.
Filter 1: Die Eigentümer und deren (finanziellen) Interessen im Sektor Massenmedien. Unbequeme Meinungen und Positionen werden aussortiert
The interests of the owners naturally play a role in the reporting of their media. For example, the major US television network NBC was owned 100% by the conglomerate General Electric until 2009, and 49% until 2013. However, this conglomerate was not only active in the media industry but also in the defense industry, among others. General Electric (GE) thus attempted to influence the reporting in their favor. The network had to tend to support potential wars and withhold negative coverage of conflicts in which GE weapons were involved.
The ownership structures will be shaped by two main factors. Firstly, a significant amount of money is required to establish a media outlet with relevant reach, which is why the media landscape is predominantly influenced by large corporations. Secondly, a process of media concentration can be observed. The average media consumer may believe in apparent media diversity, but in reality, a few major companies own the majority of newspapers, TV, and radio stations. Although Herman and Chomsky’s analysis focuses solely on the US market, they assume that these points apply to all developed democracies.
Filter 2: Die Einnahmequellen: Werbung macht Inhalt
In order to be successful in the long term as a medium, it is not enough to have wealthy owners. They also want to see profits. For example, newspapers no longer cover their costs through sales alone, but mainly make their profits from advertisements. However, advertising revenues have been declining in this country.
Television stations primarily rely on TV commercials for their revenue. Therefore, they are dependent on advertising income and other companies in order to operate profitably. As a result, the companies that advertise have a significant influence on the selection and diversity of media content. This dependence also leads to a strong tendency for the media to publish content that is suitable for advertising from the outset.
Banalisierung der Inhalte
Formats are created primarily for advertisers and only secondarily for the recipients of the respective media. This leads, among other things, to a trivialization of the content. Companies avoid using disturbing or controversial content as a platform for their products, as it could affect the buying mood. As a result, lighter program content is produced, as it is cheaper to produce and, above all, generates more advertising revenue.
Self-censorship: The scissors in the mind.
Eine weitere Folge ist die Zensur der Medien aus Eigeninitiative. Um Werbekunden nicht zu verärgern, wird bewusst auf Inhalte verzichtet, die ihnen schaden könnten. Wenn beispielsweise ein großer Sponsor ein Fast-Food Unternehmen ist, wird ein Medium eher zurückhaltend sein, einen Bericht über zunehmende Fettleibigkeit bei Kindern zu veröffentlichen. Diese Beeinflussung der redaktionellen Linie erfolgt oft ohne direkte Einmischung der Werbetreibenden und geschieht automatisch durch vorauseilenden Gehorsam. Dieser Mechanismus wird auch als „Selbstzensur“ bezeichnet.
Filter 3: Quellen: Wer produziert die Nachrichten?
Media primarily need one thing for their work: information. The increasing cost pressure in the industry leads to a reduction in editorial staff, resulting in a decrease in the proportion of self-researched news. Today, the main suppliers of information are PR and news agencies.
Wir erleben eine Professionalisierung der Pressearbeit von Unternehmen und politischen Gruppen, wobei auch hier gilt: Je finanzstärker diese sind, desto erfolgreicher können sie PR-Arbeit leisten.
Win-Win-Situation „Copy & Paste“
Journalists often simply take over reports they receive from press conferences or press releases, thereby transforming PR reports into seemingly journalistic facts. For PR workers, this is the ideal scenario because the sender can present their arguments to the audience without any contradiction. In turn, the media saves itself from conducting research and truly processing the topic.
Example: „According to a study by British journalist Nick Davies, only 12 percent of articles in British quality media are based on actual investigative reporting by editors. 41 percent included PR material, and 13 percent differed only slightly from PR texts. The decline of newspapers and profit-driven logic have also worsened working conditions in newsrooms: journalists now have two-thirds less time than in the 1980s. While the number of editors has slightly decreased, the amount of content they have to produce has tripled. Additionally, there are now more people being paid to influence public opinion in favor of companies and politicians than there are journalists.“
„I cannot reword“
Die zweite wesentliche Nachrichten-Quelle sind wenige große Nachrichtenagenturen. Ein guter Teil aller Zeitungs-Nachrichten besteht lediglich aus mehr oder weniger gekürzten Agentur-Meldungen. Die Leser werden das oft gar nicht bemerken.
