Amy Goodman is an American progressive broadcast journalist,
syndicated columnistThis list of syndicated columnists comprises columnists whose recurring columns are published in multiple periodical publications .*Ghaith Abdul-Ahad*Yasmin Alibhai-Brown*Timothy Garton Ash*Lucius Beebe*Max Boot...
, investigative reporter and author. Goodman is the host of
Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; 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...
, an independent global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the internet.
Early life
Goodman was born in
Bay Shore, New YorkBay Shore is a hamlet and a census-designated place located in the Town of Islip, Suffolk County, New York, USA. It is situated on the south shore of Long Island, adjoining the Great South Bay. Bay Shore celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2008. The population of the CDP was 23,852 at the time of...
on April 13, 1957 to Dr. George Goodman—an ophthalmologist—and Dorothy "Dorrie" Bock, and graduated from Bay Shore High School in 1975. She graduated from
Radcliffe CollegeRadcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
in 1984 with a degree in anthropology. She spent a year studying at the
College of the AtlanticThe College of the Atlantic, founded in 1969, is a private, alternative liberal-arts college located in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine, United States. It awards a bachelor's degree solely in the field of human ecology, though with a variety of emphases. The college is small, with...
in
Bar Harbor, MaineBar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...
.
Democracy Now!
Goodman had been news director of
Pacifica RadioPacifica Radio is the oldest public radio network in the United States. It is a group of five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations that is known for its progressive/liberal political orientation. It is also a program service supplying over 100 affiliated...
station
WBAIWBAI, a part of the Pacifica Radio Network, is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station, broadcasting at 99.5 FM in New York City.Its programming is leftist/progressive, and a mixture of political news and opinion from a leftist perspective, tinged with aspects of its complex and varied...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for over a decade when she co-founded
Democracy Now! The War and Peace Report in 1996. Since then,
Democracy Now! has been called "probably the most significant progressive news institution that has come around in some time" by professor and media critic
Robert McChesneyRobert Waterman McChesney is an American professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication. His work concentrates on the history and political economy of communication, emphasizing the role media play in democratic...
.
In 2001, the show was temporarily pulled off the air, as a result of a conflict with a group of Pacifica Radio board members and Pacifica staff members and listeners. During that time, it moved to a converted firehouse from which it broadcast until November 13, 2009. The new
Democracy Now! studio is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
Goodman credits the program's success to the mainstream media organizations who leave "a huge niche" for
Democracy Now!
When President
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
called WBAI on Election Day 2000 for a quick
get-out-the-vote"Get out the vote" are terms used to describe two categories of political activity, both aimed at increasing the number of votes cast in one or more elections.- Non-partisan contexts :...
message, Goodman and WBAI's Gonzalo Aburto challenged him for 28 minutes with questions about
Leonard PeltierLeonard Peltier is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement . In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine...
,
racial profilingRacial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
, the
Iraq sanctionsThe Iraq sanctions were a near-total financial and trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council on the nation of Iraq. They began August 6, 1990, four days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, stayed largely in force until May 2003 , and certain portions including reparations to Kuwait...
,
Ralph NaderRalph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
, the death penalty, the
North American Free Trade AgreementThe North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA), and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflictThe Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
. Clinton defended his administration's policies and charged Goodman with being "hostile and combative".
Investigative journalism career
In 1991, covering the
East Timor independence movementEast Timor is a small country in Southeast Asia, officially known as Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. The country comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor and the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco. The first inhabitants are thought to be descendant of Australoid and Melanesian peoples...
, Goodman and fellow journalist
Allan NairnAllan Nairn is an award-winning American investigative journalist who became well known when he was imprisoned by Indonesian military forces under United States-backed strongman Suharto while reporting in East Timor. His writings have focused on U.S...
reported that they were badly beaten by Indonesian soldiers after witnessing a
mass killingMass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
of Timorese demonstrators in what became known as the
Santa Cruz MassacreThe Santa Cruz massacre was the shooting of East Timorese pro-independence demonstrators in the Santa Cruz cemetery in the capital, Dili, on 12 November 1991, during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.-Background:...
