Project Censored’s 2026 Report Charts the ‘Unreality Industry’ as Obama Rejects Cable News

Last month, Project Censored released the 2026 edition of its State of the Free Press. About a week later, Random Lengths interviewed the book’s editors — Micky Huff, Andy Lee Roth and Shealeigh Voitl — who, along with a team of student journalists and researchers, document the most underreported and censored news stories in the U.S. each year. The annual volume exposes media blind spots, analyzes misinformation, and promotes critical thinking, all while urging the public to recognize the systemic biases shaping mainstream coverage.

Earlier this month, former President Barack Obama was interviewed by Olivia Walton, chair of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and a former NBC/MSNBC correspondent. When Walton asked about his news diet, Obama admitted he doesn’t really have one — and hasn’t watched cable news in 15 years. That led to a brief tangent on why he always seemed so unflappable as president.

“People used to ask, ‘You seem so calm, Mr. president. Why is that?’” he said, invoking the old “No Drama Obama” moniker. “I said that’s because I don’t watch the news.”

Instead, he said, he reads: The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Atlantic, and various science publications. When Walton asked if there was a single outlet he found least biased, Obama praised traditional broadcast news for still “presenting facts,” but criticized the economic incentives driving cable networks toward outrage and conflict. Print media still offers strong reporting, he said, but it’s increasingly buried in “so much noise.”

That struggle — to sift reliable information from a sea of distortions — is exactly what Project Censored has tracked since 1976. And if you read every edition, you might wonder whether American journalism has ever been free of propaganda, sensationalism, or censorship.

Huff, a media scholar, educator, and director of Project Censored since 2010, doesn’t think so. He cites the era of yellow journalism and the penny press as clear precedents. Carl Jensen, Project Censored’s founder, coined the term “Junk Food News” in the early 1980s to describe the tabloidized, sensational content news outlets used to justify pushing aside more important stories. 

“We’ve had a lot of what one could call a form of junk journalism or distracting journalism,” Huff explained. “Junk food news is a term Carl Jensen coined in response to criticism of his critiques of the mainstream press censoring news. “They said it wasn’t fair. And this is just at the inception of cable. There was no internet.”

Voitl, the project’s associate director and digital-print editor, emphasized that the term isn’t meant to shame audiences but to raise awareness that trivial stories often replace those that actually impact people’s lives.

Roth, Project Censored’s editor-at-large, connected this history to the country’s founding, referencing Elizabeth “Betita” Martínez’s argument that the United States was the first nation “born capitalist and racist,” and that its media traditions reflect that legacy. Huff added that the 2026 edition’s foreword intentionally uses a rhetorical device describing the conditions of the 1970s — conditions that sound eerily contemporary — to show how history “rhymes.”

Huff argued that the assault on the Fourth Estate, the Department of Education, and diversity/equity/inclusion initiatives all stem from the same well-worn authoritarian playbook. Despite today’s abundance of information channels, he said, people still struggle to get reliably informed. Independent journalists, meanwhile, are doing “intrepid and often dangerous work” to illuminate what major outlets avoid — an idea reflected in Anson Stevens-Bolan’s cover art depicting “circus tents” masking the truth.

This year’s Junk Food News chapter revisits Daniel Boorstin’s 1962 book The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, in which the conservative historian argued that television had turned politics and culture theatrical, creating an “unreality industry.” Voitl said Boorstin’s insights remain painfully relevant; Americans have become so accustomed to illusions that many now mistake spectacle for reality, leaving them ill-equipped to understand systemic inequities.

When asked whether better journalism could counter the rise of fascism, Roth responded, “Definitely not.” The State of the Free Press yearbook critiques the corporate press while celebrating independent reporters, he explained, but press freedom itself remains “contingent” and under threat. News outlets often treat attacks on the press as a sidebar issue — even though it’s implicated in virtually everything else. Huff noted that the U.S. now ranks 57th on the World Press Freedom Index, down 12 places in two years, underscoring the importance of organizations like the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

Huff described Project Censored as both a beacon and a “living pedagogy” that predates many major press-freedom institutions. Voitl called it a “living archive of media trends” meant to equip journalists, students and organizers with critical media literacy skills. Huff stressed the need to bring young people into the fold, saying the project is working to “listen to young people and lead by example” to ensure its longevity for the next 50 years.

The editors also highlighted the escalating dangers facing journalists in the U.S.: arrests, assaults and even being used for “target practice” by militarized police. Roth observed that police are “enemies of the press” in many cases, citing documented violence against clearly identified reporters, including incidents involving ICE agents. Voitl emphasized that resisting censorship now requires being “more interconnected, more imaginative, and more committed to collective truthtelling” than ever before.

State of the Free Press 2026, Project Censored’s 50th Anniversary Edition, highlights the 12 most underreported stories of the year, examines press freedom, reviews “junk food news” and abuses, and celebrates journalists defending media democracy. Featuring contributions from independent reporters and activists like Mischa Geracoulis, Ryan Grim, Maya Schenwar and Joe Lauria, it opens with a foreword by Mickey Huff reflecting on the project’s history and ongoing relevance. In a time of growing distrust, media consolidation and threats to journalists under the Trump administration, this edition underscores the importance of an informed public. Purchase the book at Project Censored.

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