Democracy Now!

Journalist Amy Goodman. Photo by Michael Kee.

Democracy Now! is a syndicated news and opinion radio programme that is the flagship national programme of the Pacifica Radio network. It also broadcasts on community and NPR stations, public access cable television stations, Free Speech TV, and over the internet.

Democracy Now! is the fastest growing independent news program in the USA reaching millions of people worldwide. It is produced by seven producers, 20 full-time and 15 paid part-time staff as well as many volunteers, and broadcasts daily.  

Democracy Now! receives no government or corporate funding. Because of its educational mission, it has charitable status according to US law (501c3). Major organisational donors have been the Lannan Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund. Significant contributions also come from listeners themselves.


Trickle-up journalism

Goodman describes Democracy Now! as 'trickle-up journalism', because the stories it runs are often taken up by the mainstream media and her interviewees are very often interviewed by other channels after they have appeared on Democracy Now! Thus, the significance of Democracy Now! goes beyond the show as such: It also serves to open up the media landscape, acting as a 'conveyor belt' for stories that otherwise would not reach the mainstream media.


Awards and books

In October 2008 Amy Goodman received the prestigious Right Livelihood Award "... for developing an innovative model of truly independent political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by mainstream media."

The media is sometimes called the fourth power in a democracy. But in many countries of the world, the media is today no longer willing or able to play this role. Instead it defers to commercial and political interests, thus eroding democracy. With Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman has shown what the alternative to this dangerous trend can look like. Democracy Now! is the largest public media collaboration in the U.S. which is now available to people seeking alternative viewpoints around the globe.

Goodman's other awards include the Golden Reel for the Best National Documentary for 'Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship' in 1998, and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Prize for 'Massacre: the Story of East Timor'. This story had almost cost her life: In East Timor, she survived a massacre in 1991 in which Indonesian soldiers gunned down 270 Timorese.

Goodman has also written three hard-hitting books with her brother, David Goodman: The Exception to the Rulers (2004); Static: Government Liars, Media Cheer-leaders and the People who Fight Back (2006); and Standing up to the Madness (2008). She also syndicates a column to national papers.

For more info visit www.democracynow.org

Zone
Talk Zone
Language
English