The Indie News Queen Who’s Not Done Pissing Off the Powerful
In the opening scene of the new documentary Steal this story, Please! Journalist Amy Goodman sues a senior Trump administration adviser.
The camera follows her as she sneaks into a convention hall at a climate conference in Poland, asking questions of energy expert P. Wells Griffith III until he shuts a door in her face. Intrepid, she waits outside. The door opens ajar. He is a lackey who takes one look outside and chases her away; until the door closes, Goodman persists, trying to make contact. She’s out of breath when she finally turns around.
Goodman, the tireless, longtime broadcaster and co-founder of the pillar of independent journalism Democracy now!has spent the past 30 years asking tough questions of her subjects, leading people like former U.S. President Bill Clinton to describe her as “hostile and combative” and intimidating government officials so much that they would flee on sight.
Steal this story, please! traces Democracy now!The rise of news broadcast on a few handfuls of public radio stations has become… exactly the same thing, distributed on thousands of radio and television stations as well as the Internet.
Democracy now! is a rare media success story in which an outlet has thrived by staying true to its original vision: it is still a proudly grassroots company that eschews corporate sponsorship and embraces coverage of social movements. It has also always been led by Goodman, 68, whose rise to progressive icon is documented alongside the outlet’s growth.
Steal this story, please!Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal and in theaters Friday, takes an affectionate look at its subject — it’s not a searing expose — but it nonetheless places Goodman in an unfamiliar position, where she’s the person answering the questions rather than asking them. “It’s painful,” Goodman tells WIRED. “A taste of my own medicine.”
She was more than happy to deal with the discomfort, however, as she sees the project as a way to raise awareness of the need for independent journalism. She sees the name of the documentary as a call to action for her journalistic ethics: “We consider an exclusive story a failure. » At a time when media executives tend to be nervous, Goodman hopes his outlet’s success will demonstrate that there is indeed an appetite for anti-power, community movement-focused media coverage around the world.
Steal this story, please! is essentially a highlight of Democracy now!of his reporting, from his early work covering a genocide in East Timor, where Goodman was beaten by occupying Indonesian soldiers, to his on-the-ground reporting on the 9/11 attacks, to his crusade reporting on the protest movements at Standing Rock, to his vigilant documentation of the violence in Gaza. The film makes it clear that one of the secrets to the program’s success is its focus on global social movements and reaching out to people directly involved in those movements. “We don’t believe it’s necessary to turn to experts, who know so little about so much,” Goodman says. Instead, the outlet focuses on what Goodman calls “trickle down journalism,” where it favors interviews with activists, everyday people and subject matter experts. “I think it’s that authentic voice that gets people to support Democracy now!»
Today, as mainstream media declines and small independent releases proliferate on platforms like Substack and TikTok, the audience-supported model Democracy now! depends has become much more widespread. Goodman, however, isn’t worried about lagging support at a time when a growing number of independent media outlets rely on donations or subscriptions from readers or viewers to stay afloat. “We didn’t have a problem,” she said. “One of the drivers of our growth has been the absence of a paywall. »
