Yet another sign of the seachange in the political culture. The New York Times runs a favorable profile of Amy Goodman's show Democracy Now!, by Brian Stelter:
“What drove us was telling stories we felt were being ignored, misreported or underreported by corporate media outlets,” Mr. [Jeremy] Scahill said.
The program slowly gained more stations and, amid a dispute with Pacifica, which was later resolved, it established itself as a nonprofit news organization in 2001. The week of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the program began to be simulcast on television. Since then, Ms. Goodman said, “the growth has just been phenomenal.”
While many media outlets were faulted for playing down antiwar protests after the attacks, “Democracy Now!” covered such events extensively.
Some fans as well as critics describe “Democracy Now!” as progressive, but Ms. Goodman rejects that label and prefers to call it a global newscast that has “people speaking for themselves.” She criticized networks in the United States that have brought on professional pundits, rather than actual protesters, to discuss the Occupy protests.
Last week, no United States television network covered the filing of a lawsuit in Canada by four men who said they had been tortured during the Bush administration and who are seeking Mr. Bush’s arrest and prosecution. But one of the men, Murat Kurnaz, a former prisoner at Guantánamo Bay, was interviewed at length by Ms. Goodman and her co-host, Juan Gonzalez.
Their live coverage of the scene outside that recent execution in Texas also got a lot of publicity.
It was tremendous and kept me and zillions of others glued to our radios and tvs. WBAI performed a similar service with continuous coverage during what became the Attica massacre.
Sorry. I meant in Georgia, not Texas.
“Some fans as well as critics describe “Democracy Now!” as progressive, but Ms. Goodman rejects that label and prefers to call it a global newscast that has “people speaking for themselves.”
Please. Any regular listener of Democracy Now cannot miss the parade of left-wing talking heads that are a far-left mimicry of the exact same thing on the far-right. How is bringing a polemicist like Norman Finkelstein on to describe the Palestinian situation “people speaking for themselves?” How is omitting all mainstream Israeli voices from your program allowing people to “speak for themselves” unless, of course, you stack the deck against them and allow whoever else is on to filibuster whatever they have to say?
Amy Goodman is a political activist who does advocacy journalism. She allows CERTAIN voices to speak for themselves and omits the voices of those who do not share her political beliefs.
Again, not surprising, but not any better than those who do the exact same thing on the far-right.
But better than those who do it while pretending to be neutral and objective.
Except that hophmi is neither neutral or objective.
His views, however are as narrow-minded ,as the “eye of a needle” for a camel’s behind.
“Except that hophmi is neither neutral or objective.”
Neither is Amy, but just like Rush Limbaugh’s dittohead listeners, Amy’s listeners treat what she says uncritically.
How would YOU know??
Did you, personally, talk to ALL of them??
Plus a person ,like you ,who just blindly follows manipulated , twisted propaganda is not the best judge of “somebody else’s” objectivism and ability to an independent, crtitical thinking.
“De-zionise “yourself , and then, we can talk.
“How would YOU know??”
Because I’ve been around enough of her listeners.
“Did you, personally, talk to ALL of them??”
Enough of them to form an opinion on the matter.
“Plus a person ,like you ,who just blindly follows manipulated , twisted propaganda”
Blah, blah, blah. I’m the contrarian here, buster. You guys are the ones who follow whatever Phil puts out here.
““De-zionise “yourself , and then, we can talk.”
LOL.
how do you know Amy’s listeners treat what she says uncritically? You don’t know. I have yet to see any of her broadcasts where I think: oh, she’s a lefty or whatever. Nor would I care if she was. It’s darn good reporting and I certainly would not hold it against her that she has people on the program you don’t usually see on MSM.
Why do you not want to hear anything you don’t already know or agree with anyway? That’s just self-defeating and close-minded. The whole left-right business is so 20th century anyway
There is no equivalence between Amy Goodman and the far-right nutjobs you prescribe to, hoppy.
Amy Goodman is a political activist, sure. It’s up to people to analyze her reporting on their own.
Since you are mentally incapable of honest discussion, we’ll take your idiotic, superficial parallel for what it is – Zionist whining.
“It’s up to people to analyze her reporting on their own.”
I’ve met a lot of Amy Goodman listeners, and I haven’t seen many who analyze her reporting. I’ve seen people who accept it as the word of G-d.
So is it fault of Amy then ?
Hoph-ster,
Any specific examples, of anything, that you are complaining about?
