Censored 2012
Authors: Mickey Huff
“At a time when the need for independent journalism and for media outlets unaffiliated with and untainted by the government and corporate sponsors is greater than ever, Project Censored has created a context for reporting the complete truths in all matters that matter.… It is therefore left to us to find sources for information we can trust.… It is in this task that we are fortunate to have an ally like Project Censored.”
—Dahr Jamail
“Activist groups like Project Censored … are helping to build the media democracy movement. We have to challenge the powers that be and rebuild media from the bottom up.”
—Amy Goodman
“Project Censored is one of the organizations that we should listen to, to be assured that our newspapers and our broadcasting outlets are practicing thorough and ethical journalism.”
—Walter Cronkite
“[
Censored
] should be affixed to the bulletin boards in every newsroom in America. And, perhaps read aloud to a few publishers and television executives.”
—Ralph Nader
“[
Censored
] offers devastating evidence of the dumbing-down of mainstream news in America.… Required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens.”
—
Los Angeles Times
“One of the most significant media research projects in the country.”
—I. F. Stone
“A terrific resource, especially for its directory of alternative media and organizations.… Recommended for media collections.”
—
Library Journal
“[Project Censored’s] efforts to continue globalizing their reporting network could not be more timely or necessary.”
—Kristina Borjesson
“A distant early warning system for society’s problems.”
—
American Journalism Review
“Project Censored goes where the media conformist angels fear to tread.… It’s the kind of journalism we need.”
—Norman Solomon
“Project Censored shines a spotlight on news that an informed public must have … a vital contribution to our democratic process.”
—Rhoda H. Karpatkin, president, Consumer’s Union
“Hot news, cold truths, utterly uncensored.”
—Greg Palast
“Buy it, read it, act on it. Our future depends on the knowledge this collection of suppressed stories allows us.”
—
San Diego Review
“Those who read and support Project Censored are in the know.”
—Cynthia McKinney
“This volume chronicles 25 news stories about events that could affect all of us, but which we most likely did not hear or read about in the popular news media.”
—
Bloomsbury Review
“Censored serves as a reminder that there is certainly more to the news than is easily available or willingly disclosed. To those of us who work in the newsrooms, it’s an inspiration, an indictment, and an admonition to look deeper, ask more questions, then search for the truth in the answers we get.”
—
Creative Loafings
“This invaluable resource deserves to be more widely known.”
—
Wilson Library Bulletin
Copyright ©2011 by Mickey Huff
Introduction ©2011 by Peter Phillips
A Seven Stories Press First Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electric, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Seven Stories Press
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www.sevenstories.com
eISBN: 978-1-60980-358-2
v3.1
Censored News and Media Analysis
Project Censored News Clusters and the Top Censored Stories of 2010 and 2011
by Peter Phillips, Mickey Huff, Elliot D. Cohen, Dean Walker, Andy Lee Roth, Elaine Wellin, Kristen Seraphin, Joel Evans-Fudem, Amy Ortiz, Kenn Burrows, and Tom Atlee, with additional research and editing by Trish Boreta, Bill Gibbons, Craig Cekala, Melody J. Haislip, Nolan Higdon, and Casey Goonan
CENSORED NEWS CLUSTER:
Human Costs of War and Violence
by Peter Phillips and Craig Cekala
CENSORED NEWS CLUSTER:
Social Media and Internet Freedom
by Elliot D. Cohen
CENSORED NEWS CLUSTER:
Power, Abuse, and Accountability
by Andy Lee Roth
CENSORED NEWS CLUSTER:
Health and the Environment
by Elaine Wellin and Kristen Seraphin
CENSORED NEWS CLUSTER:
Women and Gender Issues
by Joel Evans-Fudem and Amy Ortiz
CENSORED NEWS CLUSTER:
Collaboration and Common Good
by Kenn Burrows and Tom Atlee
Dedicated to the first real rebel and truth teller I ever knew: my father,
Jesse Francis “Mickey” Huff (1939–2004)
and to the next generations that continue in
that same vein—Meg, Molly, and …
Moving Beyond Media Reform for
Censored 2012
by Mickey Huff
In the final analysis, each scholar, just like every citizen, has to take a long, hard look in the mirror and consider the following: If we act as if social change for the better is impossible, we guarantee it will be impossible. That is the long-standing human dilemma, except that in critical junctures our powers increase and the odds can swing dramatically in democracy’s favor. We hold immense power in our hands. Let’s not blow this opportunity. Let’s have a real communication revolution
.
1
—
ROBERT MCCHESNEY
, media scholar
Reformers who are always compromising, have not yet grasped the idea that truth is the only safe ground to stand upon
.
—
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
As we approach the historically prophetic and now mass media-hyped “End of Times” year of 2012, hysterical speculation abounds. The failed prediction of a preacher in Oakland, California, who claimed the Rapture was upon us come May 21, 2011, was quite metaphoric as it exposed, yet again, how someone in American society is always able to captivate the corporate media by spinning doomsday yarns, whether it be Y2K or the upcoming 2012 end of the Mayan calendar (further manifest in the outpouring of Hollywood apocalypse films). Though, to be clear, it is not merely the entertainment media that succumb to this lowest common denominator (fear sells), it is the news media as well, in the forms of Junk Food News and News Abuse (see
chapter 3
) and relentless power elite propaganda (see the
Truth Emergency
section of this volume).
