Democracy Now!

For other uses, see Democracy Now (disambiguation).

Democracy Now!

Genre	News program, current affairs
Running time	60 minutes daily (M-F)
Country	United States
Languages	English
Syndicates	Pacifica Radio (950+ stations)[1]
Hosts	Amy Goodman Juan Gonzalez
Exec. producers	Amy Goodman
Recording studio	New York City
Air dates	since 1996
Audio format	Stereophonic sound
Website	DemocracyNow.org
Podcast	Audio Video

Democracy Now! is a United States daily progressive, nonprofit, independently syndicated program of news, analysis, and opinion.^[2] According to Democracy Now!, it is aired by more than 950, mostly non-commercial radio, television, satellite and cable TV networks in North America.^[3] The award-winning one hour "War and Peace Report" is hosted by investigative journalists Amy Goodman^[4] and Juan Gonzalez.^[5][3] The program is funded entirely through contributions from listeners, viewers, and foundations and does not accept advertisers, corporate underwriting, or government funding.^[3]

Background

The show was located in the DCTV firehouse building (a converted firehouse) in New York City's Chinatown.

"For true democracy to work, people need easy access to independent, diverse sources of news and information."

— Democracy Now!^[3]

Democracy Now! was founded in 1996 at WBAI-FM in New York City by progressive journalists Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Larry Bensky, Salim Muwakkil, and Julie Drizin.^[6] It originally aired on 5 Pacifica Radio stations.^[2] Goodman is the program's principal host, with Juan Gonzalez as frequent co-host.^[7] Jeremy Scahill, an investigative reporter for The Nation, has been a frequent contributor since 1997.^[2] The Spanish version includes the daily headlines, as well as a weekly summary of the news and was begun by Andres Thomas Conteris in May 2005. The program focuses on issues its producers consider underreported or ignored by mainstream news coverage. Television broadcasting began in September, 2001.^[2]

Syndication

WBAI states that Democracy Now!, which is transmitted live Monday through Friday at 8 am EST and immediately replayed for the Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones, is the flagship national program of the Pacifica Radio network.^[8] The television simulcast airs on Public-access television stations; on satellite via Free Speech TV and Link TV, and free-to-air on C Band.^[9] Democracy Now! is also available via the Internet as downloadable and streaming audio and video.^[10] In total, over 950 television and radio stations broadcast Democracy Now! worldwide.^[1]

Awards and reaction

"I think it's probably the most significant progressive news institution that has come around in some time."

Robert W. McChesney, quoted in The Nation ^[11]

Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television;^[12] the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of two Nigerian villagers protesting an oil spill;^[13] and Goodman with Allan Nairn won Robert F. Kennedy Memorial's First Prize in International Radio for their 1993 report, Massacre: The Story of East Timor which involved first-hand coverage of genocide during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.^[14]

On October 1, 2008, Goodman was named as a recipient of the 2008 Right Livelihood Award,^[15] often referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize",^[16] in connection with her years of work establishing Democracy Now!.

Coverage

Democracy Now! is notable for its global coverage of current events, such as Occupy Wall Street, often featuring live interviews with participants.^[2]

