Project Censored

Historian Peter Kuznick returns to the Project Censored Show to discuss  the forthcoming update to his book The Untold History of the United States. The new material will cover the period from 2012 to 2018. In the interview on this week's show, Kuznick addresses issues ranging from  Trump and Russia, to the prospects for ending the conflict in Syria.   Notes:   Peter Kuznick is Professor of History at American University in Washington DC, and also directs the Nuclear Studies Program at that institution. He and Oliver Stone wrote the groundbreaking book The Untold History of the United States, and also produced a Showtime documentary series based on the book.  More information can be found at www.untoldhistory.com.

In 1988 Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky published their influential work, "Manufacturing Consent."  One of the book's features was the introduction of the 'propaganda model,' the Herman/Chomsky analysis  of how powerful institutions shape news reporting to serve their interests. In this Project Censored Show, media scholar Rob Williams suggests how the propaganda model  can be adapted and updated to address modern online media.   Notes:   This is a rebroadcast of the Project Censored Show of February 19, 2018.   Rob Williams teaches at the University of Vermont, and also works with the Action Coalition for Media Education and the Global Critical Media Literacy Project. His print article on updating the Herman/Chomsky propaganda model  can be found at:   projectcensored.org/post-truth-world-reviving-propaganda-model-news-digital-age and at: www.vermontindependent.org/the-post-truth-world-reviving-the-propaganda-model-of-news-for-our-digital-age

9/11 activists Jenna Orkin and Jon Gold are Mickey's guests for the hour. Rather than considering who the perpetrators might've been,the guests discuss the public health disaster that followed the attacks, when thousands of emergency workers and area residentsbecame ill from the toxins spread by the fires and collapse of the World Trade Center. Jon Gold also calls out some of the liestold by politicians (both federal and local) about 9/11, as well as the failures of the 9/11 Commission.Notes:Jenna Orkin has written four books, the most recent being "Ground Zero Wars." She focuses on the public health impactsof the 9/11 disaster. At the time of the attacks, her son attended high school four blocks from the WTC.Jon Gold has been investigating 9/11 for over ten years. His latest work is "We Were Lied To About 9/11," a digital collectionof transcripts from interviews with journalists, whistleblowers, peace activists, relatives of victims, and others who've workedto uncover the story.Web sites mentioned on this week's show:www.wewereliedtoabout911.comwww.wtceo.orgwww.declassify911.orgwww.historycommons.org

Longtime investigative reporter Peter Byrne shares what he learned from numerous interviews with academic and military analysts  involved in the “war on terror,” and why they told him that the war must end. Byrne explains what he's learned about  why people become terrorists, and he also shares his research into another topic, the roots of white-nationalist ideology in the U.S.   Notes: Peter Byrne is an award-winning investigative reporter who's probed complex scientific, financial, and social issues. The topics on this week's  Project Censored show are drawn from two articles Byrne wrote for the New Scientist magazine.

On this week's program, we hear a recent speech by author and peace organizer Medea Benjamin. She discusses her newly-published book "Inside Iran," and explains why the anti-Iran words and actions of the Trump administration will actually strengthen the hand of hardliners in Iran, making reform more difficult.   Notes:   Medea Benjamin helped found the fair-trade organization Global Exchange, and the womens' peace group Code Pink. Her previous books include "Kingdom of the Unjust" and "Drone Warfare." She spoke at the Hillside Club  in Berkeley, California on June 7, 2018.    

Author and public intellectual Henry Giroux returns to the program to discuss his newest book,  "American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Facism." Among his observations, he explains  why the rise of Donald Trump was not an aberration, but the outcome of forces that have  been at work for decades.    Notes:   Henry Giroux is a world-renowned educator, author, and public intellectual. He teaches at  McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. His most recent books include The Violence of Organized Forgetting,  Neoliberalism’s War on Higher Education, Disposable Futures, and America’s Addiction to Terrorism.    

Audrena Redmond of Beautiful Struggle joins the program to discuss social and political issues in the African-American community.  Next, a conversation with Jessica Forrester about radio broadcasting for young people.

