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Using the Herman & Chomsky «Propaganda Model» that was introduced in 1988, Goss offers a rigorous and accessible portrait of contemporary news media. Following a current survey of media ownership and news worker routines, in a series of case studies, he shows how recent news discourse has developed an Us/Them narrative. Cases include The New York Times' accounts of the Bush administration and United Nations in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and analysis of the 2011 riots in the United Kingdom in a comparison between two British broadsheets (The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph). Further case studies demonstrate important, if partial, new media discontinuities with respect to «old» news media. The book's international reach and sustained attention to new media indicate that it is not simply high-fidelity repetition of Herman & Chomsky, but re-engineers the model's architecture for the twenty-first century.
About the author
Brian Michael Goss (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana) is a professor in the communication faculty at Saint Louis University, Madrid, Spain. His principal research interests revolve around mass media in its many manifestations. Dr. Goss is the author of Global Auteurs: Politics in the Films of Almodóvar, von Trier, and Winterbottom (Peter Lang, 2009) and co-editor (with Christopher Chávez) of Identity: Beyond Tradition and McWorld Neo-Liberalism (2013).
Summary
Using the Herman & Chomsky "Propaganda Model" that was introduced in 1988, Goss offers a rigorous and accessible portrait of contemporary news media. Following a current survey of media ownership and news worker routines, in a series of case studies, he shows how recent news discourse has developed an Us/Them narrative.
Report
«This is a work of critical fealty. It updates, revises and extends Herman and Chomsky's famous Propaganda Model of the media in a consistently interesting and attractively written way.» (James Curran, Professor of Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London)
«This book offers a fresh assessment of the most influential critical tool in news media analysis in the world today. Anyone interested in how the news enables or disables democratic governance should read it. Brian Michael Goss writes with clarity and passion. His careful appraisals of scholarly work and nuanced readings of recent episodes affirm the vitality of an amended propaganda model in the face of glib dismissals and unrealistic expectations for digital media. The result is a major contribution to the political economy of news. It is a reboot in the ass for pollyannas everywhere.» (John Nerone, University of Illinois)
