The Project Censored Show

In the first part of the program, Nikki Morse, Noam Brown and Prince Jooveh talk about the album Bending the Bars, a project created via makeshift jail phone setups in order to uplift and amplify the voices of incarcerated musicians. Our guests discuss the myriad powers of music, from therapy to frontline reporting to bridges between rival gangs and political perspectives. They dive into the barriers and indeed the freedom in creating an album without the support or collaboration of the carceral system, and how their work can be, and indeed should be repeated by others across the prison industrial complex. Next up, journalist and organizer Jen Deerinwater joins the show again, this time to talk about indigiqueer identities, how colonization violently imposed the binary, missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two spirits and relatives, and how this violence is inextricably linked to ecocide. Jen also uplifts the upcoming decolonized beatz, Indigenous world pride, a global event celebrating the powerful creativity of 2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous artists, performers, and storytellers coming up in late may in Washington DC. The post Behind Bars and Binaries: Music, Identity, and the Fight for Liberation appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first segment of today’s program Mickey talks with Laurel Krause, Emily Kunstler, and Kelley Lane 55 years after the Ohio National Guard killed four students and wounded nine others at Kent State University as they protested the illegal expansion of the disastrous Vietnam War. There are many lessons… The post Lessons from Kent State 55 Years Later, and the Power of Truth-telling and Resisting Censorship appeared first on Project Censored.

This week, campus life in the crosshairs. First up, Eleanor Goldfield speaks with Kei Pritsker, the co-director of “The Encampments” and journalist with Breakthrough News. Kei talks about colleges as extensions of the national security state where, at the request of a foreign nation committing genocide, students are brutalized. Kei also shares his experiences creating the film as press and as a part of the community that the encampments built. Next up, Professor Nick Wolfinger talks about his latest book, Professors Speak Out: The Truth About Campus Investigations. Nick and Eleanor discuss the problematic way in which universities are handling complaints about faculty while also debating the difficulty in umbrella guidelines regarding a faculty member’s ability to do their job based on their opinions and prejudices. It’s a slippery slope and when academic freedom is at stake, it’s easy to let our own political leanings push us to the bottom. Can we all embrace discomfort for the sake of academic freedom? The post Campus Life in the Crosshairs appeared first on Project Censored.

The Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College is honored to announce this year’s Izzy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Independent Media. The Izzy Award is named after legendary muckraking journalist I.F. “Izzy” Stone. It’s the 17th Annual Award from the Park Center that honors the best reporting from the independent press. Today on the program, we’ll talk to some of the Izzy winners and an Izzy judge. We’ll start with Professor Victor Pickard, a long time Izzy judge, speaking about the state of our free press. Then we’ll talk to Max Alvarez of the Real News Network and Chris Albright, a resident of East Palestine, Ohio. They’ll talk about Alvarez’s coverage of the great train derailment there from 2023. Later in the program, we’re also joined by Arielle Angel of Jewish Currents to talk about their important work. The post Independent and Unafraid: Inside the 17th Annual Izzy Awards appeared first on Project Censored.

This week we’re looking at the insidious and nefarious sides of tech - starting off, a conversation with Esra’a Al Shafei discussing her new site Surveillance Watch, an incredible trove of data formulated into an easily searchable and interactive site that exposes the vast interconnected web of global authoritarian surveillance systems. Esra’a discusses the impunity with which these corporations and financial institutions operate, with no care for borders, side-stepping sanctions, and using genocide as a marketing tool. She highlights the importance of bringing this information to light, of acting to protect ourselves and each other and never normalizing the Orwellian panopticon. Next up, cohost Mickey Huff sits down with investigative journalist Peter Byrne to unveil a new 10-part series titled Military AI Watch: the dangerous militarization of AI and the profiteering behind it. Peter and Mickey discuss the first piece in the series, One Ring to Rule them All where Peter names the cast of characters in this dark fantasy turned reality, their terrifying aims, the monopoly on murder, and more. The post Eyes Everywhere: Tech Tyranny and the Profiteers of Control appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first part of the program, author and Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund’s education director Ben Price joins the program to talk about his new book, Wouldn’t You Say, A Collection of Essays on Environment and Community. In the book and in our conversation, Ben explains that what we’re seeing today is not a perversion of the promise of America, it’s actually a proof of concept, a continuation of foundational ideologies never meant to protect we, the people, and certainly not to protect the ecosystems of which we are a part. Ben discusses rights of nature not as a legal north star but as a need to shift our thinking about relationships, between ourselves, the law, and empirical reality. Next up, Dr. Kim Wilson and Maya Schenwar join the show to discuss the book which they co-edited, We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition. Maya and Kim discuss this multi-generational project which also combines voices from the inside and outside, highlighting the contrasts and connections between the carceral systems of literal and figurative cages, and how prisons are and have been the canaries in the coal mine for the restrictions on our basic rights. They discuss abolition as a tearing down but perhaps even more so of a building up, how kids are integral to the creative imagination necessary for building new worlds, and the emergent possibilities outside of our current death-making system. The post Conversations on Environmental Justice, Abolition, and the Future We Build appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first part of the program, journalist, researcher and policy director of Defending Rights and Dissent, Chip Gibbons comes back on the show to talk about attacks on journalists in Gaza, attacks on free press here at home, the links between them, and the long history of our shaky and fragile access to first amendment rights. Chip places the targeting of students like Mahmoud Khalil in a timeline of authoritarian moves to protect US political interests over basic freedoms, and how our ignorance of the past is wrecking our present and predetermining a dark future. In the second half of the show, labor activist and co-founder of the National Labor Network for Ceasefire Gene Bruskin joins the show to connect the dots on US foreign and domestic policy, on how chronic injustices here at home make us blind to the fact that we don’t have to live this way, not here, and not over there. Gene talks about the importance of bringing our demands together, of thinking globally, of tactics that work and tactics that don’t, and of reclaiming OUR radical labor history. The post Challenging Injustice and Reclaiming Radical Labor History appeared first on Project Censored.

