The Media Freedom Foundation » peter phillips

Who Are The Top 1% and What Do They Do For a Living?

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:31:43 +0000

Mike Konczal’s article charts jobs and income growth of top one percent earners and the causes of changing income inequality. With evidence from tax returns the data shown in the article depicts that the top occupations are non-financial executives first, then financial professionals, followed by lawyers, real estate and medical professions.

Konczal’s article says that 60 percent of the top percentile of income goes to these top professions. The article points out that with the way corporation are structured under our laws that “a business exists only to enrich its shareholders, including, of course, senior managers themselves and this is done by paying out more in dividends that is earned in profits”.

This type of action is what upsets the people of the Occupy Wall Street movements, that the top one percent are “cashing out wealth during good times and then leaving workers and the rest of the real economy to deal with the aftermath”.

There’s good reason to focus on the top 1% instead of the top 10 or 50%. There is evidence that financial pay at this elite level is correlated with deregulation and the other legal changes that brought on the crisis. High-ranking senior corporate executives’ pay has dwarfed workers’ salaries, but is only a reward for engaging in shady financial engineering practices. These problems require a legal solution and thus they require a democratic challenge and a rethinking of how we want to structure our economy.

Title: Who are the 1 percent and what do they do for a living?

Source, Rortybomb, 10/17/11

Author, Mike Konczal

http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/who-are-the-1-and-what-do-they-do-for-a-living/

Student researcher, Nicole Trupiano, Sonoma state University

Faculty Evaluator, Peter Phillips, Sonoma State UniversitySimilar Posts:

Afghan Children Being Sold Into Forced Labor

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:11:42 +0000

Endemic poverty in parts of Afghanistan is forcing many poor families to sell their children in order to survive, RFE/Human rights officials say dire economic conditions have forced many families in the northern Jawzjan Province — one of the most undeveloped regions in Afghanistan — to sell their kids. RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan reports. The International Save the Children Alliance, an NGO dedicated to eradicating child labor worldwide, said in a 2010 report that some 28 percent of all children between the ages of 5-15 in Jawzjan have been sold by their parents or guardians. Farid, a 4-year-old boy in Jawzjan, was sold to a relative eight months ago following the death of his father. His mother, who remarried, received 12,000 afghanis ($280) for her son with the expectation that he would work for the relative. “When he was brought to the hospital a week ago, the burns on his body were badly infected and swollen,” Dr. Khalil Hidari, the head of the hospital, told RFE/RL. “He was suffering from malnutrition and was in very poor health.” “Unfortunately, many Afghans do not know their own rights or those for children and women,” says Maghferat Samimi, head of the provincial office in Jawzjan for Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission. “The Afghan government, which is obliged to stop the selling and trading of children under the convention, is ill-equipped to curb the increasing trend of children being sold into child labor.
Title: Afghan Children being sold into forced labor
Publication: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Author: Staff
Url: http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanistan_children_being_sold_into_forced_labor/24326343.html
Student researcher: Sean Lawrence, Sonoma State University
Faculty Advisor: Peter Phillips, Sonoma State University
Similar Posts:

The War You Don’t See

admin — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:34:43 +0000

FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 7:30PM

First Congregational Church
2345 Channing, Berkeley

Movie - PLUS

Peter Phillips & Mickey Huff of Project Censored talking with John Pilger via Skype

Similar Posts:

The Release of Censored 2012 in September Celebrates 35 Years of Project Censored

admin — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 19:51:08 +0000

In the last 35 years, the so-called mainstream media have been co-opted into a propaganda machine for the transnational corporate power structure, which serves a US/NATO Military Industrial Media Empire instead of We the People.

Project Censored resists the goals of global empire at the expense of human rights, we resist top down managed news in favor of a truly free press, and we resist censorship in all its guises.

