Interview: Noam Chomsky on Mainstream Media

Noam Chomsky on Corporate Media and Activism

Noam Chomsky Interviewed by Zain Raza

Truthout, February 19, 2016

In this interview, which was recorded in an event hosted by acTVism Munich called “Germany’s role in the European Union and International Affairs: Post War History, Present and Possible futures,” Prof. Noam Chomsky talks about the corporate media, their institutional role and which interests they serve in society. Prof. Chomsky also touches on how activists should react when they face harsh condemnation from the establishment media.

Noam Chomsky: “The Mainstream Media are an ideological instrument. They have owners. They have commitments. They have advertising support and so on. They are very valuable. I mean I read them all the time – I am glad they are there. But we shouldn’t have any illusions, they are not coming from Mars. They are based on existing institutions of power and domination within our society and that affects the way what they chose to discuss at all, some things they don’t discuss and the ways in which they do it. It would be almost a miracle if that weren’t true.”

Due to limited financial resources, personnel and technical capacities, we plan to release the entire interview in a “mini-video” format. As a non-profit and volunteer based organization, this format provides us with sufficient time to coordinate our schedules outside of our occupational commitments and translate the content into multiple languages, subtitle and voice-synchronize it for people with hearing and visual impairment.

Zain Raza: There is some resistance to US military presence here such as peaceful demonstrations that take place on Monday in Munich, every Monday, and yearly demonstrations against the front of the Drone base – however these grassroots actions are immediately associated to the nationalism of the 30’s that we are “uniting as a nation and standing up” but the Mainstream-press immediately.

So you’ve described this sort of action by the Mainstream Media as the fifth filter, could you briefly touch upon that again and why the Mainstream Media uses this sort of action to quell grassroots movements?

Noam Chomsky: The Mainstream Media are an ideological instrument. They have owners. They have commitments. They have advertising support and so on. They are very valuable. I mean I read them all the time – I am glad they are there. But we shouldn’t have any illusions, they are not coming from Mars. They are based on existing institutions of power and domination within our society and that affects the way what they chose to discuss at all, some things they don’t discuss and the ways in which they do it. It would be almost a miracle if that weren’t true. And when they condemn actions like these that should be taken as praise. Say, we are doing the right thing. If these institutions condemn us that’s pretty good reason to think we’re doing the right. It happens to counter to their particular interests but they don’t represent the public interest. They represent certain special interests of power and domination and privilege. So if they don’t like what we are doing, fine, let’s continue, and it is the right thing to do, at least if you care about the survival of the species – and that’s what is at stake. We should recognize that in the case of nuclear weapons, as well as environmental catastrophe, we are really talking about survival of the species. In case of nuclear weapons, literal survival. And again I repeat – it’s come very close in the past and there is no reason to think that’s not going to repeat.

CHOMSKY.INFO