In an era when algorithms are reshaping how news is gathered, produced, distributed, and consumed, every journalist, regardless of specialty, needs some degree of algorithmic literacy. We’re joined by 2024-25 RJI fellow Andy Lee Roth, who led a team to create a website about Algorithmic Literacy for Journalists. It provides a practical toolkit to help journalists and the general public better understand the functions, impacts, and ethics of algorithms, including shadowbanning and other forms of censorship. In the second half of the show, we present Frame Check, a new monthly series that will be available on social media and podcast platforms. This new segment on The Project Censored Show is hosted by Reagan Haynie, Kate Horgan, and Shealeigh Voitl. Frame Check explores pop culture, news, and feminism through a critical media literacy lens, helping audiences deconstruct dominant news frames. In the debut segment, the hosts examine how corporate media sensationalizes the manufactured spectacle of Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s relationship—amplifying their antics while failing to critically assess their influence—turning even significant political developments into junk food news. The post Algorithmic Literacy for Journalists & Frame Checking the News appeared first on Project Censored.

Coming up first on the program, we welcome back Dr. Khalil Khalidy, an orthopedic doctor in Deir al-Balah, Gaza to give us what you’ll never hear on corporate media: updates on the situation in Gaza from Gazans since the end of phase one of the so-called ceasefire. Dr. Khalidy also discusses the insidious Israeli propaganda machine, the psychological effects of colonialism, and some vital history many in the US likely don’t know, including the divide-and-conquer strategy to pull Palestinians from each other, geographically and culturally, from the West Bank to Gaza to the diaspora. Later in the program, cohosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield dig into some of the most recent news that didn’t make the news, in particular the abduction of Columbia grad student Mahmoud Khalil, the history of who the US deems a terrorist, and the importance of critical media literacy and independent media in these - to put it mildly, turbulent times. The post The News That Didn’t Make the News: Gaza’s Reality, Propaganda, and the Fight for Justice appeared first on Project Censored.

This week, a special Project Censored episode: “What To Us Is International Women’s Day?,” a variation on the question asked by Frederick Douglass: What to the Slave is the 4th of July? March 8th is International Women’s Day, and while many will and do celebrate this day in revolutionary ways, the truth is that IWD like so many other holidays is often used to serve the vehemently anti-feminist goals of the architects of our oppression. So-called white feminism perpetuates the evils of white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy, and imperialism - but with a femme facade, pushing us to ask what to us is an international women’s day which doesn’t seek to dismantle the very systems that use, abuse & torment women across the US and the globe? Award-winning journalist Mnar Adley and organizer Afeni Evans will join Eleanor Goldfield for this special hour-long dive into the insidious machinations of white feminism, who gets violently othered and why, the internationalist demands of a revolutionary feminism, and what really to us, is - or could be - International Women’s Day? The post What To Us Is International Women’s Day? appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first part of the program, author and organizer Harsha Walia joins the show to talk about the convergence of racist nationalism and border imperialism, and how the attacks on migrants are inextricably linked to the attacks on Indigenous peoples. Harsha also discusses the globalization of border violence, and offers a class analysis that contextualizes the border as a spatial fix for capital accumulation. Later in the show, community organizer Kamau Franklin comes back on the show to talk about the very real fears taking hold of people in these times, how these are different from manufactured fears, and how real leftist media is needed to push through the cacophonous propaganda of empire. Kamau also discusses the importance of the build and fight, imagining and actually creating alternatives to our current system that can scale and provide in the here and now. The post Borders, Empire, and Resistance: Confronting Racism, Nationalism, and the Fight for Alternatives appeared first on Project Censored.

This week, Mickey speaks with filmmaker Allyson Rice and researcher Dorri C. Scott about the growing number of books challenged and banned in US schools and libraries, something the Trump administration has called a hoax. We hear about the soon-to-be-released documentary, Banned Together, that looks at efforts by local school boards and state-level politicians to restrict student access to books while highlighting the very students who are protesting and fighting back for the right to read. Then, Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and Lauren Harper, the first Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy there, warn that the Trump Administration is engaged in unprecedented, and possibly illegal, efforts to reshuffle how federal agencies’ records are kept. They also survey Trump’s multiple attacks on journalists and press in his first month back in office and caution that more assaults on the First Amendment and the public’s right to know will be forthcoming, which, they argue, should be vigorously resisted. The post Debunking the Book Ban “Hoax” and Resisting Trump Administration Attacks on the First Amendment appeared first on Project Censored.