Media Democracy in Action is our belief and we will firmly continue to build media from the bottom up by supporting independent news sources and validating content with our expanding number of affiliate colleges and universities worldwide. Functioning democracies are the result of an informed and participatory public and we need an informed electorate now more than ever to protect our civil liberties, our economy, and our Constitution.

Please Support this effort by making an Anniversary Gift to Project Censored. Gifts of $35 or more will be shown our gratitude with a copy of Censored 2012 upon release in September, with an introduction by former director Dr. Peter Phillips, and signed to you personally by current Project Censored director Mickey Huff.

Select a level of giving that best fits your capabilities:

o $35.00 o $135.00 o $350.00 o $3,500.00

Send in Checks to:

Project Censored
P.O. Box 571
Cotati, CA 94931

Or Donate Securely Online – www.projectcensored.org/support

Preview of Censored 2012 (Available Now)

For Censored 2012, we continue to divide our annual publication into three sections as we broaden, grow, and diversify efforts to illuminate examples of censorship in the corporate mainstream US press. Further, we continue to promote ways to improve our systems of reporting and communicating to the public at large about the most crucial issues we face as a society.

The first section of this year’s book, on the News that Didn’t Make the News and Why, houses the traditional top censored news stories from the past year, which are now analyzed in what we call Censored News Clusters. Within these Clusters, Project Censored’s team of media experts and their student interns analyze and connect the dots between stories based on similar themes or topics rather than simply list the top stories as ranked in importance by Project Censored judges. For the first time, we focus on the connections between censored stories as the structure of this chapter, flushing out why some topics are prone to such underreporting, and what we might do about this problem, rather than simply list and summarize top censored stories.

In the second chapter, Censored Déjà vu, we check for any new or increased coverage of previously underreported top stories. Most receive little if any coverage in the corporate mainstream press, but if they do, we monitor and remark upon it here, ever in hopes that the corporate media may be improved, but not waiting for such to take place as we advocate for the coming media revolution.

In chapter three, Adam Bessie joins the Project Censored director, Abby Martin of Media Roots and student interns to analyze the ubiquity of Junk Food News and the growing problem of News Abuse, including framing and propaganda in US media. This year we include a case study in how pubic workers (teachers especially) have been negatively portrayed in the corporate press as a major example of News Abuse.

Chapter four, with San Francisco State University professor of Holistic Studies Kenn Burrows, brings out the best in underreported news as we look at the positive, the signs of health and community building as published in the independent press, which the corporate media tend to deride, downplay, or outright ignore. The problems we face do not merely include the sordid things that are going on around us that the corporate media do not report, they also include the many positive things that are going on often right in front of us that the corporate media do not recognize, hence contributing to a sense of disconnection among many in society.

Chapter five brings back our media activism showcase which includes examples of media democracy in action, highlighting what other activists, scholars, and organizations are doing to achieve the media revolution, supporting the First Amendment, in maintenance of self governance and democracy. This year we welcome the Park Center for Independent Media, PR Watch, Media Alliance, Media Roots, Courage to Resist and more.

Section two focuses on what we call the Truth Emergency. This Truth Emergency we face is a result of the lack of factual reporting by the so-called mainstream media over the past decade. Americans are subjected to mass amounts of propaganda, from misinformation to disinformation, on a daily basis about some of the most significant issues of the day. Whether this involves the post-9/11 wars in the Middle East, the health care debate, election fraud or economic collapse, most Americans are unaware of all the facts of how we got where we now are as a society. It is the duty of the constitutionally protected free press to report factually to the public on these matters. However, as our work shows dating back to 1976, that is not happening. One way of combating this Truth Emergency is by understanding the nature of propaganda. This year, our Truth Emergency section is a primer on Propaganda Studies, which includes a brief history, theory, application, and case studies all presented to enhance media literacy among the general public. We are pleased to bring some of the best and brightest in the field to offer insight on this ever-important area of study. Randal Marlin gives a brief history of propaganda; Jacob Van Vleet looks at one of the key theorists of propaganda, Jacques Ellul. Robert Abele offer a philosophical and structural analysis of propaganda for readers while Elliot D. Cohen and Anthony DiMaggio look at specific areas, like the importance of Net Neutrality and astroturf activism in the so-called Tea Party, where understanding communication politics and media literacy really matter if a society is to be truly democratically functional, able to operate outside the propaganda matrix of the corporate media and establishment public relations machine.

