Pen-Elayne on the Web

Caught Unawares

Via Susan at Suburban Guerrilla (link at sidebar), the Project Censored Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-03 is out. Here's the link. Thing is, I'm starting to wonder. "The Primary Objective of Project Censored," says their About Us page, "is to explore and publicize the extent of censorship in our society by locating stories about significant issues of which the public should be aware, but is not, for one reason or another." But what's meant by "the public" or even "censored" nowadays, with all the Internet-savvy blogging folks out there? I'm pretty sure I've seen extensive coverage of most if not all of the 25 stories mentioned on at least a third of the news+views blogs listed on the sidebar. Are the terms, in the context of these formerly-hidden stories, becoming obsolete? Should we be patting ourselves on the back? Or do they need to be redefined/refined or implicitly understood as "the public who isn't us" (which, you know, sounds a bit elitist and all to me)?