“Although Chomsky and Herman are mainly concerned with informal, non-state-directed control of the media, there have been recent incidents that have featured the United States government directly interfering with journalists. In 2013, the Obama administration subpoenaed the phone records of close to 100 Associated Press journalists as part of a probe into a story about a CIA operation in Yemen. The Trump administration likewise tried to obtain journalists' communications by seeking email records from New York Times reporters and then placing a gag order on the newspaper, forbidding it from revealing the request.

Incidents like this show that the media is not immune to governmental interference, but Chomsky and Herman’s focus on the more informal pressures that media outlets face implies they believe these pressures are perhaps more dangerous because they're less visible.”

https://www.shortform.com/summary/manufacturing-consent-summary-edward-s-herman-and-noam-chomsky