Notable guests, interviews, and on-air debates

In alphabetical order

• Alan Dershowitz and Norman G. Finkelstein — Finkelstein is a frequent guest. This was a much publicized debate about whether the Dershowitz book, The Case for Israel was plagiarized and inaccurate. Dershowitz has written that he agreed to appear on the show after being told he would debate Noam Chomsky, not Finkelstein.^[17]
• Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve — by Amy Goodman and Naomi Klein, journalist and author of The Shock Doctrine, September 24, 2007.^[18] In a follow-up interview, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists Donald Barlett and James Steele, based on their October 2007 article in Vanity Fair,^[19] call Greenspan "flat wrong" regarding claims by Greenspan in that interview denying Federal Reserve responsibility in the transfer of billions of dollars from the Federal Reserve to Iraq, $9 billion of which the reporters claim has yet to be accounted.^[20]
• Arundhati Roy — Recurring guest; Indian writer, anti-war activist, and leading figure in the alter-globalization movement
• Bill Clinton was interviewed after hours on election day of the US presidential election, 2000.^[21] The heated interview on the Clinton Administration's neoliberal policies, bombing of Vieques, Iraq sanctions, Leonard Peltier, the death penalty, the Cuban embargo, racial profiling, Ralph Nader, and the Israel-Palestinian conflict resulted in the outgoing President calling Amy Goodman "hostile and combative." A staffer at the White House press office later criticized Goodman for straying from the topic of getting out the vote and for keeping Clinton on much longer than the two to three minutes agreed. Goodman replied "President Clinton is the most powerful person in the world. He can hang up when he wants to."^[22]
• Bill Moyers — Interviewed by Amy Goodman; former host of the PBS show NOW with Bill Moyers and former host of the PBS show Bill Moyers' Journal.^[23]
• Danny Glover — Regular guest; American actor, film director, and political activist.
• Dennis Kucinich, Democratic presidential candidate — Interviewed by Goodman and Gonzalez on November 9, 2007.^[24]
• Edward Said — was a regular guest; Columbia University professor, literary critic and Palestinian activist and intellectual
• Evo Morales - Interviewed on September 22, 2006; the president of Bolivia talked about his recent speech at the United Nations in New York where he held up a coca leaf and argued for international drug law reform as well as talked about the nationalization of Bolivia's energy reserves among other topics.^[25] Morales was again interviewed on April 23, 2010 after the World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change in Cochabamba, Bolivia.^[26]
• George McGovern, 1972 Democratic presidential nominee — Interviewed by Goodman on March 11, 2008 about that year's presidential race and how McGovern's chairmanship of the Democratic Party Reform Commission (1969–70) transformed the nominating process.^[27]
• Gore Vidal - US-author,essayist, and political activist; interviewed sparsely on a few occasions.
• Greg Palast — Frequent guest; US-born writer and investigative journalist for the BBC and The Observer.
• Howard Zinn — Interviewed by Amy Goodman; late historian and activist; author of several books, including A People's History of the United States.^[28]
• Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela — Interviewed by Amy Goodman in September 2005.^[29]
• Jean-Bertrand Aristide — on March 16, 2004, the recently ousted Haitian President accused the United States of kidnapping him and overthrowing the government of Haiti.^[30]
• Jimmy Carter — Interviewed by Amy Goodman on 10 September 2007; former US President: author of Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.^[31]
• Joseph Stiglitz — Recurring guest; Columbia University economics professor, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner (2001), and author
• Paul Krugman — Recurring guest; Princeton University economics professor, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner (2008), and author
• Lori Berenson — Interviewed^[32] in 1999 in Peru by Amy Goodman; political activist arrested in 1995 and convicted for collaborating with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, a Peruvian leftist guerrilla organization. It was the first time a journalist was able to interview Berenson inside the prison where she was incarcerated.^[32]
• Manuel Zelaya — multiple interviews with the ousted president of Honduras^[33]
• Michael Eric Dyson — Regular guest; Georgetown professor, writer & radio host.
• Michael Moore — Filmmaker, author, political commentator; interviewed on March 10, 2011^[34] & on September 28th, 2011^[35]
• Mumia Abu-Jamal — In its first year, Democracy Now! was one of the first national programs to air radio commentaries from the controversial journalist and former Black Panther Party member, on death row in Pennsylvania for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer. The 1997 decision to air Abu-Jamal's commentaries caused Democracy Now! to lose twelve of its then 36 affiliates.^[36]
• Naomi Klein — Author, public intellectual, and critic of globalization and corporate capitalism. Interviewed on March 9, 2011.^[37]
• Noam Chomsky — A regularly interviewed guest; MIT linguistics professor, political analyst, and author.
• Ralph Nader — A regularly interviewed guest; consumer activist, corporate critic, author, and former presidential candidate.^[38]
• Ricardo Alarcón — President of the Cuban National Assembly interviewed by Amy Goodman.
• Robert Fisk — Frequent guest; prominent British journalist who currently serves as a Middle East correspondent for The Independent.
• John Pilger — Frequent guest; award winning Australian journalist and film-maker.
• Scott Ritter — Interviewed by Amy Goodman; former UN weapons inspector who disputed the Bush administration's claims about weapons programs in Iraq.^[39]
• Tariq Ali and Christopher Hitchens — took opposing sides in two debates over the Iraq War, on December 4, 2003^[40] and October 12, 2004.^[41]
• Tawakel Karman - The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize recipient appeared 21 October 2011, while she was in New York for a UN Security Council resolution that would create a path for Yemen President Saleh to resign.
• Yoko Ono — Musician, peace activist and widow of John Lennon. Interviewed by Amy Goodman on October 16, 2007.^[42]