Up first on the program, associate editor and producer of the weekly livestream at Electronic Intifada, Tamara Nassar discusses the Gaza-like situation unfolding in the West Bank, violence that has been escalating since the start of, and indeed before, the genocide. Tamara outlines the myriad ways in which the occupation oppresses, dehumanizes and murders Palestinians including tricks the Israelis inherited from the British colonial government, and the twisted use of the Palestinian Authority to support Israeli aims behind a Palestinian name. Next, Eleanor Goldfield sits down with journalist and founder of Payday Report, Mike Elk, to talk about corporate media’s failure to cover Day Without Immigrant strike events that happened in more than a hundred cities across 40 states, and how this also speaks to the presence of news deserts and an anemic alternative independent press. Mike also speaks about the need for a multicultural media system, and how unions can protect against raids and other violence aimed at immigrants. The post Occupied Realities & Uncovered Strikes: The Struggle for Palestinian Rights and Immigrant Justice appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first part of the program this week, Palestinian legal expert Hassan Ben Imran comes back on the show to talk about the recent formation of the Hague Group, the ongoing cases against Israel and the limitations of, and hope in international law. Later in the show, cohosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield banter about the sad state of the 4th estate vis a vis coverage of the genocide in Gaza, and how legacy media couldn’t even be bothered to truthfully report on the carnage meted out by US tax dollars. In a new segment that we’ll come back to in many arenas of life, Mickey and Eleanor ask if this is the best we can do — be it these so-called journalists, or the latest cabinet picks. The post Is This the Best We Can Do? Hope and Limitations in International Law appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first part of the program, Mohawk journalist Isaac White speaks to Eleanor Goldfield about being guilty of journalism. Isaac was arrested last year while covering a land claim demonstration despite clearly identifying himself as press and having credentials on his person. Isaac’s story also highlights the importance of and dangers to local and Indigenous media. As we’ve covered before on Project Censored, there’s already a dearth of local media, but add to that Indigenous local media, and this forced scarcity means that reporters like Isaac who would be connecting communities and holding local leaders to account have to find a living elsewhere, a move that affects the entire local area. In the second half of the show, my cohost Mickey Huff sits down with Dr. John Collins, a founder & editorial director at Weave News, author, and professor at St. Lawrence University to talk about the power and mandate of grassroots independent media in these times. John explains that journalism is too important to be left to the powers that be and what we need right now more than ever is news of, for and by the people. John also talks about his books and years of work on Palestine, and how Palestine is in fact not only an issue unto itself but also a lens for examining colonialism, capitalism, media, the politics of representation and more. The post Defending Local & Indigenous Media in an Age of Scarcity appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first part of the program, economist Dr. Richard Wolff joins co-host Eleanor Goldfield to set the record straight on what tariffs really are, and how bizarrely hypocritical it is that the famously anti-tax republican party is now the party that wants a lot of taxes - taxes aimed at you and me. Professor Wolff also explains the wrong-headed thinking about immigration - that in fact, steady immigration into the US is and has been a sign of a healthy economy, so the fact that the nation can’t and won’t embrace immigration today is actually a big red flag that our economy is weak - as further evidenced by how well the BRICS nations are doing compared to the G7. In the second half of the show, co-host Mickey Huff speaks with journalists Maya Schenwar and Negin Owliaei about how media must NOT back down to Trump’s threats against press freedom. Maya and Negin outline the multi pronged attacks that journalists and media organizations are facing, remarking that none of us alone can surmount these problems but that real active solidarity and community building is key - along with contextualizing our today in the struggles of yesterday, and NEVER complying in advance. The post Don’t Get Distracted: Bitter Economic Pills & Threats to Free Press Hit Everyone appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the program, co-host Eleanor Goldfield speaks with Leyna Quinn-Davidson, the Fire Network Director for the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources about the confluence of issues that are quite literally fueling the fires in LA County. Leyna highlights how we have to shift our thinking about not only how fires burn but their historic and vital role in bolstering healthy ecosystems. She also pinpoints some simple actions people in the area can take to protect their homes and perhaps more importantly their communities, since what your neighbor does or doesn’t do in these situations will directly affect you. In the second half of the show, experienced conflict correspondent Theia Chatelle joins the program to talk about suing Yale PD, a frustrating but enlightening process that uncovered a vast and deep web of surveillance and repressive tactics aimed at students engaging in constitutionally protected speech and protest. Theia discusses the frightening levels of coordination between campus police, local and federal law enforcement, Zionist organizations and even counter-terrorism agencies. She connects this to a larger pattern of repression across US colleges, universities, and towns and cities beyond campus borders, where the panopticon-style surveillance follows anyone and everyone who could be deemed a threat to the status quo. The post Fires, Frontlines, and Surveillance: Looking into Environmental and Civil Rights Crises appeared first on Project Censored.

