Project Censored
Encyclopedia
Project Censored is a non-profit
, media criticism and investigative journalism
project within the Sonoma State University
Foundation. It is managed through the School of Social Sciences at the university.
According to the Project Censored official website, the organization describes itself as a media research group that "tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters. From these, Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported or self-censored by the country's major national news media."
in the mainstream media
. With this research, the group aims to advocate the protection of the First Amendment
rights granted by the United States Constitution
and freedom of information within the United States of America
. The project is built around the "Sociology 435: Media Censorship" course based at the university. This course requires long hours of researching library databases. Each student is invited to develop skills of finding and researching such news stories and make full use of them for the purpose of conducting coverage reports on more than 200 under-published stories yearly. One of the goals of the project is to encourage the development of a national interconnected community-based media news service that will offer a "diversity" of news and information to local mainstream audiences through various media. Support and encouragement is provided to journalists
, faculty, and student investigation of the principle objectives as stated above.
According to the group, a story covered by Project Censored should:
To date, the participants number nearly 200 and include the program staff of the School of Social Sciences at Sonoma State University, its students, its faculty, research interns, community experts, funders, and volunteer judges. Major sources of funding are provided by hundreds of individual donors, Working Assets
, Anita Roddick
, and The Body Shop International
, as well as the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost
, and the School of Social Science at Sonoma State University.
Project Censored was founded in 1976 by journalism professor Carl Jensen. He retired in 1996, and from 1996 through summer 2009 the project was directed by sociology professor Peter Phillips. Phillips continues in a supportive role as president of the Media Freedom Foundation.
, comic strips by Tom Tomorrow
, updates on previous top stories, essays, and interviews. The publisher is Seven Stories Press
in New York
. Other projects include For the Record, a weekly radio
program featuring underpublished stories, hosted by Pat Thurston.
stance, a majority of the stories Project Censored highlights have a leftist
political slant, criticizing big business
, economic inequality
, damage to the environment
, and the Pentagon
, and misdeeds of conservative
politicians, among other progressive issues; at least 20 of the "Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007" could be classified in one of these categories. Moreover, Project Censored has had several well-known progressive journalists and academics on its panel of national judges, including Robert Jensen
, Martin A. Lee
, Michael Parenti
, and Norman Solomon
without any corresponding number of conservatives. In response, Project Censored's Associate Director Mark Lowenthal stated that conservatives
had been invited to serve as judges each year, but have largely refused; that such right-wing topics as criticism of "big government" have been well publicized by Republicans
in Congress
and covered by the corporate-owned media, and so do not qualify as under-reported; and that Project Censored has in fact featured stories from The Spotlight
, a now-defunct fringe newspaper that the Project characterized as far-right-wing.
, a veteran broadcast journalist, has stated 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."
An article in the San Francisco Chronicle
written by an author with self-described liberal
views defended Project Censored's bias, saying that from their perspective, "any bias in the upper echelons of journalism looks to be skewed toward established political, economic and social power bases."
criticized Project Censored as "stuck in the past" with a "dubious selection process" that "reinforces self-marginalizing, defeatist behavior." It has also been criticized for reporting on stories which are arguably not "under-reported" or "censored" at all, 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 alleged 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,
for exaggerating the dangers of the Cassini-Huygens
space probe to Saturn,
and for giving support to 9/11 conspiracy theories
.
Two progressives, 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.
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."
, a left-wing think tank
. This was covered by KPFA Guns and Butter as well as Project Censored itself.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, media criticism and investigative journalism
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
project within the Sonoma State University
Sonoma State University
Sonoma State University is a public, coeducational business and liberal arts college affiliated with the California State University system. The main campus is located in Rohnert Park, California, United States and lies approximately south of Santa Rosa and north of San Francisco...
Foundation. It is managed through the School of Social Sciences at the university.
According to the Project Censored official website, the organization describes itself as a media research group that "tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters. From these, Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported or self-censored by the country's major national news media."
Project function
Project Censored identifies and researches news stories which it believes have been underreported, mis-reported, or censoredCensorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
in the mainstream media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
. With this research, the group aims to advocate the protection of the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
rights granted by the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
and freedom of information within the United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The project is built around the "Sociology 435: Media Censorship" course based at the university. This course requires long hours of researching library databases. Each student is invited to develop skills of finding and researching such news stories and make full use of them for the purpose of conducting coverage reports on more than 200 under-published stories yearly. One of the goals of the project is to encourage the development of a national interconnected community-based media news service that will offer a "diversity" of news and information to local mainstream audiences through various media. Support and encouragement is provided to journalists
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, faculty, and student investigation of the principle objectives as stated above.
According to the group, a story covered by Project Censored should:
- contain information that the general population has a right and a need to know, but to which it has limited access.
- be timely, ongoing, and have implications for a significant number of residents of the United States of America.
- have clearly defined concepts and be backed with solid verifiable documentation.
- have been published electronically or in print, in a circulated newspaper, journal, magazine, newsletter, or similar publication by a foreign or domestic source.
