Dr. Julien Mercille:

The idea of manufacturing consent does not assume anything about audience reception. It could be the case that the media are really putting a viewpoint but nobody is buying it, or it could be the opposite, with everybody buying it. It has nothing to say about the audience; it just looks at the media. We are talking about human affairs, so one always has contrarian views, either whistleblowers or exceptions. There are critical people in the Irish media, but it is about looking at the trends. That is what my argument is about and what we based our study on.