Do you find it ironic that one of the major w orks on U S propaganda
is w ritten by an Australian?
Not at all. Alex Carey w as an old friend; in fact, w e dedicated
Manufacturing Consent to him. He really pioneered the study of
corporate propaganda, of w hich the media is just one aspect. He w as
w orking on a big book on the subject, but he died before it w as
completed.
Although corporate propaganda is a major force in contemporary
history, it’s very little studied, because people aren’t supposed to
know that major corporations are deeply dedicated to controlling the
public mind, and have been for a long time. Carey quotes the
business press as saying that the public mind is the greatest “hazard
facing industrialists.”
We’re supposed to believe that the press is liberal, dangerous,
adversarial, out-of-control. T hat itself is an extremely good example
of corporate propaganda.
More than 700 people died in a Chicago heat w ave in the summer of
- T hey w ere mostly old people living in poor neighborhoods
w ho couldn’t afford air conditioning. I think the headlines should
have read, Market Kills 700.
You’re absolutely right—honest media w ould have reported how
the w orkings of the market system added more deaths to the toll.
Every story in the paper could be recast w ith a more honest and
humane point of view, one not reflecting the interests of the
pow erful. But expecting them to do that on their ow n initiative is
like expecting General Motors to give aw ay its profits to poor
people in the slums.
Anthony Lew is, someone you often identified as the outer liberal
fringe allow ed in the Times, celebrated the Pentagon Papers on
their 25th anniversary as a great example of media heroism and
courage. He w rote that “w e w ere a much tamer press before
1971.”