Project Censored: Difference between revisions
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| type = [[non-profit organization|Non-Profit]] |
| type = [[non-profit organization|Non-Profit]] |
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| foundation = 1996 |
| foundation = 1996 |
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| location = [[Rohnert Park, California]], United States |
| location = [[Rohnert Park, California]], [[United States]] |
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| key_people = |
| key_people = Mickey Huff<br>Director |
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| fields = Journalism and Media |
| fields = Journalism and Media |
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| services = |
| services = |
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| num_members = |
| num_members = |
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| homepage = [http://www.projectcensored.org www.projectcensored.org] |
| homepage = [http://www.projectcensored.org www.projectcensored.org] |
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}}'''Project Censored''' is a media research, education, and advocacy initiative started at [[Sonoma State University]] in 1976. It is currently housed at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California. Project Censored was founded by |
}}'''Project Censored''' is a media research, education, and advocacy initiative started at [[Sonoma State University]] in 1976. It is currently housed at [[Diablo Valley College]] in Pleasant Hill, California. Project Censored was founded by Carl Jensen to expose censorship in propaganda and mass media. The current director is Mickey Huff.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Huff|first1=Mickey|last2=Roth|first2=Andy Lee|title=Censored 2015: Inspiring We the People|date=October 7, 2014|publisher=Seven Stories Press|location=New York/Oakland|isbn=1609805658|pages=11}}</ref> Among its journalistic activities is the publication of news stories omitted or significantly under-reported by other media sources.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.projectcensored.org/about/index.htm|title=Project Censored Media Democracy in Action: About Us|publisher=Project Censored|date=|accessdate=2006-12-22|author=|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061219085149/http://www.projectcensored.org/about/index.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2006-12-19}}</ref> |
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{{cite web |
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|url=http://www.projectcensored.org/about/index.htm |
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|title=Project Censored Media Democracy in Action: About Us |
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|publisher=Project Censored |
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|date= |
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|accessdate=2006-12-22 |
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|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20061219085149/http://www.projectcensored.org/about/index.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2006-12-19}} |
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</ref> |
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Project Censored's content is developed from a vast network of educators, students, activists, and advocates including Ralph Nader, Lori Bindig, Noam Chomsky, Julie Frechette, Nicholas Johnson, Rob Williams, Sarah van Gelder, Dorthy Kidd, William Yousman, Crystal Bedford, Nolan Higdon, Ellie Kim, John Boyer, Ben Boyington, and more. Project Censored is associated with numerous education, advocacy, and activist organizations such as Action Coalition for Media Education(ACME), Sacred Heart University’s master's degree in Media Literacy and Digital Culture Program, Union for Democratic Communications, Code Pink, National Whistle-blower's Summit, Veterans For Peace, 9/11 Truth, Peace and Justice Center, and more. |
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==History== |
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In 1976, Dr. Carl Jensen founded Project Censored at Sonoma State University as a media research program with a focus on student development of media literacy and critical thinking skills as applied to the news media censorship in the US. Each year the Project researches, vets, and compiles the Top Twenty Five most censored and under-reported news stories in the US, and offers scholarly analysis and critiques, which are published in a book, Censored, by Seven Stories Press. |
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Corporate media reporters, editors, and executives lampooned Jensen for claiming they "censored" news stories. They argued that the stories were not censored, but due to time and space constraints they could not publish every story. Jensen began an annual study that found that the corporate media often covers trivial and non-newsworthy stories which Jensen coined as "junk food news" rather than cover news worthy stories. Each year's Junk Food News study was added to the annual edition of Censored.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/about-us/ |title=Project Censored |publisher=Project Censored |date=2016-05-27 |accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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In 1996, when Jensen retired, Dr. Peter Phillips, also a sociology professor at Sonoma State University, became the director of Project Censored. He continued to expand the annual book and educational outreach. In 2000, Project Censored came under the oversight of the non-profit Media Freedom Foundation, founded by Jensen and Phillips, to ensure its independence. |
