This week, a special roundtable discussion with your Project Censored cohosts and the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Director of Advocacy Seth Stern and Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper come back on the show to dive into the viscous morass of rights violations, including those of ICE, and the complicit courts and judges that could do more to rein them in, SLAPP suits as a weapon to silence truth-tellers, the issue of over-classification that serves to paper over the publics right to know what our government is doing in our name, and much more. The post A Viscous Morass: SLAPP Suits, Secrecy, and Complicit Courts appeared first on Project Censored.

In the first half of the show, we welcome back the editor-in-chief of Jewish Currents Arielle Angel to talk about the need for new Jewish institutions that reflect not only antizionist Judaism but the myriad traditions of Judaism which zionism has always tried to negate and erase. Arielle also highlights the connections between zionism and American exceptionalism, ideologies that fuel and feed off one another, the power of a grassroots leftist Jewish memory culture, and the pitfalls of self-denial on the Jewish left. Next up, editor for Workday Magazine, Sarah Lazare comes on the show to discuss the purposefully obfuscated connection between labor organizing and immigrants rights. Sarah outlines ways in which workers are building solidarity in the face of violent raids and harassment, and how shallow and extractive corporate media practices perpetuate misinformation and violence.

This week we are rejoined by media scholar Nolan Higdon to discuss his latest work, “Unmasking Epstein: Power, Blackmail, and the Press’s Failures.” We also delve into the increasingly problematic world of Artificial Intelligence, the challenges and threats AI poses, and the importance of critical AI literacy. Next, Mickey speaks to Brown University first year student James Libresco about his latest Dispatch on Media and Politics for Project Censored titled, “A Direct Attack on Freedom of Speech: Trump Takes on Higher Ed.” Libresco addresses media freedom and the student press, as well as the massive pushback to Trump’s so-called “Compact for Excellence in Higher Education,” which actually poses major threats to academic freedom.

In the first part of the program, Palestinian-American journalist, translator, photographer, and media analyst Laura Albast joins the show to discuss journalism as memory work, and the narrative as a battlefield upon which ever more advanced technology takes aim at Palestinian voices and lived experiences. Laura frames journalism as a commitment - to people and their stories, and talks about how the chasing of headlines and by-lines in the 24-hour news cycle leads to extractive journalism, and how and why movement media can be the antidote. Next up, Economics PHD students Shakked Noy and Aakaash Rao discuss their recent report: The Business of the Culture War which links the contemporary “culture wars” to changes in media technologies as well as economic incentives for cable news. Shakked and Aakaash discuss how their research shows that the economic drive for viewership has incentivized corporate media to turn away from actual political news and towards sensational infotainment, and how the commodification of legitimate rage leaves us dumber and more divided than ever before.

We start this week off with news that didn’t make the news from Sudan. Researcher and analyst Mosaab Baba joins us to contextualize the recent atrocities in El-Fasher, Sudan, highlighting decades-long power struggles not only inside the country but internationally as well. Mosaab explains the goals of these new imperialists and their genocidal beneficiaries, the importance of Sudan’s rich mineral and agricultural assets, and how the guns and money always lead to the familiar players of the UAE, Egypt, the US, and Israel. Next up, John Collins of Weave News comes back on the program to discuss news abuse, using a specific example in upstate New York to highlight how even regional media that did previously stand up to power falls in line behind the fallacy conflating antizioinism with antisemitism. John also discusses the Palestinization of the globe, and prescriptions for both media and media consumers on how to stay critically media literate in these critical times.

Today on this special episode of the Project Censored show, we look back at 50 years of the Project with a roundtable conversation about the forthcoming State of the Free Press 2026. Joined by associate director Shealeigh Voitl and editor-at-large Andy Lee Roth, Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield dig into some of that 50 year history, the echoes of systemic problems within our media and also therefore within our society. They discuss and dissect what critical media literacy really is, solutions and citizen journalism, journalistic ethics and what a press of and for by the people really means, and why we need it now more than ever.

In the first half of the show, Eleanor Goldfield sits down with Dr. Abdalhadi Alijila to talk about his forthcoming book Fearful in Gaza, an autobiographical work that details the lived realities, emotions, connections and contradictions of growing up in Gaza. Dr. Alijila remarks on the changing of academia, once the vanguard of progressive thought and action becoming ever more muted and intellectually impoverished. He speaks on the unending question of humanity, including how social media distorts our view, and the problem of dehumanizing by pedestaling what the occupation has buried beneath subhuman propaganda.

This week, we welcome back the esteemed historian, professor at American University, and co-author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States, Peter Kuznick. Mickey Huff recently had a chance to catch up with one of America’s most in-demand historians around the world to discuss the state of the Sate under Trump 2.0. They talk about ongoing tensions from the Middle East to Russia, and rising authoritarianism right here at home. This week, for the full hour, history matters as context for the present, with Peter Kuznick.

In the first part of the program Eleanor Goldfield speaks with Maurice Carney, co-founder and Executive Director of Friends of the Congo for this year’s Congo Week. Maurice talks about the situation in the DRC, a vastly  underreported human rights crisis perpetrated by Rwanda that incorporates junk food news, media framing, mis and disinformation, and the power of entertaining propaganda to shift the focus from war crimes to basketball, concerts, and even green energy. Maurice highlights the interconnected webs of propaganda from Israel to Rwanda, the billionaire push for Congo’s minerals, and more. Next up, Campaign and Communications Director at the National Homelessness Law Center Jesse Rabinowitz joins the show to discuss the escalating attacks on the unhoused. Jesse points out that homelessness is the result of many failed systems, and how the targeting of the unhoused, much like the targeting of incarcerated, is a test - how much pain and suffering can the system mete out on those who have the least political power? Jesse also notes the dearth of coverage on the criminalization of homelessness, an issue that not only harms everyone in society but could BE anyone in a society where everything from food to housing to healthcare is largely unaffordable.

In the first part of the program, cohost Eleanor Goldfield welcomes back to the show US marine veteran Matthew Hoh to talk about the realities vs. the stories of the US military. How much does the oath to defend the Constitution really mean in practice? They look at Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s recent performance and how this relates to the hierarchy of complicity within the higher ranking military brass. Matt and Eleanor also give some historical context to the use of the US military as a domestic police force, and how Hollywood and the stories we consume as Americans bolster these ideas of a top-down restorative violence, affecting how we think about the idea of the world’s largest military taking over our streets.  Next up, author Danny Goldberg joins the show to talk about his most recent book, Liberals with Attitude: The Rodney King Beating and the Fight for the Soul of Los Angeles. Danny discusses how this history can serve us in the present, how building coalitions with those we disagree with is critical work, and how using the media - even legacy media - can support our grassroots goals.

Today on the program, we celebrate Banned Books Week: Censorship Is So 1984, Read For Your Rights! Today we’ll speak with several people involved in Banned Books Week, starting with this year’s Youth Honorary Chair for the Banned Books Week Coalition, Iris Mogul. Later in the show we’ll be joined by the president of the American Library Association, Sam Helmick. And we’ll conclude the hour by speaking with the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, Lee Rowland. Today on the Project Censored Show, we’ll spend the hour celebrating the right to read and the right to know. It’s Banned Books Week!