The final section of the book is Project Censored International, which is a collection of various studies and media commentary that not only look at problems of global media censorship, but also examine how these important issues are handled, or ignored here in the US corporate press. This section brings us a diverse group of scholars and activists, including Cynthia Boaz, Ann Garrison, Jon Elmer with Nora Barrows-Friedman, Robin Andersen, Margaret Flowers, and Ina May Gaskin. The significant issues in this section include the Fair Sharing of the Common Heritage, introduced by Mary Lia, on moving toward an embrace of the human commons; understanding non-violence and how media depict such movements for peace and social justice; and the deconstruction of various myths– from the incredibly biased reporting on Africa to distorted views of recent disaster coverage, plus the ongoing skewed coverage concerning Israel/Palestine. This section continues on issues of health with an analysis of the top down denial of mass public support for single payer healthcare, and we round out Censored 2012 by looking at how corporate media distort life itself, from birth, by examining how corporate media have either ignored or demonized the efficacy of natural childbirth and midwifery in the US, despite that the facts surrounding homebirth culture clearly refute the mainstream coverage.

All in all, this is a work in progress and it involves hundreds of dedicated scholars, and students at over two dozen college and universities all over the world. These are people from all walks of life across the globe who have at least one thing in common: the belief in democracy and the role a free press plays in creation, protection, and maintenance of it. Thanks to all who made this work possible, to all the tireless and selfless contributors, to all the readers and supporters of a free and vibrant people’s press, one that is always and only uncensored.

Your support is greatly appreciated:

Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored Board of Directors

Mickey Huff, Peter Phillips, Elaine Wellin, Mary Lia, Carl Jensen, Cynthia Boaz,

Bill Simon, Derrick West, Dave Mathison, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Andy Roth, Miguel Molina, Dennis Bernstein, Kenn Burrows, and Noel Byrne

Order your autographed copy of Censored 2012, available now, for $35 in honor of Project Censored 35th anniversary

Similar Posts:

Project Censored Celebrates 35 Years

admin — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:39:59 +0000

Celebrates 35 Years

In 1976 Dr. Carl Jensen Founded Project Censored.

We are the longest running media research news group in

the country.

We are stiill at
it and the top Censored News stories from 1976 are still important
today. 1: Trilateral Commission & Jimmy Carter 2: DNA
Corporate Control 3: Banned Pesticides & Drugs To
Third World 4: Oil Price Conspiracy 5: Mobil
Oil/Rhodesian Connection Embargo 6: Nuclear Reactor
Safeguards/Plutonium Missing 7: Osha – Workers Die For
American Industry 8: Arms Data
Manipulation/Kissinger-SALT-CIA 9: Non-Prescription Drugs
Useless & Hazardous 10: Natural Gas Shortage Conspiracy.

In the last 35
years, the so-called mainstream media have been ultimately co-opted
into a propaganda machine for the transnational corporate power
structure which serves a US/NATO Military Industrial Media Empire
instead of We the People.

Project Cenosred
resists the goals of global empire at the expense of human rights, we
resist top down managed news in favor of a truly free press, and we
resist censorship in all its guises.

Media Democracy
in Action is our belief and we will firmly continue to build media
from the bottom up by supporting independent news sources and
validating content with our expanding number of affiliate colleges
and universities worldwide. Functioning democracies are the result
of an informed and participatory public and we need an informed
electorate now more than ever to protect our civil liberities, our
economy, and our Constitution.