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Meanwhile, Phillips research found that the corporate media was consistently peddling propaganda disguised as news that misinformed and disinformed the public to adopt positions against their interest. Each year, Phillips had his students document examples of "news abuse" for the annual Censored book. "News abuse" refers to the corporate media stories that were news worthy, but presented in a slanted or non-newsworthy manner.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/about-us/ |title=Project Censored |publisher=Project Censored |date=2016-05-27 |accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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Professor Mickey Huff of Diablo Valley College became director in 2010. Working with associate director Dr. Andy Lee Roth, he has extended the Project’s educational reach beyond Sonoma State University, expanding the Campus Affiliates Program launched in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/about-us/ |title=Project Censored |publisher=Project Censored |date=2016-05-27 |accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> Campuses affiliated with Project Censored include: Diablo Valley College, California State University East Bay, California State University Maritime Academy, Indian River College, Fordam university, Purdue University Calumet, Ohlone College, Sonoma State University, The University of Vermont Burlington, State University of Worcester, Sacred Heart University, University of San Francisco, Pomona College, and more. The Campus Affiliates Program now connects hundreds of faculty and students at colleges and universities across the US and around the world in the collective effort of identifying and researching each year’s top Censored news stories while continuing the annual studies on Junk Food News, News Abuse, and Media and Democracy in Action.In addition to the campus affiliates program, Project Censored continues to foster relations with numerous independent media groups and free speech organizations. |
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Since 2010, Project Censored's weekly radio show has been broadcast on 35 stations in the United States from Maui, Hawaii to New York, New York.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=https://kpfa.org/program/project-censored/ |title=KPFA Project Censored Radio Show |publisher=KPFA |date=2016-05-27 |accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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Since its founding, Project Censored has trained over 2,500 students in media literacy and has received numerous honors, including two Firecracker Alternative Book Awards, the 2008 PEN Oakland National Literary Censorship Award, in 2013 became part of the National Coalition Against Censorship, in 2014 Project Censored was a Pillar Award Winner, and in 2016 Project Censored were honored guests at Ralph Nader's 2016 Breaking Through Power Conference.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/about-us/ |title=Project Censored |publisher=Project Censored |date=2016-05-27 |accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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==The Global Critical Media Literacy Project== |
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The Global Critical Media Literacy Project (GCMLP) is scheduled to launch in October 2016. The GCMLP is a social justice education project co-sponsored by Project Censored, Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME), and Sacred Heart University’s Media Literacy and Digital Culture Master of Arts Program. The GCMLP is the first of its kind in its use of a service-learning-based media literacy education model to teach digital media literacy and critical thinking skills, as well as to raise awareness about corporate and state-engineered news media censorship around the world.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=https://gcml.org/ |title=The Global Critical Media Literacy Project |publisher=GCMLP |date=2016-05-27 |accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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==Reception== |
==Reception== |
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[[Walter Cronkite]] said that "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 [[Journalism ethics and standards|ethical journalism]]".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=1583226052 |title=Censored 2004: The Top 25 Censored Stories |publisher=Powell's Books}}</ref> |
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In its over 40-year history, Project Censored has received a vast amount of praise. |
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Examples include: |
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“Censored 2014 is a clarion call for truth telling. Not only does this volume highlight fearless speech in fateful times, it connect the dots between the key issues we face, lauds our whistleblowers and amplifies their voices, and shines light in the dark places of our government that most need exposure.” –Daniel Ellsberg, The Pentagon Papers <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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The founder of the progressive news analysis and commentary website ''[[AlterNet]]'' criticized Project Censored as "stuck in the past" with a "dubious selection process" that "reinforces self-marginalizing, defeatist behavior".<ref> |
