For Immediate Release — Thursday, March 30, 2006

Contact:

Mary E. McCrank

Media Relations Officer

(585) 245-5516

mccrank@geneseo.edu

Project Censored director to speak at SUNY Geneseo April 11

GENESEO, N.Y. — Peter Phillips, the director of Project Censored, will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, in the MacVittie College Union Ballroom at the State University of New York at Geneseo. The talk is free and open to the public. The title of his talk is "New American Censorship."

Phillips, chair of the sociology department at Sonoma State University, teaches classes in media censorship, sociology of power, political sociology and sociology of media. He has published eight editions of "Censored: Media Democracy in Action" from Seven Stories Press, and in 2003 published "Project Censored Guide to Independent Media and Activism." He also is the national and international news editor for the North Bay Progressive newspaper in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Phillips writes op-ed pieces for national independent media including "Z" magazine, "Counterpunch," "Common Dreams," "Social Policy" and "Briarpatch." He frequently speaks on media censorship and various socio-political issues on radio and TV talks shows including "Talk of the Nation," "Air America," "Public Interest," "Talk America," "World Radio Network," "Democracy Now!" and the "Jim Hightower Show."

He received his B.A. in social science in 1970 from Santa Clara University and his M.A. in social science from California State University at Sacramento in 1974. He earned a second M.A. in sociology in 1991 and a Ph.D. in sociology in 1994. His doctoral dissertation was titled A Relative Advantage: Sociology of the San Francisco Bohemian Club.

Project Censored is a media research group out of Sonoma State University which tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters. From these, Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported or self-censored by the country's major national news media. More information can be found at www.projectcensored.org.

A fifth generation Californian, Phillips grew up on a family-owned farm west of the Central Valley town of Lodi. Today, he lives in rural Sonoma County with his wife Mary Lia-Phillips.

His talk is sponsored by the Activities Commission's Contemporary Forum. For more information, contact Christy Panagakis at clp5@geneseo.edu or (585) 245-5876.

###