Please Support
this effort by making an Anniversary Gift to Project Censored. Gifts
of $135 or more will receive a free copy of Censored 2012 upon
release in September, with an introduction by former director Dr.
Peter Phillips, and signed to you personally by current Project
Censored director Mickey Huff. Follow our progress on line at
www.projectcensored.org.

Select a level
of giving that best fits your capabilities:

 $3.50 
$35.00  $135.00 
$350.00  $3,000.00 
$35,000.00

Send in Checks
to: Project Censored Or Donate Securly Online

P.O. Box 571

Cotati, CA 94931

Your support is
greatly appreciated:

Media Freedom
Foundation/Project Censored Board of Directors

Mickey Huff,
Peter Phillips, Elaine Wellin, Mary Lia, Carl Jensen, Cynthia Boaz,

Bill Simon,
Derrick West, Dave Mathison, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Andy Roth, Miguel
Molina, Dennis Bernstein, Kenn Burrows, Frances Capell, and Noel
Byrne

Similar Posts:

US Overestimates Job Growth

admin — Tue, 10 May 2011 00:42:05 +0000

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced in March that the economy produced 192,00 new jobs, so the unemployment rate dropped to 8.9%. This was reported everywhere by corporate media claiming that this is a turning point in the U.S. economy and a sign that our economy is becoming self-sustaining. According to Shadowstats.com, there is no sign of an increase in employment rates and the opposite is actually occurring. John Williams from Shadowstats.com, states that the government overestimates job growth by 230,000 jobs a month, so the unemployment statistics are very misleading. One reason for the misleading unemployment statistics is due to the Birth Death Model, which has to do with the birth and death of companies. The Birth Death model overestimates the number of jobs created when a new company is started, but doesn’t subtract the number of employees that lose their jobs when a company goes out of business. There have been multiple stories in independent news media that have reported on the increase of job loss and higher unemployment rates. Shadowstats.com states that the true unemployment rate is 22.1% if the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated unemployment rates the same as they did in 1994.

Title: Unemployment Rate: Flying Blind
Author: Greg Hunter
Source: USA Watchdog, March 9, 2011
URL: http://usawatchdog.com/unemployment-rate-flying-blind/

Student Researcher: Ashley Wood
Faculty Evaluator: Peter Phillips, Sonoma State University
Similar Posts:

Tanzania Biofuel Project’s Barren Promise

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:06:19 +0000

An ambitious project to produce clean energy for the Netherlands and Belgium has degenerated into a controversial abuse of natural resources. BioShape, a clean energy company based in Neer, the Netherlands, is going through bankruptcy proceeding after spending $9.6 million dollars on a failed biofuel project in Tanzania.

According to a WWF study published in 2009, the Project’s Environmental Assessment failed to mention that the concession falls within the Namateule/Namatimbili Forest. The plantation thus poses a risk to seven threatened vertebrae species, according to the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group. Villagers were not properly informed about the terms of the law and did not know they would permanently lose land ownership of the land allocated to BioShape. They agreed to give their land away with the expectation of receiving fair financial compensation based on the value of the allocated land. However, only 40 percent of the compensation paid by BioShape went to farmers and the rest went to the District Office which had persuaded local villages to sign up to the deal.

Title: Tanzania Biofuel Project’s Barren Promise

Author: Stefano Valentino

Source: ipsnews.net

URL: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54783
Student Researcher: Caitlin Morgan, Sonoma State University

Faculty Advisor: Peter Phillips, Sonoma State UniversitySimilar Posts:

Columbia: The Violent ‘Agrarian Counter-Reform’ Conspiracy

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:04:38 +0000

Former Columbia Governor Alvaro Uribe instructed his allies in Congress, who formed a majority, to block passage of a bill that would have provided for, among other things, reparations and restoration of stolen property to victims of the paramilitaries. The bill, he argued, would entail costs too heavy for the state coffers to handle.