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“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.” —Deepa Kumar, author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire and associate professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“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.” —Peter Kuznick, professor of history, American University, and coauthor, with Oliver Stone, of The Untold History of the United States <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“For ages, I’ve dreamed of a United States where Project Censored isn’t necessary, where these crucial stories and defining issues are on the front page of the New York Times, the cover of Time, and in heavy rotation on CNN. That world still doesn’t exist, but we always have Project Censored’s yearly book to pull together the most important things the corporate media ignored, missed, or botched.” –Russ Kick, author of You Are Being Lied To, Everything You Know Is Wrong, and the New York Times bestselling series The Graphic Canon.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“In another home run for Project Censored, Censored 2013 shows how the American public has been bamboozled, snookered, and dumbed down by the corporate media. It is chock-full of ‘ah-ha’ moments where we understand just how we’ve been fleeced by banksters, stripped of our civil liberties, and blindly led down a path of never-ending war.” –Medea Benjamin, author of Drone Warfare, cofounder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“Project Censored brings to light some of the most important stories of the year that you never saw or heard about. This is your chance to find out what got buried.” –Diane Ravitch, author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“Most journalists in the United States believe the press here is free. That grand illusion only helps obscure the fact that, by and large, the US corporate press does not report what’s really going on, while tuning out, or laughing off, all those who try to do just that. Americans–now more than ever–need those outlets that do labor to report some truth. Project Censored is not just among the bravest, smartest, and most rigorous of those outlets, but the only one that’s wholly focused on those stories that the corporate press ignores, downplays, and/or distorts. This latest book is therefore a must read for anyone who cares about this country, its tottering economy, and–most important– what’s now left of its democracy.” –Mark Crispin Miller, author, professor of media ecology, New York University.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“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 Cen-sored.” —Dahr Jamail <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“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 <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“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 <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“[Project 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 <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“[Project Censored] offers devastating evidence of the dumbing-down of main-stream news in America. . . . Required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens.” —Los Angeles Times <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“[Project Censored is]One of the most significant media research projects in the country.” —I. F. Stone <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“[Project Censored is] A terrific resource, especially for its directory of alternative media and organizations. . . . Recommended for media collections.” —Library Journal <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“[Project Censored’s] efforts to continue globalizing their reporting network could not be more timely or necessary.” —Kristina Borjesson <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“[Project Censored is]A distant early warning system for society’s problems.” —American Journalism Review <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“Project Censored goes where the media conformist angels fear to tread. . . . It’s the kind of journalism we need.” —Norman Solomon <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“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 <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“[Project Censored is]Hot news, cold truths, utterly uncensored.”—Greg Palast <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“Buy it [Project Censored], read it, act on it. Our future depends on the knowledge this col-lection of suppressed stories allows us.”—San Diego Review <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“Those who read and support Project Censored are in the know.” — Former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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“The staff of Project Censored presents their annual compilation of the previous year’s 25 stories most overlooked by the mainstream media along with essays about censorship and its consequences. The stories include an 813% rise in hate and anti-government groups since 2008, human rights violations by the US Border Patrol, and Israeli doctors injecting Ethiopian immigrants with birth control without their consent. Other stories focus on the environment, like the effects of fracking and Monsantos GMO seeds. The writers point out misinformation and outright deception in the media, including CNN relegating factual accounts to the “opinion” section and the whitewashing of Margaret Thatcher’s career following her death in 2013, unlike Hugo Chávez, who was routinely disparaged in the coverage following his death. One essay deals with the proliferation of “Junk Food News,” in which “CNN and Fox News devoted more time to ‘Gangnam Style’ than the renewal of Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ law.” Another explains common media manipulation tactics and outlines practices to becoming a more engaged, free-thinking news consumer or even citizen journalist. Rob Williams remarks on Hollywood’s “deep and abiding role as a popular propaganda provider” via Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. An expose on working conditions in Chinese Apple factories is brutal yet essential reading. This book is evident of Project Censored’s profoundly important work in educating readers on current events and the skills needed to be a critical thinker.”-Publisher’s Weekly said about Censored 2014 <ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/people-saying-project-censored-past-decades/ |title=What some people been saying about Project Censored over the past decades |publisher=Project Censored |date=2015-08-21|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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==Criticism== |
