Books and Cooks July 1999

Censored 1999

Our rating: 2.75 cups of tea!
(Low rating, but this book generated lots of discussion)

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Discussion date: Thursday, July 15, 1999, 6:30 PM

Discussion place: Jen's Place

Menu: Spaghetti and meatballs, zucchini/apple salad, smoked salmon, chilled honeydew soup, and more. . .

Amazon.com says:
While members of the press and punditry were crawling all over each other to talk about Bill Clinton's sex life throughout 1998, other things were happening that you may not have heard about. Like the American government's repeated noncompliance with the UN's comprehensive test ban treaty on nuclear weapons. Or Nigerian soldiers being helicoptered to a Chevron facility by the company, shooting at a group of student demonstrators there, and killing two of them. Or that recently declassified documents suggest that--despite what we were told in the '50s--the fluoride in our water might not be so safe after all. Catch up on these and other stories the mainstream media never quite got around to reporting. Censored 1999 also has updates on coverage of the top underreported stories of 1998, a guide to online news resources, and several cartoons by Tom Tomorrow skewering the established media perspective. --Ron Hogan

Book Description
Compiled by the Project Censored staff under the directorship of Peter Phillips, with over 150 student researchers, faculty, media scholars, and critics, Censored 1999 stands in stark contrast to the news reported by the major networks or the daily newspapers. This year's collection features: Luke Hiken with the National Lawyers Guild on the First Amendment and pirate radio stations in the U.S.; Steve Wilson and Jane Akre on Fox News and the controversial Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) story ; "Censored Dja Vu" -- Censored stories from previous years that have since received mainstream coverage; and "Junk Food News" -- The most over-covered, least newsworthy stories that dominated the media at the expense of real news. Also included are the "Censored Resource Guide," "Censored Guide to On-line Resources," and "Alternative Writer's Market."

The Books and Cooks Censored 1999 Informal Reading Guide
(member-generated questions in no particular order)

• How did CNN's retraction of the Tailwind story come across to you? Retracted due to pressure? Retracted due to insufficient evidence? Retracted for some vague reason that you inferred to be insufficient evidence?

• What are your thoughts on the story about the slanting of the photos and rumors of "rape camps" in the former Yugoslavia, in light of the actions that have recently been taken by the U.N.?

• Is there any similarity between the micro-radio broadcasters and those who publish to the world wide web? Differences? Discuss.

• If you don't trust mass media and you don't trust left-wing organizations (because they have their own agenda) what realistic options do you have to keeping yourself informed?

• Is mass media abused by the government and large corporations without our/the people's consent or have we chosen entertainment over information? Do the people have a duty to be informed or do we have a right to keep to ourselves? If we have a duty to keep ourselves informed, do we also have a duty to act on this information? In short, what are our responsibilities?

• Do you feel that when a pharmaceutical company manufactures carcinogens and also "cures" for breast cancer that this logically means that the company is committing murder and trying to make up for it?

• Has Censored 1999 changed the way you think about any of the issues covered, or do you finish reading the book with roughly the same attitudes that you started with?

• In the article on "NewsWatch Canada", a reluctance to call the under- or un-reported stories "censored" is expressed. Are the year's top 25 censored stories really censored, or is the title exaggerating?

• When you see news stories in your area of expertise, are you generally satisfied or dissatisfied with their presentation of the issues? How does this compare to your satisfaction in general of news reporting?

• Were there any stories that you felt weren't as important as was implied by Censored 1999?

• The short form of the title is "Censored 1999." Is "censored" an accurate description for all of the 25 stories?

• What role did the comics play in presenting the book's material/message? Comic relief? Driving a point home? Keep you reading?

• Do you think listing "Clinton's Sex Life" as the #1 junk news story of the year was accurate?

• What are some stories today that you consider underreported?

• Approximately how many of the stories covered here were you already aware of?

• Did the fluoride story make any sense to you?

• How much alternate media do you read? Do you plan on reading more now?

• Are the censored stories interesting in and of themselves, or is their main appeal the fact that they're censored? Actually, are they interesting at all?

This Page Last Revised: November 21, 2000.