.
In 1998, Goodman and journalist
Jeremy ScahillJeremy Scahill is an American investigative journalist and author whose work focuses on the use of private military companies. He is the author of the best-selling book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, winner of a George Polk Book Award. He also serves as a...
documented
Chevron CorporationChevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...
's role in a confrontation between the
Nigerian ArmyThe Nigerian Army the largest of the Nigerian Armed Forces, has about 100,000 professional personnel. The original elements of the Royal West African Frontier Force in Nigeria were formed in 1900....
and villagers who had seized oil rigs and other equipment belonging to oil corporations. Two villagers were shot and killed during the standoff. On May 28, 1998, the company provided helicopter transport to the Nigerian Navy and Mobile Police (MOPOL) to their
ParabeIn October 2008, a lawsuit against Chevron Nigeria Ltd. , went to trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California...
oil platform which had been occupied by villagers who accused the company of contaminating their land. Soon after landing, the Nigerian military shot and killed two of the protesters, Jola Ogungbeje and Aroleka Irowaninu, and wounded 11 others. Chevron spokesperson Sola Omole acknowledged that the company transported the troops, and that use of troops was at the request of Chevron's management. The documentary, "Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship", won the George Polk Award in 1998.
Michael Delli Carpini, dean of the
Annenberg School for CommunicationThe Annenberg School for Communication is the communications school at the University of Pennsylvania. The school was established in 1958 by Wharton School's alum Walter Annenberg as "The Annenberg School of Communications." The name was changed to its current title in the late 1980's.Walter...
, said, "She's not an editorialist. She sticks to the facts... She provides points of view that make you think, and she comes at it by saying: 'Who are we not hearing from in the traditional media?'"
Arrest at 2008 Republican Convention
During the
2008 Republican National ConventionThe United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008...
, several of Goodman's colleagues from
Democracy Now! were arrested and detained by police while reporting on an anti-war protest outside the RNC. While trying to ascertain the status of her colleagues, Goodman herself was arrested and held, accused of obstructing a legal process and interfering with a peace officer, while fellow
Democracy Now! producers including reporter
Sharif Abdel KouddousSharif Abdel Kouddous was born in California, United States and raised in Cairo, Egypt. He attended the British International School in Cairo and left for the United States when he was eighteen years old. He attended the Duke University and obtained a degree in economics and a minor in philosophy...
were held on charges of probable cause for riot. The arrests of the producers were videotaped. Goodman and her colleagues were later released, and
City AttorneyA city attorney can be an elected or appointed position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the city or municipality....
John Choi indicated that the charges would be dropped.
Goodman's (et al) civil lawsuit against the St. Paul and Minneapolis police departments and the Secret Service resulted in a $100,000 settlement, as well as an agreement to educate officers in First Amendment rights of press and public.
Douglas border crossing incident
On November 25, 2009, Goodman was detained for upwards of 90 minutes at the
DouglasDouglas is a locality in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, just southeast and outside of the boundary of White Rock, that is the Canadian side of the Peace Arch Border Crossing between British Columbia and Whatcom County, Washington in the United States...
border crossingBorder controls are measures used by a country to monitor or regulate its borders.The control of the flow of many people, animals and goods across a border may be controlled by government Customs services. Security is enforced by various kinds of Border Guards and Coast Guards...
into
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
while en route to a scheduled meeting at the
Vancouver Public LibraryThe Vancouver Public Library is the third largest public library system in Canada, with more than 2.5 million items in its collections, 22 branches, approximately 375,000 cardholders, and nearly nine million item borrowings annually...
. Canadian border officials interrogated her and her colleagues on their intended topics of discussion at the meeting. After extended questioning, it transpired that they wanted to know whether she would be speaking about the 2010 Olympic Games to be held in Canada.
