Sample Solution

The recent news story that I have chosen to analyze using Chomsky and Herman’s Propaganda Model is the coverage of the ongoing protests in Belarus against their authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko. The Propaganda Model, as outlined by these two authors, consists of five aspects: Ownership and control; Size, Concentration and profit orientation; Advertising as a primary income source; Sourcing Mass Media News; Flak and the insulation of sources (Fisher & Castiglia-Staubli, 2018).

When looking at this particular news story it is clear that all five aspects come into play when considering its framing. Firstly there is ownership and control which refers to “the concentration of media outlets in the hands of ever fewer owners who are intent on projecting their own political views” (Fisher & Castiglia-Staubli ,2018). In this case most mainstream outlets have focused on portraying Lukashenko as an oppressive figure while also highlighting his power over citizens through restrictive laws or police brutality (Kestenbaum & Belkin 2020). This is further bolstered by size, concentration and profit orientation as large organizations such as CNN tend to exhibit similar bias due to having corporate interests at heart rather than genuine concern for human rights or democracy( Fisher &Castiglia-Staubli ,2018 ). Their advertising revenues naturally rely upon continuing positive relationships with sponsors so pushing certain narratives can be beneficial from a financial standpoint .

Sourcing mass media news then ties into already established ideas about what people should think regarding particular matters instead relying too heavily on independent journalists or those from outside Western nations. As with many contentious topics there has been some attempt to use flak strategies such as criticizing protesters for damaging public property which serves distract attention away from actual issues at hand(Kestenbaum &Belkin 2020 ) Finally, given extreme sanctions placed upon any dissenters within Belarus speaking out against policies put forward by Lukashenko suggest insulation between him his supporters preventing any meaningful dialogue occurring between both sides .To conclude then, while attempting examine events within former Soviet Republics one can clearly identify elements prominent throughout propaganda model helping shape opinions form outsiders regarding internal affairs.