Media Keeps Voter In The Dark (Top 25 Censored Stories) - Progressive Pop

[WillyT]

As the general election approaches, Project Censored notes the stories the corporate media failed to tell

By Peter Phillips and Kate Sims

<snip>

Election 2004 is a serious test of democracy in the United States. Perhaps no other time since the 1930s have we been so dangerously close to institutionalized totalitarianism. No-fly lists, prison torture, domestic spying, mega-homeland security agencies, suspension of habeas corpus, global unilateralism, and military adventurism interlocked with corporate profit-taking are all spurred on by a media-induced citizen paranoia.

Corporate media are in the entertainment business and fail to cover important news stories voters need to make election decisions. We need information about our country's leaders. These are the people making decisions that impact all of our lives. We need to know who our leaders are and what they are doing. What are their backgrounds, their motivations? What policies and laws are they enacting? What actions are they undertaking, with or against our consent? We don't need to like them, but we do need to know about them. A participatory democracy needs people to be aware of issues. We need active engaged voters. Unfortunately close to 50% of us will not vote in the upcoming election.

Project Censored at Sonoma State University in California has just released its annual list of the most important news stories not covered by the corporate media in the USA (www.projectcensored.org). Might citizens be more interested in voting if they know that wealth inequality was rapidly increasing in the US, and that the top 5% of the people have gotten richer and the rest of us poorer in the past five years? Which presidential candidate would be most helpful in reversing this trend? Most of us won't know if the corporate media doesn't tell us the story.

<snip>

Link (with details on each story): http://www.populist.com/04.18.censored.html

From: http://www.populist.com/

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The Top 25 Censored Stories

#1 Wealth Inequity in 21st Century Threatens Economy and Democracy.

#2 Ashcroft vs. the Human Rights Law that Holds Corporations Accountable.

#3 Bush Administration Manipulates Science and Censors Scientists.

# 4 High Uranium Levels Found in Troops and Civilians.

#5 The Wholesale Giveaway of Our Natural Resources.

#6 The Sale of Electoral Politics.

#7 Conservative Organization Drives Judicial Appointments.

#8 Secrets of Cheney's Energy Task Force Come to Light.

#9 Widow Brings RICO Case Against US Government for 9/11.

#10 New Nuke Plants: Taxpayers Support, Industry Profits.

#11 Media Can Legally Lie.

#12 The Destabilization of Haiti.

#13 Schwarzenegger Met with Enron's Ken Lay Before the California Recall.

#14 New Bill Threatens Intellectual Freedom.

#15 US Develops Lethal New Bio-weapon Viruses.

# 16 Law Enforcement Agencies Spy on Innocent Citizens.

#17 US Government Represses Labor Unions in Iraq in Quest for Business Privatization.

#18 Media and Government Ignore Dwindling Oil Supplies.

#19 Global Food Cartel Fast Becoming the World's Supermarket.

#20 Extreme Weather Prompts New Warning from UN.

#21 Forcing a World Market for GMOs.

#22 Exporting Censorship to Iraq.

#23 Brazil Opposes US-style FTAA agreements, But Provides Little Comfort for the Poor of South America.

#24 Reinstating the Draft.

#25 Wal-Mart Brings Inequity and Low Prices to the World.

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Ya know what??? I think we've covered every one of these suckers here at DU!!!

We rock, the media sucks, what else can ya say?

Hey DU !!! :yourock:

[WillyT]

1. Umm... So... You Guys Already Saw This, Correct ???

LOL!!!

:shrug:

[crickets]

2. This is known,

but it's nice to have sources that point to specifics. Thanks for the links!

:kick:

[Mandate My Ass]

3. Excellent find -- thanks for posting

These are very scary times. I don't know what's more chilling, the 25 topics I just read or the fact that nobody (officially speaking) is talking about any of this.

I would nominate as the 26th a story posted by swag here on DU yesterday:

"There is no legislative process any more" - report on GOP Congress

Back-room dealing a Capitol trend
GOP flexing its majority power
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | October 3, 2004

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/03/b...