2008 Republican National Convention arrests

Three journalists with Democracy Now!—including principal host Amy Goodman, and news producers Nicole Salazar and Sharif Abdel Kouddous—were detained by police during their reporting on the 2008 Republican National Convention protests.^[43] Salazar was filming as officers in full riot gear charged her area. As she audibly yelled "Press!" she was knocked down and told to put her face in the ground while another officer dragged her backward by her leg across the pavement. The video footage of the incident was immediately posted on the internet, leading to a large public outcry against her arrest. When a second producer, Kouddous, approached, also clearly marked as a member of the press, he too was arrested, assaulted by the police and charged with a felony. According to a press release by Democracy Now!, Goodman herself was arrested after confronting officers regarding the arrest of her colleagues. The officers had established a line of "crowd control," and ordered Goodman to move back. She was arrested after being pulled through the police line by an officer, and subsequently (as well as Kouddous) had her press credentials for the convention physically stripped from her by a secret service agent.^[44] All were held on charges of "probable cause for riot."^[45] A statement was later released by the city announcing that all 'misdemeanor charges for presence at an unlawful assembly for journalists' would be dropped. The felony charges against Salazar and Kouddous were also dropped.^[46] Goodman, Salazar, and Kouddous subsequently filed a lawsuit against the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis as well as other defendants.^[46]

See also

Alternative media Alternative press (U.S. political left) Citizen journalism Citizen media Community radio

Independent media Independent Media Center Mass media Media democracy Underground press

