Censored 2005: The Top 25 Censored Stories [Paperback]

I've been reading the annual Censored books for a few years now and I love them. But I have a mixed feeling about them. I want to know the information they contain but it sometimes depresses me. Is that a recommendation? Yes! Because unless you read diligently in the "alternative" magazines, I bet you haven't heard of 80% of these 25 stories. And most of them are very important stories. The effects of the US using depleted uranium in munitions is my current horror. It is a very scary story. Just because we haven't seen a mushroom cloud doesn't mean we're not reaping fallout. The people affected are not only in the lands where we use these weapons but also the vast majority of the soldiers we send to those countries, their spouses and children.

I also love much of the ancillary material, particularly the listing which companies belong to the five largest media groups in the world. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation owns Fox TV but did you know that it also owns TV Guide and all HarperCollins book imprints? TimeWarner owns a huge number of media outlets including all the Turner stations (CNN, TBS, TNT, etc), more music labels than I knew existed (Atlantic, Elektra/Sire, Rhino, etc.), and several non-TimeLife publishers (Little Brown, Sunset Books, Leisure Arts, etc.)

I'm always interested to read follow-ups of past stories, updating the status of legal cases and other information. I give this five stars because I think the stories in here are all vitally important, easily readable and easy to digest.

I have followed the annual Project Censored guides for the better part of a decade, and can even credit the series with partially inspiring my recent master's degree in media studies. In that field, the overwhelming concern for the past several years has been the growing corporate consolidation of the media. Consequently, media outlets have a structural focus on news stories that reinforce the worldview of the corporate elite, and maintain the political and economic status quo, while simply ignoring stories that shed a bad light on such power structures. To a greater extent than ever, the "censored" stories located by the team this year predominantly feature corporate malfeasance and the consolidation of power by political and corporate elites, with unheralded harm being done to real people, along with a trampling of the common good and the public rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Alas, since this is a group project, once again the Project Censored team has included their great findings in a disappointingly inconsistent book. Not to mention the frequent typos and other signs of poor technical editing, this book is often sunk by self-righteousness from the very same journalists who have courageously brought the under-reported stories to light. These original reporters, writing their own follow-ups and investigative reports here, usually complain about how the mainstream press and general public continue to ignore their work - complaints that are tiresome and unnecessary, because since we're reading this book we're already completely aware of the problem. One low point is "Lifestyles of the Rich and Oligopolistic" in which Stephanie Dyer ruins an expose on the boards of directors of media giants by complaining about how individual directors don't share her personal politics. Even worse is "U.S. Coverage of Israel and Palestine: Choosing Sides" in which extraordinarily holier-than-thou freelance reporter Alison Weir unloads blanket criticism of all media (including, strangely enough, Project Censored) for under-reporting the namesake conflict, but offers little real structural analysis of why such under-reporting happens or how the situation could be improved.

Fortunately, the remaining media analysis in this year's edition is generally strong and enlightening, although coverage of the media monopoly process is a bit repetitive and merely distills information that has already been well covered by experts in the field (especially my personal favorite, Robert McChesney). As usual, the stories uncovered by the Project Censored team are extremely important for those who want to know more about not only the behavior of the mainstream media, but the state of the world for the 99.9% of us who are not members of the elite. But you will have to put up with a certain amount of self-righteousness and poor writing and editing as the team can't quite create a book as strong as the stories it uncovers. [~doomsdayer520~]

This is the first "Project Censored" book I have ever bought and it's jaw-dropping.

The once great esteemed American media/press has been degraded to jibber-jabber. Entertainment has become critical "news". There is hardly anymore investigative reporting, just many reporters offering opinions (aka "pundits"), and everything is just "spin", depending on what side of the political spectrum your views happen to land on.

This is the crux of "Project Censored 2005". This book offers the top 25 underreported stories of 2004, that would vastly improve an average American's understanding of the world if they were reported properly. Many of these stories are backed up by numerous references galore so anyone can follow up on these stories. The scariest parts of the book deal with corporate consolidation (monopoly) of media and Junk News/ News Abuse. When you read these sections, you will begin to wonder if America really has "free press".

Example: In June 5, 2005's edition of NYC's Daily News, the one year wedding anniversary of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony made page 2 headlines, while the murder of a 9 year old girl was pushed to page 4. Also,the devastating tsunami that struck south Asia was quickly pushed aside for the earth-shattering divorce of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. CNN, FOX and countless other major news channels covered this extensively. Instead of focusing on the genocide of Sudan, Paris Hilton's engagement ring made front page news. The War on Terror? Bah!!!! American Idol gets more coverage. Depleted Uranium used in the military getting much press? No way!!! Instead, the media would have you believe that Angelina Jolie's and Brad Pitt's getaway to Kenya is waaaaay more newsworthy (what's with all this Brad Pitt attention anyway? He's okay looking and all, but give us a break already!). Essence magazine was just purchased by Time Warner. When you read which corporations own which media (from books to music, to magazines to radio stations to TV and cable channels) you will be stunned at what few corporations own basically the majority of American press. Big Brother much?

Project Censored delves into these issues and insists that there needs to be huge overhaul of American media, for a society's press basically reflects the society...when a country's press becomes empty, ridiculous, frivolous, and all "spin" what does that say about the society? When entertainment becomes news worthy, American society is headed towards trouble.

Some people suggest this book is "liberal spin". But I ask anyone, from the few examples I gave above, do you really think this is spin or the cold-hard truth. Watch and read news magazines and papers and I dare you say otherwise.