September 10-13 — Ithaca is Books Festival
Thursday, Sept. 10 | 6pm | Autumn Leaves Books
An Evening with Project Censored: 50 Years of Censored News, Attacks on Freedom of Expression, and Threats to Academic Freedom.
Hosted by Mickey Huff with authors Nolan Higdon (MAGAcademy), Robin Andersen (The Complicit Lens), and Mischa Geracoulis (Media Democracy in Action).
Free and open to the public
Friday, Sept. 11 | 3pm | Buffalo Street Books
The Judgment of Gender: How Women are Centered and Silenced in Pop Culture, with author Allison T. Butler
Allison will discuss her new book citing historic examples of how women are represented and treated in popular culture, tying her thesis to more current events which she analyzes through a critical media literacy lens.
Free and open to the public
Speaker Bios
Allison Butler, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer II, Associate Chair, and Director of the Media Literacy Certificate Program in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Butler is the author of multiple books on media literacy and education, including the co-authored The media and me: A guide to critical media literacy (Seven Stories Press, 2022), the only media literacy text written specifically for young audiences, Surveillance education: Navigating the conspicuous absence of privacy in schools (Routledge, 2024; co-authored with Nolan Higdon); and, most recently, The Judgment of Gender: How Women are Centered and Silenced in Pop Culture (Censored Press, 2026). Butler serves as the Vice President on the Media Freedom Foundation, which fosters work in independent media.
Mickey Huff is the Distinguished Director of the Park Center for Independent Media and Professor of Journalism at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College. Huff continues to serve as the third Executive Director of Project Censored and as President of the nonprofit Media Freedom Foundation. He is the coauthor and coeditor of twenty books on media censorship, propaganda, critical media literacy, and press freedom. Huff is the co-founding cohost and executive producer of the nationally syndicated public affairs program, The Project Censored Show, which airs on more than 60 stations across the US. He is also Professor Emeritus of Social Science, History, and Journalism at Diablo Valley College in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he taught since 2000, was chair of the History and Journalism departments, helped co-found the Social Justice Studies program, and chaired the Revitalization of the Journalism Department before joining Ithaca College in 2024.
Mischa Geracoulis is Senior Manager of Engagement at Project Censored. She specializes in media ethics, freedom of expression, public affairs reporting, and human rights advocacy, with a track record of nonprofit coalition building. She works at the intersection of media, strategic communications, advocacy and education, forging collaborations among organizations and initiatives that defend freedom of expression and human rights, and promote accountable, ethical journalism. Author of Media Framing and the Destruction of Cultural Heritage: News Narratives about Artsakh and Gaza (Routledge, 2025), her writing can also be found in independent and legacy publications and academic journals.
Nolan Higdon is an author, political analyst, Media Research Fellow at the Park School for Independent Media at Ithaca College, and Merrill College Fellow & Lecturer in the Education Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work focuses on the intersections of politics, media, technology, and education. A prominent voice in media criticism, he is a columnist for the Gaslight Gazette on Substack, co-host of The Disinfo Detox podcast, co-host of Just Ask the Press, a KTVU political analyst and national judge for Project Censored.
Robin Andersen is professor emerita of media studies at Fordham University and an award-winning author of a dozen single- and co-authored books. Her latest book is The Complicit Lens: US Media Coverage of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza. Her work examines film, television, and media coverage of war, the environment, politics, and elections. She edits the Routledge Focus Book Series on Media and Humanitarian Action, serves as a Project Censored Judge, and contributes to the annual State of the Free Press. Andersen is on the Board of Directors of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), where she also writes regularly, and is an Izzy Award Judge for the Park Center for Independent Media. Her writing has appeared in CounterPunch, LA Progressive, The Progressive, Salon, Common Dreams, and ScheerPost, among others.
For more information on Ithaca is Books programming, visit: https://www.ithacaisbooks.org/