Many people contributed to State of the Free Press | 2021. Here we are pleased to acknowledge some of this year’s most important contributors and supporters.
We are blessed to work with an extraordinary editor, Michael Tencer. His deep knowledge, keen vision, and crisp editing enhanced every page in this book.
At Seven Stories Press, we thank Sam Brown, intern; Stewart Cauley, art director; Jon Gilbert, operations director; Lauren Hooker, senior editor; Allison Paller, senior publicist and web coordinator; Shayan Saalabi, production editor; Dan Simon, publisher and editorial director; Eva Sotomayor, publicist; Silvia Stramenga, rights director and editor of foreign literature; Elisa Taber, assistant editor and academic manager; Jordan Taylor-Jones, publicity manager at Seven Stories Press UK; and Ruth Weiner, publicity director of Seven Stories Press and co-publisher of Triangle Square Books for Young Readers—all of whom have our respect and gratitude for their steadfast commitment to publishing Project Censored’s research.
Anson Stevens-Bollen provided the striking cover art for this year’s book.
Jason Bud, Ama Cortes, Mischa Geracoulis, Sierra Kaul, Gavin Kelley, Juliana Moreno, Troy Patton, Matthew Phillips, and Spencer Wilkinson assisted in proofreading the manuscript.
Vital financial support from donors sustains the Project. This year, we are especially thankful to Cooper Atkinson, Sharyl Attkisson, Margli and Phil Auclair, John Boyer, Allison Butler, Sandra Cioppa, James Coleman, Dwain A. Deets, Jan De Deka, Dmitry Egorov, Arlene Engelhardt, Martha Fleischman, Larry Gassan, Michael Hansen, Elizabeth Hegeman, Louise Johnston, Neil Joseph, Sheldon Levy, Robert Manning, James March, Sandra Maurer, Harry Mersmann, Nate Mudd, David Nelson, Christopher Oscar, Richard and Janet Oscar, Edwin Phillips, Allison Reilly, Lynn and Leonard Riepenhoff, John and Lyn Roth, Katherine Schock, T.M. Scruggs, Bill Simon, Mark Squire, David Stanek, Roger Stoll, Sal Velasco, Elaine Wellin, Barbara Wells, Derrick West and Laurie Dawson, David Winkler, and Montgomery Zukowski.
The Media Freedom Foundation board of directors, whose members are identified below, provide invaluable counsel and crucial organizational structure. Peter Phillips continues to be an inspiration and one of the Project’s most stalwart supporters.
Without Adam Armstrong, almost no one in this digital era would know about the Project. Adam deftly manages our website, social media channels, and related audio and video content, including the Project’s weekly radio program and podcast.
Christopher Oscar and Doug Hecker of Hole in the Media Productions provide ongoing support. We are especially grateful to Richard and Janet Oscar for their generous financing of the Project’s newest documentary film, which is highlighted on the last page of this volume.
Anthony Fest and Dennis Murphy provide critical production assistance for the Project’s weekly public affairs program. Bob Baldock and Ken Preston at KPFA continue to support the Project.
For amplifying the Project’s voice, we thank Nolan Higdon; John Bertucci; John Crowley and the Aqus community; Jen Jensen, Larry Figueroa, and the crew at Lagunitas Brewing Company; Chase and Marco Palmieri and family at Risibisi; Raymond Lawrason and all at Copperfield’s Books; Kevin Herbert at Common Cents; James Preston Allen, Paul Rosenberg, Terelle Jerricks, and the team at Random Lengths News, as well as the Association of Alternative Newsmedia; the Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center; the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County; the Sociology Social Justice and Activism Club at Sonoma State University; Jason Houk at KSKQ, and the folks behind Independent Media Week, including Kathleen Gamer at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon; our allies in the Union for Democratic Communications and the Action Coalition for Media Education; Davey D and Hard Knock Radio; Abby Martin of The Empire Files and Media Roots; Mnar Muhawesh and the team at MintPress News; Eleanor Goldfield of Act Out!; Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek at Shadowproof and the Unauthorized Disclosure podcast; The Real News Network; Lee Camp and Redacted Tonight; Sharyl Attkisson of Full Measure; Arlene Engel-hardt and Mary Glenney, hosts of From a Woman’s Point of View; Eric Draitser and CounterPunch Radio; James Tracy and everyone at the Howard Zinn Book Fair in San Francisco; Chris Carosi, Greg Ruggiero, Elaine Katzenberger, and City Lights Publishers; David Talbot; Peter Kuznick; Michael Welch of The Global Research News Hour; Theresa Mitchell of Presswatch on KBOO; Jon Gold; John Collins and the team at Weave News; Chase Palmieri and all at Credder; Betsy Gomez and the Banned Books Week Coalition, including Christopher Finan and our allies at the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom; Ralph Nader and the Center for Study of Responsive Law; and Peter Ludes, Hektor Haarkötter, Daniel Müller, and Marlene Nunnendorf at the German Initiative on News Enlightenment.
