Chomsky's Propaganda Model and War Made Easy

The first filter in Chomsky’s Propaganda Model is that of the size, ownership, and profit of the mass media. This filter explains how the media is owned by the wealthy because money is what determines which news stations have the most influence on public opinion. Additionally, as soon as a news caster says anything that goes against America or what should be the dominating opinion, investors will stop providing money for that media company. In War Made Easy, the example of the first filter was that of Phil Donahue who had the highest ratings on MSNBC. After making some anti-war comments on television, MSNBC dropped him from their news program because they did not want to lose their investors. This shows that the primary concern with mass media is for the company’s reputation and how they portray their interests rather than what the public is concerned about.

The second filter in Chomsky’s Propaganda model is that advertising is important for sponsorship of the media. Advertising is a way for newspapers to obtain money. This way, they can sell their papers for a lower, more competitive price, which will result in said paper being more popular with the public. This is also true of news programs. While they do not have to worry about selling a physical product to the public, news programs still benefit from advertisements. Without advertisements and sponsorships, news programs cannot hope to remain on the air. While there is no explicit example of this filter in War Made Easy, the news programs shown in the film were surely careful of what was said on the air as they did not want to lose investments.

The third filter of Chomsky’s Propaganda Model is money and authority have control over what is emphasized as far as current events in the news. The government is seen as being of the highest authority. Therefore, any information the government gives is considered truth in the public’s eyes. High authority figures such as the government have the most control as to what news programs show the public regarding events such as the Iraq war. An example of this filter in War Made Easy was when the Pentagon approved of the generals that could be represented on the news. This shows that the news is usually biased towards whatever the government wants us to know about a situation.

The fourth filter of Chomsky’s Propaganda Model is known as “Flak.” "Flak" is any negative responses that could be made regarding any information presented by the mass media. This can include organized petitions on a local level or lawsuits and letters on an individual level. Advertisers try to avoid “flak” as much as possible because they are concerned with maintaining their image. In War Made Easy, an example of this filter in the film was that if you did not side with the troops, you did not support the war. This train of thought was considered to be un-American. The Media could not portray this opinion because that would generate a lot of negative response from the public.

The fifth and final filer of Chomsky’s Propaganda Model is that of using anti-communism as a control mechanism. This filter refers to the media appealing to people’s emotions in order to influence their opinions. This is best seen in War Made Easy when all the different speeches made by different Presidents are shown. In each speech, the enemy is regarded as being “evil.” Making this distinction between good and evil plays on what people fear, and influences opinion by playing on people’s emotions rather than stating cold, hard facts.