If you are new to Chomsky and have a short journey then you may find this "pamphlet" enlightening. However if you are looking for a "good read" look at "Understanding Power", "Pirates & Emperors..." or "Hegemony or Survival".


Chomsky at his most accessible   May 7, 2004
 19 out of 20 found this review helpful

Chomsky comes up with another classic this one probably his very best, accessible open and less of the references than he normally provides.
The basic premise is that the media creates the agenda, drives it along creating moral panics causing crisis which governments react to so fueling the media to create more moral panics. Anyone familar with Stanley Cohen's seminal work on Moral Panics will know what Chomsky's writing on American media and White House reaction about will come as no surprise.
To others Chomsky says that the media creates panics and crisis to fulfil its own agenda and its own politcal masters to panic the general public into pressing its Governments to fight the enemy or create an enemy. Has anyone forgotten the media fuelled Paedophilla panic back in 2000 ?
So Mr Chomsky's onto something isn't he then?


Red Scare!   March 8, 2004
 6 out of 96 found this review helpful

‘An anarchist’s guide to the evils of democracy’ is an alternative title that could give more insight into what Noam Chomsky is trying to achieve through his book ‘Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda.’
Whilst reading this book, one becomes amazed at the scepticism and cynicism with which Chomsky views everything in the democratic world, and as such he provides us with an invaluable resource on the anti establishment view of media and propaganda issues. From the outset one immediately realises this book is not going to be an exercise in better understanding the benefits and freedoms enjoyed by people living in democratic societies today. This torrent of criticism for democracy begins in earnest with Chomsky’s “alternative conception of democracy” which is stated thusly:

The public must be barred from managing their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled.

The natural conclusion is that Chomsky holds the belief we are being manipulated and indoctrinated into believing what we are told is righteous and good by those who rule us. This critique of modern society is very much in keeping with Marxist ideas of the ruling elite ‘generating’ or ‘manufacturing’ consent by means of creating a common ideology and as such makes for a very interesting study of social interaction between the people and the state in a democracy. One might go on..........