This week we swing into the new year, 2025, with Mickey engaging media scholar Nolan Higdon. They discuss the incoming administration, Trump 2.0, the failures of the punditocracy and what might mean for press freedom in his second term; social media and an end to so-called fact-checking; and why we will continue to need a truly independent press to keep us informed moving forward. Later in the program, media scholar Steve Macek joins the conversation, and it’s Deja Vu all over again as they revisit previously censored news stories around significant current events (including in Gaza) and how the ongoing lack of establishment media coverage around key issues contributes to low information voters and allows myriad injustices to persist at home and around the globe. The post Pressing Issues for 2025: Trump 2.0, Media Failures, and the Fight for Press Freedom appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the program Eleanonr Goldfield speaks with Shrouq Aila, an investigative journalist, producer and researcher in Gaza. Shrouq describes the situation on the ground in Gaza, the target on her back as a journalist, what she asks of her fellow journalists in these times, and the layered struggles of being the story that you are covering. In the second half of the program, Marine corps veteran Matthew Hoh comes back on the show to talk about his recent trip to occupied Palestine / Israel. Matt describes the parallel phases of ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as Israeli culture that makes entertainment out of genocide while simultaneously denying that genocide The post Reporting Under Fire: Gaza, Genocide, and the Truth Behind the Headlines appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, Mickey sits down with Omar Zahzah, a Lebanese/Palestinian organizer, writer, poet, freelance journalist and assistant professor of Arab/Muslim ethnicities and diaspora studies at San Francisco State University. Omar discusses his forthcoming book from the Censored and Seven Stories presses titled Terms of Servitude:… The post Digital Settler Colonialism, Gaza, and the Struggle for Palestinian Liberation appeared first on Project Censored.

What happens when wealthy investors buy up local news outlets? Well, in addition to gradually shutting them down and restricting what they report, ironically creating news deserts, they can also memory hole online news archives. For the first part of the program, Mickey Huff is joined by investigative reporter Peter Byrne. Byrne talks about unplugging the news and history in San Francisco, navigating the existential fragility of online news archives. Later in the program, you’ll hear excerpts from an event held at Ithaca College in November, cosponsored by the Park Center for Independent Media, Project Looksharp, and Project Censored. Mickey Huff hosted co-editor of State of the Free Press 2025 Shaeleigh Voitl, and contributors Robin Andersen, and Steve Macek. You’ll get an overview of Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2025, hear some of the top underreported news stories of the year, and much more. The post Unplugging the News: The Fight for Local Journalism and the State of the Free Press appeared first on Project Censored.

Today in the first segment of the show, Mickey Huff speaks with associate director of Project Censored, Andy Lee Roth, and the Project’s digital and print editor, Shealeigh Voitl. They talk about Project Censored’s new book State of the Free Press 2025 that looks at the top underreported or censored news stories from the past year that corporate media censored, otherwise distorted or ignored altogether. Later in the conversation, Andy and Shealeigh talk about moving beyond fact-checking and their educator resource guide on the power of news frames, and how news framing helps shape public opinion. Later in the program, cohosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield talk about a recent piece she wrote on news literacy for activists and organizers: Critical Media Literacy provides grassroots movements with practical tools for pursuing their goals. Eleanor and Mickey also discuss the troublesome bill, HR 9495 that passed through the House recently. It is a draconian bill that would allow the Treasury Secretary to unilaterally strip a nonprofit of their status if they’re deemed a terrorist-supporting organization. This is incredibly dangerous given the political motivations of a potential Treasury Secretary to silence particular nonprofits on the basis of the focus of their message. The post Censored News, Media Framing, and the Threat of HR 9495: A Conversation with Project Censored appeared first on Project Censored.

What does the genocide in Gaza have to do with the working class here at home? Well, quite a lot. Imperialism is a home game and the same corporations and international interests that make bank off of blood oppress the US workforce for that same bottom line. This week in a special hour interview episode, three guest experts join the Project Censored Radio show to discuss the US supply chain and war: labor educator Gifford Hartman, researcher and CGPU-UAW union member Abdullah Farooq, and 40 year rail and marine transportation veteran Fritz Edler. Together they outline not only the current actions and efforts of workers to connect the dots between oppression here at home and abroad, but also the silenced and buried history of workplace organizing against war, including direct action and strikes. Our guests also dive into the importance of public ownership of transportation such as rail, the nefarious ways in which automation fuels both the war machine and destitution here in the US, and what a just transition away from war could mean not only for workers here but indeed around the whole world. The post Connecting the Dots: The War on Workers Is The War Abroad appeared first on Project Censored.

In this episode of the Project Censored Show, guest host Mischa Geracoulis, Project Censored’s curriculum development coordinator, speaks with two of the contributors to the “Media Democracy in Action” chapter from Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2024. In the first segment, Mischa talks with Maria Armoudian—senior lecturer at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and co-director of the Center for Climate Biodiversity and Society—about the need to rethink traditional news values in the 21st century. Focusing on issues around the climate crisis, Armoudian argues that because the media too often report climate issues as news items, they fail to communicate the urgency of these issues while normalizing a perpetual economic growth-expansion model that exacerbates these challenges. In the second segment, media critic, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and author Jen Senko joins the program. Senko is best known for her film The Brainwashing of My Dad. Senko's work tracks the history of media in the United States, particularly the rise of hyper-partisan media, and its ongoing effects on society. Highlighting some of that history, she illuminates the calculated moves made by politicians and billionaires that have brought us to where we are today. The post Rethinking Media Values: Climate Crisis and Hyper-Partisan Influence in the 21st Century appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, Eleanor sits down with an empty seat – a seat that could easily be filled by dozens if not hundreds of Kashmiri journalists and activists who cannot speak out due to the complex and constant threat of violence by the Indian government. Eleanor contextualizes the current situation in Kashmir while paralleling it to another settler colonialist struggle in Palestine, why we must connect these struggles, and how critical media literacy is vital in the case of silenced stories such as Kashmir. In the second half of the show, Ben Norton joins the program to discuss the recent BRICS summit, how our corporate media fell over itself to frame it as no big deal, the what, how and when of de-dollorization, and what the recent election means for our economy, or rather our economies – one for the rich and the one for the rest of us. The post Silenced Voices: Kashmir, Palestine, and BRICS Uncovered appeared first on Project Censored.