At Diablo Valley College, Mickey thanks Lisa Martin and History program co-chair Matthew Powell, as well as the people who have supported the Journalism Revitalization Committee, including Adam Bessie, Mark Akiyama, Steve Johnson, Rayshell Clapper, Alan Haslam, Katy Agnost, Maria Dorado, Robert Hawkins, Nolan Higdon, Lisa Smiley-Ratchford, John Freytag, Ann Patton-Langelier, Terence Elliott, Albert Ponce, Sangha Niyogi, and everyone involved in the Social Justice Studies program and the Faculty Senate; and Dean of English and Social Sciences, Obed Vazquez; Vice President of Instruction, Mary Gutierrez; as well as college president Susan Lamb. Thanks also to current research assistants and Project interns including Troy Patton, Sierra Kaul, Veronica Vasquez, and Matthew Phillips. Mickey would also like to thank all of his students for the inspiration they provide, as they are a constant reminder of the possibilities of the future.
Mickey thanks his family, especially his wife, Meg, for her amazing work, counsel, and care; and their children, for patience, moral support, sense of humor, and their love of a good argument. Andy remembers Jessica Mae Orozco (1987–2018), whose passion for botany and life inspired everyone who knew her. He is grateful beyond words for Elizabeth Boyd, whose love sustains him.
Finally, we thank you, our readers, who continue to cherish a truly free press. Together, we make a difference.
Adam Armstrong, Nicholas Baham III, Ben Boyington, Kenn Burrows, Allison Butler, Mary Cardaras, Doug Hecker, Mickey Huff (president), Christopher Oscar, Susan Rahman (vice president), Andy Lee Roth, T.M. Scruggs, and Elaine Wellin; with bookkeeper Michael Smith.
ROBIN ANDERSEN. Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University. She has written dozens of scholarly articles and is author or co-author of four books, including A Century of Media, A Century of War (2006), winner of the Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award. She recently published The Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action (2017), and HBO’s Treme and the Stories of the Storm: From New Orleans as Disaster Myth to Groundbreaking Television (2017). Writes media criticism and commentary for the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), The Vision Machine, and the Antenna blog.
APRIL ANDERSON. Electronic Resources Librarian at Macalester College. A member and advocate of the LGBTQI+ community researching LGBTQ censorship, in print and online. Recent publications include “Queer Erasure” in the Spring 2020 issue of Index on Censorship and “Stonewalled: Establishment Media’s Silence on the Trump Administration’s Crusade against LGBTQ People,” featured in Censored 2020.
JULIE ANDRZEJEWSKI. Professor Emeritus, St. Cloud State University. Served as director of the Social Responsibility master’s program, and president of the faculty union. Publications include Social Justice, Peace, and Environmental Education (co-edited, 2009) and, most recently, a book chapter, “The Roots of the Sixth Mass Extinction” (2017). She is currently co-chair of Indivisible Tacoma and organizer of the WA Indivisible Town Hall Series.
OLIVER BOYD-BARRETT. Professor Emeritus of Media and Communications, Bowling Green State University and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Most recent publications include News Agencies in the Turbulent Era of the Internet (2010), Hollywood and the CIA: Cinema, Defense, and Subversion (2011), Western Mainstream Media and the Ukraine Crisis (2017), RussiaGate and Propaganda (2020), and Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change (2020).
KENN BURROWS. Faculty member at the Institute for Holistic Health Studies, Department of Health Education, San Francisco State University. Founder and director of the Holistic Health Learning Center and producer of the biennial conference, Future of Health Care.
ERNESTO CARMONA. Journalist and writer. Chief correspondent, teleSUR Chile. Director, Santiago Circle of Journalists. Executive Secretary of the Investigation Commission on Attacks Against Journalists, Latin American Federation of Journalists (CIAP-FELAP).
