The Park51 project

Abstract

This study tests Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model by examining newspaper and television coverage of the Park51 controversy through textual and content analyses. Although this case study did not produce sufficient evidence that sourcing and anti-otherness were used consistently as propagandizing tools, the sheer amount of coverage is propagandistic in itself. The government has a vested interest in maintaining an invisible enemy. Park51, a seemingly innocuous community center, transformed into “the ground zero mosque” in a media firestorm that questioned the motives of the imam, invoked the victims of September 11 and created a clear dichotomy of us versus them by insinuating a false equivalence of terrorist with Muslim. Even those outlets that emphasized support for Park51 perpetuated the story, the crux of which is dichotomy, imbedding it in the public consciousness. Using this propagandistic message, hegemony is maintained by the manufacture of consent.