Project Censored

Project Censored was founded in 1976 by Carl Jensen, Associate Professor of Media Studies at Sonoma State College, as a media research program.{{cite book |last1=Morrow |first1=Frank |title=The U.S. Power Structure and the Mass Media |date=1984 |url=https://archive.org/details/TheU.s.PowerStructureAndTheMassMedia/ |language=English |quote=ark:/13960/t5j962f5k Ph.D dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin}} {{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheU.s.PowerStructureAndTheMassMedia/Chapter4-TheContentOfMassMedia--ElementsForBias_djvu.txt|title=chapter 4|date=1984 }}{{cite news | title = Project Censored founder Carl Jensen dies at 85 | newspaper = The Press Democrat | first = Paul | last = Payne | date = April 26, 2015 | url = http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/3851248-181/project-censored-founder-carl-jensen | access-date = Feb 14, 2018}} The project focused on student media literacy and critical thinking skills as applied to the US news media censorship.{{Cite book|title=Censored 20th Anniversary Edition: The 1996 Project Censored Yearbook|last=Jensen|first=Carl|publisher=Seven Stories Press|year=1996|location=New York|pages=14–15}}

Corporate media reporters, editors, and executives{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKoDqErD_A8 |title=Project Censored: Is the Press Really Free? The 1998 documentary |date=2012-06-12 |last=Steve Keller |access-date=2025-04-08 |via=YouTube}} lampooned Jensen for claiming they "censored" news stories. They argued that the stories were not censored, but that due to time and space constraints, they could not publish every story. Jensen began an annual study that found that, rather than covering newsworthy stories, the corporate media often featured trivial and non-newsworthy stories, which Jensen termed "junk food news" in a 1983 interview published in Penthouse.{{Cite book|last=Jenson|first=Carl|title=Censored 2001|publisher=Seven Stories Press|year=2001|isbn=978-1-58322-064-1|pages=251–264|language=English}} Since the first Censored yearbook, published in 1993, each annual Censored volume has featured a chapter dedicated to exposing examples of what Jensen originally identified as "junk food news".

In 1996, when Jensen retired, Peter Phillips, also a sociology professor at Sonoma State University, became director of Project Censored. He continued to expand the Project's educational outreach and the annual book, adding the concept and analysis of "News Abuse" to elaborate Jensen's idea of "junk food" news.{{Cite book|title=News Abuse of 1999," Censored 2000: The Year's Top Censored Stories|last=Hale|first=Corey|publisher=Seven Stories|year=2016|location=New York|pages=157–163}} "News abuse" refers to corporate media stories that were newsworthy, but presented in a slanted or non-newsworthy manner.{{Cite book|title=Junk Food News and News Abuse: A Brief History," Censored 2017: Fortieth Anniversary Edition, ed. Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth with Project Censored|last=Nolan Higdon|first=Mickey Huff|publisher=Seven Stories|year=2016|location=New York|pages=149–151}}

In 2000, Project Censored came under the oversight of the non-profit Media Freedom Foundation, founded by Jensen and Phillips to ensure its independence. In 2007, two of Project Censored judges resigned due to then-director Peter Phillips' decision to invite Steven E. Jones, a 9/11 Truth conspiracy theorist, as the keynote speaker to the Project's annual conference.{{cite journal | title = Two Project Censored judges resign over 9/11 controversy | journal = St. Louis Journalism Review | first = CD | last = Stelzer | date = August 1, 2007 | volume =37 | issue = 298 | pages = 20–22}}

