Project Censored: Top Stories Ignored by Mainstream Media

The San Francisco Bay Guardian reports on stories covered by Project Censored, out of Sonoma State University, every year. Here's a roundup of the "10 biggest stories ignored by mainstream media" this year. Find the Guardian's whole story, reported by Rebecca Bowe, here.

"Since 1976, Project Censored has endeavored to spotlight important news articles that didn't find their way into mainstream headlines," Bowe writes. "Originating with a classroom assignment in a communictions course taught by Carl Jensen at Sonoma State University, the perennial project has evolved into a book, a radio show and the Project Censored and Media Freedom Internations websites, which aggregate underreported independent news stories from around the globe."

Here are the stories as written by Bowe — check 'em out and let us know what you think in the comments below.

1. "More soldier suicides than combat deaths: six more, to be exact ... 642 American soldiers were killed in combat in 2010 while 648 soldiers, including enlisted men and women as well as veterans, took their own lives."

2. "US Military's 'Friend' Fake-Out: The U.S. Central Command secured a contract with a Los-Angeles-based company to develop the program, which enables U.S. service workers to use fake online personas on social media sites to influence online chatter."

3. "Obama's Hit List: The CIA and the U.S. military have authority to kill U.S. citizens abroad, outside war zones, if strong evidence exists that they'r einvolved in terrorist activity, the Washington Post reported in a front page story in January of 2010."

4. "Human-Caused Food Crisis: David Moberg offers an in-depth breakdown of the global food crisis for 'In These Times' in an article highlighted by Project Censored, toughing on the environmental context of worsening droughts and flooding, as well as the economic ramifications of a system in which free-market speculators stand to profit from volatile food prices."

5. "Prison Companies Fund Anit-Immigrant Legislation: When Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer ran for reelecton in 2010, her greatest out-of-state campaign contributions came from high-ranking executives of Corrections Corporation of America, one of the nation's largest prison companies. Brewer gained nororiety among immigrant rights advocates after championing SB 1070, strict anti-illegal immigration legislation that drew criticism for legitimizing racial profiling."

6. "Google Spies? A flurry of stories aired in the spring of 2010 when it became apparent that Google Street View vehicles, in the process of collecting data for its mapping service, also picked up on consumer 'payload' data on Wi-Fi networks, including email messages, website data, user names and passwords."

7. "Stay Positive — At All Costs: A military training program ... was profiled in a detailed 'American Psychologist' series in early 2011. Comprehensive Soldier Fitness is described as a 'holistic approach to warrior training,' emphasizing positive psychology as means to counter mental health problems arising from horrific combat situations."

8. "The Myth of Clean Nuclear Power: The terrifying meltdown of Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactors reignited a worldwide debate about the wisdom of relying on nuclear energy as an electricity source. Project Censored's critique of mainstream media's treatment of nuclear power is that it's too willing to endorse the idea that power is safe so long as proper safety measures are in place ..."

9. "The Government is Manipulating the Weather: The authors point us to a Centre for Research on Globalization, entitled 'Atmospheric Geoengineering: Weather Manipulation, Contrails and Chemtrails," by Rady Ananda, who begins by informing readers 'the military-industrial complex stands poised to capitalize on controlling the world's weather.'"

10. "The 'Real' Unemployment Rate: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the 'official unemployment rate' by counting everyone who had no job, was available for work, and had actively sought work in the last four weeks ... but alternative statistics incorporate so-called 'discouraged workers,' unemployed individuals who've given up on the job hunt."

If you'd like to read more about any of the stories mentioned above, check out the rest of Bowe's story for the Guardian here, or read Project Censored online.