ELLIOT D. COHEN. Professor of Philosophy and chair of the Humanities Department, Indian River State College. Editor and founder of the International Journal of Applied Philosophy. Recent books include Making Peace with Imperfection (2019), Counseling Ethics for the 21st Century (2018), Logic-Based Therapy and Everyday Emotions (2016), and Technology of Oppression: Preserving Freedom and Dignity in an Age of Mass, Warrantless Surveillance (2014).
BRIAN COVERT. Independent journalist, author, and educator based in Japan. Worked for United Press International (UPI) news service in Japan, as staff reporter and editor for English-language daily newspapers in Japan, and as contributing writer to Japanese and overseas newspapers and magazines. Contributing author to past Censored editions. Teaches journalism/media studies at Doshisha University in Kyoto.
GEOFF DAVIDIAN. Investigative reporter, war correspondent, legal affairs analyst, editor, photojournalist, data analyst, and educator. Founding publisher and editor of the Putnam Pit, Milwaukee Press, and ShorewoodNewsroom. Contributor to Reuters, magazines, newspapers, and online publications.
ROBERT HACKETT. Professor Emeritus of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. Co-founder of NewsWatch Canada (1993), Media Democracy Days (2001), and OpenMedia.ca (2007). Publications include Remaking Media: The Struggle to Democratize Public Communication (with W.K. Carroll, 2006) and Journalism and Climate Crisis: Public Engagement, Media Alternatives (with S. Forde, S. Gunster, and K. Foxwell-Norton, 2017). He blogs at rabble.ca.
KEVIN HOWLEY. Professor of Media Studies, DePauw University. His work has appeared in the Journal of Radio Studies, Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Social Movement Studies, and Television and New Media. He is the author of Community Media: People, Places, and Communication Technologies (2005), and editor of Understanding Community Media (2010) and Media Interventions (2013). His latest book is Drones: Media Discourse and the Public Imagination (2018).
NICHOLAS JOHNSON.* Author, How to Talk Back to Your Television Set (1970) and nine additional titles, including Columns of Democracy (2018) and Catfish Solution (2019). Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission (1966–1973). Former media and cyber law professor, University of Iowa College of Law. More online at nicholasjohnson.org.
CHARLES L. KLOTZER. Founder, editor, and publisher emeritus of St. Louis Journalism Review and FOCUS/Midwest. The St. Louis Journalism Review has been transferred to Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and is now the Gateway Journalism Review. Klotzer remains active at the Review.
NANCY KRANICH. Lecturer, School of Communication and Information, and special projects librarian, Rutgers University. Past president of the American Library Association (ALA), and convener of the ALA Center for Civic Life. Author of Libraries and Democracy: The Cornerstones of Liberty (2001) and “Libraries: Reuniting the Divided States of America” (2017).
DEEPA KUMAR. Professor of Media Studies, Rutgers University. Award-winning scholar and activist. Author of Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization, and the UPS Strike (2007), Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire (2012), and about 75 journal articles, book chapters, and contributions in independent and establishment media. Past president of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT faculty union.
MARTIN LEE. Investigative journalist and author. Co-founder of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, and former editor of FAIR’s magazine, Extra!. Director of Project CBD, a medical science information nonprofit. Author of Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana—Medical, Recreational, and Scientific (2012), The Beast Reawakens: Fascism’s Resurgence from Hitler’s Spymasters to Today’s Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists (2000), and Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond (with B. Shlain, 1985).
PETER LUDES. Professor of Mass Communication, Jacobs University, Bremen, 2002–2017. Visiting Professor, University of Cologne, 2018–2021. Founder of the German Initiative on News Enlightenment (1997) at the University of Siegen (Project Censored, Germany). Recent publications include Brutalisierung und Banalisierung Asoziale und soziale Netze (Brutalization and Banalization in Asocial and Social Networks) (2018), and, as co-editor, Collective Myths and Decivilizing Processes (with Stefan Kramer, 2020) and Contact Zones in China: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (with Merle Schatz and Laura De Giorgi, 2020).