Unter anderem sind die Agenturen bei ihrer Arbeit sehr auf die Kooperationsbereitschaft von Regierungen und Konzernen angewiesen. Zudem sortieren sie Meldungen aus, die sie als wenig relevant oder nicht medientauglich erachten. Insgesamt schaffen es also vielfach Nachrichten nur in die Öffentlichkeit, wenn Institutionen ein Interesse daran haben und wenn sie den medialen Verwertbarkeitskriterien entsprechen.
Filter 4: «Flak« als Bestrafung für Abweichung: Öffentliche Kritik oder Geldentzug
Berichte oder Sendeformate, die den politisch und wirtschaftlich Mächtigen unangenehm sind, werden systematisch mit negativen Reaktionen beantwortet. Das können von PR-Agenturen gesteuerte negative Leserbriefe, Anrufe oder Forenkommentare sein, aber auch persönliche Drohungen, Beschwerden oder Werbekunden, die mit dem Stopp von Inseraten drohen.
Herman und Chomsky benutzen hier den Begriff «Flak« (nach der deutschen Abkürzung für Flugabwehrkanone). Auch kann man diese Praktik „Störfeuer“ nennen. «Flak« ist also ein Mittel zur Disziplinierung der Medien.
Filter 5: «Antikommunismus« als nationale Religion und als Kontrollmechanismus
Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman developed their propaganda model in the context of a bipolar world during the Cold War. Therefore, they initially referred to the following filter as anti-communism, but later Herman updated the term to anti-ideology or neoliberalism. Later on, the suggestion of a war on terror was made. These are strong ideologies that allow for dividing the world into good and evil.
Essentially, this is about establishing boundaries for acceptable opinions. Can a specific religion or religion in general be rejected? How many economic journalists criticized Germany’s fetishistic austerity policy during the Greek crisis? Are rising stock prices and profits compared to related societal developments and social indicators in the business sections of newspapers?
All das interagiert miteinander und verstärkt sich so
Once all the filters have been passed, a purified remainder should remain that is „worth printing“.
The power of the elite over the media and the marginalization of representatives with different opinions result in this way. Journalists working in the media, who often do their work with complete integrity and good intentions, may convince themselves that the news is „objective“ as they select and interpret it based on purely professional standards. This is likely because within the boundaries imposed by filters, they do indeed often achieve objectivity. However, these limitations are so powerful and well-integrated into the system that alternative criteria for selecting news are often not even imaginable.
Hochinteressante und spannende Kapitel seien genannt und besonders empfohlen für eine jüngere Leserschaft, die diese Zeit und die damit verbundenen Nachrichten nicht selbst erlebt haben.
(3) Legitimierende und bedeutungslose Wahlen in der Dritten Welt: El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua (S.274)
(4) Das Komplott des KGB und Bulgariens zur Ermordung des Papstes: Marktwirtschaftliche Desinformation als «Nachrichten« (S.362)
(5) Die Indochinakriege: Vietnam (S.405)
(6) Die Indochinakriege: Laos und Kambodscha (S.545)
Also, the US interference in the elections in El Salvador, the US interference in the elections in Guatemala, the US interference in the elections in Nicaragua, the alleged conspiracy of the KGB and Bulgaria to assassinate the Pope, the Vietnam War: Vietnam, Cambodia, and the rule of Pol Pot, Laos.
Wertvolle und wertlose Opfer
The readers should also engage deeply with Chapter (2) Valuable and Worthless Sacrifices (p.194).
It is infuriating to read about how victims are weighted differently in the media. The victims of „our“ wars are essentially treated as worthless and unimportant in Western media. This is beyond cynical, especially when considering the victims in Yemen who are suffering due to Saudi Arabia’s actions. On the other hand, the victims in our enemy states are treated as valuable and receive more prominent coverage.
At that time, there was extensive coverage for several days on the brutal murder of Priest Jerzy Aleksander Popiełuszko, who was killed during the 1984 martial law imposed in the People’s Republic of Poland by individuals from the Polish State Security Service. This was prominently reported in the New York Times and other leading media outlets in the USA. Much more attention was given to this incident than to the numerous religious victims, including Archbishop Romero of San Salvador.
Über die Folterung, Ermordung von Linken, Gewerkschaftern und Nonnen unter Diktaturen in Mittel- und Südamerika in den 1980er Jahren, die unter dem Einfluss der USA stehend – bis hin zur direkten Unterstützung der Terror ausübenden Diktaturen durch Washington – dagegen wurde, vornehm ausgedrückt, nur zurückhaltend berichtet. 200 000 Opfer sind damals zu beklagen gewesen. In den Indochinakriegen der USA waren es dann schon Millionen von Menschen, die deren Kriegen zum Opfer fielen. Im Buch wird darüber ein statistischer Nachweis geführt – vor allem im Kapitel über Mittelamerika.
