Censored 2009: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007-08 edited by Peter Phillips and Andrew Roth
Seven Stories Press, £11.99
PROJECT Censored advocates a free press and in the United States focuses on First Amendment issues and the protection of these rights. But in the UK it is perhaps best known for uncovering stories that are “underreported, ignored, misrepresented or censored by the corporate media”. Its annual reports, culled from up to 1,000 submissions a year, have become essential reading for students, broadcasters and journalists around the world.
As well as ranking the 25 most censored news stories of the past two years, Censored 2009 argues that Americans face a “truth emergency”. The book provides in-depth analysis of a number of stories that received either little or prejudiced treatment by the mainstream media. These include the US television bias regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the media blackout on habeas corpus.
Particularly damning is the extended chapter on the winter soldier hearings that took place in March 2008. “Winter soldiers” was a term coined by Thomas Paine for those “who stand up for the soul of their country, even in its darkest hours”. The personal testimonies of hundreds of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan put paid to the idea that incidents of US brutality are isolated. But despite invitations being extended to the entire major US media, their absence at the hearings was conspicuous.
The apparent disinclination of corporate media to cover this sort of story is explained in the chapter Fear and Favour which describes the barriers facing ethical journalists and concludes that it is not just corporate employers and advertisers that shape the news in America, but also the media legislators, local political players and various high-level PR campaigns.
Project Censored is to be applauded for its commitment to publicise the most neglected stories of the year and most of them – ranging from CARE’s rejection of US food subsidies to worldwide slavery and other issues such as the continuing fallout from 9/11, US juvenile detention centres, and the conflict in Iraq – make compelling reading.
Their contribution to the freedom of expression debate is undeniable; my only reservation is that a couple of the stories covered this year – for instance, the suggestion that the Security and Prosperity Partnership based in Washington intended to try and integrate the US, Canada and Mexico into “a single political, economic and security bloc” may have a factual base, but the conclusions drawn read like conspiracy theory rather than rigorous reporting. And it is sometimes this tendency, rather than outright censorship, that is occasionally behind the mainstream media’s hesitation to run with a particular story.
That caveat aside, the issues raised by Censored 2009 provide the opportunity for sober reflection for anyone interested in press freedom, media responsibility and in cultivating a more balanced response to controversial issues in the United States.
Lucy Popescu
