Authors: Mickey Huff
Censored 2014
“Project Censored continues to be an invaluable resource in exposing and highlighting shocking stories that are routinely minimized or ignored by the corporate media. The vital nature of this work is underscored by this year's NSA leaks. The world needs more brave whistle blowers and independent journalists in the service of reclaiming democracy and challenging the abuse of power. Project Censored stands out for its commitment to such work.”âDeepa Kumar, author of
Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire
and associate professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University
“Project Censored interrogates the present in the same way that Oliver Stone and I tried to interrogate the past in our
Untold History of the United States.
It not only shines a penetrating light on the American Empire and all its deadly, destructive, and deceitful actions, it does so at a time when the Obama administration is mounting a fierce effort to silence truth-tellers and whistleblowers. Project Censored provides the kind of fearless and honest journalism we so desperately need in these dangerous times.ӉPeter Kuznick, professor of history, American University, and coauthor, with Oliver Stone, of
The Untold History of the United States
“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.”âDahr 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.”âAmy 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.”âWalter 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.ӉRalph Nader
“[
Censored
] offers devastating evidence of the dumbing-down of mainstream news in America. . . . Required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens.Ӊ
Los Angeles Times
“One of the most significant media research projects in the country.”âI. F. Stone
“A terrific resource, especially for its directory of alternative media and organizations. . . . Recommended for media collections.”
âLibrary Journal
“[Project Censored's] efforts to continue globalizing their reporting network could not be more timely or necessary.”âKristina Borjesson
“A distant early warning system for society's problems.”â
American Journalism Review
“Project Censored goes where the media conformist angels fear to tread. . . . It's the kind of journalism we need.”âNorman Solomon
“Project Censored shines a spotlight on news that an informed public must have . . . a vital contribution to our democratic process.” âRhoda H. Karpatkin, president, Consumer's Union
“Hot news, cold truths, utterly uncensored.”âGreg Palast
“Buy it, read it, act on it. Our future depends on the knowledge this collection of suppressed stories allows us.”â
San Diego Review
“Those who read and support Project Censored are in the know.”
âCynthia McKinney
Copyright © 2013 by Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth
Foreword © 2013 by Sarah van Gelder
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, electronic, photocopying, recording or other
wise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Seven Stories Press
140 Watts Street
New York, NY 10013
ISBN 978-1-60980-494-7 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-60980-495-4(electronic)
ISSN 1074-5998
Book design by Jon Gilbert
INTRODUCTION by Andy Lee Roth and Mickey Huff
SECTION I: CENSORED NEWS AND MEDIA ANALYSIS
NOTE ON RESEARCH AND EVALUATION OF CENSORED NEWS STORIES
CHAPTER 1: Top 25 Censored Stories from 2012â13 and Censored News Clusters
Top 25 Story Summaries, compiled by Andy Lee Roth
1. Bradley Manning and the Failure of Corporate Media
2. Richest Global 1 Percent Hide Trillions in Tax Havens
3. Trans-Pacific Partnership Threatens a Regime of Corporate Global Governance
4. Obama's War on Whistleblowers
5. Hate Groups and Antigovernment Groups on Rise across US
6. Billionaires' Rising Wealth Intensifies Poverty and Inequality
7. Merchants of Death and Nuclear Weapons
8. Bank Interests Inflate Global Prices by 35 to 40 Percent
9. Icelanders Vote to Include Commons in Their Constitution
10. A “Culture of Cruelty” along MexicoâUS Border
11. Bush Blocked Iran Nuclear Deal
12. The US Has Left Iraq with an Epidemic of Cancers and Birth Defects
13. A Fifth of Americans Go Hungry
14. Wireless Technology a Looming Health Crisis
15. Food Riots: The New Normal?
16. Journalism Under Attack Around the Globe
17. The Creative Commons Celebrates Ten Years of Sharing and Cultural Creation
19. The Power of Peaceful Revolution in Iceland
20. Israel Counted Minimum Calorie Needs in Gaza Blockade
21. Monsanto and India's “Suicide Economy”
22. Pennsylvania Law Gags Doctors to Protect Big Oil's “Proprietary Secrets”
23. Transaction Tax Helps Civilize Wall Street and Lower the National Debt
24. Widespread GMO Contamination: Did Monsanto Plant GMOs Before USDA Approval?
25. Israel Gave Birth Control to Ethiopian Immigrants Without Their Consent
Whistleblowers and Gag Laws by Brian Covert
Plutocracy, Poverty, and Prosperity by James F. Tracy
Human Rights and Civil Liberties by Susan Rahman and Donna Nassor
Technologies and Ecologies of War by Targol Mesbah and Zara Zimbardo
Health and the Environment by Susan Rahman and Liliana Valdez-Madera
Iceland, the Power of Peaceful Revolution, and the Commons by Andy Lee Roth
SECTION II: CRITICAL THINKING, MEDIA LITERACY, AND
NARRATIVES OF POWER
SECTION III: CASE STUDIES OF “UNHISTORY” IN THE
MAKINGâAND HOW TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE
CHAPTER 10: Apple Exposed: The Untold Story of Globalization
by Nicki Lisa Cole and Tara Krishna
CHAPTER 12: The Sixth Mass Extinction
by Julie Andrzejewski and John C. Alessio
CHAPTER 13: The New Story: Why We Need One and How to Create It
by Michael Nagler
Acknowledgments and Judges
Report From The Media Freedom Foundation President
by Peter Phillips
How To Support Project Censored
We dedicate Censored 2014 to truth-tellers, past and present,
who speak fearlessly to defend the commons of knowledge and
the freedoms of the people. Your example inspires our work
and gives purpose to our shared future.
There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels . . . upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.
MARIO SAVIO
University of CaliforniaâBerkeley
December 2, 1964
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF
HUMAN RIGHTS, ARTICLE
19
United Nations General Assembly
adopted 1948
BRIAN MARTIN MURPHY
July 14, 1948âJune 14, 2013
Intrepid journalist, cherished colleague, inspiring teacher,
fearless truth-teller
As a Canadian journalist covering the wars in southern Africa for Inter Press Service during the 1980s, I saw Project Censored was one of the few media outlets in the US consistently featuring coverage of those underreported wars. I paid attention.
When I was working with the filmmaking company Media Education Foundation, part of a national initiative defining and promoting media literacy, the publication of Project Censored's annual book was one of our reference points.
When I joined the faculty of the Department of Communication Studies at Niagara University, we decided to completely redesign the program as a degree in Communicating for Social Justice. In ten years, that redesign has become a model for many other communication departments.
At every step, Project Censored's work has been an example of the fearless truth-telling to which all social-justice advocates and students of journalism should be exposed. Today, Project Censored is integrated into our curriculum, with at least one course a year doing research to contribute to the list of contenders for the Top 25 underreported stories. Our students' successes are a testament to Project Censored's value as a media literacy teaching tool, introducing a whole new generation to what
real
press freedom looks like.
âBrian Martin Murphy
July 30, 2012
