I just finished watching Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. I saw the film back in 1992 when it was released, and was quite impressed.

The film holds up quite well. I would love to see an update done that accounts for 1)the increasing concentration of major media power as well as the blatant propaganda of Fox News (as opposed the more subtle propaganda of the other major TV networks), 2)the growth of conservative talk radio, and 3)the growth of the internet — is it a democratizing force or simply a source of intellectual clutter? Or somewhere in between.

It is very cool to see this film so many years later, and see the stacks and stacks of papers in Chomsky’s office, the small alternative press operations in the film, etc.

Note: I downloaded this film from iTunes. I understand it is available for free on Google video. iTunes has the release date as 2002, which is incorrect. It was released in 1992 — thus the lack of any mention of the internet.

Another note: I have to admit that I have not read the book. The book deals with the subject of the media only, while the film also does some biographical stuff about Chomsky. Understandable, since one would want a new audience to at least have some idea who the man is.