Zweierlei Maß halt und eine an den Interessen der USA ausgerichteten Medienberichterstattung.
„Ich kann den Text nicht umformulieren.“
„Ohne Knüppel, ohne Kontrolle durch Gewalt, muss man das Denken kontrollieren.
In more honest times, one would resort to what was called propaganda.
Das Buch ist nicht vergnügungssteuerpflichtig. Dennoch: absolute Leseempfehlung
Das Buch ist alles in allem eine gute und wichtige Analyse von Chomsky und Herman. Im Wesentlichen auf die USA bezogen. Aber sie ist auch für uns hier – obwohl wir einen viel größeren öffentlich-rechtlichen Mediensektor haben – hoch interessant und hat auch keineswegs an Aktualität verloren.
Chomsky later stated that there are indeed possibilities to achieve positive changes regarding the media and their reporting. Propaganda often fails to have an impact today. So, are there hopes? Is there actually a greater sensitivity in newsrooms today and do they consider representing different perspectives?
Persönlich betrachtet, bezweifle ich eher, wenn ich die heutige Medienrealität betrachte. Ist es nicht eher das Gegenteil?
In my opinion, journalism in the Federal Republic of Germany has reached a low point, with only a few exceptions. It no longer fulfills the essential role of being the Fourth Estate in a democracy (which, by the way, seems to be deteriorating).
Let’s just consider the actions of our mainstream media and public broadcasters since at least 2014. In the midst of the Ukraine war, we are witnessing a dreadful transformation towards an increasingly unbearable propaganda.
Das vorliegende Buch ist freilich nicht vergnügungsteuerpflichtig. Und mit über 700 Seiten nicht mal soeben weg gelesen. Trotzdem empfehle ich es unbedingt meinen Leserinnen und Lesern. Nicht zuletzt sollte es von angehenden oder bereits im Beruf stehenden Journalistinnen und Journalisten gelesen werden.
Natürlich sollte das Buch sorgfältig betrachtet und mit vollem Verständnis aufgenommen werden.
Although Chomsky and Herman wrote it with regard to the US context, we can easily apply their studies to our own situation, comprehend them, and draw our own conclusions.
Journalists and readers should ultimately have a strong interest in critical, quality journalism that is not subordinate to the interests of influential corporations and owners, and they should demand and promote it.
Klar: Gut gebrüllt Löwe, werden Sie ausrufen. Das Einfache, das schwer zu machen ist. Aber alles so laufen lassen wie momentan ist eben auch keine Lösung.
Der Autor:
Noam Chomsky, geboren 1928, ist Professor emeritus für Sprachwissenschaft und Philosophie am M.I.T. Er hat die moderne Linguistik revolutioniert und zahlreiche Bestseller verfasst. Chomsky ist einer der weltweit bekanntesten linken Intellektuellen und seit jeher ein prominenter Kritiker der amerikanischen Politik wie auch des globalen Kapitalismus.
Edward S. Herman, geboren 1925 war ein US-amerikanischer Ökonom und Medienanalyst, der zuletzt als Professor emeritus of Finance an der Wharton School der University of Pennsylvania beschäftigt war.
Aus dem Buch:
The mass media serves as a system for communicating messages and symbols to the population as a whole. Its purpose is to entertain, inform, and convey to individuals the values, opinions, and behaviors that integrate them into the institutional structures of society. In a world where wealth is concentrated among a few and significant conflicts of interest exist between classes, they can only fulfill this role through systematic propaganda.
Über das Buch
Erstmals auf Deutsch: Der Klassiker zur massenmedialen Meinungsmache
The media has the power to establish a societal consensus that aligns with the prevailing economic and political interests – and they use it. However, this influence is not exerted by secretive forces in the background, but rather through the economic conditions of the media landscape, which Chomsky and Herman analyze ruthlessly. With Manufacturing Consent, they present their globally renowned work on media criticism, which is considered a classic on the subject – and has not lost any relevance. The authors demonstrate how topics are selected and discussed in the media, revealing the double standards and biased perspectives that underlie the portrayals of the much-praised „free press“.
Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky, Uwe Krüger, Holger Pötzsch, Florian Zollmann
Die Konsensfabrik
Die politische Ökonomie der Massenmedien
704 Seiten
Klappenbroschur
Artikelnummer: 9783864893919
44,00 €
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