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Top Ten Stories

Annual news release from Project Censored

Project Censored, a national media research effort headquartered at Sonoma State University in California, is now in its twenty-first year of locating stories about significant issues that are not widely publicized by the national news media. Judges for top censored stories include Frances Moore Lappe, Ben Bagdikian, Susan Faludi, and Michael Parenti.



1. RISKING THE WORLD: NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION IN SPACE. In October 1997, NASA plans to launch the Cassini probe into space carrying 72 pounds of lethal plutonium-238, risking dispersement upon liftoff or reentry into the atmosphere during a 42,300 miles-per-hour flight. (CovertAction Quarterly)


2. SHELL'S OIL, AFRICA'S BLOOD. Following Nigeria's execution of nine Ogoni activists protesting Royal Dutch/Shell's environmental devastation of their homeland, evidence has surfaced indicating Shell encouraged Nigerian military action against the protesters. (San Francisco Bay Guardian)


3. BIG PERKS FOR WEALTHY HIDDEN IN MINIMUM WAGE BILL. The Small Business Job protection Act of 1996 includes unpublicized provisions aimed at neither small business owners nor their employees. (The New Republic)


4. PUBLIC RELATIONS INDUSTRY'S SECRET WAR ON ACTIVISTS. Strategies employed by major PR firms to influence and manipulate public opinion and policy include defamation, deception, and "Astroturf" campaigns. (CovertAction Quarterly)


5. CORPORATE CRIME: WHITEWASH AT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT. the Justice Department neglects to effectively regulate or prosecute white-collar crime, which costs society 10 to 50 times more than street crime. (CovertAction Quarterly)


6. NEW MEGA-MERGED BANKING BEHE-MOTHS=BIG RISK. Massive consolidation of the nation's banking resource means higher rates for consumers, and dramatically increases taxpayer liability should a bailout similar to the S&L crisis become necessary. (Multinational Monitor)


7. CASHING IN ON POVERTY. Corporate America's poverty industry profits by exploiting the poor through price gouging and predatory lending and marketing practices. (The Nation)


8. BIG BROTHER GOES HIGH-TECH. New technology is rapidly facilitating mass, routine surveillance of world citizens without proper warrants or formal investigations. (CovertAction Quarterly)


9. US TROOPS EXPOSED TO DEPLETED URANIUM DURING GULF WAR. The Pentagon failed to warn troops about the dangers of handling depleted uranium (DU) munitions, the use of which may be associated with Gulf War illnesses. (Military Toxics Project)


10. FACING FOOD SCARCITY. The global food supply is not nearly as secure as projected by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Bank. (World Watch)






Free Press writer Eric Nelson's article "Lettuce Libel" (April/May 1996 ) won the #13 slot in Project Censored's latest annual top censored stories list. It will appear with other top censored stories in the publication Censored 1997: The News That Didn't Make The News. Eric's article explained how new "food disparagement" laws are cropping up around the country, making it easier for food growers to sue people who criticize fruits, vegetables, or pesticides used on them.


To nominate a story for next year's list, contact
Project Censored c/o
Sonoma State University
1801 East Cotati Avenue
Rohnert Park CA 94928-3609


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Contents this page were published in the May/June, 1997 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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