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Democracy Now! station directory
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Stelter, Brian (October 23, 2011). "A Grass-Roots Newscast Gives a Voice to Struggles". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/business/media/a-grass-roots-newscast-gives-a-voice-to-struggles.html. Retrieved October 23, 2011. "...a producer said: “I don’t get it. Why wasn’t I arrested?” Ms. Goodman asked him, “Were you out on the streets?” No, he said, he had been in the studio the whole time. “I’m not being arrested here either,” she said she told him. “You’ve got to get out there.”" 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Democracy Now! - About us
4. ^ Investigative Journalist Amy Goodman to Open 68th Season of The Forum
5. ^ Long Island University Announces Winners Of 2010 George Polk Awards In Journalism
6. ^ "The First Democracy Now! Show". Democracy Now!. http://www.democracynow.org/shows/1996/2/19. Retrieved 2008-03-05. 
7. ^ "About Democracy Now!". Democracy Now!. http://www.democracynow.org/about.shtml. Retrieved 2007-05-28. 
8. ^ WBAI, New York - 99.5 FM Pacifica Radio - Democracy Now!
9. ^ "Satellite". Democracy Now!. http://www.democracynow.org/get_involved/satellite. Retrieved 2008-11-17. 
10. ^ Democracy Now! | Listen/Watch Today's Show
11. ^ Lizzy Ratner (May 23, 2005). "Amy Goodman's 'Empire'". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/article/amy-goodmans-empire. Retrieved October 23, 2011. "Goodman herself lays the credit--or blame--for the program's success squarely at the well-rested feet of the mainstream newsmakers who, she said, leave "a huge niche" for Democracy Now! "They just mine this small circle of blowhards who know so little about so much. And yet it's just the basic tenets of good journalism that instead of this small circle of pundits, you talk to people who live at the target end of the policy,"" 
12. ^ Amy Goodman Wins Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television
13. ^ Long Island University Announces Winners of 1998 George Polk Awards
14. ^ "25th Annual Awards - 1993". Robert F Kennedy Memorial. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927040958/http://www.rfkmemorial.org/legacyinaction/1993. Retrieved August 6, 2011. 
15. ^ "Amy Goodman". Right Livelihood Award. 2008. http://www.rightlivelihood.org/goodman.html. Retrieved 2009-04-28. 
16. ^ "Right Livelihood Award". http://www.rightlivelihood.org/. Retrieved 2009-04-28. 
17. ^ Alan Dershowitz (2007-05-14). "Taking the Bait". The New Republic. http://www.tnr.com/article/cambridge-diarist. Retrieved 2007-06-24. 
18. ^ Amy Goodman (2007-09-24). "Alan Greenspan vs. Naomi Klein on the Iraq War, Bush’s Tax Cuts, Economic Populism, Crony Capitalism and More". Democracy Now!. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/9/24/alan_greenspan_vs_naomi_klein_on. Retrieved 2008-09-16. 
    Greenspan, Alan; Goodman, Amy; Klein, Naomi (2007) (.RAM). Democracy Now! 9/24/07 (Video). Pacifica Radio. http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2007/sept/video/dnB20070924a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=09:40. Retrieved 2008-09-16. 
19. ^ Daniel Barlett, James Steele (2007-10). "Billions over Baghdad". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/iraq_billions200710. Retrieved 2008-09-16. 
20. ^ Amy Goodman (2007-10-09). "Mr. Greenspan is Flat Wrong: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalists Respond to Alan Greenspan’s Claim that He Didn’t Know about Federal Reserve’s Role in Iraq’s Missing Billions". Democracy Now!. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/10/9/mr_greenspan_is_flat_wrong_pulitzer. Retrieved 2008-09-16. 
21. ^ Democracy Now! Exclusive Interview with President Bill Clinton
22. ^ "Bill Clinton Loses His Cool in Democracy Now! Interview...". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
23. ^ "Legendary Broadcaster Bill Moyers Returns to Airwaves With Critical Look at How U.S. News Media Helped Bush Admin Sell the Case for War". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/4/25/legendary_broadcaster_bill_moyers_returns_to. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
24. ^ Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Effort to Impeach Vice President Cheney Still Alive.
25. ^ Bolivian President Evo Morales on Latin America, U.S. Foreign Policy and the Role of the Indigenous People of Bolivia.
26. ^ "Bolivian President Evo Morales on President Obama: "I Can’t Believe a Black President Can Hold So Much Vengeance Against an Indian President". April 23, 2010. http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/23/bolivian_president_evo_morales_to_president. 
27. ^ "Fmr. Presidential Candidate George McGovern on the 2008 Race and How He Helped Transform the Democratic Nominating Process". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/11/fmr_presidential_candidate_george_mcgovern_on. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
28. ^ "Zinn". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/1997/10/13/zinn. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
29. ^ Hugo Chavez: “If the Imperialist Government of the White House Dares to Invade Venezuela, the War of 100 Years Will be Unleashed in South America”.
30. ^ Exclusive: Aristide Talks With Democracy Now! About His Return to the Caribbean.
31. ^ Fmr. President Jimmy Carter on “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” Iraq, Greeting the Shah of Iran at the White House, Selling Weapons to Indonesia During the Occupation of East Timor, and More.
32. ^ ^{a b} Lori Berenson: MIT Graduate in Peruvian Prison.
33. ^ "Honduras Coup". Democracy Now!. http://www.democracynow.org/features/honduras_coup. 
34. ^ "Michael Moore Calls for Renewed Pro-Democracy Movement as Anti-Union Bills Approved in Wisconsin and Michigan". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/10/this_is_a_class_war_michael. Retrieved 2010-03-10. 
35. ^ ""Here Comes Trouble": Michael Moore Tells The Formative Tales Behind His Filmmaking, Rabble-Rousing". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2011/9/28. Retrieved 2010-03-10. 
36. ^ Marc Fisher (1997-02-25). "Pacifica Stations Bolt Over Convicted Killer's Commentary". The Washington Post. 
37. ^ "Naomi Klein on Anti-Union Bills and Shock Doctrine American-Style: "This is a Frontal Assault on Democracy, a Corporate Coup D'Etat"". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/9/naomi_klein_on_anti_union_bills. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
38. ^ "Ralph Nader on the G-20, Healthcare Reform, Mideast Talks and His First Work of Fiction, "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!"". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/21/ralph_nader_on_the_g20_healthcare. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
39. ^ "Scott Ritter on "Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change"". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/2006/10/16/scott_ritter_on_target_iran_the. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
40. ^ "Tariq Ali vs. Christopher Hitchens on the Occupation of Iraq: Postponed Liberation or Recolonisation?". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/04/1523254&mode=thread&tid=25. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
41. ^ Tariq Ali v. Christopher Hitchens: A Debate on the U.S. War on Iraq, the Bush-Kerry Race and the Neo-Conservative Movement.
42. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Yoko Ono on the New Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland, Art & Politics, the Peace Movement, Government Surveillance and the Murder of John Lennon". Democracynow.org. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/10/16/exclusive_yoko_ono_on_the_new. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
43. ^ "Amy Goodman, Others Detained Outside RNC". The Nation. September 1, 2008. http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/352466/amy_goodman_others_detained_outside_rnc. Retrieved 2008-09-02. 
44. ^ "Amy Goodman and Two Democracy Now! Producers Unlawfully Arrested At the RNC". Democracy Now!. September 1, 2008. http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/9/1/amy_goodman_and_two_democracy_now_producers_unlawfully_arrested_at_the_rnc. Retrieved 2008-09-02. ^{[dead link]}
45. ^ "Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman arrested at RNC protest". Minnesota Public Radio. September 1, 2008. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/loophole/archive/2008/09/democracy_now_host_amy_goodman.shtml. Retrieved 2008-09-02. 
46. ^ ^{a b} Karnowski, Steve (May 5, 2010). "Journalists file lawsuit in GOP convention arrests". Associated Press. http://www.salon.com/2010/05/05/us_gop_convention_arrests_goodman/. Retrieved August 6, 2011. 

External links

• Official Website
• VIDEO: Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times, Democracy Now! host, Amy Goodman, and her brother, David Goodman, from their recent book tour, April 14, 2008, Portland, Oregon.
• "Democracy Now! History in the Making", An article by Angela Alston about the innovative distribution of the Democracy Now! TV show, published in The Independent (June 2002)
• Democracy Now! at the Internet Movie Database