Abstract:
This thesis argues that the motivations underpinning the mainstream news
media have fundamentally changed in the 21 sl century. As such, the news is no
longer best understood as a tool for propaganda or agenda setting; instead it
seems that the news is only motivated by the flow of global network capitalism.
The author contrasts the work of Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman with
that of Gilles Deleuze. Chomsky and Herman's 'Propaganda Model' has been
influential within the fields of media studies and popular culture. The
'propaganda model' states that the concentration of ownership of the media has
allowed the media elite to exert a disproportionate amount of influence over the
mass media. Deleuze, on the other hand, regards the mass media as being yet
another cog within the global capitalist mechanism, and is therefore separate
from ideology or propaganda. The author proposes that 'propaganda' is no
longer a sufficient word to describe the function of the news as terms like
'propaganda' imply some form of national sovereignty or governmental influence.
To highlight how the news has 'changed from an instrument of propaganda
to an instrument of accumulation, the author compares and contrasts the·
coverage of the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal with that of the Haditha Civilian
Massacre. Although similar in nature, the author proposes that the Abu Ghraib
Prison Scandal received a disproportionate amount of coverage within the
mainstream press because of its exciting and sensational nature.
