[A-IMC radio] Hour: Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!

[Stefan Christoff]

* Hour: Indie media's trickle-up theory
Interview with Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!

http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=15948

by Stefan Christoff

The bottom has fallen out the housing market. The global economy is 
unravelling. Opposition to U.S. military policy in Iraq has reached new and 
unprecedented global reach. As alarm grows over U.S. domestic and foreign 
policy, increasing attention is now being directed towards voices of dissent 
and change, voices from the grassroots and voices from the independent media.

Every morning, Democracy Now!, the nationally syndicated independent TV and 
radio program, broadcasts from New York City. Hosted by journalist Amy Goodman, 
the program has become an inspiration for independent journalists worldwide, 
and is mobilizing an unprecedented grassroots following in the U.S. and 
internationally.

Hour presents an in-depth interview with Goodman on everything from the 
importance of independent media in a time of war to the recent arrests of the 
Democracy Now! host and crew members at the latest Republican National 
Convention.


Hour: What role do you see the independent media playing within the U.S. today 
- and especially within the context of this past year's election campaign, 
which has been so closely followed throughout the world?

Amy Goodman: Elections are the beginning of something new, they don't assure 
something new, but they are a beginning. There is the possibility that huge 
change is underfoot in the U.S. No matter who becomes U.S. President, people 
are enraged across the political spectrum at the direction that this country 
has gone and no leader is going to bring us out of the trouble. It is going to 
take people making demands.

This is why grassroots media is so important, because we need a forum for 
people to discuss real solutions. The situation is now so desperate, from the 
global economic meltdown to the war, both of which are still unresolved. This 
is a huge moment for independent media to give space to people to think outside 
the box. It is independent media where these demands get discussed in a real 
way, where these demands get shaped, where people discuss and debate the most 
important issues of our time, like war and peace, and how we can work to create 
a more just world.

Hour: Can you share a couple moments in your extensive reporting leading up to 
the 2008 elections which you feel illustrate the critical role that independent 
media has played in these historic elections?

Goodman: On Democracy Now! there has been a constant drumbeat of authentic 
voices, at the heart of all the major issues of our time. For example, soldiers 
who resist war, some who have taken refuge in Canada. This is such an 
under-covered story in the media. From the low-level soldiers to the generals 
there is growing opposition to the war within the U.S. military, and on 
Democracy Now! these voices have been given space year after year.

For example, Adrienne Kinne - the military officer who was spying on U.S. 
citizens in Iraq from a military base in Georgia - she was recently featured in 
a story that aired on ABC that has now led to a congressional investigation. 
Last May, Democracy Now! produced the first national broadcast with Adrienne 
Kinne speaking out. ABC then picked up the story and now Congress is going to 
investigate on what the U.S. military was doing spying on U.S. citizens, 
including NGO workers in Iraq.

Opposition to the war within the military cuts across the political spectrum, 
as many soldiers believed in the war, and then went to Iraq seeing with their 
own eyes the horror. Then they come back and there is no place to talk about it 
in the U.S. except on the independent media, on programs like Democracy Now!. 
You can't underestimate the power of these voices.

Hour: In your original interview with Kinne it was highlighted that the U.S. 
military had listed the Palestine Hotel, a popular spot for journalists 
reporting on the war in Iraq, as a military target. Can you expand on this?

Goodman: Many issues were addressed in the interview with Adrienne Kinne: that 
the U.S. was listening to private conversations of U.S. soldiers speaking with 
their loved ones back home, that the U.S. was listening to communications 
between NGO workers in Iraq, and finally that they were listening in on 
journalists staying at the Palestine Hotel. Kinne also spoke about receiving a 
private email that listed the Palestine Hotel as a U.S. military target list.

Upon getting word that the Palestine Hotel was listed as a target Kinne 
immediately alerted superiors in the military that this was not a military 
target, but that it was a civilian target and that journalists were staying at 
the hotel. Superiors in the military were indifferent, and later the Palestine 
Hotel was shelled by the U.S. military, killing Spanish journalist José Couso 
from Telecinco network in Spain.

This is a big part of the story that we told on Democracy Now! at the time and 
we continue to pursue this.

Hour: Can you talk about the role that independent media has played in 
reporting the U.S. elections internationally?

Goodman: Independent media provides a forum for people not only in the U.S. but 
for people around the globe. Sure the U.S. is the most powerful country on 
earth - although things maybe changing with the global economic meltdown - but 
U.S. actions internationally do have serious consequences and so providing a 
voice for people to talk about what it is really like to be at the target end 
of U.S. foreign policy is very, very important.

Telling the individual story of someone's suffering really matters and this is 
what we do, we show how we are connected to people around the world and these 
connections should be maintained through something other than through the 
barrel of a gun.

Hour: You spoke about there being a potential opening for political change in 
the U.S. at this moment in history. In this context, what drives you to 
advocate for independent media? What role do you hope that independent media 
plays in creating that change?

Goodman: There must be creative solutions that we come up with in the U.S. and 
there has to be an opening for people to talk about how to create these 
solutions, how to solve problems in a different way.

The corporate media, with its hundreds of channels and so many newspapers, is 
so constrained, providing only the spectrum between the Democrats and the 
Republicans. For example, you look at the bailout - Obama and McCain, they both 
supported it. You look at the war in Afghanistan - Obama and McCain both 
supported a so-called surge. On health insurance, they may have different 
plans, however, neither supports a single-payer health care system, so that 
everyone is insured in this country, and [which would make sure] health care is 
a basic human right.

So this is the spectrum of debate in the corporate media. We have to break the 
sound barrier, open the debate to talk about solutions to solve these serious 
problems, solutions that will percolate up from the independent media. Our job 
at Democracy Now! is engaging in trickle-up journalism.

Media can be a force for peace in the world, it has that kind of potential, 
because it provides an opportunity for people to speak to each other from 
around the world, and when you hear someone speaking from their own experience, 
whether is it a Palestinian child, an Israeli grandmother or a kid from the 
South Bronx, the media can build bridges between communities rather than 
advocate the bombing of bridges.

Hour: Finally, let's talk about freedom of the press in the U.S. You and others 
from Democracy Now! were arrested while covering the Republican National 
Convention. Can you talk about this experience and comment on what it means for 
freedom of the press in the U.S.?

Goodman: These arrests are very important to mention because it illustrates how 
quickly the state will crack down on dissent.

Response to our arrests and the arrest of over 40 journalists covering the 
Republican National Convention exposed what the state was doing in St. Paul, 
which was the Republican Party working together with the city to stifle 
dissent.

The tens of thousands of letters that the city and state authorities got in 
protest shows how people will not stand for what is happening in this country, 
this crackdown on dissent. As journalists, we are the eyes and ears of a 
democracy and when the state targets journalists and beats journalists it is a 
real threat to democracy. Independent media, and actually all media, should 
become a sanctuary for dissent.

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