Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media

• Mark Achbar: self, interviewer
• Noam Chomsky: Self
• Edward S. Herman: Self
• William F. Buckley: Self
• Peter Jennings: Self
• Bill Moyers: Self

The consensus factory. Noam Chomsky and the Media ( Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media ) is a documentary from 1992, which deals with the life and work of American intellectual Noam Chomsky. The original English title Manufacturing Consent is identical with the title of the most famous books of Chomsky in which he examined the manipulation of the U.S. media by various political and economic interest groups and occupied.

Action

The film documents the life, work and the views of the U.S. intellectual Noam Chomsky over a period of twenty-five years of time. He criticizes especially the hegemony of the United States, the control of the mass media by large corporations, as well as other forms of media censorship. A special role in Chomsky's criticism of the media plays the reporting of the New York Times about the illegal occupation of East Timor by Indonesia. The Indonesian crimes had been his view, downplayed or ignored, because Indonesia is close ally of the United States. In this context, the so-called Chomsky propaganda model is treated, with which he tries to explain in democracies the influence of interest groups on reporting in the mass media.

Background

An eponymous book, co-authored by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, examines the political economy of the mass media (English Political Economy of the Mass Media ). It contains many backgrounds that lack the documentary, about the derivation of the above propaganda model.

Reviews

• Cinema wrote that it was a " compelling, challenging and informative portrait of the scientist ."
• Hal Hinson called the film on 5 May 1993 in the Washington Post glorious, stimulating to thought, with wit and verve ( "superb, thought-provoking [ ... ] wit and panache ").
• Joe Brown praised in the Washington Post that Chomsky and his opponents a chance to speak and judge the film as " intellectually strong," " regardless of whether one agrees with Chomsky or not."

Awards

Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick won four major awards for this movie:

Overall, the film received over 22 awards and accolades around the world.