Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media

Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media (1993) is a documentary film by two Canadian independent filmmakers, Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick, arguing that the United States media is best understood as propaganda produced to protect the economic interests of the shareholders and owners of the companies producing the media. The film includes a brief biography of Noam Chomsky and is much less detailed than Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman's book Manufacturing Consent -- The Political Economy of the Mass Media; interestingly enough, the film itself fits one definition of propaganda, as it has an overt political agenda; it was created expressly to convince viewers of an ideological point of view, and makes no attempt to avoid bias. However, it was made by independent filmmakers who are not connected to any particular commercial market agenda, who are not part of any official or unofficial organization that is attempting to use the media for any particular political or economic ends.

It is the most successful documentary in Canadian history, playing theatrically in 200 cities around the world; winning 22 awards; appearing in more than 50 international film festivals; and being broadcast in 30 markets. It has been translated into a dozen languages.

See also: propaganda film