File:Mickey Huff.jpg

[https://www.projectcensored.org/mickey-huff/ Mickey Huff] of Diablo Valley College became director in 2010.{{cite news | title = Walnut Creek: 'Project Censored' leaders discuss work, new film | newspaper = The Mercury News | date = March 26, 2014 | first = Lou | last = Fancher | url = https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/03/26/walnut-creek-project-censored-leaders-discuss-work-new-film/ | access-date = Feb 14, 2018}} He and [https://www.projectcensored.org/andy-lee-roth/ Andy Lee Roth] (associate director, 2012-2024) extended the Project beyond Sonoma State University and expanded the Campus Affiliates Program launched in 2009.{{Cite news|url=http://projectcensored.org/about-validated-independent-news/|title=About Validated Independent News -|work=Project Censored|access-date=2018-02-05|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=http://news.sonoma.edu/article/project-censored-turns-40|title=Project Censored Turns 40|date=2016-12-13|work=SSU News|access-date=2018-02-05|language=en}} The top "Censored" news stories are identified through the Campus Affiliates Program, a collaborative effort between faculty and students at many colleges and universities.{{Cite book|title=Censored 2018: Press Freedoms in a "Post-Truth" World|last=Andy Lee Roth and|first=Mickey Huff|publisher=Seven Stories Press|year=2017|location=New York|pages=36, 39–40}} In 2025, [https://www.projectcensored.org/shealeigh-voitl/ Shealeigh Voitl] became associate director.{{Cite web |last=Horgan |first=Kate |date=2025-03-24 |title=The Project Censored Newsletter—March 2025 |url=https://www.projectcensored.org/the-project-censored-newsletter-march-2025/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=www.projectcensored.org |language=en-US}}

Since 1993, Project Censored has published its annual list of the most under-reported news stories in the form of a book. Since 1996, Seven Stories Press in New York has published each annual Censored book.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sevenstories.com/authors/314-project-censored|title=Seven Stories Press|website=sevenstories.com|access-date=2018-02-05}} The first Project Censored yearbook, Censored: The News That Didn’t Make the News—And Why, edited by Carl Jensen, was published by Shelburne Press in 1993.{{Cite book|title=Censored : the news that didn't make the news--and why|first=Carl|last=Jensen|date=1993|publisher=Shelburne Press|isbn=1882680006|edition=1st|location=Chapel Hill, NC|oclc=27810906|url=https://archive.org/details/censorednewsthat00jensrich}} Two subsequent volumes, the 1994 and 1995 yearbooks, were published by Four Walls Eight Windows.{{Cite book|title=Censored : the news that didn't make the news--and why : the 1995 project censored yearbook|first=Carl|last=Jensen|date=1995|publisher=Four Walls Eight Windows|isbn=1568580304|edition=1st|location=New York|oclc=32779730|url=https://archive.org/details/censorednewsthat00jens}} From 2022 to 2025, the yearbooks were jointly published by Seven Stories Press and Project Censored’s publishing imprint, The Censored Press. The 2026 yearbook will be published solely by The Censored Press.

The organization's annual listing of the most significant but under-reported news stories, dating back to 1976, is archived on the Project Censored website.{{Cite news|url=http://projectcensored.org/top-25-censored-stories-of-all-time/|title=Top 25 Archive -|work=Project Censored|access-date=2018-02-05|language=en-US}} Previous years' "Censored" lists have been featured in U.S. national media outlets.{{cite news | title = A Creaky Soapbox | last = Goodman | first = Hal | journal= Across the Board | volume = 31 | issue = 7 | date = 1994 | pages = 58}}{{cite news | title = Project Censored | journal = Editor & Publisher | volume = 122 | issue = 23 | date = June 10, 1989 | pages = 42}}{{cite news | title = Project Censored | journal = Editor & Publisher | volume = 119 | issue = 26 | date = June 28, 1986 | pages = 19}}{{cite news | title = The Most 'Spiked' Stories | journal = Editor & Publisher | volume = 124 | issue = 4 | date = Jan 26, 1991 | pages = 28}}{{cite news | title = Only the polluted tip of the iceberg | last = Klotzer | first = Charles L. | journal = The St. Louis Journalism Review | volume = 36 | issue = 290 | date =Oct 2006 | pages = 28–29}}{{cite journal | title = 20 Years of Censored News | last1 = Stuttaford |first1= Genevieve | last2= Simson | first2 = Maria | last3 = Zaleski | first3= Jeff | journal = Publishers Weekly | volume = 244 | issue = 42 | date =Oct 13, 1997 | pages = 62}}{{Cite web|last=Rosenberg|first=Paul|date=2021-11-25|title=Project Censored, Part 1: The New Normal Is More Normalized Censorship|url=https://prospect.org/api/content/51199a02-4cc3-11ec-ba5f-12f1225286c6/|access-date=2022-02-23|website=The American Prospect|language=en-us}}