Iconic consumer and civil rights activist/author Ralph Nader returns to the program to discuss his latest two books with Mickey. They unpack Nader’s analysis from Out of Darkness and Let’s Start the Revolution, which includes commentary on the need to dismantle the corporate state, boost civic engagement from the grassroots level up, and demand that dark money and billionaires be driven of the political system. Next, Mickey talks with former Project Censored director, political sociologist Peter Phillips about his new book Titans of Capital: How Concentrated Wealth Threatens Humanity. The post Let’s Start a Revolution; Usurping the Titans of Capital appeared first on Project Censored.

Mickey's first guest this week is Project Censored's Associate Director, Andy Lee Roth. Roth is a 2024-25 Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow where he is developing an "algorithmic literacy" toolkit for journalists. He explains why today's journalists need a basic understanding of the algorithms used by internet and social media tech giants to better serve the public. Issues around horse race poll coverage, shadow banning, and algorithmic gatekeeping are discussed. Then in the second half of the show, Maya Schenwar of Truthout and Lara Witt of Prism introduce the organization they co-founded, the Movement Media Alliance; they explain why social-justice-oriented media outlets should work together, both to enhance their impact and to better the working conditions for journalists in independent media. The post Algorithmic Literacy for Journalists; and a New Movement Media Alliance appeared first on Project Censored.

Now that the cameras have long since left Hurricane Helene’s trail of devastation, what is the situation on the ground? And what was it about Appalachia that made the devastation so great, and the mutualist response so powerful? In the first half of the show Eleanor Goldfield speaks with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief coordinator and street medic Jena about her work in Western North Carolina and elsewhere, how bad the destruction really is, the dearth of government support, and how communities are using their own cultural roots to get what they need. Jena outlines the vast and varied mutual aid web, current needs on the ground, and creative and beautiful ways in which we can all engage in solidarity rather than charity. In the second half of the program, Eleanor speaks with Chelsea White-Hoglen, a lifelong resident of Western North Carolina with a vast background in community organizing. Chelsea explains the scale of the impact on such a rural, poor and geologically complex area as Appalachia, how disaster relief blossomed out of existing community structures, how this next phase of the crisis is an economic one, and how this could be a turning point for a region historically misunderstood, cast aside and disenfranchised. The post Resilience Rising: Community, Care, and the Aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Appalachia appeared first on Project Censored.

With the 2024 US elections drawing near, host Mickey Huff moderates an expert panel discussion with three media scholars and educators about how critical-media-literacy education can enhance civic engagement. They outline the many challenges posed by social media, hyper-partisanship, and fake news, but also explore what educators can do to engage today's students and equip them with critical tools necessary to deconstruct media messaging and bridge communication barriers, both inside and outside the classroom. This program is also a special broadcast that is part of the Big Rhetorical Podcast Carnival. See here for more details. The post Crisis, Culture, and Civility: Critical Media Literacy Education and Election 2024 appeared first on Project Censored.

It’s the 10th annual US Media Literacy Week sponsored by NAMLE, the National Association for Media Literacy Education. We at Project Censored also celebrate Media Literacy Week, critically. On the program today, co-host Mickey Huff welcomes Dr. Nolan Higdon, media scholar and author of many books including The Anatomy of Fake News. Today we’ll talk to Nolan about a brief resource guide to fake news in the 2024 election with helpful hints for the voting public. We’ll talk about the history of fake news, mis- and disinformation and its impacts on the public, and what we can do about it that doesn’t involve censorship. In the second half of the show, co-host Eleanor Goldfield sits down with photojournalist Orin Langelle to talk about his new photography book release, Portraits of Struggle, a small but powerful selection of photographs and stories from a 50-year career. Orin talks about what he’s learned from the frontlines, how he was shunned by corporate media for telling the truth, the importance of documenting a history that is constantly stolen from us, and more. The post Media Literacy Week: Guide to Fake News and Voices from the Frontlines appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the program, Mickey Huff speaks with independent journalist and author Kevin Gosztola, author of Guilty of Journalism about the cast of Julian Assange. Gosztola joins the show to talk about the Council of Europe Parliamentarians vote that agreed that Julian Assange was in fact a political prisoner. Assange recently spoke to the Parliament and urged them to oppose the US government’s transnational repression and assaults on journalists and press freedoms around the world. Later in the program, Mickey speaks with media scholar Steve Macek about foreign spending to influence US elections and how it goes well beyond Russian covert operations, and in fact involves many other countries and even other entities. But are the corporate media paying attention? Steve Macek explains how they’re not, and what you need to know about the influence of dark money in advance of Election 2024. The post Attacks on Democracy from Press Freedoms to Dark Money in Politics appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, international human rights lawyer Karnig Kerkonian joins the show to discuss Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of the Artsakh Armenians from the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Karnig outlines the genocidal intent of President Ilham Aliyev, what the US knew and didn’t do to stop it, and how the international community should respond, not least of all as this year’s climate summit, COP29 is being held so ironically in what Karnig calls the petrol-dictatorship of Azerbaijan. Next up, journalist, researcher and policy director at Defending Rights and Dissent Chip Gibbons joins the show to discuss Israel’s targeted and mass killing of journalists on the ground in Gaza. Chip highlights the vehement hypocrisy with which the US pretends to uphold freedom of the press while not only ignoring the murder of journalists but while pushing for a media blackout and censorship of reports from Gaza. The post Greenwashing Genocide in Armenia & Targeting the Truth in Palestine appeared first on Project Censored.

