Media Control is an invaluable primer on the secret workings of disinformation in democratic societies. Chomsky further touches on how the modern public relations industry has been influenced by Walter Lippmann’s theory of 'spectator democracy,' in which the public is seen as a 'bewildered herd' that needs to be directed, not empowered and how the public relations industry in the United States focuses on 'controlling the public mind,' and not on informing it.

From an examination of how Woodrow Wilson’s Creel Commission 'succeeded, within six months, in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population,' to Bush Sr.'s war on Iraq, Chomsky examines how the mass media and public relations industries have been used as propaganda to generate public support for going to war. According to Chomsky, 'propaganda is to democracy as the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state,' and the mass media is the primary vehicle for delivering propaganda in the United States. Media Control is an invaluable primer on the secret workings of disinformation in democratic societies.Noam Chomsky’s backpocket classic on wartime propaganda and opinion control begins by asserting two models of democracy-one in which the public actively participates, and one in which the public is manipulated and controlled. Chomsky further touches on how the modern public relations industry has been influenced by Walter Lippmann’s theory of 'spectator democracy,' in which the public is seen as a 'bewildered herd' that needs to be directed, not empowered and how the public relations industry in the United States focuses on 'controlling the public mind,' and not on informing it. For a much more concise and readable introduction to Chomskys research into the nature of corporate mass media this book provides an excellent overview of the development of those distorted and unethical mechanisms of social control that constitute mainstream media. From an examination of how Woodrow Wilson’s Creel Commission 'succeeded, within six months, in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population,' to Bush Sr.'s war on Iraq, Chomsky examines how the mass media and public relations industries have been used as propaganda to generate public support for going to war.

According to Chomsky, 'propaganda is to democracy as the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state,' and the mass media is the primary vehicle for delivering propaganda in the United States. Noam Chomsky’s backpocket classic on wartime propaganda and opinion control begins by asserting two models of democracy-one in which the public actively participates, and one in which the public is manipulated and controlled. 1 day ago &0183 &32 Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor (retired) at MIT.

Media Control by Noam Chomsky