Censored 2014 (30 page)

^3.
The decline of American civilization has been the serious subject of numerous scholars for the better part of half a century. For more on this thesis, and some of the latest scholarly work on the matter, see Morris Berman,
Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline
(Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2012).

^4.
Mark Jurkowitz, et al., “The Changing TV News Landscape,”
State of the News Media 2013: An Annual Report on American Journalism,
Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (2013),
http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/the-changing-tv-news-landscape/
. For more on the state of the news media studies by Pew, see
http://stateofthemedia.org/
.

^5.
Jodi Enda and Amy Mitchell, “Americans Show Signs of Leaving a News Outlet, Citing Less Information,”
State of the News Media 2013: An Annual Report on American Journalism,
Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (2013),
http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/specia-reports-landing-page/citing-reduced-quality-many-americans-abandon-news-outlets
. Other issues impacting media credibility and public trust include serious news blunders by major corporate media outlets, like this past year when CNN and Fox both reported that the Obama health care law was overturned by the Supreme Court, while it was not, but both networks rushed to broadcast before getting all the facts and were slow to reverse course. See Steve Myers, “Were CNN & Fox News' Mistakes on Supreme Court Ruling Part of ‘Process Journalism'?”
Poynter.org
, June 29, 2012,
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/179341/were-cnn-fox-news-mistakes-on-supreme-court-ruling-part-of-process-journalism
.

^6.
Ibid.

^7.
“Fox News Credibility Declines,” Public Policy Polling, February 6, 2013,
http://www.publicpol-icypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_National_206.pdf
. On voters' views on news sources: “We continue to find that Democrats trust most TV news sources other than Fox, while Republicans don't trust anything except Fox,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “News preferences are very polarizing along party lines.” In other words, people believe
their
sources of news are okay, and that all the rest of them are bunk.

^8.
“Press Widely Criticized, But Trusted More than Other Information Sources,” Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, September 22, 2011,
http://www.people-press.org/2011/09/22/press-widely-criticized-but-trusted-more-than-other-institutions
.

^9.
Ibid.

^10.
A recounting of the development of Junk Food News and News Abuse research is published in Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff, eds.,
Censored 2010
(New York: Seven Stories Press, 2009), ch. 3, “Infotainment Society: Junk Food News and News Abuse for 2008–09”; Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, eds.,
Censored 2011
(New York: Seven Stories Press, 2010), ch. 3, “Manufacturing Distraction: Junk Food News and New Abuse on a Feed to Know Basis”; Mickey Huff and Project Censored,
Censored 2012
(New York: Seven Stories Press, 2011), ch. 3, “Framing the Messengers: Junk Food News and News Abuse for Dummies”; and Mickey Huff, Andy Lee Roth, and Project Censored,
Censored 2013: Dispatches jrom the Media Revolution
(New York: Seven Stories Press, 2012), ch. 3, “American Idle: Junk Food News, News Abuse, and the Voice of Freedumb.” Also see Carl Jensen and Project Censored,
Censored 1994
(New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994), 142–143. Further, Jensen added to this sentiment in “Junk Food News 1877–2000,” ch. 5 in Peter Phillips, ed.,
Censored 2001
(New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001), 251–264.

^11.
Mark Saunders, “Royal Baby Announcement Marks Dramatic Break with Tradition,” CNN, December 4, 2012,
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/04/world/europe/royal-baby-announcement-saunders/index.html
.

^12.
Fox News, “Nurse Radio Hosts Pranked to Get Royal Baby Details Commits Suicide,” December 7, 2012,
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/12/07/royal-prank-call-nurse-reportedly-commits-suicide/#ixzz2Feolx8mO
.

^13.
Jon Queally, “Decade of US ‘War on Terror' Yields More ‘Terrorism,'” Common Dreams, December 4, 2012,
https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/04
.

^14.
Noam Chomsky,
9–11
(New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001), 76.

^15.
Nancy Dillon, Taylor Dungjen, and Tina Moore, “Katie Holmes' Secret Escape Plan: Actress Rented Her Own New York City Apartment before Ditching Tom,”
New York Daily News,
July 1, 2012,
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/katie-holmes-secret-escape-plan-actress-rented-new-york-city-apartment-ditching-tom-article-1.1105652#1xzz2KqhXbCm4
.

