Censored 2014: Fearless Speech in Fateful Times

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 Chavez, 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 %E2%80%98Gangnam Style' than the renewal of Uganda's %E2%80%98Kill 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. (Oct.)