Project Censored's State of the Free Press 2021
How healthy is journalism in the United States today? Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2021 surveys the desolate landscape of corporate news reporting, where powerful forces interlock to restrict the free flow of information and the black smoke of misinformation pollutes the political landscape. State of the Free Press 2021 also celebrates an authentic alternative—a healthy news ecosystem, sustained by an independent press that engages the public with trustworthy news and analysis.
State of the Free Press 2021 exposes the corporate media’s failures to cover systemic social problems, including the deadly consequences of enduring economic inequality, attacks on freedom of expression, and the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. State of the Free Press 2021 also documents how double standards and skewed framing have served to mystify the public about the COVID-19 pandemic, the debate over healthcare during the 2020 Democratic primary campaign, and mass demonstrations in Hong Kong and Chile.
Most importantly, State of the Free Press 2021 endows readers with the critical media literacy skills required to hold the corporate media to account for distorting or censoring news coverage, and thus, to revitalize our democracy.
To download the Teacher’s Guide for State of the Free Press | 2021, click here.
“At a time when freedom of expression is under enormous threat around the world, with new attacks coming from new directions every day, this book is essential reading.”
—Rachael Jolley, editor-in-chief, Index on Censorship
“Honest. Unflinching. Well-documented. With mounting threats to democracies around the world, we need books like this one now more than ever.” —Aaron Delwiche, professor of communication, Trinity College, and editor of PropagandaCritic.com
“For many decades, Project Censored has championed the voices, views, and stories that our profit-driven media system routinely marginalizes. Now more than ever, we desperately need such invaluable work—calling out censorship in all of its guises—if we are to have any semblance of democracy in the United States.”
—Victor Pickard, author of Democracy Without Journalism?
