Abstract: The research explores to what extent does the media affect the portrayal of terrorism by “Manufacturing Consent” through the use of language. This idea was brought to life by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky in their book Manufacturing Consent. It focuses on “manufacturing consent” in the portrayal of terrorism and terrorists in mass media. Due to the nature of terrorism being reported usually by news media the essay focuses on the way news media presents terrorism. There are many elements to the presentation by news media, but this essay focuses on the use of language. The question is focused on the language part of the news presentation; it doesn’t include visual presentation, which is one of the strongest manipulators of audience. The research suggests that mass media uses language very efficiently for portrayal of stories. In the case of terrorism, the term “framing” is used to describe how news media takes stories and filters them to manufacture agreement within society and audience. Language is used with the help of semiotics to engrave the audience’s mind. It is effective as the media provides just one perspective of the issue; since the majority audience does not experience terrorism first hand, it is easy for the news media to show a perspective to the audience that they want the people to see and believe.
Keywords: Manufacturing Consent, terrorism, portrayal, media affect, presentation.
Title: To what extent does the media affect the portrayal of terrorism by ‘Manufacturing Consent’
Author: Chirag Baadkar
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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