The Censored Press was established in 2021 by the Media Freedom Foundation and Project Censored. The Censored Press has published a number of notable titles, including Going Remote: A Teacher's Journey,{{cite web |title=Going Remote: A Teacher's Journey by Adam Bessie, Peter Glanting |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781644212707 |website=Publishers Weekly}} Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange,{{cite web |title=Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange by Kevin Gosztola |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781644212721 |website=Publishers Weekly}} The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People,{{cite web |title=THE MEDIA AND ME |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ben-boyington/the-media-and-me/ |publisher=Kirkus Reviews |language=en|date=Oct 15, 2022}} and Titans of Capital: How Concentrated Wealth Threatens Humanity,{{Cite web |last=Moscrop |first=David |date=August 11, 2024 |title=Economic Overlords Are Destroying Democracy — and Our Lives |url=https://jacobin.com/2024/08/finance-titans-democracy-climate-davos/ |access-date=April 7, 2025 |website=The Jacobin}} each of which were which was co-published by the Censored Press and Seven Stories Press.

Since 2010, Project Censored has produced a weekly public affairs program originating from KPFA in Berkeley, California, part of the Pacifica Foundation. The Project Censored Radio Show is syndicated on 40 radio stations across North America.{{Cite news|url=http://projectcensored.org/radio/|title=The Project Censored Radio Show -|work=Project Censored|access-date=2018-02-05|language=en-US}}

Project Censored has been the subject of two feature-length documentary films. In 2013, Doug Hecker and Christopher Oscar produced and directed Project Censored: The Movie: Ending the Reign of Junk Food News.{{Cite web|url=http://www.projectcensoredthemovie.com/|title=About the Movement: The Film|website=Project Censored|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-05}}{{Citation|last1=Hecker|first1=Doug|title=Project Censored the Movie|date=2013-04-12|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2689286/|last2=Oscar|first2=Christopher|others=Nora Barrows-Friedman, Khalil Bendib, Nora Burrows-Friedman|access-date=2018-02-05}} The film features interviews with and commentary by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Dan Rather, Phil Donahue, Michael Parenti, Greg Palast, Oliver Stone, Daniel Ellsberg, Peter Kuznick, Cynthia McKinney, Nora Barrows-Friedman, John Perkins, Jonah Raskin, Khalil Bendib, Abby Martin, and faculty and students associated with Project Censored.

Project Censored: The Movie screened at numerous film festivals, including its premiere at the Sonoma International Film Festival in April 2013,{{cite web|url=http://www.sonomafilmfest.org/film-festival-awards-2013.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909165529/http://www.sonomafilmfest.org/film-festival-awards-2013.html|archive-date=Sep 9, 2013|title=SIFF AWARDS 2013|work=Sonoma International Film Festival|quote=NB: PROJECT CENSORED: THE MOVIE... was also one of the most popular documentaries, as well as easily being the best-attended film of the entire Festival.}} the Bend Film Festival in October 2013, and the Madrid International Film Festival in July 2013, where Doug Hecker and Christopher Oscar were recognized for Best Directing of a Feature Documentary.{{Cite news|url=https://www.vimooz.com/2013/07/15/amorous-pancho-villa-a-common-man-2013-madrid-international-film-festival-winers/|title="AMOROUS PANCHO VILLA" "A COMMON MAN" Win Top Awards at 2013 Madrid International Film Festival {{!}} VIMOOZ|date=2013-07-15|work=VIMOOZ|access-date=2018-02-05|language=en-US}}

