Important news that didn't get the traction it deserved. Top 20 censored stories for 2006-7. Labelling them as "censored" may not be entirely accurate, but when you consider what passes for news these days, one has to wonder if there is something at work keeping these stories from being front and center.

For example, the current top news story on CNN.com: Widowed at 25, cancer at 31, woman looks for love. Nothing against the people in the story, but why does CNN editorial think that this is the most important piece of news at this moment, to me or to anyone else? What criteria do they use to choose to decide what stories to promote?

I would be surprised if viewers/traffic (i.e. advertising) did not drive the decision-making process. No news exec will last long these days if they were not able to turn a buck, integrity be damned. It is up to us, then, as viewers to avoid news sources that provide us garbage news and seek out those that keep us informed on those things that are truly important and relevant. Reward the people and organizations who do a good job of reporting on the news, and shut the rest out and down.