- have direct connections and implications for people within the United States of America, possibly including activities US citizens are engaged in abroad.
To date, the participants number nearly 200 and include the program staff of the School of Social Sciences at Sonoma State University, its students, its faculty, research interns, community experts, funders, and volunteer judges. Major sources of funding are provided by hundreds of individual donors, Working Assets
Working Assets
CREDO is an American for-profit company that offers mobile and long distance phone service. Based in San Francisco, California, Working Assets has raised over $65 million for nonprofit organizations such as GreenPeace, Planned Parenthood, Democracy Now etc.-History:Working Assets was founded in...
, Anita Roddick
Anita Roddick
Dame Anita Roddick, DBE was a British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner, best known as the founder of The Body Shop, a cosmetics company producing and retailing beauty products that shaped ethical consumerism...
, and The Body Shop International
The Body Shop
The Body Shop International plc, known as The Body Shop, has 2,400 stores in 61 countries, and is the second largest cosmetic franchise in the world, following O Boticario, a Brazilian company...
, as well as the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
, and the School of Social Science at Sonoma State University.
Project Censored was founded in 1976 by journalism professor Carl Jensen. He retired in 1996, and from 1996 through summer 2009 the project was directed by sociology professor Peter Phillips. Phillips continues in a supportive role as president of the Media Freedom Foundation.
Published works
Since 1993 Project Censored has published an annual trade paperback review of the “Top 25 Censored Stories of the Year.” Features of the book include Junk Food NewsJunk food news
Junk food news is a sardonic term for news stories that deliver "sensationalized, personalized, and homogenized inconsequential trivia",especially when such stories appear at the expense of serious investigative journalism...
, comic strips by Tom Tomorrow
Tom Tomorrow
Tom Tomorrow is the pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins. His weekly comic strip This Modern World, which comments on current events, appears regularly in over 90 newspapers across the U.S. and Canada as of 2006, as well as on CREDO Action and Daily Kos, where he is its comics curator...
, updates on previous top stories, essays, and interviews. The publisher is Seven Stories Press
Seven Stories Press
Seven Stories Press is an independent publishing company. Located in New York City, the company was founded by editor Dan Simon in 1995 after he parted company with Four Walls Eight Windows. The company was named for its seven founding authors: Annie Ernaux, Gary Null, the estate of Nelson Algren,...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Other projects include For the Record, a weekly radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
program featuring underpublished stories, hosted by Pat Thurston.
Political affiliation
Although the group never explicitly takes a politicalPolitics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
stance, a majority of the stories Project Censored highlights have a leftist
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
political slant, criticizing big business
Big Business
Big business is a term used to describe large corporations, in either an individual or collective sense. The term first came into use in a symbolic sense subsequent to the American Civil War, particularly after 1880, in connection with the combination movement that began in American business at...
, economic inequality
Economic inequality
Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...
, damage to the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, and the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
, and misdeeds of conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
politicians, among other progressive issues; at least 20 of the "Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007" could be classified in one of these categories. Moreover, Project Censored has had several well-known progressive journalists and academics on its panel of national judges, including Robert Jensen
Robert Jensen
Robert William Jensen is a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin College of Communication. He joined the faculty in 1992 after completing his Ph.D. in media law and ethics in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota...
, Martin A. Lee
Martin A. Lee
Martin A. Lee is an American author and activist who has written books and articles on far-right movements, terrorism, media issues, and drug politics.Lee has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Michigan...
, Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti is an award-winning, internationally known American political scientist, historian, and culture critic who has been writing on a wide range of both scholarly and popular subjects for over forty years. He has taught at several universities and colleges and has been a frequent guest...
, and Norman Solomon
Norman Solomon
Norman Solomon is an American journalist, media critic, antiwar activist, and current candidate for the United States House of Representatives. Solomon is a longtime associate of the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting...
without any corresponding number of conservatives. In response, Project Censored's Associate Director Mark Lowenthal stated that conservatives
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
had been invited to serve as judges each year, but have largely refused; that such right-wing topics as criticism of "big government" have been well publicized by Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
in Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and covered by the corporate-owned media, and so do not qualify as under-reported; and that Project Censored has in fact featured stories from The Spotlight
The Spotlight
The Spotlight was a weekly newspaper in the United States, published in Washington, D.C. from September 1975 to July 2001 by the now-defunct Liberty Lobby...
, a now-defunct fringe newspaper that the Project characterized as far-right-wing.
Praise
Walter CronkiteWalter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
, a veteran broadcast journalist, has stated 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."
An article in the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
written by an author with self-described liberal
Liberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
views defended Project Censored's bias, saying that from their perspective, "any bias in the upper echelons of journalism looks to be skewed toward established political, economic and social power bases."
Criticism
The founder of the progressive news analysis and commentary website AlterNetAlterNet
AlterNet, a project of the non-profit Independent Media Institute, is a progressive/liberal activist news service. Launched in 1998, AlterNet now claims a readership of over 3 million visitors per month .AlterNet publishes original content as well as journalism from a wide variety of other sources...
criticized Project Censored as "stuck in the past" with a "dubious selection process" that "reinforces self-marginalizing, defeatist behavior." It has also been criticized for reporting on stories which are arguably not "under-reported" or "censored" at all, as they have sometimes appeared in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and other high-profile publications.