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Project Censored has also been the center of criticism in its 40 year history. For example, the founder of the progressive news analysis and commentary website ''[[AlterNet]]'' criticized Project Censored as "stuck in the past" with a "dubious selection process" that "reinforces self-marginalizing, defeatist behavior".<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://www.alternet.org/story/202/ |title=Beyond Project Censored: It's time for a new award |publisher=AlterNet |date=2000-04-01|accessdate=2007-02-04 |author=Don Hazen }}</ref> It has also been criticized for reporting on stories which are arguably not "under-reported" or "censored" at all,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2000/04/projectcensored.html|title=The Unbearable Lameness of Project Censored |publisher=Mother Jones |date=2000-04-11 |accessdate=2007-01-31|author=Brooke Shelby Biggs }}</ref> as they have sometimes appeared in the ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' and other high-profile publications. |
{{cite web |url=http://www.alternet.org/story/202/ |title=Beyond Project Censored: It's time for a new award |publisher=AlterNet |date=2000-04-01|accessdate=2007-02-04 |author=Don Hazen }}</ref> It has also been criticized for reporting on stories which are arguably not "under-reported" or "censored" at all,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2000/04/projectcensored.html|title=The Unbearable Lameness of Project Censored |publisher=Mother Jones |date=2000-04-11 |accessdate=2007-01-31|author=Brooke Shelby Biggs }}</ref> as they have sometimes appeared in the ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' and other high-profile publications. |
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Some |
Some of these claims come from other progressive publications, such as ''[[AlterNet]],'' [[Mother Jones (magazine)|''Mother Jones'']], and [[New Politics (magazine)|''New Politics'']] that are concerned that the Project's mis-reporting will give the progressive movement and its alternative media less credibility. For example, Project Censored has been criticized for consistently downplaying [[Bosnian war#Ethnic cleansing|Serbian atrocities in Bosnia]] [[Kosovo war#War crimes|and Kosovo]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue33/walls33.htm|title=How Project Censored Joined The Whitewash of Serb Atrocities|publisher=New Politics|year=2002|accessdate=2006-12-23|author=David Walls|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061016144106/http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue33/walls33.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2006-10-16}}</ref> for exaggerating the dangers of the [[Cassini-Huygens]] space probe to Saturn,<ref> |
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{{cite web|url=http://www.albionmonitor.com/0410a/cassini.html|title=With Cassini's Orbit, Science Trumps Ignorance|publisher=Albion Monitor|date=2004-10-03|accessdate=2007-01-31 |
{{cite web|url=http://www.albionmonitor.com/0410a/cassini.html|title=With Cassini's Orbit, Science Trumps Ignorance|publisher=Albion Monitor|date=2004-10-03|accessdate=2007-01-31 |
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|author=Lynn Cominsky, Phil Plait, and David Walls}}</ref> and for giving support to [[9/11 conspiracy theories]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061104/NEWS/611040304/1033/NEWS01|title=There's that other theory on 9/11: SSU hosts discredited academic who says U.S. could have planned attack|publisher=The Press Democrat|date=2006-11-04|accessdate=2007-01-28|author=Paul Payne|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070109123920/http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20061104%2FNEWS%2F611040304%2F1033%2FNEWS01|archivedate=2007-01-09|df=}}</ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/analysis-of-project-censored-are-we-a-left-leaning-conspiracy-oriented-organization/ |title=Analysis of Project Censored: Are We a Left-Leaning, Conspiracy-Oriented Organization? |publisher=Project Censored |date=2010-06-10|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> In fact, Project Censored has provided publishing and interview opportunities for individuals who support and have been critical of the 9/11 Truth Movement. For example, in 2013 Project Censored published Nolan Higdon's "Disinfo Wars: Alex Jones’ War on Your Mind." The article argued that Alex Jones' speculative conspiracies distract and de-legitimize real conspiracies that are orchestrated by governments, corporations, foundations, and various other institutions and individuals including 9/11.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/disinfo-wars-alex-jones-war-mind/ |title=Disinfo Wars: Alex Jones’ War on Your Mind |publisher=Project Censored |date=2013-09-13|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> Higdon's article led to a rebuke of Project Censored by former Florida Atlantic Professor James Tracy. Project Censored published Tracy's rebuke on their website to demonstrate their commitment to providing space for varying perspectives.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/disinfo-wars-alex-jones-war-mind/ |title=Disinfo Wars: Alex Jones’ War on Your Mind |publisher=Project Censored |date=2013-09-13|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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In a debate with Project Censored's then Associate Director Mark Lowenthal, [[Jack Shafer]] wrote that Project Censored had "an overbearing left-wing bias -- a fact belied by its refusal to review stories from the right-wing or conservative press, the openly partisan nature of the stories that are selected and the leftist panel of judges who help select them."