Abstract
Mass media has undoubtedly become the primary medium used to distribute information. The functioning of the mass media is complex and the influence it bares on shaping the audience's opinions and attitudes is colossal. This characteristic makes it a great source of power too. This ensemble of institutions and methods is interrelated with political, economical and social institutions and has therefore been studied in great depth. The aspect that will be examined in this presentation is the functioning of the mass media as large, profit-oriented corporations. To understand media functioning, it is necessary to have knowledge of who owns those organizations, the pressures and influences they are subjected to, and what effects those elements bear on media content. One of the main sources we used is the book "Manufacturing consent, the political economy of the mass media" by Edward S. Herman & Noam Chomsky that proposes a "propaganda model" to explain how media ownership is at the root of what information and messages the audience has access to. The definition of propaganda focuses on the unrestrained process and most specifically on the purpose of the process: propaganda is the intentional and organized attempt to shape perceptions, control and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.
