Noam Chomsky - media manipulation strategies

Dear God, I'm shocked at how juvenile and simplistic this post is. Blaming the media for "imposing" things without even considering the probability that the things he finds objectionable are largely a result of the audience responding to that kind of content. Framing it all in conspiracy of the elites. He also doesn't mind preaching on what is "essential knowledge" that "the public" should be interested, but hey that's the norm with any politically opinionated person these days, and especially with academics. But this is just weak - I've read a few things from him before, he didn't seem to know much about the subject and it was mostly demagogy. It does beg the question - why is he held in such high regard by some people ?

I do believe there are conspiracies out there to influence media. Many corporations and organisations try. There are even <i>professions</i> that exist in order to try.<p>For instance, in my native Sweden, it isn't so hard. Keep a large enough ad budget and media criticism will be trivial. Then, integrate a bit with the political parties.<p>But this is for quite specific areas (in Sweden, e.g. food shop chains and home/road building, etc) in a small country with a tradition of consensus solutions.<p>I have a hard time believing this is easy in a thirty times larger society (USA) than Sweden for larger questions, like political solutions. I don't doubt it is tried, but have a hard time seeing how it could work.<p>So are there any non-activist sources on this subject? With lots of examples?<p>I'm a bit allergic to Chomsky. Whenever someone tells me Chomsky is the second coming of Jesus, I ask for sources. And come away unimpressed, with questions like:<p>"Chomsky argued in your own reference that he criticises Israel a thousand times more than e.g. the horrors of Sudan (which is probably a thousand times worse, compared to a <i>Palestinian</i> description of Israel) -- because he can influence Israel more. But that is bullshit! If Chomsky -- the leading academic critic of USA/Israel -- wrote an article/book and said that '<i>Sudan's president makes Hitler/Stalin look good</i>' it will have a very, very heavy impact."<p>I never get a good answer to those questions.<p>Edit: Quotation. Also, I have to go sleep in a short time, so I won't be able to answer any comments. If you want e.g. discussions about my Swedish examples, check 12+ hours after I wrote this.