<ref name="Lowenthal_PC">{{cite web|url=http://www.monitor.net:16080/monitor/5-27-96/ml-unclearII.html |title=Unclear on the Concept (Part II)|publisher=Albion Monitor |date=1996-05-27 |accessdate=2006-12-23 |author=Mark Lowenthal}}</ref> However, Project Censored did an internal study in 2010 to examine the political leanings of its four decades worth of stories.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/analysis-of-project-censored-are-we-a-left-leaning-conspiracy-oriented-organization/ |title=Analysis of Project Censored: Are We a Left-Leaning, Conspiracy-Oriented Organization? |publisher=Project Censored |date=2010-06-10|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> The report concluded that Project Censored has been equally critical of both left and right leaning outlets and perspectives.<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/analysis-of-project-censored-are-we-a-left-leaning-conspiracy-oriented-organization/ |title=Analysis of Project Censored: Are We a Left-Leaning, Conspiracy-Oriented Organization? |publisher=Project Censored |date=2010-06-10|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> In fact, the report noted that "Critical thinking and fact finding are not left leaning, they are the basis of democracy, and we proudly stand for the maximization of informed participatory democracy at the lowest possible level in society. To this end, Project Censored supports social justice and media democracy in action."<ref> |
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{{cite web |url=http://projectcensored.org/analysis-of-project-censored-are-we-a-left-leaning-conspiracy-oriented-organization/ |title=Analysis of Project Censored: Are We a Left-Leaning, Conspiracy-Oriented Organization? |publisher=Project Censored |date=2010-06-10|accessdate=2016-05-27 |author=Project Censored }}</ref> |
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==Lists of winners== |
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===Projects listed by year <small>(top ten)</small>=== |
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'''2015'''<ref>[http://projectcensored.org/category/top-25-of-2014-2015/page/2/, "Top 25 of 2014 – 2015," ''Project Censored,'' September 30, 2015]</ref> |
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1. Half of Global Wealth Owned by the 1 Percent |
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2. Oil Industry Illegally Dumps Fracking Wastewater |
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3. 89 Percent of Pakistani Drone Victims Not Identifiable as Militants |
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4. Popular Resistance to Corporate Water Grabbing |
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5. Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Deepens |
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6. Methane and Arctic Warming’s Global |
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7. Fear of Government Spying is “Chilling” Writers’ Freedom of Expression |
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8. Who Dies at the Hands of US Police |
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9. Millions in Poverty Get Less Media Coverage Than Billionaires Do |
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10. Costa Rica Setting the Standard on Renewable Energy |
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'''2014'''<ref>[http://www.sfbg.com/2014/10/01/project-censored-2014 Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, "Project Censored 2014: Ocean Acidification Tops the Annual List of Important Stories Ignored by the Mainstream Media," ''San Francisco Bay Guardian,'' September 30, 2014]</ref> |
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# Ocean Acidification |
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# Top 10 U.S. Aid Recipients Practice Torture |
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# Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Secret Deal to Help Corporations |
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# Corporate Interest Providers Threaten Net Neutrality |
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# Bankers Remain on Wall Street Despite Major Crimes |
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# The 'Deep State' of Plutocratic Control |
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# FBI Dismisses Plot Against Occupy as NSA Cracks Down on Dissent |
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# Ignoring Extreme Weather Connection to Global Warning |
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# U.S. Media Hypocrisy in Covering Ukraine Crisis |
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# World Health Organization Suppresses Report on Iraq Impacts |
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'''2013'''<ref>[http://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/project-censored-2013/Content?oid=2243380 Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, "Project Censored 2013," ''Orlando Weekly,'' November 26, 2013]</ref> |
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# [Bradley] Manning and the Failure of Corporate Media |
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# The Richest Global 1 Percent Hide Billions in Tax Havens |
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# Trans-Pacific Partnership |
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# Obama's War on Whistle-Blowers |
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# Hate Groups and Anti-Government Groups on Rise Across U.S. |
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# Billionaires' Rising Wealth Intensified Poverty and Inequality |
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# Merchant of Death and Nuclear Weapons |
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# Bank Interests Inflate Global Prices by 35 to 40 Percent |
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# Icelanders Vote to Include Commons in Their Constitution |
