Sonoma State University's Project Censored celebrates 40 years of investigative independent journalism with the Media Freedom Summit, October 21-22, in the Student Center Ballrooms. The event includes a panel discussion with Abby Martin, Mnar Muhawesh, David Talbot and Mark Crispin Miller on the state of media freedom and the significance of independent journalism on October 21.
This year, Project Censored -- the nonprofit media watchdog organization, founded at SSU by Professor Carl Jensen -- celebrates 40 years of documenting significant news stories that independent journalists and news organizations have covered, but that corporate media have either ignored altogether or reported only in incomplete, slanted fashion.
The Media Freedom Summit brings together independent journalists, media activists, professors, students, and members of the public from across the country to discuss the links between media power and political power, and to share effective strategies for advancing social justice by promoting media freedom and critical media literacy.
The official 40th anniversary celebration takes place Friday, Oct. 21 with a reception at 5 p.m., followed by an overview of the organization's body of work, the latest "Top Censored Stories," and the media freedom panel discussion.
The Media Freedom Summit is co-sponsored by the Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME) and Sacred Heart University's Media Education and Digital Culture MA Program, as well as Sonoma State's School of Social Science, Sociology Department, Communications Studies Department, and Sociology, Social Justice and Activism Club.
Registration for the entire weekend of workshops and panel discussions, including the Friday night celebration, is $150, and includes a copy of "Censored 2017." Tickets for Friday's celebration and panel discussion are $40; students are admitted free of charge with valid school ID.
About Project Censored
By exposing and opposing news censorship and promoting independent investigative journalism, media literacy, and critical thinking, Project Censored educates students and the public about the crucial role of a free press for democratic self-government. The group's campus affiliates program links together hundreds of teachers and students from dozens of college and university campuses across the country and around the world in a collective effort to raise public awareness of the limits of corporate news coverage and the importance of a truly independent press.
About the panelists
Abby Martin is the creator and host of "The Empire Files," an investigative news program broadcast weekly by teleSUR English, the former host of RT's "Breaking the Set," and the founder of Media Roots. Martin contributed to a chapter in Censored 2017.
Mnar Muhawesh is the founder and editor-in-chief of MintPress News and host of the program "Behind the Headline." Project Censored's judges selected one of her news stories for inclusion among the Top 25 Censored stories of 2015-2016. Muhawesh also contributed to a chapter in Censored 2017.
David Talbot, best-selling author most recently of "The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and America's Secret Government." Talbot was the founding editor of Salon.com. His most recent endeavor is Hot Books, a new imprint in partnership with Skyhorse Publishing producing hard-hitting, muckraking titles on key issues of our times that often escape the attention of corporate media.
Mark Crispin Miller is professor of media, culture and communication at New York University, author of numerous articles and books on media censorship and election fraud, including "Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008." He is also curator of the Open Road Media series Forbidden Bookshelf, a project that republishes titles of America's repressed history focusing on issues and events that are too often left in the dark. Miller wrote the Foreword to "Censored 2017."
The full program schedule can be found here. Contact mickey@projectcensored.org for more information.