September 21, 2007

Noam Chomsky on the Media

After reading Stephen Brookefield's Critical Learning Theoryfor class I decided to look up some videos (Part I and Part II) of Noam Chomsky and his thoughts on the media. He seemed to be in support of alternative forms of press and explained that technology and the cheaper printing options of today have made it easier for these kinds of publications to exist rather than forty years ago. Chomsky who wrote a book on the idea of Manufacturing Consent spoke of the censorship even he, as a media critic, has received in the American media. One of the most deliberate examples he cites happened with the National Public Radio. Being a American University student I found this very interesting, particularly considering the liberal reputation of the station. I personally, am skeptical of the "liberal" media, anyway. I just thought these videos would be of interest to others, in the class as well. Also if anyone is interested, another less dense criticism of the media by Chomsky is Media Control:The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda. It's only about one-hundred pages, and its pretty quick read.

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