The voices of Palestinians in Gaza are some of the most censored in the world. If they are not killed outright, they are silenced by purposeful omission in order to support Israel’s narrative. It is therefore vital that alternative media work to find and platform these voices, and that people who are not fooled by pro-Israel propaganda engage with it, share it, and allow it to inform our actions. This week Eleanor Goldfield sits down with Dr. Khalil Khalidy, an orthopedic doctor in Deir al-Balah, Gaza. His testimony is necessary and powerful and understandably distressing. We are therefore here including a content warning for this week’s show as Dr. Khalidy does not sugarcoat his lived experiences. The following program includes descriptions of an ongoing genocide, of psychological and physical suffering from the perspective of a doctor trying to work in abominable conditions with little to no supplies. The post Voices from Palestine: A Doctor’s Testimony from Gaza appeared first on Project Censored.

Mickey hosts the special annual Banned Books Week program. This year we celebrate being "Freed Between the Lines.” In her best-selling novel Speak, young adult author Laurie Halse Anderson wrote, “Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.” Since the American Library Association (ALA) and Association of American Publishers helped launch Banned Books Week (BBW) 42 years ago on the heels of the Supreme Court Pico case, that dysfunctional family of censorship has unfortunately grown significantly. Across the United States, the past several years has brought a staggering increase in book challenges, bans, and other attacks on the right to read and academic freedom, but there are many signs of hope which BBW celebrates. On today’s program we welcome the new president of ALA, Cindy Hohl. We discuss the latest report just released from ALA on the state of the right to read with some hopeful notes. Then we’re joined by BBW Youth Honorary Chair Julia Garnett about how young people are on the front lines of censorship battles in schools and they are fighting back and winning, as we hear from the interim director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, attorney Jeff Trexler, about a history of attacks on comics and other literature, and we’ll learn of some recent legal victories, but also of challenges to come. Project Censored has been a proud supporter and part of the Banned Books Week Coalition for more than a decade. The post Freed Between the Lines: A Banned Books Week Special appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, Quechua and Jewish writer and student Rabbi Daniel Delgado joins us to confront the elephant in the room: are Jews Indigenous? As someone who is both Indigenous and Jewish, Daniel discusses the history and context of the term Indigenous and how the claim of Jewish Indigeneity is almost always brought up to absolve Zionists from accusations of colonialism, occupation and genocide, and why this claim is such a remarkably effective and insidious propaganda tool. In the second half of the program, award-winning journalist and author Joel Whitney joins us to discuss his latest book, Flights: Radicals on the Run, a look at censorship through surveillance, violence, oppression and the quite literal hunting of artists, poets, journalists, organizers, and more. Through these varied biographies, Joel highlights the US government’s intolerance for anyone who is effective in working towards positive change in this country. All this and more, coming up now on Project Censored. The post Unpacking the Jewish Claim of Indigeneity and Flights: Radicals on the Run appeared first on Project Censored.

Mickey recently spoke with Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR, and author of Cable News Confidential, about his time as senior producer to the late Phil Donahue's MSNBC program. It was among the highest rated shows on the network at the time but was cancelled on the run up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq because network execs didn't want him to interview anti-war guests. Cohen talked about corporate media censorship, the state of our so-called free press today, and why we need vibrant, independent media outlets to report in the public interest. Later in the show, Mickey welcomes back author, historian, and media critic Norman Solomon. They discussed the paperback release of his latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine, with a new afterword that analyzes the US media propaganda campaign and censorship around Israel’s ongoing assault on the Palestinian people. US and Israeli officials claim these are acts of self-defense after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on a music festival. Many others around the world, including the International Court of Justice, have called the ongoing belligerent acts harming mostly innocent civilians a plausible genocide. The post The Need for Independent Media: Voices For Peace in a World at War appeared first on Project Censored.

