On 28 September 15:37:18, Bill Bartlett wrote:
> Ed Burns wrote:
>
> >I was watching the 1993 movie, "Manufacturing Consent" and in it,
> >Chomsky states that he believes the media in other countries is more
> >free than in this country (I'm paraphrasing here).  I think he means
> >that in other countries, the media is not so much a tool of control and
> >platitude repition as it is in the U.S.  My question to you, the CHOMSKY
> >list readers is: is this true in 1999?
>
> I suppose one test of that would be whether Manufacturing Consent has
> actually been broadcast by the TV networks. I know it was shown here in
[...]

>
> How about in other places?

I never saw it on the air.  It's hard to find to even rent in the San
Francisco Bay area.  I'd love to hear from other parts of the world,
though.

[...]

> the analysis seems to lack solid substantiation. As I recall, Chomsky's
> argument was that the US being the home territory of capitalism, it was
> much more important to maintain "consent" in the US, whereas it didn't
> matter much what people in Canada thought - they didn't have any say in US
> foreign policy anyhow.
>
> Ther'd be an element of truth in that, but I'm not sure it's safe to assume
> that the US's dominant place in world capitalism rests *entirely* on
> physical force, that "consent" is only required by US voters and that

Well, not just military power, but the economic power of corporations
based in the US, which is what Bartlett mentions below.  I think consent
is more important when it comes to letting corporations get away with
their operations.

> I can't help wondering whether it is not that economic stick which is the
> more powerful force.

> All these factors have an influence on policy to varying degrees. I am
> curious as to how much the alleged distinctions between the media in the
> US, and the media in other western countries, might be shaped by
> differences in the mood of the US people, rather than vice-versa?

Let me try to understand you.  You want to know how the distinctions
[between U.S and other western media] are shaped by differences in the
mood of U.S. people?  Differences between what?  Do you mean that
U.S. people have different moods than other western people and this
influences their views of their media?

In that case, I think most U.S. people are too busy running to stand
still in our current economy to pay attention to what the media has
actually become.  Or, if they do have the time, or desire to pay
attention to what the media has become, the situation seems so hopeless
and there is such a lack of community, that they feel nothing can be
done.  That's my problem.  I know I'm being fed lies all around, but I
don't know what to do about it.  Join the CHOMSKY list for starters.

Bill?

Ed