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The Propaganda Model (PM), developed by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky and published in Manufacturing Consent in 1988, sought to explain the behaviour of the mass media in the United States. Analysing the function, operation and effects of the media are essential to any understanding of contemporary societies and the article begins by sketching out the contours of the liberalpluralist vs. critical-Marxist debate about the role of the media. The article then presents an overview of the PM, locates it within the field of media and communication studies, considers its reception, discusses a number of complementary methodological and theoretical approaches, and argues that the PM, more than 20 years after its formulation, continues to provide an invaluable tool for understanding the media within contemporary capitalist societies. IntroductionThe Propaganda Model (PM), which sought to explain the behaviour of the mass media in the United States, was developed by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, published in 1988. Firmly rooted in the critical-Marxist, more specifically the political economy, tradition of media and communication studies, the PM, or more specifically its reception within the field, is somewhat of a paradox. In terms of its application, mainly by those working within the aforementioned tradition, the PM is one of the most tested models within the social sciences. However, it has received very little attention within mainstream media and communication studies, sociology or the wider social sciences. This article introduces the liberal-pluralist vs. critical-Marxist debate about the role of the media in contemporary societies, presents an overview of the PM, locates it within the field of media and communication studies, and discusses its reception, discusses a number of complementary methodological and theoretical approaches and argues that the PM, more than 20 years after its formulation, continues to provide an invaluable tool for understanding the media within contemporary capitalist societies. Understanding society, politics and the mediaIf the job of sociologists is to understand and explain the development, stratification and functioning of societies, then attention must be paid to how members of those societies communicate. More specifically, given the long-standing hierarchical nature of societies, there is a need to analyse what, how and why the elites in societies communicate with the masses and what this means for the structures of power. In simplistic terms, there are two diametrically opposed perspectives on how power is distributed within contemporary, capitalist, liberal-democratic societies and what the role of the media, as an

This article provides an overview of the Propaganda Model and rehearses central theoretical considerations concerning the model's overall understanding of media behaviour. The article then advances a contemporary state-of-the-art discourse on the methodological techniques that may be utilized in applying the model, highlights potentially complementary approaches to the critical study of mass media behaviour and explores criticisms of the model.The 'Propaganda Model' (PM) of media operations advanced by Herman and Chomsky (1988) is analytically and conceptually concerned to engage with the question of how ideological and communicative power connect with economic, political and social power, and to explore the consequent effects upon media output. This article overviews the PM and highlights central arguments associated with the PM regarding overall patterns of media behaviour. The article then considers ways in which the PM may be applied, exploring the methodological techniques that may be utilized in applying the model. The article also highlights potentially complementary approaches to the critical study of mass media behaviour and explores criticisms of the model. The Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model -An OverviewThe PM's five filter elements draw attention to the main structural constraints that impact overall patterns of media performance. Herman and Chomsky correctly observe that most mainstream media are themselves typically large corporations, 'controlled by very wealthy people or by managers who are subject to sharp constraints by owners and other market-profit-oriented forces ' (Herman and Chomsky, 1988, 14). Their model suggests that ownership, size and profit ______________________________ Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture