Customer Reviews

Censored 1998: The News That Didn't Make the News

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A highly useful book that includes in its contents: unreported or underreported stories from the mainstream media; a guide to names, addresses and websites of the alternative press; essays and commentaries discussing aspects of the media; and a nifty little chart that traces interlocking corporate rtelationships between the media combines and their fat cat corporate pardners.

The stories themselves vary widely as could be expected. There is however, as Michael Parenti points out, a thread connecting the diversity. That common thread reveals a corporate drive to dominate the civic culture and suppress those stories that might otherwise hinder big money domination. Question - Does this subtext reflect the book's editorial bias as one out to get corporate capitalism, or does it reflect the power of these combines to get their media way on a national scale. You decide. The following are a brief sample of the suppressed stories of 1998.

Big outfits such as Weyerhauser, Coors, et. al., are combining to pressure individual states into passing laws preventing public disclosure or civil suits following upon violation of environmental laws. It works like this. The firm reports its violation to the state and in return receives immunity from prosecution and a sealing of official records from public view. No harm, no foul, and no Erin Brockoviches.

White-collar crime is hardly ever prosecuted by the Justice Dep't - the statistics are in. Of 52,000 criminal indictments in 1996, only 250 involved violations of OSHA laws protecting environment and worker health and safety. This in the face of about 60,000 estimated worker deaths yearly from exposure to toxins. And still business lobbies like NAM and US Chamber of Commerce discourage even this pitiful percentage.

As to that earlier question, I know how I would respond.

Project Censored once again demonstrates how corporate media fails to report such important news stories to the general public. One only needs to compare the top ten junk food news stories to project censored's top ten news stories to see how the media has become an entertainment industry, concerned with ratings and buyers. It is shocking to see how the public can let such events happen without demanding reform. As always, I loved the cartoons by Tom Tomorrow. Great index of alternative news publications.