It’s the end of 2024 and with it comes the release of Project Censored’s State of Free Speech and their list of the most censored stories from the last year 2023-2024.
The project now encompasses students and faculty from across campuses in North America. Members of the public can also submit stories to be considered.
Each story is then evaluated in terms of its importance, timeliness, quality of sources and inadequate corporate news coverage. To be considered a story has to hit all four briefs. A second review updates information such as further coverage. The remaining items are labelled as Validated Independent News stories.
In the Spring, they are presented to various bodies to be voted for. This whittles over 100 stories down to the top 25. These top 25 are then subject to an intensive review stage. Finally a panel of judges rank them numerically in importance.
So it takes a long time to bring these stories to the public attention but we can be confident that no stone has been left unturned to ensure we are getting the highest quality journalism. A quality we are sorely lacking in our time of deceit.
Top 25 – Spring 2023-Spring 2024
25 Israel-Linked Group Attempts to Censor Pro-Palestinian Artists on Spotify
24 Forced Labor Traps Children in Paraguay
23 Hospital School Programs Support Student’s Mental Health and Education
22 FBI’s Annual Crime Report Misunderstood and Misrepresented by Media
21 California’s Groundbreaking Investment In Education for Youth
20 Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) Poses Serious First Amendment Concerns
19 Unregulated PFAS (“foreverc chemicals”) Harming Native American Communities
18 Constitutional Loophole Propels Xenophobic Border Policies in Texas
17 Palestinians in Gaza Suffering from Chronic Illnesses Cannot Access Medical Care
16 Activists Rally outside Insurance Giants, Denouncing Fossil Fuel Investments
15 Bottled Water Consumption Exacerbates Socioeconomic Inequalities
14 Companies’ Net-Zero Promises Have Near Zero Credibility
13 Homeland Security, ICE Using Cell-Site Simulators for Illegal Tracking
12 Indigenous Activists in Panama Shut Down Notorious Copper Mine
11 One-Third of Children Globally Face Water Scarcity Due to Climate Change
10 Generative AI Apps Raise Serious Security Concerns
9 Controversial Acquitted-Conduct Sentencing Challenged by US Commission
8 New Federal Rule Limits Transcript Withholding by Colleges and Universities
7 Military Personnel Target Gen Z Recruits with Lurid Social Media Tactics
6 Global Forest Protection Goals at Risk
5 Abortion Services Censored on Social Platforms Globally
4 Natural Gas Industry Hid Health and Climate Risks of Gas Stoves
3 Saltwater Intrusion Threatens US Freshwater Supplies
2 A “Vicious Circle” of Climate Debt Traps World’s Most Vulnerable Nations
1 Thousands Killed and Injured on the Job, with Significant Racial Disparities in Deaths and Injuries
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Well I think the list is interesting but weak.
Interestingly it reveals the thoughts and feelings of the academic body at the moment. The lecturers and their students. As well as the judges of “experts”. The stories chosen reflect a decidedly left bias in the arena of US politic and spotlighting the environment and climate change.
For many there will not be enough stories about Palestine to have made the list or not high enough on the list in comparison to other stories.
There is nothing in here about the Ukraine war and nothing about any of the many research papers about the bad effects of the Covid jab. Perhaps they fell at some hurdle. Maybe they were never up for consideration in the first place. However, as a result, the final effort leaves a lot to be desired.
Although it is interesting to note that a news story about work makes top spot, a reflective of student thinking about the world beyond?
There are, however, some interesting stories here that chances are you’ve never heard about.
To conclude, though, I feel the list only made me feel how deeply misinformed we are as a society that even these supposed experts and pupils in censorship have failed to draw back the curtain on the wizard. It's almost like the university are in actual fact training the media's gatekeepers, or is that just me?