^16.
“Libor (Barclays Interest Rate Manipulation Case),”
New York Times,
December 19, 2012,
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/l/london_interbank_offered_rate_li-bor/index.html
.

^17.
Immanual Wallerstein, “The LIBOR Scandal: Why is it Scandalous?”
Iwallerstein.com
, Commentary 334, August 1, 2012,
http://www.iwallerstein.com/libor-scandal-scandalous
.

^18.
“Here Are the 16 Banks Under Investigation over the Libor Scandal,”
Huffington Post,
Reuters, July 11, 2012,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/libor-rate-scandal_n_1664737.html
.

^19.
Ben Dimiero and Rob Savillo, “Media Prioritize Animal Attacks, Tom Cruise over Huge Bank Scandal, Media Matters for America,” Media Matters, July 19, 2012,
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/19/report-media-prioritize-animal-attacks-tom-crui/187238
.

^20.
“Gangnam Style YouTube Views: Psy's Viral Hit Beats Bieber to Become Most-Viewed YouTube Video Ever,”
Huffington Post,
November 24, 2012,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/24/gangnam-style-youtube-views_n_2185280.html
.

^21.
Jordan Zakarin, “Man Collapses, Dies After Dancing ‘Gangnam Style,'”
Hollywood Reporter,
December 13, 2012,
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/man-dies-dancing-gangnam-style-402032
.

^22.
“Man Dies of Heart Attack after Dancing to ‘Gangnam Style,'” Sun, December 13, 2012,
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/12/13/man-dies-heart-attack-after-dancing-to-gangnam-style/#ixzz2FfGTqN9S
.

^23.
Jordan Zakarin, “Man Collapses, Dies After Dancing ‘Gangnam Style,'”
Hollywood Reporter,
December 13, 2012,
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/man-dies-dancing-gangnam-style-402032
.

^24.
Glenn Greenwald, “The PSY Scandal: Singing about Killing People v. Constantly Doing It,”
Guardian,
December 10, 2012,
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/10-3
.

^25.
Carlos Maza, “Gangnam Style Overshadows Uganda's ‘Kill The Gays' Bill In Cable News Coverage,” Media Matters, December 12, 2012,
http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/12/12/gangnam-style-overshadows-ugandas-kill-the-gays/191814
.

^26.
Henry Wasswa, “Uganda's ‘Kill the Gays' Bill Spreads Fear,” Al Jazeera, January 3, 2013,
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/01/2013121392698654.html
.

^27.
Ibid.

^28.
Gene Sloan, “Fire-Damaged Carnival Ship Stuck at Sea Another Day,”
USA Today,
February 12, 2013,
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2013/02/11/carnival-cruise-ship-fire/191057
.

^29.
Ibid.

^30.
Parisa Safarzadeh, “My Celebration Trip on the Carnival Triumph: From Joy to Misery,” CNN, February 15, 2013,
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/15/opinion/safarzadeh-cruise-passenger-sto-ry/index.html?11d=article_sidebar
.

^31.
Jordan Zackerin, “CNN's Cruise Ship Coverage Roundly Mocked by Jon Stewart, Media Snark-ers,”
Hollywood Reporter,
February 15, 2013,
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/cnns-cruise-ship-coverage-roundly-421856
.

^32.
Ibid. See also, Phyllis Fine, “CNN More than Doubles Ratings With Cruise-From-Hell Coverage,” MediaPost, February 19, 2013,
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/193842/cnn-more-than-doubles-ratings-with-cruise-from-hel.html#ixzz2W8yjCpUa
.

^33.
Patrick Martin, “Obama Pushes Austerity in the Guise of Defending the ‘Middle Class,'” Global Research, February 12, 2013,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/obama-pushes-austerity-in-the-guise-of-defending-the-middle-class/5322673
.

^34.
For the original and more detailed definition and explanation of News Abuse, see Peter Phillips, ed.,
Censored 2003
(New York: Seven Stories Press, 2002), 196.

