Highlighting the year’s most significant independent journalism—including reports on toxic chemicals, climate disinformation, and union victories—Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2025 illuminates issues and raises voices that the establishment press have throttled.
State of the Free Press 2025 shows how independent journalism can promote civic engagement and reconnect people who have otherwise lost interest in sensational “news” that distracts and polarizes us.
Balancing critical analysis with optimistic vision, the book’s diverse contributors champion press freedom and critical media literacy to hold the powerful accountable and promote a more just and inclusive society.
State of the Free Press 2025 is a joint production of The Censored Press and Seven Stories Press.
Since 2010, MICKEY HUFF has been director of Project Censored (founded in 1976), and has been president of its parent nonprofit, Media Freedom Foundation, since 2016. He has co-edited each annual volume of the book Censored dating back to 2009, and has contributed numerous chapters to those works. His most recent books include United States of Distraction: Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America (and what we can do about it) co-authored with Nolan Higdon (from City Lights Publishers, 2019) and Censored 2020: Through the Looking Glass (co-edited with long-time associate director of the Project, Andy Lee Roth). In spring of 2019, Huff won the Beverly Kees Educator Award as part of the 2019 James Madison Freedom of Information Awards from the Society for Professional Journalists, Northern California. Currently, Huff is professor of social science and history at Diablo Valley College, where he co-chairs the History Department. He is also a lecturer in the Communications Department at California State University, East Bay, and has taught Sociology of Media at Sonoma State University. He is also executive producer and cohost of The Project Censored Show, the weekly syndicated public affairs program that originates from KPFA in Berkeley, CA, and airs on roughly 50 stations across the US.
Andy Lee Roth is the associate director of Project Censored, where he coordinates the Project’s Validated Independent News program. His research, on topics ranging from ritual to communities organizing for parklands, has been published in journals including the International Journal of Press/Politics; Social Studies of Science; Media, Culture & Society; City & Community; and Sociological Theory. Roth earned a PhD in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a BA in sociology and anthropology at Haverford College. A native of California, he now lives in Washington State.
SHEALEIGH VOITL is Project Censored’s digital and print editor. She first began her research with the Project at North Central College alongside Steve Macek, co-authoring the Déjá Vu News chapter in the State of the Free Press 2022 and 2023, and the Top 25 chapter in SFP 2023. In addition to her editorial contributions to the yearbook series and work with the Campus Affiliates Program, Shealeigh helped develop the State of the Free Press 2024 teaching guide and the Project’s “Critical Media Literacy in Action” social media series. Her writing has also been featured in Truthout, The Progressive, and Ms. Magazine. She lives in Chicago.