WILLIAM LUTZ. Professor Emeritus of English, Rutgers University. Former editor of the Quarterly Review of Doublespeak. Author of Doublespeak: From Revenue Enhancement to Terminal Living: How Government, Business, Advertisers, and Others Use Language to Deceive You (1989), The Cambridge Thesaurus of American English (1994), The New Doublespeak: Why No One Knows What Anyone’s Saying Anymore (1996), and Doublespeak Defined (1999).
CONCHA MATEOS. Professor of Journalism, Department of Communication Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain. Journalist for radio, television, and political organizations in Spain and Latin America. Coordinator for Project Censored research in Europe and Latin America.
MARK CRISPIN MILLER. Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University. Author, editor, and activist.
DANIEL MÜLLER. Head of the Postgraduate Academy at the University of Siegen, in Germany. Researcher and educator in journalism and mass communication studies and history at public universities for many years. Has published extensively on media history, media–minority relations in Germany, and on nationality policies and ethnic relations of the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet successor states, particularly in the Caucasus. Jury member of the German Initiative on News Enlightenment.
JACK L. NELSON.* Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University. Former member, Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure, American Association of University Professors. Recipient, Academic Freedom Award, National Council for Social Studies. Author of seventeen books, including Critical Issues in Education: Dialogues and Dialectics, 9th ed. (with S. Palonsky and M.R. McCarthy, 2020) and Human Impact of Natural Disasters (with V.O. Pang and W.R. Fernekes, 2010), and about 200 articles.
PETER PHILLIPS. Professor of Political Sociology, Sonoma State University, since 1994. Director, Project Censored, 1996–2010. President, Media Freedom Foundation, 2010–2016. Editor or co-editor of fourteen editions of Censored. Co-editor (with Dennis Loo) of Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney (Seven Stories Press, 2006). Author of Giants: The Global Power Elite (Seven Stories Press, 2018), as well as four chapters in recent Censored yearbooks.
MICHAEL RAVNITZKY. Attorney, writer, editor, engineer, and Freedom of Information Act expert who has developed tools to broaden access to public records in the public interest.
T. M. SCRUGGS. Professor Emeritus (and token ethnomusicologist), University of Iowa. Published in print, audio, and/or video format, on Central American, Cuban, and Venezuelan music and dance and US jazz. Involvement with community radio in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and the United States, including the KPFA (Berkeley, CA) Local Station Board and Pacifica National Board. Executive producer, The Real News Network, and board member, Truthout.
NANCY SNOW. Pax Mundi Professor of Public Diplomacy, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan. Professor Emeritus of Communications, California State University, Fullerton. Fellow, Temple University, Japan, Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies. Author or editor of twelve books, including The SAGE Handbook of Propaganda (2020) and a new edition of The Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy (with Nicholas J. Cull, 2020).
PAUL STREET. Researcher, award-winning journalist, historian, author, and speaker. Author of seven books to date: Empire and Inequality: America and the World Since 9/11 (2004); Segregated Schools: Educational Apartheid in Post–Civil Rights America (2005); Racial Oppression in the Global Metropolis: A Living Black Chicago History (2007); Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics (2009); The Empire’s New Clothes: Barack Obama in the Real World of Power (2010); Crashing the Tea Party: Mass Media and the Campaign to Remake American Politics, with Anthony R. DiMaggio (2011); and They Rule: The 1% vs. Democracy (2014). He writes regularly for Truthdig and CounterPunch.
SHEILA RABB WEIDENFELD.* Emmy Award–winning television producer. Former press secretary to Betty Ford and special assistant to the President; author, First Lady’s Lady. President of DC Productions Ltd. Creator of snippetsofwisdom.com. Director of community relations of Phyto Management LLC and Maryland Cultivation and Processing LLC.
ROB WILLIAMS. Founding president of the Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME). Teaches media, communications, global studies, and journalism at the University of Vermont and Champlain College. Author of numerous articles on critical media literacy education. Publisher of the Vermont Independent online news journal. Co-editor of Media Education for a Digital Generation (with J. Frechette, 2016) and Most Likely to Secede (with R. Miller, 2013), about the Vermont independence movement.
*Indicates having been a Project Censored judge since our founding in 1976.
With sadness, we note the passing of Hugh Downs (1921–2020). A pioneer of broadcast journalism, Downs was also an early advocate of Project Censored. He wrote the introduction to the very first Censored yearbook and served as one of the Project’s esteemed judges. At a time when few acclaimed journalists called out censorship in their own profession, Downs courageously did so.