Contrary to the usual image of the press as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in its search for truth, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky depict how an underlying elite consensus largely structures all facets of the news. They skilfully dissect the way in which the marketplace and the economics of publishing significantly shape the news. They reveal how issues are framed and topics chosen, and contrast the double standards underlying accounts of free elections, a free press, and governmental repression between Nicaragua and El Salvador; between the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the American invasion of Vietnam; between the genocide in Cambodia under a pro-American government and genocide under Pol Pot. What emerges from this groundbreaking work is an account of just how propagandistic our mass media are, and how we can learn to read them and see their function in a radically new way.

爱德华·S．赫尔曼(Edward S．Herman)，美国宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿学院金融学荣誉教授。著有《企业控制》(Corporate Control)、《企业权力》(Corporate Power)、《真正的恐怖网络：现实中的恐怖主义与宣传>(The Real Network of Terrorism: Terrorism in Fact and Propaganda)、《示范选举：美国在多米尼加共和国、越南和萨尔瓦多操控的选举》(Demonstration Elections：U．S．-Staged Elections in the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and El Salvador)等。

诺姆·乔姆斯基(Noam Chomsky)，美国麻省理工学院语言学与哲学系教授。著述顿丰，包括《乔姆斯基读本》(The Chomsky Reader)、《迈向新冷战》(Toward a New Cold War)、《有关语言的思考》(Reflections on Language)以及《语言与责任》(Language and Responsibility)等。

邵红松，浙江传媒学院讲师，杭州市翻译协会常务理事。