Myth of the Liberal Media

Edward S. Herman is Professor Emeritus of Finance, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Among his books are Corporate Control, Corporate Power; The Real Terror Network; Beyond Hypocrisy: Decoding the News in an Age of Propaganda; and Manufacturing Consent (with Noam Chomsky).

• Noam Chomsky: Preface – Introduction: The Illiberal Media – Part 1 The Market System Versus Freedom of Expression – Chapter 1 Market System Constraints on Freedom of Expression – Chapter 2 The Propaganda Model – Chapter 3 The Deepening Market in the West: Commercial Broadcasting on the March – Chapter 4 The Media Megamergers – Part 2 News Values, News Papers, News Shapers – Chapter 5 The Politics of Newsworthiness – Chapter 6 All the News Fit to Print (Part 1): Structure and Background of the New York Times – Chapter 7 All the News Fit to Print (Part 2): Biases and Propaganda Service in Covering Foreign Affairs – Chapter 8 All the News Fit to Print (Part 3): The Vietnam War – Chapter 9 The Wall Street Journal as Propaganda Agency – Chapter 10 The Inky and Me: A Study in Market Driven Journalism – Chapter 11 David Broder and the Limits of Mainstream Liberalism – Part 3 Media Coverage of Foreign and Domestic Policy – Chapter 12 The Media’s Role in U.S. Foreign Policy: The Persian Gulf War – Chapter 13 Legitimization by Fraudulent Elections – Chapter 14 NAFTA, Mexican Meltdown, and the Propaganda System – Chapter 15 Carlos and Posada: Their Terrorists and Ours – Chapter 16 Suharto: The Fall of a Good Genocidist – Chapter 17 Corporate Junk Science in the Media – Part 4 Propaganda and Democracy – Chapter 18 The Propaganda Model Revisited – Chapter 19 Postmodernism and the Active Audience – Chapter 20 Word Tricks and Propaganda –Chapter 21 Toward a Democratic Media – Name Index – Subject Index.

«Edward Herman's invaluable studies of the media in market-oriented democracies find their natural place in the broader sweep of contemporary history.Herman quotes James Madison's observation in later life that 'a popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or tragedy, or perhaps both'. The observation is apt; formal guarantees of personal freedom do not suffice to prevent the farce or the tragedy, even if the guarantees are observed. These issues, explored and illuminated in (these) essays..., should be at the center of the concerns of those who seek to create a society that is more free and more just.» (From the Preface by Noam Chomsky)