With 2005 rapidly drawing to a close, numerous independent media outlets have released various lists of the most hyped and underreported stories of the year. AlterNet's list identified the fate of Terri Schiavo, the “war on Christmas,” the Minutemen, and Pat Robertson as some of the most hyped stories while the media ignored President George W. Bush’s growing status as a lame-duck president, the United States shift towards a policy of torture as it becomes a militarized state, Iraq spinning out of control, and President Bush’s environmental policy. In a different take, the Columbia Journalism Review made a list of “the Five Great Stories you didn’t Read in 2005” featuring stories are the oft-ignored suffering from Hurricane Rita, the arrests of five current and former lawmakers in Tennessee charged with accepting bribes, a report on global warming and how despite scientific consensus that it is happening the discussion has been dominated by industry-funded opponents of environmental protections, the ignored sacrifices of the 16,000 soldiers wounded in the Iraq War, and long-term coverage of an accident in Florida that killed two children and its effects on the community. Juan Cole has compiled the “Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005” citing myths about the extent of the guerilla war, that Iraqis are grateful for the United States presence, that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is close to Iran, an that the United States wanted free elections in Iraq.

Also worth checking out is Project Censored’s list of 2004 to 2005’s most censored stories in the corporate press.