Video and internet journalist Abby Martin makes a return visit to the program, and speaks with Mickey about how corporate media obfuscates the truth to serve U.S. power and its allies, in Palestine, Yemen, Venezuela and elsewhere. In the second half of the show, Chase Palmieri of Tribeworthy.com revisits the program, following a recent remark from celebrity entrepreneur Elon Musk that there ought to be a way for the public to rate the work of journalists. Palmieri explains how Tribeworthy.com does exactly that, and summarizes how to use it. Abby Martin hosts "The Empire Files" on Telesur TV, and is the founder of Mediaroots.org.  Chase Palmieri is cofounder of Tribeworthy.com; his background in the restaurant business inspired him to create a site where readers can evaluate news articles, in the same way as Yelp.com offers a place for restaurant ratings.

Susan Rahman hosts the first half of the show, and speaks with three students researching the history of Palestine,  and the brutality of today's Israeli occupation. Then Mickey Huff interviews Heidi Kramer, whose new book --  "Media Monsters" -- documents the unprecedented levels of violence in modern children's media, including movies,  TV and video games.

A conversation about gender, race and class in media with Bill Yousman and Lori Bindig-Yousman.  Also on the program, University of San Francisco student Sage Healy speaks about his work on  a new Media Freedom Foundation documentary.     the Project Censored Show:   Hosts: Nolan Higdon, Nicholas Baham III, Aimee Casey Producer: Mitch Scorza  

Project Censored's annual "top 25 most censored stories" are gleaned from hundreds of stories nominated by students and faculty at participating campuses. On this week's show, four students from San Francisco State University discuss stories they've discovered and documented in their research; these stories involve issues ranging from clean energy to the propagation of gun culture in high schools.   

On this week's show, we present a recent talk, "Giants - The Global Power Elite," given by Peter Phillips at Sonoma State University this past March.  Extending the ideas of C. Wright Mills to the 21st century, Peter Phillips contends that a few hundred corporate managers and billionaires now control  the majority of the world's wealth, and thus are today's ruling "transnational corporate class" ('TCC'). He identifies these corporations and individuals  in a forthcoming; the speech is a summary of the ideas in the book. Peter Phillips is Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University, and a former director of Project Censored.      

In this week's program, we hear a speech given in March by Mickey Huff as part of the annual Social Justice Week lecture series  at Sonoma State University in northern California. Mickey's topic was "Fake News and the Truth Emergency." In his speech, he took note of  the deep historical roots of the idea of 'fake news,' but also warned that new media technologies threaten to make it harder and harder  to distinguish truth from fabrication.  As well as hosting the Project Censored Show, Mickey Huff is the director of Project Censored, and a faculty member in the History department  at Diablo Valley College in Contra Costa County, California. 

On this week's program, we hear a recent speech by the legedary political activist and consumer-rights advocate  Ralph Nader. Nader outlines some of the most critical problems facing Americans " including exorbitant military spending,  out-of-control corporations, and thousands of annual deaths in the workplace, or from lack of health care coverage.  But then he names some individuals who've made a difference in recent U.S. history, explains what students  can accomplish on campus, and how voters can hold legislators accountable. Nader spoke on March 5 at  Sonoma State University in northern California, as part of the campus's annual Social Justice Week Lecture Series. Notes: Web sites mentioned on this program:www.nader.org 

Authors Peter Dale Scott and David Talbot join Mickey for a discussion of the now-popular phrase "deep state,"  and its implications. They also share their thoughts on the best way forward for the left in the Trump era. Peter Dale Scott is a retired diplomat and prolific author on politics and history; among his books are "Deep Politics  and the Death of JFK," and "Drugs, Oil and War." David Talbot is the founder of Salon.com, and now a columnist for  the San Francisco Chronicle; his most recent book is "The Devil's Chessboard."     This is a rebroadcast of the Project Censored program of March 13, 2017Notes: Web sites mentioned on this program:www.peterdalescott.net www.whowhatwhy.com