Project Censored

Background

Project Censored was initially organized in 1976 at Sonoma State University when university professor Carl Jensen researched and published what he claimed were “important but under-reported news stories” in order to research news media censorship as well as provide hands-on student training in independent journalism. ³

Project Censored is part of the National Coalition Against Censorship, ² a left-of-center coalition which opposes censorship and promotes free expression. ⁴ Other coalition members include the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation. ⁵

History

Sonoma State University professor Carl Jensen researched and published a list of what he claimed were the most critical censored news stories from 1976 to 1996. In 1993, he developed a Censored yearbook which contained a list of what he considered to be the top 25 censored stories of 1992 as well as chapters on previously censored news stories. ²

In 1996, Peter Phillips, a sociologist at Sonoma State University, became Project Censored’s second director, continuing to research and produce the annual Censored yearbook. He also taught critical media literacy at the university. ²

In 2000, Jensen and Phillips established the Media Freedom Foundation to fiscally sponsor Project Censored. ²

In 2010, Mickey Huff, a professor at Diablo Valley College in California, became Project Censored’s third director. In 2014, the project won the National Whistleblower Center Pillar Award. Jensen passed away in 2015. Project Censored continues to publish an annual “Top 25 Censored Stories” while creating new educational programs to allegedly educate on independent news journalism. ²

Activities

The Campus Affiliates program, launched in 2010, is a network of over 2,560 faculty and students from over 41 colleges and universities that provide research on annual news stories and other media hits they claim were underreported. ^{6 7}

The “Project Censored Show” is a weekly radio program hosted by Project Censored director Micky Huff and co-hosted by Eleanor Goldfield. ² Beginning in 2010, the show claims to promote “the news that didn’t make the news” while focusing on political, social, and economic issues. ⁸

The Censored Press has also publishes literature including its annual State of the Free Press and the Media and Me, A Guide to Critical Media Literacy ⁹ in partnership with Seven Stories Press, which publishes annual reports for Human Rights Watch. ¹⁰

Partner Organizations

Project Censored partners include the Alliance for Democracy, Open the Government, the Real News Network, Reporters without Borders, and Women Rising Radio. ¹¹

Funding

Funding for Project Censored is coordinated through the Media Freedom Foundation. Its 2023 tax return reported total revenue of $871,853. ¹²

In 2023, Free Press donated $600,000 to the Media Freedom Foundation for “general support of Media Freedom Foundation’s Project Censored activities.” ¹³ Free Press is an activist organization that supports a “free and open internet,” media platform accountability, and opposes “unwarranted government spying and the unjust surveillance of communities of color, immigrants, dissidents and religious groups.” ¹⁴ It has been funded by the Open Society Foundations. ¹⁵

Silicon Valley Community Foundation granted Media Freedom Foundation $100,000 in 2022 for “youth development.” ¹⁶ It is a grant maker focused on supporting left-of-center nonprofits in the Santa Clara and San Mateo counties of California. ¹⁷

Leadership

Mickey Huff became the director of Project Censored and the president of the Media Freedom Foundation in 2010 and continued to hold these roles as of 2025. He was also a professor of journalism at Ithaca College in New York at the time. Huff has co-edited the annual volume of the Censored book series since 2009 and has written several of the books that were published through the Censored Press. ¹⁸

In 2025, Shealeigh Voitl became associate director of Project Censored. Voitl graduated from North Central College with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. She joined Project Censored in 2022. Her writing has been featured in Truthout, The Progressive, and Ms. Magazine. ^{19 20}

Eleanor Goldfield was the co-host of the “Project Censored Show” as of 2025. Goldfield has been a radio show host, a theater manager, a studio technician, a host and creator of the left-of-center activism news show “Free Speech TV,” and a freelance political writer. She joined Project Censored in 2022 as a producer, editor, and co-host of the “Project Censored Show” and as a board member of the Media Freedom Foundation. She was also a co-host of the podcast Common Censored at the time. ^{21 22 23}