Also, I think Finkelstein’s books are “peer reviewed” – so, calling him a “polemicist” doesnt really make sense – and thats what I love about you hasbaraists – you call guys like Finkelstein “obscene” a “polemicist” etc – but I dont see “liar” thrown in the mix. Cuz there is no basis for that claim – you might not like what he says, but its true – and that absolutely kills you, doesnt it?
Poor Hop shows his ignorance again. Goodman has had Indyk, Derahowitz, Josh Block and Shlomo Ben Ami on her show and has made countless offers to Israeli representatives.
It’s not her fault that most are too cowardly to make an appearance.
“It’s not her fault that most are too cowardly to make an appearance.”
You can hardly blame them. Most of the time an Israeli official or pro-Israel type will be treated with kid gloves on the MSM. If they appear on the same show with someone like Finkelstein they might have to deal with facts they don’t want mentioned in public.
Finkelstein actually got on pretty well with Ben Ami when they were both on Amy’s show several years ago. They agreed more than they disagreed. Poor old Hophmi’s head might have exploded if he’d listened.
Amy Goodman is a political activist who does advocacy journalism. . . . but not any better than those who do the exact same thing on the far-right.
Could you please provide the number of people killed, wounded, or turned into refugees because someone adopted the antiwar position that Amy Goodman advocates? I’d be happy to discuss the consequences of the false far-right claims about mobile germ warfare facilities, purchases of yellow cake uranium from Niger, & etc. That resulted in about two million refugees and at least 600,000 dead and twice as many maimed or wounded. Bottom line, she’s a lot better than those on the far-right.
BTW, Amy has interviewed (sometimes ethnic cleansing is good) Israeli historian Benny Morris, Consul General of Israel in New York Ido Aharoni, Former Israeli Foreign Minister and historian Shlomo Ben Ami, and a host of other pro-Israel personalities and official spokesmen.
So have you found those nukes in Iraq yet, hophmi?
All the commenters here have fallen into a trap. A Zionist attacks Amy Goodman as too critical of Israel, and this makes her look radical. She is not. ‘Hophmi’ says “she allows CERTAIN voices to speak for themselves and omits the voices of those who do not share her political beliefs”. Right, but not in the way he means. She’s never even had Alison Weir on her show. If Weir were a leading campaigner against apartheid, or the Vietnam war, or US policy in Central America, she’d be welcomed by Goodman. But she’s not. She’s a leading campaigner on Palestine, and Goodman is a gatekeeper.
hoph :
++++ So you didnt find any negative about topics that DN covers. Just left-right political battle.
since to the best of her ability amy goodman reports what’s actually and verifiably happening
whereas msm, at least when it’s a matter of public concern (especially on anything that has to do with national security), depends heavily upon so-called reliable sources for its info & doesn’t do fact checks
so to say that amy’s work is not any better than what comes from those who do the exact same thing on the far right?
made up out of whole cloth is the same as telling it the way it is?
in what sort of world, this?
With regular guests such as Norman finkelstein and chomsky ect, Democracy now is incredible. Let us hope Amy stays around for a long long time
RE: “‘NYT’ features Amy Goodman and her antiwar
record” ~ Weiss
FROM MASADA 2000′s JEWISH S.H.I.T. LIST (Self-Hating and/or Israel-Threatening):
SOURCE – link to masada2000.org
P.S. My new icon/avatar was taken from this “cool” political cartoon featuring Clinton and Sarkozy – link to niqnaq.files.wordpress.com
NYT article signals a sea change in the political culture?
and the worldwide awakenings that began in tunisia, quickly spreading throughout the me, onwards to europe and now, here in the good ol u.s. of a?
the driving force
and those eighteen magical days in tahrir square?
the holy spirit
It is about time the NYT took a closer look at DN. Unsaid in this post is the excellent work covering union issues by her colleague, Juan Gonzales. When is the last time NPR did a decent story on union issues that honestly showed linkage between unions and blue collar family viability?
Although the MSM networks (that includes NPR) occasionally cover Latin America, the team at DN details events there quite well. If it weren’t for DN, for instance, the Honduran coup in 2009 might not have even been mentioned honestly. DN’s audience among American Latinos is large, as they thirst for coverage of issues to concern to them both in the USA and to the south.
Goodman has been arrested for being a news person – at the 2008 GOP convention. She won, hopmi. And she was detained by the Canadians in BC, in fear of her covering Canadian issues in a way hat might hurt the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
I try to at least catch the DN headlines every day on my laptop, when I shave, shower, and dress for the day.
Well, it may not be the front page:
But the Business Section in print is a big step in its NY profile from the IHT online. Then again, while the article mentions that Goodman covers controversial or progressive issues, it didn’t mention that she covers the realities in I/P and interviews the real experts.