Goodman, Amy (1957–)

Born April 13, 1957, Amy Goodman is an investigative journalist and host of Democracy Now! a national, daily, independent news program that airs on [Page 631]450 radio and television stations, shortwave radio, and the Internet, the largest cross-media collaboration of independent broadcasters and public access entities in the United States. The award-winning program currently provides access to voices rarely heard in the U.S. corporate-sponsored media, including ordinary people affected by government policies and debates offering substantially different perspectives.

Raised in a progressive household in Long Island, New York, Goodman had early exposure to movements for social justice. A Harvard anthropology graduate, she joined Pacifica's community radio station WBAI in New York City, eventually producing their evening news program for 10 years. While field reporting on the U.S.-backed Indonesian occupation of East Timor, Goodman witnessed the Dili massacre of 270 East Timorese, was severely beaten by the Indonesian military, and was banned from the country in 1991. The resulting documentary won many journalism awards, and she returned periodically over the next decade to cover East Timor's journey into independence.

Premiering in 1996, Democracy Now! quickly became the flagship program of the Pacifica radio network, founded by conscientious objector Lew Hill in 1949. When conflicts over control of Pacifica threatened the stability of the show's radio platform in 2000, Goodman renegotiated the show's relationship to Pacifica for greater independence, and pioneered an unprecedented nationwide multimedia collaboration for independent coverage of the year's political conventions. Such collaboration allowed Democracy Now! to expand to a daily cross-media platform. Advertiser-free and funded entirely by foundations and listener contributions, Democracy Now! has a website that receives 50,000 hits per day, an annual budget of $1.8 million, and a diverse staff of 27 devoted to active journalism in the style of George Seldes and Seymour Hersh.

Goodman's other journalistic accomplishments include her 1998 documentary on Chevron's unethical use of Nigeria's military against its own people and onthe-ground coverage of the 1999 Seattle protests and subsequent anti-globalization activism. From Peru in 1999, she conducted the first ever journalist interview with American political prisoner Lori Berenson. In 2004, when mainstream media reported that the Haitian president had voluntarily fled his country, Goodman's exclusive phone interview with Aristide broke the news that he was kidnapped as part of a U.S.-backed coup d'état. Internationally, mainstream media relied on Goodman for the direct coverage they lacked.

On speaking tours in support of her 2004 book, she regularly promotes and fund raises for local independent media and progressive organizations, encouraging people to build their own media. Goodman stresses the dangers of recently consolidated media ownership, the failures of mainstream media to hold those in power accountable, the necessity of diverse and open media to the health of democracy, and the importance of grassroots media networking as the key to progressive success. By going to where the silence is, Goodman demonstrates what it means to “unembed” the media, to provide a sanctuary for dissent, and to lead the public in taking back their media.