Contents

FOR EWO RD : Sifting and Winnowing in the

“Post-Truth” Era by Deepa Kumar.................................................................... 11

INTR OD U CT IO N : by Andy Lee Roth and Mickey Huff..................................... 17

CH APTE R 1: The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2016–17

Compiled and edited by Andy Lee Roth........................................................... 31
Introduction.................................................................................................. 31
Note on Research and Evaluation of Censored News Stories..................... 39
1. Widespread Lead Contamination Threatens Children’s
Health, and Could Triple Household Water Bills............................................41
2. Over Six Trillion Dollars in Unaccountable Army Spending.............. 44
3. Pentagon Paid UK PR Firm for Fake Al-Qaeda Videos....................... 47
4. Voter Suppression in the 2016 Presidential Election..........................49
5. Big Data and Dark Money behind the 2016 Election........................... 51
6. Antibiotic Resistant “Superbugs” Threaten Health
and Foundations of Modern Medicine..................................................54
7. The Toll of US Navy Training on Wildlife in the North Pacific............57
8. Maternal Mortality a Growing Threat in the US.................................. 59
9. DNC Claims Right to Select Presidential Candidate............................61
10. 2016: A Record Year for Global Internet Shutdowns..........................64
11. Law Enforcement Surveillance of Phone Records............................... 67
12. US Quietly Established New “Anti-Propaganda” Center..................... 71
13. Right-Wing Money Promotes Model Legislation to Restrict Free
Speech on University Campuses...........................................................73
14. Judges across US Using Racially Biased Software to
Assess Defendants’ Risk of Committing Future Crimes.....................75
15. Shell Understood Climate Change as Early as 1991—
and Ignored It.........................................................................................77
16. “Resilient” Indian Communities Struggle to Cope
with Impacts of Climate Change..........................................................80
17. Young Plaintiffs Invoke Constitutional Grounds for
Climate Protection..................................................................................81

7
 18. Rise in Number of Transgender People Murdered.............................. 84
19. Inmates and Activists Protest Chemical Weapons
in US Prisons and Jails..........................................................................86
20. Seattle Activist Group Leads First Successful Campaign
to Defund Police...................................................................................... 88
21. Fossil Fuel Industry “Colonizing” US Universities.............................89
22. Lawsuit against Illinois Department of Corrections
Exposes Militarization of Law Enforcement inside Prisons............... 92
23. Facebook Buys Sensitive User Data to Offer Marketers
Targeted Advertising..............................................................................94
24. Eight Use of Force Policies to Prevent Killings by Police....................96
25. Juvenile Court Fees Punish Children for
Their Families’ Poverty..........................................................................98

CH APTE R 2 : Post-Truth Dystopia: Fake News, Alternative Facts, and the

Ongoing War on Reality—Junk Food News and News Abuse for 2016–17
by Nolan Higdon and Mickey Huff, with student writers and researchers
Aimee Casey, Gabriella Custodio, Elsa Denis, Thomas Field, Alisha
Huajardo, Justin Lascano, Aubrey Sanchez, Edwin Sevilla, Hannah
Soule, Kelly Van Boekhout, Kristen van Zyll de Jong, Michael Vega,
Clark Venter, and Mark Yolangco....................................................................107

CH APTE R 3 : Media Democracy in Action

introduction by Andy Lee Roth, with contributions by Rachael Jolley
(Index on Censorship), Chase Palmieri (Tribeworthy), Mahsood Ebrahim
and Julianne Rodriguez (Citrus College), Kevin Gosztola and Rania
Khalek (Unauthorized Disclosure), and Gennie Gebhart (Electronic
Frontier Foundation).......................................................................................139

CH APTE R 4 : The New American Authoritarianism: How the Corporate Media

Normalized Racism in 2016
by Nolan Higdon and Nicholas L. Baham III.................................................163

CH APTE R 5: Trump Universe

words by Adam Bessie and pictures by Peter Glanting................................. 185

CH APTE R 6 : Defamation as Censorship in the Social-Media Era:

Who Counts as a Media Defendant?
by Elizabeth Blakey..........................................................................................197

8 CENSORED 2018
CH APTE R 7: Still Manufacturing Consent: The Propaganda Model at Thirty
by Edward S. Herman.......................................................................................209

CH APTE R 8 : Breaking Through Power: Mass Media Blacks Out

the Super Bowl of Citizen Action
by Ralph Nader.................................................................................................225

Acknowledgments.............................................................................................241

Annual Report from the Media Freedom Foundation President

by Mickey Huff................................................................................................. 251

How to Support Project Censored................................................................... 255

About the Editors..............................................................................................257

Index................................................................................................................. 259

CENSORED 2018 9