"I was completely surprised by what he was asking and did not know what he was getting at. I'm an anti-sports fan," she told a
CBC RadioCBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
interviewer. "At Democracy Now, we don't cover sports much."
Goodman was eventually permitted to enter Canada after the customs authorities took four photographs of her and stapled a "
control documentA visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
" into her passport demanding that she leave Canada within 48 hours.
MSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
's
Keith OlbermannKeith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
commented: "If you‘re that desperate to prevent criticism of some Olympic games, you shouldn‘t detain a noted commentator and write her scripts for her."
Dave ZirinDave Zirin is an American political sportswriter who is currently the sports editor for The Nation, a weekly published liberal magazine dedicated to politics and culture.- Career :...
of the
Huffington Post quotes
Derrick O'KeefeDerrick O'Keefe is a Canadian Vancouver-based writer and social justice activist. He is the former editor of rabble.ca, Canada's most widely-read progressive website, and his writings on foreign policy, Canadian politics, ecology and other topics have been published in a number of both alternative...
, co-chair of the
Canadian Peace AllianceThe Canadian Peace Alliance / L'Alliance canadienne pour la paix is a Canadian umbrella peace organization claiming more than 140 member groups...
, as saying: "It's pretty unlikely that the harassment of a well-known and respected journalist like Amy Goodman about whether she might be speaking about the Olympics was the initiative of one over-zealous, bad-apple Canadian border guard. This looks like a clear sign of the chill that the
IOCThe International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
and the Games' local corporate boosters want to put out against any potential dissent."
Recognition
Goodman has received dozens of awards for her work, including the
Robert F. Kennedy Journalism AwardThe Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism is journalisms award named after Robert F. Kennedy and awarded by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. The annual awards are issued in several categories and were established in December 1968 by a group of reporters who...
and the
George Polk AwardThe George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States.-History:...
. In 2001, she declined to accept the
Overseas Press Club AwardThe Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...
, in protest of the group's pledge not to ask questions of keynote speaker Ambassador
Richard HolbrookeRichard Charles Albert Holbrooke was an American diplomat, magazine editor, author, professor, Peace Corps official, and investment banker....
and because the OPC was honoring Indonesia for their improved treatment of journalists despite the fact that its forces had recently beaten and killed reporters in occupied East Timor.
On October 2, 2004, Goodman was presented the Islamic Community Award for Journalism by the
Council on American-Islamic RelationsThe Council on American-Islamic Relations is America's largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization that deals with civil advocacy and promotes human rights...
. In 2006 she received the
Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative CitizenshipThe Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship is an American award citation given jointly by the Nation Institute and the Puffin Foundation. The annual $100,000 award honors artists and others for “socially responsible work” and challenges to authority...
.
On October 1, 2008, Goodman was named as a recipient of the 2008
Right Livelihood AwardThe Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize", is a prestigious international award to honour those "working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today". The prize was established in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, and is...
, and often refers to it as the "Alternative Nobel Prize". The Right Livelihood Award Foundation cited her work in "developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media." The prize was awarded in the Swedish Parliament on December 8, 2008.
On March 31, 2009, Goodman was the recipient (along with
Glenn GreenwaldGlenn Greenwald is an American lawyer, columnist, blogger, and author. Greenwald worked as a constitutional and civil rights litigator before becoming a contributor to Salon.com, where he focuses on political and legal topics...
) of the first Izzy Awards for independent media, named after journalist
I. F. StoneIsidor Feinstein Stone was an iconoclastic American investigative journalist. He is best remembered for his self-published newsletter, I. F...
. The award is presented by
Ithaca CollegeIthaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
's Park Center for Independent Media.