This week, we have a special program as we share an excerpt of a conversation held earlier this summer between Project Censored co-host Eleanor Goldfield; The Real News Network Editor-in-Chief, Maximillian Alvarez; author and journalist Kevin Gosztola, author of Guilty of Journalism; and Policy Director at Defending Rights and Dissent, Chip Gibbons. Though many might feel that the story of Julian Assange ended with his June release from prison and plea deal with the US government, there is a renewed push to fully pardon him as well as to support him and his family now that he has been released. There is also a significant knowledge gap for many folks in understanding not only his specific case but what it means for the free press and citizens of purportedly free societies. The post Guilty of Journalism: The Future of Press Freedoms After the Release of Julian Assange appeared first on Project Censored.

This week on the program, a special episode featuring Project Censored’s recent "Decoding Democracy" series, a collection of interviews showcasing media scholars, journalists, and activists discussing how an informed public and an independent press are vital aspects of any free and just society. These excerpts are part of the larger Project Censored aim to empower individuals to better navigate the media landscape and political climate, becoming more engaged citizens. The focus of the series is to promote critical media literacy education while harnessing the power of a free and independent press to spur more broadly and deeply informed civic engagement among the electorate. The post Decoding Democracy: Excerpts From a Series Exploring Critical Media Literacy Education, Independent Journalism, and Civic Engagement appeared first on Project Censored.

This week, we’re talking colonialism and capitalism - on earth and in space. In the first half of the show, Eleanor Goldfield sits down with Jen Deerinwater and Ezra Star to discuss Disability Divest, a project that seeks to hold disability advocacy groups accountable - more specifically: how can you be an advocacy group for disabled people when you’re in league with those who create disabilities? Jen and Ezra discuss the connections between ills such as racism and xenophobia to ableism and how colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism create disability, and worsen existing disabilities. Next up, writer and researcher Zara Zimbardo joins us to discuss the concept album Marsification, how astro-colonial fantasies become reality as we turn our amazing earth more and more into mars. Zara outlines how we need to feel and reflect upon how our eco-anxiety is being hijacked, and how ideologies causing the destruction of our home planet, i.e. colonialism and capitalism, are the very same ones targeting what should be our global commons, the expanse of space. The post Colonialism and Capitalism: From Earth to Space appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first segment, we learn about the phenomenon of “dark money,” political campaign contributions designed to be difficult or impossible for the public to know about or trace. Mickey talks with media scholar Steve Macek about GOP plans for legislation to make it even easier to keep these contributions secret, as well as the failure of corporate media to energetically report on dark money, nor the wider issues of what big donors get for their dollars. In the second part of the program, Project Censored's curriculum development coordinator Mischa Geracoulis guest co-hosts the show to address the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, the conservative wish list for a second Trump term. Mischa spoke with Lisa Graves, executive director of Truth North Research. They specifically address how education and the media landscape would be changed if Project 2025 is actually implemented. The post Dark Money and Project 2025: A Deep Dive into Political Secrecy and Conservative Ambitions appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, Eleanor Goldfield speaks with incarcerated journalist Jeremy Busby who joins us from prison to talk about his powerful work in exposing horrendous prison conditions and the sadistic treatment of prisoners. Jeremy speaks of extreme retaliation that he’s faced from prison officials for his work, and his unwavering determination to show the world what life on the inside is really like in the hopes that more awareness will catalyze change. Seth Stern, Director of Advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation also joins us to contextualize Jeremy’s work and mistreatment in the larger fight for press freedoms. In the second half of the show, we welcome back Palestinian legal expert Hassan Ben Imran to discuss the most recent ICJ advisory opinion with regards to Israel’s unlawful presence in occupied Palestinian territory - what does this mean not just for Palestinians but for how the world engages with the ongoing genocide in Gaza? Hassan also outlines the ICC case against Netanyahu, myriad US and UK road blocks, precedent for sanctions and action against Israel and more. The post Exposing Prison Conditions and the Fight for Palestinian Rights appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, cohost Eleanor Goldfield speaks with lawyer and worker health and safety advocate for Public Citizen’s Congress watch division, Juley Fulcher about her recent report, Scorched States, an expose of the inadequate or wholly lacking protections for workers facing extreme heat in the age of climate chaos. Juley describes the legislative morass standing in the way of workers rights, and how states like Florida and Texas have actually made it illegal to protect workers. Next up, cohosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield highlight the importance of critical media literacy vis a vis how media and our government talk about immigration. Beware the dog whistle from both parties and establishment press, and consider the realities of those caught in the snares of our militarized southern border. The post Scorched States and the Fight for Workers’ Rights: Unpacking Heat Exposure and Immigration Narratives appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, Eleanor Goldfield speaks with Palestinian-American Mohammed Abouhashem, who on October 21st of last year left the US Air Force after 22 years of service. Abouhashem discusses his decision to leave amidst the murder of six of his family members in Palestine. He describes the ongoing genocide through a lens of military experience, highlighting how Israel and its ally the US are well aware of the civilian casualties, an awareness that for him, made any further military service impossible. Next up, Eleanor speaks with filmmaker Kym Staton about his film Trust Fall recently released in the US. The documentary chronicles the personal and professional life of Julian Assange as well as the US case against him. Staton makes clear the importance of this story and case, even after Julian’s freedom, and offers insight into the remarkable smear campaign against him and how people power is the key to not only combating misinformation, but in freeing one of the most significant political prisoners of our time. The post The Fight for Freedom: A Palestinian-American Veteran and the Julian Assange Case appeared first on Project Censored.

