Censored 2020: Through the Looking Glass

The establishment media can make us sick of news even as we’re starving for it. If we aren’t careful, we’ll end up like Alice, swimming in a sea of our own tears. The magic mirrors of clickbait-driven reporting, pundits’ 24/7 “hot takes,” and social media feeds governed by secret algorithms leave us with distorted or even inverted representations of reality.

The diverse contributors to Censored 2020 call out and oppose these distortions, defying those who would create a wonderland where narrow self-interest, rather than factually-grounded reality, serves as truth’s primary arbiter.

Censored 2020 scrutinizes the looking-glass logic of the corporate media—where imaginary threats outweigh real existential crises, privacy is a luxury, and consent must be manufactured at all costs—and it celebrates the work of independent journalists and news organizations who courageously refocus our vision on the type of news we need to act as engaged community members and informed citizens.

Censored 2020 demonstrates that the best independent journalism is constructive as well as critical—not only exposing dire problems, but also uniting communities to take action.