Books
- 2004 — The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them co-written with her brother, Mother Jones
Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
reporter David Goodman. ISBN 1-4013-0799-X
- 2006 — Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People who Fight Back (also with David Goodman). She appeared on the Colbert Report on October 5, 2006 to promote the book. ISBN 1-4013-0293-9
- 2008 — Standing up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times (also with David Goodman) details the capabilities of ordinary citizens to enact change. Was on the New York Times bestseller list. ISBN 1-4013-2288-3
- 2009 — Breaking the Sound Barrier (with a preface by journalist Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers is an American journalist and public commentator. He served as White House Press Secretary in the United States President Lyndon B. Johnson Administration from 1965 to 1967. He worked as a news commentator on television for ten years. Moyers has had an extensive involvement with public...
), an anthology of columns written for King Features SyndicateKing Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...
. In her first piece she wrote: "My column will include voices so often excluded, people whose views the media mostly ignore, issues they distort and even ridicule." ISBN 1-931859-99-X
Film
In 2006, Goodman narrated the film
One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern. Directed by Stephen Vittoria, the documentary chronicles the life and times of
George McGovernGeorge Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
, focusing on his failed 1972 bid for the presidency. The film features McGovern,
Gloria SteinemGloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s...
,
Gore VidalGore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
,
Warren BeattyWarren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
,
Howard ZinnHoward Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
,
Ron KovicRonald Lawrence Kovic is an anti-war activist, veteran and writer who was paralyzed in the Vietnam War. He is best known as the author of the memoir Born on the Fourth of July, which was made into an Academy Award–winning movie directed by Oliver Stone, with Tom Cruise playing Kovic...
, and
Dick GregoryRichard Claxton "Dick" Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
. The film won the
Sarasota Film FestivalThe Sarasota Film Festival has been held annually since 1999 in Sarasota, Florida. The festival is held in April and has become one of the top ten independent festivals in North America...
's award for "Best Documentary Feature."
Goodman's and
Juan Gonzalez'sJuan González is an American progressive broadcast journalist and investigative reporter. He has also been a columnist for the New York Daily News since 1987...
voices are used for the voice over of news reporting on
Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
in the opening montage of New Orleans at the beginning of the 2009 action-drama film
Streets of BloodStreets of Blood is a 2009 action-drama film starring Val Kilmer, 50 Cent, Michael Biehn and Sharon Stone. It is directed by Charles Winkler with a screenplay written by Eugene Hess based on a story by Hess and Dennis Fanning...
starring
Val KilmerVal Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
,
50 CentCurtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
,
Michael BiehnMichael Connell Biehn is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in James Cameron's science fiction action films The Terminator as Kyle Reese, Aliens as Cpl. Dwayne Hicks, and The Abyss as Lt. Coffey. He has also acted in such films as Tombstone, The Rock, and Planet Terror...
and
Sharon StoneSharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
.
External links
- Democracy Now! — official website
- Amy Goodman at AlterNet
AlterNet, a project of the non-profit Independent Media Institute, is a progressive/liberal activist news service. Launched in 1998, AlterNet now claims a readership of over 3 million visitors per month .AlterNet publishes original content as well as journalism from a wide variety of other sources...
- Amy Goodman Interview, By Elizabeth DiNovella, The Progressive, February 2008
- Video interview with Amy Goodman: "The Real Meaning of Patriotism"
- Democracy Now! Host Amy Goodman Is Making Her Voice Heard on Iraq - by The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
- C-SPAN Booknotes: Amy Goodman on The Exception to the Rulers - June 6, 2004; RealVideo
RealVideo is a suite of proprietary video compression formats developed by RealNetworks – the specific format changes with the version. It was first released in 1997 and is at version 10. RealVideo is supported on many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and several mobile...
format
- Reading report: Amy Goodman and David Goodman at Barnes & Noble from BookishLove.net (Oct 2006)
- Interview with Amy Goodman in Imagineer magazine
- Amy Goodman Interview by Elizabeth DiNovella, February 2008 Issue of The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
- Right Livelihood Award