Censored 2018: Press Freedoms in a “Post-Truth” World

Edited by Andy Lee Roth and Mickey Huff with Project Censored

Seven Stories Press, 2017, $18.95

Project Censored systematically documents the corporate news media’s blind spots, third rails, and “no go” zones.

Did you know that over a thousand communities in the US are experiencing lead contamination at quadruple the rates found in Flint, Michigan? Or that the Pentagon paid a UK public relations firm to produce fake al-Qaeda videos? What about the soaring rate of transgender people murdered, the racially-biased software used by judges across the country to predict future crimes, or the use of force guidelines that dramatically reduce the likelihood of civilian killings by law enforcement?

Haven’t heard these news stories? Neither did the rest of the world. That’s because these reports and countless others are suppressed or ignored by our nation’s “free press” every day. For the past forty-two years, Project Censored has been unearthing the buried but crucial news stories that corporate media deem unfit to print.

Censored 2018: Press Truths in a “Post-Truth” World features contributions by Edward S. Herman, assessing the relevance of the Herman-Chomsky “propaganda model” on its thirtieth anniversary; Ralph Nader, on citizen action and mass media censorship; Rachael Jolley, editor of the Index on Censorship; and Gennie Gebhart of the Electronic Frontier Foundation; as well as chapters on the new American authoritarianism, by Nolan Higdon and Nicholas L. Baham III; on defamation law and free speech, by Elizabeth Blakey; and an original comic by Adam Bessie and Peter Glanting on “Trump Universe.” Plus, the Top 25 Censored news stories of 2016-2017, a rundown on the Junk Food News and News Abuse that diverted public attention from real and vital reporting, and a foreword by Deepa Kumar, author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, and recipient of the 2016 Dallas Smythe Award.

In a time of “alternative facts” and pervasive propaganda, when the society’s most popular news regularly features misleading spin, statements taken out of context, and headlines driven by clickbait, Project Censored is on the case, holding the corporate media to account while celebrating the crucial work of truly independent journalists and news organizations.

“Censored 2018 inspires, energizes, and gives new meaning to the notion that critical citizens are at the core of a strong democracy and that informed resistance is not an option but a necessity.”

—Henry A. Giroux, Professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest and Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy, McMaster University, Canada

“Project Censored is a lifeline to the world’s most urgent and significant stories.”

—Naomi Wolf, author of the bestselling books The Beauty Myth; The End of America; and Give Me Liberty 

“A crucial contribution to the hope for a more just and democratic society.”

—Noam Chomsky

Founded in 1976 by Carl Jensen, Project Censored is a research program focused on developing media literacy and critical thinking skills. For over forty years, the goal of the Project has been to expose and oppose news censorship in all its forms. Each year the Project researches, vets, and compiles the Top 25 most censored and underreported news stories in the US, offering scholarly analysis and critical context, alongside specially commissioned articles that explore timely issues through in-depth reporting. Hundreds of journalists, activists, scholars, and global media watchdogs participate in the Project’s events, broadcasts, and annual publications, with affiliate programs in nearly two dozen colleges and universities around the world.

Andy Lee Roth is associate director of Project Censored and coordinator of the Project’s Validated Independent News program. He has coedited seven previous editions of the Censored yearbook. He teaches sociology at Citrus College and serves on the board of the Media Freedom Foundation, the nonprofit organization that promotes the mission of Project Censored and ensures its continued independence.

Mickey Huff is director of Project Censored and the new president of the Media Freedom Foundation, continuing the pioneering work of Carl Jensen and Peter Phillips. Huff has edited or coedited nine volumes of the Censored yearbook and contributed numerous chapters since 2008. He teaches social science and history at Diablo Valley College, where he is cochair of the History Department, and lectures in the Communications Department at California State University, East Bay. Huff is also executive producer and cohost with Peter Phillips of The Project Censored Show, a weekly syndicated radio show and podcast produced at KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley, CA.

For more on Project Censored, the editors of this volume, and partner organizations that fight for free speech and critical media literacy, visit http://projectcensored.org.