KPFA - Project Censored

First up, cohost Mickey Huff sits down with media analyst Nolan Higdon to dig into big techs hold on higher ed – namely their aims to surveil, extract and breach. Nolan digs into a recent hacking scandal, how big tech aligns with the likes of Epstein and a dark history of eugenics, big tech propaganda and authentic resistance. Next up, Dr. Austin Kocher comes back on the program to dig into some recent news that didn’t make the news vis a vis immigration, from overcrowding court hearings to expedite deportation to handpicking so-called deportation judges, the cruelty is the point. But there are some glimmers in this world full of triggers, and as always a lot of it has to do with communities fighting back. Nolan Higdon is a political analyst, author, host of The Disinfo Detox Podcast, lecturer at Merrill College and the Education Department at University of California, Santa Cruz, and Project Censored National Judge. Higdon’s areas of concentration include critical AI literacy, podcasting, digital culture, news media history & propaganda, and critical media literacy. Dr. Austin Kocher is a political and legal geographer studying the theories, laws, and institutional practices behind immigration enforcement. His research focuses on the political and legal geography of immigration enforcement, examining topics such as mass immigrant surveillance, the digitization of asylum processes, and the impacts of immigration policies on vulnerable populations. He is Assistant Research Professor in the Office of Research and Creative Activity in the S.I. Newhouse of Public Communication at Syracuse University, affiliated faculty member with the Department of Geography at the Maxwell School, and an affiliated expert at the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship. Kocher is also a Research Fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies and the Immigration Lab. The News That Didn’t Make the News. Each week, co-hosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield conduct in depth interviews with their guests and offer hard hitting commentary on the key political, social, and economic issues of the day with an emphasis on critical media literacy. The post Project Censored – Big Tech vs. Intelligence / Latest Immigration News appeared first on KPFA.

In the first part of the program we welcome back political and legal geographer Dr. Austin Kocher to talk about the immigration news that never makes the news. Dr. Kocher talks about overcrowded and deadly detention centers, the 287g clause that transforms your local law enforcement into ICE officers, the fundamental flaw in the US immigration legal system, and how we shouldnt think of borders as a matter of what they are, but rather what they do in service of the state. Next up, Mickey Huff sits down with frequent guest and political analyst Nolan Higdon to dissect some recent news, focusing especially on AI: what can history tell us about the unintelligence of artificial intelligence, how deep fakes are crowbarring the political divide even further and deeper, the corporate capture of the classroom, and more. The News That Didn’t Make the News. Each week, co-hosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield conduct in depth interviews with their guests and offer hard hitting commentary on the key political, social, and economic issues of the day with an emphasis on critical media literacy. The post Project Censored – January 30, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

First up, we welcome back to the program analyst and organizer Leonardo Flores to talk to us about whats really going on on the ground in Venezuela, contextualizing the push for oil, the drug fiasco that now even the DOJ admits as farce, and cutting through the thick sludge of US propaganda. Next up, I sit down with my cohost Mickey Huff to dig into some of the news that didnt make the news, highlighting the corporate medias tireless work in laundering war crimes even when the state admits it. Mickey and I cover some of the attacks on press freedoms here and abroad and how a truly free and independent press serves as a vital link between community and the state, making escalated attacks on the press a disturbing canary in the coal mine for not only our right to know but our ability to organize for our own best interests – we cant fight what we don’t know. The News That Didn’t Make the News. Each week, co-hosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield conduct in depth interviews with their guests and offer hard hitting commentary on the key political, social, and economic issues of the day with an emphasis on critical media literacy. The post Project Censored – January 16, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

Today on this special episode of the Project Censored show, we look back at 50 years of the Project with a roundtable conversation about the forthcoming State of the Free Press 2026. Joined by associate director Shealeigh Voitl and editor-at-large Andy Lee Roth, Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield dig into some of that 50 year history, the echoes of systemic problems within our media and also therefore within our society. They discuss and dissect what critical media literacy really is, solutions and citizen journalism, journalistic ethics and what a press of and for by the people really means, and why we need it now more than ever. The News That Didn’t Make the News. Each week, co-hosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield conduct in depth interviews with their guests and offer hard hitting commentary on the key political, social, and economic issues of the day with an emphasis on critical media literacy. The post Project Censored:The State of the Free Press – A Look Back at 50 Years of Project Censored appeared first on KPFA.

This week we are rejoined by media scholar Nolan Higdon to discuss his latest work, “Unmasking Epstein: Power, Blackmail, and the Press’s Failures.” We also delve into the increasingly problematic world of Artificial Intelligence, the challenges and threats AI poses, and the importance of critical AI literacy. Next, Mickey speaks to Brown University first year student James Libresco about his latest Dispatch on Media and Politics for Project Censored titled, “A Direct Attack on Freedom of Speech: Trump Takes on Higher Ed.” Libresco addresses media freedom and the student press, as well as the massive pushback to Trump’s so-called “Compact for Excellence in Higher Education,” which actually poses major threats to academic freedom. Nolan Higdon is is a political analyst, author, host of The Disinfo Detox Podcast, curator of the Gaslight Gazette, a lecturer at Merrill College and the Education Department at University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Project Censored National Judge. Higdons areas of concentration include critical AI literacy, podcasting, digital culture, news media history and propaganda, and critical media literacy. He is a regular commentator on current affairs for several media networks in the San Francisco Bay Area. All of Higdons work is available at Substack. James Libresco was co-editor in chief of Theogony, his high school paper for the 2024-25 school year, where he covered education, city politics, and breaking news. His work has been published in The Alexandria Times, The Alexandria Gazette Packet and The Zebra, among other outlets. James recently published a Dispatch on Media and Politics for Project Censored on Trump’s attacks on higher education and is currently a first year student at Brown University studying political science. The News That Didn’t Make the News. Each week, co-hosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield conduct in depth interviews with their guests and offer hard hitting commentary on the key political, social, and economic issues of the day with an emphasis on critical media literacy. The post Project Censored:Media Failures and the Epstein Files, + AI Threats; Trump’s Attacks on Higher Education appeared first on KPFA.