Muckraking in Latin America: Upside Down World Receives Three Project Censored Awards This Year

Upside Down World has received three Project Censored Awards for 2008-2009. Awards went to UDW stories on the World Bank’s carbon trade fiasco, US repression in Haiti and Ecuador‘s constitutional rights of nature. Each year Project Censored selects the top 25 most important news stories censored by corporate media.

"Project Censored is one of the organizations that we should listen to, to be assured that our newspapers and our broadcast outlets are practicing thorough and ethical journalism." — Walter Cronkite

Upside Down World writer Mary Tharin received an award for this article: The World Bank and Climate Change: Sustainability or Exploitation?

Two of the awards went to Upside Down World editor Cyril Mychalejko for the following articles: Bush Administration Accused of Withholding "Lifesaving" Aid to Haiti and Ecuador’s Constitution Gives Rights to Nature

Last year, Upside Down World editors won two Project Censored awards.

For more information and updates on these stories, click on the following links to the Project Censored website:

15. World Bank’s Carbon Trade Fiasco

16. US Repression of Haiti Continues

18. Ecuador’s Constitutional Rights of Nature

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About Project Censored: “Founded by Carl Jensen in 1976, Project Censored is a media research program working in cooperation with numerous independent media groups in the US Between 700 and 1000 stories are submitted to Project Censored each year from journalists, scholars, librarians, and concerned citizens around the world. With the help of more than 200 Sonoma State University faculty, students, and community members, Project Censored reviews the story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources and national significance. The university community selects 25 stories to submit to the Project Censored panel of judges who then rank them in order of importance.”

What is Modern Censorship? (From Project Censored): “At Project Censored, we examine the coverage of news and information important to the maintenance of a healthy and functioning democracy. We define Modern Censorship as the subtle yet constant and sophisticated manipulation of reality in our mass media outlets. On a daily basis, censorship refers to the intentional non-inclusion of a news story – or piece of a news story – based on anything other than a desire to tell the truth. Such manipulation can take the form of political pressure (from government officials and powerful individuals), economic pressure (from advertisers and funders), and legal pressure (the threat of lawsuits from deep-pocket individuals, corporations, and institutions).”