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# A "Culture of Cruelty" Along the Mexico-U.S. Border |
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'''2001'''<ref>[http://www.alternet.org/story/14016/project_censored_2001 Project Censored 2001: "Ten Tantalizing Tales . . .," September 2, 2002]</ref> |
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# Corporations Threaten to Take Over the Airwaves |
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# GATS' For-Profit Model Threatens to Gobble Up the World's Water |
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# U.S. Policy Funds Human Rights Abuses in Colombia |
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# Bush Administration Ordered FBI Off Bid Laden Trail |
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# U.S. Destruction of Iraqi Water Supply |
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# Renewed Threat of Nuclear Warfare |
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# Public Schools Become Guinea Pigs for HMO Model |
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# NAFTA Impoverishes Small Family Farmers |
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# Housing Crisis in the U.S. |
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# CIA Spooks Destabilize Macedonia |
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'''2000'''<ref>[http://www.sonoma.edu/pubs/release/2001/091.html Sonoma State University press release]</ref> |
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# World Bank and Multinational Corporations Seek to Privatize Water |
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# OSHA Fails to Protect U.S. Workers |
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# U.S. Army's Psychological Operations Personnel Worked at CNN |
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# Did the U.S. Deliberately Bomb the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade? |
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# U.S. Taxpayers Underwrite Global Nuclear Power Plant Sales |
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# International Report Blames U.S. and Others for Genocide in Rwanda |
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# Independent Study Points to Dangers of Genetically-Altered Foods |
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# Drug Companies Influence Doctors and Health Organizations to Push Meds |
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# EPA Plans to Disburse Toxic/Radioactive Wastes into Denver's Sewage System |
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# Silicon Valley Uses Immigrant Engineers to Keep Salaries Low |
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Professor [[Robert Jensen]] and journalist [[Norman Solomon]] resigned from Project Censored's panel of national judges over the decision to highlight the [[9/11 conspiracy theories]] of [[Steven E. Jones]], a founder of [[Scholars for 9/11 Truth]], in ''Censored 2007''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A6621|title=Over the Line: Two Judges Quit Project Censored to Protest 9/11 Story|publisher=''Illinois Times''|date=June 28, 2007|accessdate=2007-09-13|author=C.D. Stelzer}}</ref> |
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'''1999'''<ref>[http://www.projectcensored.org/category/top-25-of-1999/page/4/ Project Censored website]</ref> |
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In a debate with Project Censored's Associate Director Mark Lowenthal, [[Jack Shafer]] wrote that Project Censored had "an overbearing left-wing bias -- a fact belied by its refusal to review stories from the right-wing or conservative press, the openly partisan nature of the stories that are selected and the leftist panel of judges who help select them."<ref name="Lowenthal_PC">{{cite web|url=http://www.monitor.net:16080/monitor/5-27-96/ml-unclearII.html |title=Unclear on the Concept (Part II)|publisher=Albion Monitor |date=1996-05-27 |accessdate=2006-12-23 |author=Mark Lowenthal}}</ref> |
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# Secret International Trade Agreement Undermines the Sovereignty of Nations |
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# Chemical Corporations Profit Off Breast Cancer |
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# Monsanto's Genetically Modified Seeds Threaten World Production |
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# Recycled Radioactive Metals May Be in Your Home |
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# U.S. Weapons Mass Destruction Linked to the Deaths of a Half-Million Children |
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# U.S. Nuclear Subverts U.N.'s Comprehensive Test Ban Treat[y] |
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# Gene Transfers Linked to Dangerous New Diseases |
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# Catholic Hospital Threaten Mergers Reproductive Rights for Women |
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# U.S. Tax Dollars Support Death Squads in Chiapas |
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# Environmental Student Activists Gunned Down on Chevron Oil Facility in Nigeria |
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==List of winners of Project Censored awards== |
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===Notable people and media=== |
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*[[Joel Bleifuss]], Steve Freeman, and Josh Mitteldorf for their work uncovering electronic corruption of the vote count in Federal elections in America |
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*[[Joel Bleifuss]] |
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*[[Lisa Gale Garrigues]], 2004 |
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*[[Dave Lindorff]], 2004 |
*[[Dave Lindorff]], 2004 |
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*[[Rock Creek Free Press]], 2008 |
