Project Censored has released their list of the most censored stories of 2003-2004:
- #1: Wealth Inequality in 21st Century Threatens Economy and Democracy
- #2: Ashcroft vs. the Human Rights Law that Holds Corporations Accountable
- #3: Bush Administration Censors Science
- #4: High Levels of Uranium 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: Cheney’s Energy Task Force and The Energy Policy
- #9: Widow Brings RICO Case Against U.S. government for 9/11
- #10: New Nuke Plants: Taxpayers Support, Industry Profits
- #11: The Media Can Legally Lie
- #12: The Destabilization of Haiti
- #13: Schwarzenegger Met with Enron’s Ken Lay Years Before the California Recall
- #14: New Bill Threatens Intellectual Freedom in Area Studies
- #15: U.S. Develops Lethal New Viruses
- #16: Law Enforcement Agencies Spy on Innocent Citizens
- #17: U.S. 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: Censoring Iraq
- #23: Brazil Holds Back in FTAA Talks, But Provides Little Comfort for the Poor of South America
- #24: Reinstating the Draft
- #25: Wal-Mart Brings Inequality and Low Prices to the World
We should all be particularly amused/concerned about #11, The Media Can Legally Lie. The story involves Fox, of course, and is about their attempts to force their news staff to cover up a story about the health risks of BGH (bovine growth hormone), a Monsanto product. When Fox fired the team, they filed for whistle blower protection and won, but Fox appealed and won the second round. The precedent set is that the FCC rule that broadcasters cannot distort or lie about facts does not have the weight of law and so the news team didn’t have a right to whistle blower protections in their attempts to support the ‘rule.’
Mike Powell’s FCC could have have filed a brief in support of the whistle blowers, but that’s not his style. Mike Powell’s FCC doesn’t support its own rules.