In 1998, Differential Films released Project Censored: Is the Press Really Free?, directed and produced by Steven Keller. In May 2000, Project Censored: Is the Press Really Free? aired on PBS stations across the United States.{{Cite news|url=https://www.alternet.org/story/1786/project_censored,_the_movie|title=Project Censored, the Movie|last=Hausman|first=Tate|date=2000-04-25|work=AlterNet|access-date=2018-02-05}}

Project Censored stories have been cited in both national and international media.{{cite news | title = Greatest sin in today's media is laziness rather than bias | work = Contra Costa Times | first = Molly | last = Ivins |author-link=Molly Ivins| date = September 22, 2005}}{{cite magazine | last = Stein | first = M L | title = Project Censored | magazine = Editor & Publisher | volume = 126 | issue = 5 | date = Jan 30, 1993| pages = 16}} Ralph Nader described Project Censored as "a deep, wide and utterly engrossing exercise to unmask censorship, self-censorship, and propaganda in the mass media."{{Cite book |title=Censored 2015: inspiring We the people: the top censored stories and media analysis of 2013-2014|last1=Roth|first1=Andrew Lee |last2=Huff |first2=Mickey |isbn=978-1609805654|edition=1st |location=New York|oclc=868199592|date=2014-10-07}} In December 2013, Nader selected Censored 2014: Fearless Speech in Fateful Times as one of his "10 Books to Provoke Conversation" in 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-nader/2014-book-recommendations_b_4524616.html|title=10 Books to Provoke Conversation in the New Year|last=Nader|first=Ralph|date=2013-12-31|website=Huffington Post|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-05}}

On the other hand, in 2000, Don Hazen, the first executive director of the progressive news analysis and commentary website AlterNet, criticized Project Censored as "stuck in the past" with a "dubious selection process" that "reinforces self-marginalizing, defeatist behavior".{{Cite news|url=http://www.alternet.org/story/202/|title=Beyond Project Censored: It's Time for a New Award|last=Hazen|first=Don|date=2000-03-31|work=AlterNet|access-date=2018-02-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040708005650/http://www.alternet.org/story/202/|archive-date=July 8, 2004}} It has also been criticized for reporting on stories that are arguably not "under-reported" or "censored" at all, as they have appeared in The New York Times and other such high-profile publications.{{Cite news|url=https://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2000/04/projectcensored.html|title=The Unbearable Lameness of Project Censored|work=Mother Jones|access-date=2018-02-05|language=en-US}} Furthermore, the organization's use of the term "censorship" to describe under-reported items, rather than governmentally censored material, has been called into question.{{cite news | title = The great alternative press | last = Lehrer | first = Eli | work = The American Enterprise| volume = 9 | issue = 3 | date = 1998 | pages = 15–16}} William Powers, writing in The New Republic, called this broad use of the term "pernicious and deceptive."{{cite magazine | title = Censor this | first = William | last = Powers | magazine = The New Republic | volume = 217 | issue = 1 | date = July 7, 1997 | pages = 15–16}}

The 1995 edition of Censored: The News That Didn’t Make the News—And Why won the 1996 Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Nonfiction.{{cite web|url=http://www.readersread.com/awards/firecracker.htm|title=Firecracker Alternative Book Awards|work=ReadersRead.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304133738/http://www.readersread.com/awards/firecracker.htm|archive-date=Mar 4, 2009}}

In 2008, Project Censored received PEN Oakland's Censorship award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.penoakland.com/awards-winners/|title=Awards & Award Winners|website=PEN Oakland|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514072907/https://www.penoakland.com/awards-winners|archive-date=2019-05-14|url-status=dead}}

In July 2014, Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth received the National Whistleblowers Center's Pillar Award for New Media on behalf of Project Censored.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

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Category:American journalism organizations

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