Some of these claims come from other progressive publications, such as AlterNet
AlterNet
AlterNet, a project of the non-profit Independent Media Institute, is a progressive/liberal activist news service. Launched in 1998, AlterNet now claims a readership of over 3 million visitors per month .AlterNet publishes original content as well as journalism from a wide variety of other sources...
, Mother Jones
Mother Jones (magazine)
Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
and New Politics
New Politics (magazine)
New Politics is an independent socialist journal founded in 1961 and still published in the United States today. While it is inclusive of articles from a variety of left-of-center positions, the publication leans strongly toward a Third camp, democratic Marxist perspective, placing it typically to...
that are concerned that the Project's alleged 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,
for exaggerating the dangers of the Cassini-Huygens
Cassini-Huygens
Cassini–Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA/ASI spacecraft mission studying the planet Saturn and its many natural satellites since 2004. Launched in 1997 after nearly two decades of gestation, it includes a Saturn orbiter and an atmospheric probe/lander for the moon Titan, although it has also returned...
space probe to Saturn,
and for giving support to 9/11 conspiracy theories
9/11 conspiracy theories
9/11 conspiracy theories are theories that disagree with the widely accepted account that the September 11 attacks were perpetrated solely by al-Qaeda. These theories arose because of what proponents of the conspiracy theories believe to be inconsistencies in the official conclusions or some...
.
Two progressives, professor Robert Jensen
Robert Jensen
Robert William Jensen is a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin College of Communication. He joined the faculty in 1992 after completing his Ph.D. in media law and ethics in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota...
and journalist Norman Solomon
Norman Solomon
Norman Solomon is an American journalist, media critic, antiwar activist, and current candidate for the United States House of Representatives. Solomon is a longtime associate of the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting...
, resigned from Project Censored's panel of national judges over the decision to highlight the 9/11 conspiracy theories
9/11 conspiracy theories
9/11 conspiracy theories are theories that disagree with the widely accepted account that the September 11 attacks were perpetrated solely by al-Qaeda. These theories arose because of what proponents of the conspiracy theories believe to be inconsistencies in the official conclusions or some...
of Steven E. Jones
Steven E. Jones
Steven Earl Jones is an American physicist. For most of his career, Jones was known mainly for his work on muon-catalyzed fusion. In the fall of 2006, amid controversy surrounding his work on the collapse of the World Trade Center , he was relieved of his teaching duties...
, a founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, in Censored 2007.
In a debate with Project Censored's Associate Director Mark Lowenthal, Jack Shafer
Jack Shafer
Jack Shafer covers media for Reuters.com Opinion section. Prior to joining Reuters, he edited and wrote the column Press Box for Slate, an online magazine. Before his stay at Slate, Shafer edited two city weeklies, Washington City Paper and SF Weekly...
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."
Controversy Due to Censorship of Project Censored
The project has come under scrutiny since it was announced that it was briefly at risk of being censored to prevent all mention of 9/11 Truth research by the organization that had printed its annual report, called Institute for Policy StudiesInstitute for Policy Studies
Institute for Policy Studies is a left-wing think tank based in Washington, D.C..It has been directed by John Cavanagh since 1998- History :...
, a left-wing think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
. This was covered by KPFA Guns and Butter as well as Project Censored itself.
List of winners of Project Censored awards
- Joel BleifussJoel BleifussJoel Bleifuss is an American journalist. He is the editor and publisher of In These Times, a left-wing, Chicago-based news magazine founded in the 1976 by James Weinstein. During Bleifuss' tenure, the magazine has carried articles and columns by members of the U.S...
- Lisa Gale GarriguesLisa Gale GarriguesLisa Gale Garrigues, also published as Lisa Garrigues, is a California writer, journalist, poet, and photographer who covered South America and is a contributing editor for YES! Magazine...
, 2004 - Dave LindorffDave LindorffDave Lindorff is an investigative reporter, a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to Businessweek, The Nation, Extra! and Salon.com...
, 2004 - Rock Creek Free PressRock Creek Free PressThe Rock Creek Free Press was an alternative, monthly newspaper published in Washington, DC.- History :The Rock Creek Free Press was founded in Washington, DC, in 2007. The first issue was dated January 23, 2007, and was distributed at a large anti-war rally that day on the National Mall...
, 2008
External links
- Project Censored Official website
- A Project Censored archive - Censored US Foreign Policy News Stories 1976-2005
- Dog Bites: Project Censored - parodyParodyA parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
and criticism of the Project by the SF WeeklySF WeeklySF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Wednesday, is published by Village Voice Media, a 16-paper alt weekly newspaper chain that also includes the New York City Village Voice and the Los...
. - Project Censored 1967-2007 Index and Archive
- Project Censored 1967-2007 TOC and Archive