American Television: Manufacturing Consumerism

This chapter introduces a propaganda model for American television and its content. Its chief aims are to contribute to theorizing about American television and providing an introductory framework for reflecting on its societal function. After discussing the continuing importance of television as a medium and the existing literature on American television, which tends to downplay or ignore encompassing political-economic perspectives, the chapter presents a propaganda model for American television (PMTV) by adapting the original model’s five filters and showing that American television programming reflects the political economy of the television industry. Finally the chapter discusses limitations of a PMTV, including methodological ones, the value of a PMTV in the digital age, and anticipated objections to a PMTV.