WASHINGTON -- Dismayed that the technology company Accenture had located its headquarters in Bermuda, thereby avoiding paying hundreds of millions of dollars in US taxes, the House Appropriations Committee voted 35-17 this summer to strip the firm of a $10 billion Homeland Security contract.

It was a rare moment of bipartisan agreement and an important victory for those who decry corporate tax loopholes. But it didn't last long. The Rules Committee, the all-powerful gatekeeper of the Republican leadership, prevented the measure from reaching the House floor. In a further show of its power to pick and choose what the full House can vote on, the Rules Committee allowed the House to vote on a ban on future Homeland Security contracts to overseas companies -- but let the $10 billion flow to Accenture, which spent $2 million last year lobbying the government.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2448673

[WillyT]

4. You Are Most Welcome !!! - And Thank You !!!

:toast:

[Mandate My Ass]

5. I knew investigative journalism was dead when

undergrad college students were responsible for having death sentences overturned in IL, mostly because nobody else was trying.

Any one of those 25 topics if tackled by an eager, if even halfway talented reporter, would result in a really juicy story, possibly some professional recognition, but most importantly the kind of attention that would spark public outrage and meaningful change.

[WillyT]

6. Excellent Point !!!

That never occurred to me, but you are exactly right!!!

:yourock:

[Mandate My Ass]

7. Ah, Willy

you smooth talker, you. :evilgrin: ;)

[WillyT]

8. Suh...Mooooooooch !!!

:loveya:

:hi:

[ProfessorGAC]

11. That WAS Investigative Journalism

Those students were graduate journalism students! I get your point, but obviously, investigative journalism is NOT dead! It's just being done by students.
The Professor

[Q]

14. What good is investigative journalism...

...done by students without a universal outlet for the resultant stories?

[ProfessorGAC]

15. I'm Not Arguing That Point

The original point was that investigative journalism was dead. But, those students' investigative journalism got some innocent people off death row! There is some good in that, right?

I was suggesting that it can't be dead when the very example used to declare it dead proved it wasn't.

And, the outlet for those students obviously did exist, or those innocent men would still be on death row.

The Professor

[Mandate My Ass]

16. I guess what I was trying to convey, but didn't

is that once these journalists graduate, they will be unable to practice what they learned in school.

THe whole IL DP scandal only came to light because these students consistently were able to uncover enough evidence to have wrongful convictions overturned and David Protess had enough clout to get their work into the mainstream press. Otherwise, we'd still be in the dark about these things and a lot of innocent people in IL would be dead.

ON edit: I'm sure IL was not the only state with this problem. Where were the follow-ups? The other states' post-conviction reviews? When James Liebman's study came out showing that in the past 25 years, nationwide, the reversible error rate in capital cases was something like 70%, it was largely ignored. I can remember a time when a finding that dramatic would have been big news. Except in legal circles, it sank with hardly a ripple.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Great Point

Yeah, you're right. I guess it isn't dead, it's just on commercially viable life support.
The Professor

[noiretextatique]

9. you may have to post this tomorrow, willyt

:kick: debate-mania tonight

[WillyT]

10. Hey Blu, How Are Ya !!!

:bounce::loveya::bounce:

[noiretextatique]

18. i'm alive...

and struggling to make ends meet :7 how about you? :hi:

[WillyT]

19. 'Bout The Same As You !!!

There's a rumor we might all get together before the election. You up for that???

:bounce::loveya::bounce:

[noiretextatique]

20. i'm up for it...just keep me posted

i have a lot going on right now, so i'm not always around here :D

[B Calm]

12. #26 Prime Minister of Iraq "Iyad Allawi" blindfolded and shot

prisoners in the head.

[WillyT]

13. PERFECT Addition To The List !!!

:yourock:

[Steelangel]

21. I don't know how you people can be cheerful with that gloomy information

Wow, we are losing our rights literally daily.. I just cannot understand how can repukes not care about their rights and still vote for Bush.

Seem that repukes don't mind to be ignorant people. anyway, after read these 25 censors, I got more depressing. *sigh*

[Steelangel]

22. *kick*