Project Censored Update: Sonoma State University

Project Censored is in a major transition year and we need your support to continue and to expand our work of bringing forth the most important news stories that the corporate mainstream media fails to cover.

Effective July 1, 2009, Dr. Ben Frymer will assume responsibility for the Project Censored work at Sonoma State University.

Dr. Frymer has a Ph.D. in sociology from UCLA and is a professor in Liberal Studies at Sonoma State University. He will be working with our students, faculty and staff to produce the annual Censored yearbooks of the most important under covered news stories in the US http://www.projectcensored.org/.

In addition to training over 100 university students annually, we are doing many important activities that support media democracy, open-transparent news, and the public’s right to know what is being done in our name.

Because of Project Censored’s work millions of people are aware of the massive death rates of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan (Story #1, 2009) and the continuing undermining of American civil liberties (Story #1, 2008). You will soon see the emerging stories for the Censored 2010 yearbook. The list includes how $3.2 billion was spent on lobbying Congress in 2008, and how the Obama administration, despite contrary campaign promises, is continuing much of the same global military agenda we saw the last eight years.

Eight years ago the Project Censored team formed the Media Freedom Foundation (MFF) to serve as a 501-c-3 non-profit corporation for the perpetuation of Project Censored’s work. The Board of Directors of Media Freedom Foundation recently held a quarterly board meeting and set out plans to continue to prioritize fund raising for Project Censored at Sonoma State University, and to also support the creation of Media Freedom International with affiliate Colleges/Universities all over the world modeled after Project Censored.

May 9, 2009, Media Freedom Foundation Board of Directors (B) and PC Staff (S): Left to Right: Cynthia Boaz-B, Dennis Bernstein-B, Adam Armstrong-S-Web, Mary Lia-B, Peter Phillips-B, Ben Frymer-B, Trish Boreta-S, Carl Jensen-B, Kate Sims-S, Gary Evans-B, Mickey Huff-B, Miguel Molina-B, Bill Simon-B, Board members not shown: Noel Byrne, Judith Volkart, and David Mathison.

We will soon be launching the new Media Freedom International (MFI) website http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/ that will feature daily news validated by college/university research teams. Presently we know that only 5% of college students under 30 read a daily newspaper. Most young people get all their news from corporate television, and increasingly from the Internet. One of the biggest problems with independent media sources on the Internet is that people are often suspicious of the truthfulness and accuracy of news postings from non-corporate media sources. We will address this problem by having hundreds of university professors and students research and validate news stories and sources to reinsure Internet users of the trustworthiness of stories and sites. We are already on our way with over 30 affiliate colleges participating. College instructors who would like to include their students in this process should contact us at censored@sonoma.edu. Together, we can make a difference.

You may already be aware of our daily Validated Independents News (VIN) feeds on our website from nineteen trustworthy news sources http://mediafreedom.pnn.com/5174-independent-news-sources. Or just click on the PNN button, which can also be accessed from the PC homepage http://projectcensored.org to see daily VIN news.

We are already producing a weekly VIN radio news program airing on the Flashpoints program on KPFA and numerous other stations every Friday at 5:00 P.M. PST.

After 13 years, I am transitioning from being Project Censored director to taking a more active role with Mickey Huff http://www.dvc.edu/biopage/MHuff/ in coordinating our college affiliate Media Freedom International VIN efforts.

I would like to personally ask each one of you to consider making a special gift of support. Our collective efforts require us to raise $50,000 per year through donor appeals, and special fund raising events. Your continuing support is needed to make this transition year a success and continue this work for freedom of information.

We have set a fund raising target of $25,000 for the next five weeks.
You can donate and watch our progress towards that goal on-line at http://projectcensored.org. If we are able to raise $25,000 twice a year from you, our supporters, with our other resources—book royalties, special events, speaking fees, direct Censored yearbook sales, web advertising & sales, instructional related activities fees, and the occasional foundation grant—we will be able to sustain and expand our work for years to come.

Please consider making a special gift to support this important work in difficult times. Any amount is perfectly fine. Our average donation is $30. But for this special fund drive anyone gifting $100 or more, will receive an autographed copy of Censored 2010 by the end of the summer signed to you by the editors, Mickey Huff and myself. A free media with open public information brings back the old saying of the 1960s—Power to the People. We know you agree.

Sincerely,
Peter Phillips and Project Censored 2009


Mail Tax Deductible Checks to:
Media Freedom Foundation
P.O. Box 571
Cotati, CA 94931