Edward Samuel Herman, born on this day in 1925, was an American economist, media scholar, and social critic who has co-authored several works with Noam Chomsky, including Manufacturing Consent (1988).

Herman is known for his media criticism, in particular the propaganda model hypothesis he developed with Noam Chomsky in "Manufacturing Consent". In the book, Herman and Chomsky argue that mass media of the U.S. effectively act as a massive propaganda campaign without overt coercion.

Although that is their most famous co-authored work, they also authored "Counter-Revolutionary Violence" together in 1973. In it, they critique U.S. foreign policy in Indochina, with a significant focus on the Vietnam War. The book was heavily repressed domestically and led to the publisher, Warner Modular, being shuttered.

"The steady advance and cultural power of marketing and advertising has caused the displacement of a political public sphere by a depoliticized consumer culture."

- Edward S. Herman, in Manufacturing Consent