Mickey's guest for the hour is media scholar Nolan Higdon. They discuss how the principles of critical media literacy could help the public make sense of the current, chaotic election season in the US, and also how the divide and contrasting worldviews between the older and younger generations can be partly explained by their choices of media. They discuss the consequences of the serious lack of media literacy education in the US and how the American electorate could benefit from learning media literacy skills as well as by diversifying their media diets to include more independent outlets and fewer corporate, establishment ones too busy cheering and jeering Team Red or Team Blue to report factually on the key policy issues that really matter to voters most. The post America’s Media Literacy Deficit: Navigating Elections and Generational Divides appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first part of the program, Eleanor Goldfield speaks with journalist and analyst Ben Norton about the ongoing proxy war between Russia and NATO happening in Ukraine, the US’ bludgeoning of multiple peace deals, and the ultimately pointless struggle against a multipolar world. Ben also highlights the recent media kerfuffle on the petrodollar: what it is, why it matters, and where our economy is headed. Next up, Eleanor speaks with Swedish actor, writer and activist Håkan Julander about Sweden’s fall from grace - the country that isn’t what you think it is. Håkan outlines the abysmal state of Swedish media, the selling of Sweden’s soul to a declining empire, where hope lies, and more. The post A Declining Empire & Its Delusional Allies appeared first on Project Censored.

Independent journalist Kevin Gosztola, author of Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange, rejoins the program to discuss Julian Assange's plea bargain with the US Department of Justice that finally frees the WikiLeaks founder from Britain's Belmarsh Prison. Assange, who was detained there for more than five years, was returned home to Australia a free man. The Assange legal case may be over, but Gosztola discusses the ongoing implications for press freedom, especially given the details of the deal where Assange was basically found...guilty of journalism? Then Mickey speaks with Project Censored's Kate Horgan, Reagan Haynie, and Shealeigh Voitl, authors of a new article in the special media literacy issue of The Progressive magazine. The piece, "Navigating the Digital Democracy," outlines the efforts of government and Big Tech to control or censor social media platforms (often without users' knowledge), and the countermeasures employed by online communities to maintain open and uncensored communications. The guests discuss how social media can influence the 2024 election and how critically media literate citizens can be more meaningfully, civically engaged. The post Freedom for Julian Assange and Navigating our Digital Democracy appeared first on Project Censored.

The Progressive magazine teamed up with Project Censored for its June/July issue and took an in-depth look at media literacy in the context of the upcoming election. On this week's program, Mickey speaks with Norman Stockwell, publisher of the venerable political journal about how and why the partnership came about; as well as Project Censored's associate director, Andy Lee Roth, who wrote about corporate media's news abuse and the coming election; and Mischa Geracoulis, who was guest editor for the special edition. They discuss the many ways critical media literacy can help create a more informed and meaningfully engaged electorate. Later in the program, Mickey and Eleanor discuss the relative utility of electoral politics in our current context while highlighting numerous ways people can be civically engaged in addition to showing up at the ballot box, making political and community activism a way of life, not just an every four-year endeavor. The post Critical Media Literacy and Civic Engagement in an Election Year appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, Eleanor Goldfield speaks with professor and author Mohammed Bamyeh about the no-state solution, an idea rooted in Palestinian and regional history that speaks of legitimate liberation in the face of continued state-imposed oppression and colonialist violence. Mohammed also explains the origins and outgrowth of fundamentalism, and the need to go beyond realism when reality has failed and continues to fail the people. In the second half of the program, Eleanor speaks with journalist and author John Washington about his book, The Case For Open Borders and the historic, economic, political and environmental reasons why and how open borders would not only be possible but beneficial to all. John also highlights the contradictions and hypocrisies of borders, the inefficacy of militarized borders, and the very real effects of the recent Biden administration move to essentially close the border. The post The No-State Solution & The Case For Open Borders appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, cohost Eleanor Goldfield talks with Vanessa Nosie from Apache Stronghold about the profit-driven priorities of what we’d assume are protective agencies like the US forest service. Vanessa draws a red thread of connection between historical and present-day colonization, uplifting the spiritual and survivalist fight to save the sacred area known as Oak Flat, a decades long struggle that is now taking her and her tribe to the US Supreme Court. Later in the show, cohosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield dive into some of the news that didn’t make the news and why vis a vis Palestine, how algorithms are pushing journalists to euphemise genocide, and self-censor while Palestinian journalists are being murdered, Palestinian academics are being canceled, and more. The post The Apache Stronghold & Euphemizing Genocide appeared first on Project Censored.

This week on the Project Censored Show, Mickey welcomes back to the program Peter Kuznick, Professor of History at American University and best-selling author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States. They discuss the ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine along with US/NATO reactions, as well as US support for Israel’s ongoing assaults on Gaza, and how close we may be coming to WWIII if we don’t reinvigorate diplomacy and actively promote peace. Later in the program, Mickey welcomes back Director of Advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Seth Stern, to discuss some good news around bipartisan support for the PRESS Act, a much needed shield law for journalists in a time when press freedoms are on the decline in the US and across the globe. The post Reinvigorating Diplomacy: Global Tensions and Press Freedom appeared first on Project Censored.