^35.
Melissa Knowles, “8-Year-Old's Letter to Romney Urges Him to Not Fire Big Bird,” Yahoo News, October 5, 2012,
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/8-old-letter-romney-urg-es-him-not-fire-173139170.html
.

^36.
Associated Press, “Man Who Accused Elmo Puppeteer of Teen Sex Recants,” Fox News, November 13, 2012,
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/11/13/man-who-accused-el-mo-puppeteer-teen-sex-recants
.

^37.
Justin George, “Claims Mount Against Kevin Clash, the Voice of Elmo,”
Baltimore Sun,
December 26, 2012,
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-12-26/news/bs-md-kevin-clash-el-mo-20121226_1_cecil-singleton-clash-s-new-york-inappropriate-relationship
.

^38.
Andrew Kirell, “Limbaugh: Liberals Seek to Normalize Pedophilia, Just Like They Did with Gay Marriage,”
Mediaite,
January 8, 2013,
http://www.mediaite.com/online/limbaugh-liberals-seek-to-normalize-pedophilia-just-like-they-did-with-gay-marriage
.

^39.
David Moye, “Muppet Scandals through the Years,”
Huffington Post,
November 20, 2012,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/muppet-scandals_n_2167209.html
.

^40.
Mickey Huff, Frances A. Capell, and Adam Bessie, “Manufacturing Distraction: Junk Food News and New Abuse on a Feed to Know Basis” in
Censored 2011,
eds. Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2010), ch. 3, 176–181. See also Kate Sheppard, “BP's Bad Breakup: How Toxic is Corexit?,”
Mother Jones,
September/October 2010,
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2010/09/bp-ocean-dospersant-corexit
; and Farron Cousins, “EPA Accused of Violating Clean Water Act Through Approval of Corexit in BP Gulf Oil Clean-up,”
EcoNews,
March 7, 2013,
http://ecowatch.com/2013/epa-corexit-bp-oil-spill
.

^41.
“Crime, No Punishment: BP Gulf Settlement Deal ‘Pathetic' Say Groups ‘Fine Amounts to a Rounding Error for a Corporation the Size of BP,'” Common Dreams, November 15, 2012,
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/15-5
.

^42.
“Radiation Still High in Seas Around Fukushima, Scientists Look to Sea Floor,” Common Dreams, November 15, 2012,
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/15-6
.

^43.
Peter Bergen, “How Petraeus Changed the U.S. military,” CNN, November 11, 2012,
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/10/opinion/bergen-petraeus-legacy
.

^44.
Vicky Nissen, “Was Stevens Murdered to Cover Up US Gun Running from Libya to AlQaeda in Syria?,”
Examiner.com
,
October 29, 2012,
http://www.examiner.com/article/was-stevens-murdered-to-coverup-u-s-gun-running-from-libya-to-alqaeda-syria
.

^45.
Ibid.

^46.
Shashank Bengali, David S. Cloud, and Joseph Tanfani, “Jill Kelley, Key Figure in David Petraeus Scandal, Led Lavish Life,”
Los Angeles Times,
November 14, 2012,
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cia-scandal-20121115,0,5234898.story
.

^47.
Glenn Greenwald, “Petraeus Scandal Is Reported with Compelled Veneration of All Things Military,”
Guardian,
November 10, 2012,
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/10-5
.

^48.
RT News, “Petraeus Mistress Reveals Real Motive behind Benghazi Attack,” RT News, 12 November 2012,
http://rt.com/usa/news/petraeus-benghazi-attack-cia-535
.

^49.
Vicky Nissen, “Was Stevens Murdered?”

^50.
Eric Schmitt And Michael R. Gordon, “Panel Assails Role of State Department in Benghazi Attack,”
New York Times,
December 18, 2012,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/us/politics/inquiry-into-libya-attack-is-sharply-critical-of-state-department.html?_r=0
.

^51.
Ibid.

^52.
Ibid.

^53.
Ronda Hauben, “The Benghazi Affair: Uncovering the Mystery of the Benghazi CIA Annex,” Global Research, January 28, 2013,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-benghazi-affair-uncovering-the-mystery-of-the-benghazi-cia-annex/5320872
.

^54.
Ibid.