*[[Rock Creek Free Press]], 2008 |
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*[[Howard Zinn]] |
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*[[Noam Chomsky]] |
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*[[Sarah van Gelder]] |
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*[[Nicholas Johnson]] |
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*[[Ralph Nader]] |
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*[[Peter Phillips]] |
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== See also == |
== See also == |
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| Line 223: | Line 42: | ||
== External links == |
== External links == |
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* |
*[http://www.projectcensored.org/ ''Project Censored'' Official website] |
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* |
*[http://www.ringnebula.com/project-censored/project-censored-index.htm Project Censored Index (from 1976 to the most recent year)] |
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*[http://www.ringnebula.com/project-censored/project-censored-toc.htm Project Censored Table of Contents (from 1976 to the most recent year)] |
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* [http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0409a/pc2004.html] Critical article concerning Project Censored's 2000 list |
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* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2689286] "Project Censored: The Movie," IMDb |
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[[Category:Censorship in the United States]] |
[[Category:Censorship in the United States]] |
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Revision as of 01:39, 24 January 2018
| File:ProjectCensored.png | |
| Type | Non-Profit |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Fields | Journalism and Media |
Key people | Mickey Huff Director |
| Website | www.projectcensored.org |
Project Censored is a media research, education, and advocacy initiative started at Sonoma State University in 1976. It is currently housed at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California. Project Censored was founded by Carl Jensen to expose censorship in propaganda and mass media. The current director is Mickey Huff.[1] Among its journalistic activities is the publication of news stories omitted or significantly under-reported by other media sources.[2]
Reception
Walter Cronkite said that "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".[3]
The founder of the progressive news analysis and commentary website AlterNet criticized Project Censored as "stuck in the past" with a "dubious selection process" that "reinforces self-marginalizing, defeatist behavior".[4] It has also been criticized for reporting on stories which are arguably not "under-reported" or "censored" at all,[5] as they have sometimes appeared in the New York Times and other high-profile publications.
Some of these claims come from other progressive publications, such as AlterNet, Mother Jones, and New Politics that are concerned that the Project's mis-reporting will give the progressive movement and its alternative media less credibility. For example, Project Censored has been criticized for consistently downplaying Serbian atrocities in Bosnia and Kosovo,[6] for exaggerating the dangers of the Cassini-Huygens space probe to Saturn,[7] and for giving support to 9/11 conspiracy theories.[8]
Professor Robert Jensen and journalist Norman Solomon resigned from Project Censored's panel of national judges over the decision to highlight the 9/11 conspiracy theories of Steven E. Jones, a founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, in Censored 2007.[9]
In a debate with Project Censored's Associate Director Mark Lowenthal, Jack Shafer wrote that Project Censored had "an overbearing left-wing bias -- a fact belied by its refusal to review stories from the right-wing or conservative press, the openly partisan nature of the stories that are selected and the leftist panel of judges who help select them."[10]
List of winners of Project Censored awards
- Joel Bleifuss, Steve Freeman, and Josh Mitteldorf for their work uncovering electronic corruption of the vote count in Federal elections in America
- Lisa Gale Garrigues, 2004
- Dave Lindorff, 2004
- Rock Creek Free Press, 2008
See also
References
- ^ Huff, Mickey; Roth, Andy Lee (October 7, 2014). Censored 2015: Inspiring We the People. New York/Oakland: Seven Stories Press. p. 11. ISBN 1609805658.
- ^ "Project Censored Media Democracy in Action: About Us". Project Censored. Archived from the original on 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
- ^ "Censored 2004: The Top 25 Censored Stories". Powell's Books.
- ^ Don Hazen (2000-04-01). "Beyond Project Censored: It's time for a new award". AlterNet. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
- ^ Brooke Shelby Biggs (2000-04-11). "The Unbearable Lameness of Project Censored". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
- ^ David Walls (2002). "How Project Censored Joined The Whitewash of Serb Atrocities". New Politics. Archived from the original on 2006-10-16. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^
Lynn Cominsky, Phil Plait, and David Walls (2004-10-03). "With Cassini's Orbit, Science Trumps Ignorance". Albion Monitor. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Paul Payne (2006-11-04). "There's that other theory on 9/11: SSU hosts discredited academic who says U.S. could have planned attack". The Press Democrat. Archived from the original on 2007-01-09. Retrieved 2007-01-28.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ C.D. Stelzer (June 28, 2007). "Over the Line: Two Judges Quit Project Censored to Protest 9/11 Story". Illinois Times. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Mark Lowenthal (1996-05-27). "Unclear on the Concept (Part II)". Albion Monitor. Retrieved 2006-12-23.