Testimony of former paramilitary chief Jairo Castillo “Pitirri” reveals the conspiracy between Uribe, far-right paramilitaries, agribusiness owners, and public employees of all levels. The paramilitaries were the ones doing the killing, others would follow behind, buying up the land, and then others would legalize the new ownership of the land. The aim was to keep the properties from being registered in the victim reparations funds to be created under the Law on Justice and Peace, to avoid handling them over in compensation, as part of the process of restoration of stolen property. Most of the millions of hectares of land that had been seized were put in the name of dummy companies and front men or sold to business people that also financed the election campaigns of close Uribe allies.
Title: Columbia: The Violent ‘Agrarian Counter-Reform’ Conspiracy

Author: Constanza Vieira

Source: CommonDreams.org, 8/22/10

URL: http://www.comondreams.org/headline/2010/08/22-0
Student Researcher: Caitlin Morgan, Sonoma State University

Faculty Advisor: Peter Phillips, Sonoma State UniversitySimilar Posts:

Private Prison Companies Fund Anti-Immigrant Legislation

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:03:15 +0000

Over the past four years roughly a million immigrants have been incarcerated in dangerous detention facilities in our taxpayer-financed private prison system. Children were abused, women were raped, and men died from lack of basic medical attention. Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer received substantial campaign financing from Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group which are the nation’s two largest companies that design, build, finance and operate prisons.
CCA based in Nashville, Tennessee, and Geo Group, a global corporation based in Boca Raton, Florida, are the principal moving forces in the behind-the-scenes organization of the current wave of anti-immigrant legislative efforts. Both CCA and GEO, rely almost exclusively on revenue from tax dollars at local, state, and federal levels, profited from the incarceration of immigrants apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
CCA’s top management in Tennessee contributed the largest block of out-of-state campaign contributions received by Governor Brewer. Brewer employs two former CCA lobbyists as aides that assisted signing SB 1070 into law on April 23rd. CCA, which already has several detention facilities in Arizona and is hoping to expand its immigrant business in that state, is expected to show a huge increase in revenues when SB 1070 is implemented.
Title: Wall Street & Our Campaign to Decriminalize Immigrants

Author: Peter Cervantes-Gautschi

Source: Social Policy- Organizing for Social and Economic Justice, February 14, 2011

URL: http://www.socialpolicy.org/index.php/about-us/369-wall-street-a-our-campaign-to-decriminalize-immigrants
Student Researcher: Caitlin Morgan, Sonoma State University Faculty Evaluator: Peter Phillips, Sonoma State UniversitySimilar Posts:

Superbug Bacteria Spreading Worldwide

admin — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 22:47:02 +0000

Lethal superbugs are emerging that do not respond to any known drugs. The world Health Organization states that the New Delhi also known as the NDM-1 superbug was recently found in UK patients and has reached a critical point. These super bugs are resistant to carbapenem antibiotics, which is a major concern to experts because they are used for hard to treat infections that evade other drugs.

Already 25,000 people die each year from superbugs in Europe and there are a number of bacteria’s that are now resistant to all drugs. That figure will increase to even greater numbers unless new more powerful antibiotics are developed.

These bacteria, which have genetic resistance to antibiotics, have contaminated Delihi’s drinking water supply. This gene spread through a bacterium that causes dysentery and
Cholera, which can be easily passed from person to person via sewage, contaminated water. Scientist are calling for urgent action by health authorities world wide to tackle the new strains and prevent their global spread.

The overuse and misuse of antibiotics is leading to “unprecedented levels” of resistance, and a lack of development of new drugs means we could see current treatments become useless. The problem is worsened because drug companies have put off developing new antibiotics because they are seen as not profitable enough.

Title: Super Bugs flee India and Takeover Europe
Author: Michelle Roberts
Publication: BBC News, April 6, 2011
URL: HYPERLINK “http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12975693″http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12975693

Student Researcher: Nzinga Dotson-Newman
Faculty Evaluator: Peter Phillips, Sonoma State UniversitySimilar Posts: