Amy Goodman
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Amy Goodman (born April 13 1957) is an American broadcast journalist and author. She is best known as the host of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! program. As an investigative journalist, Goodman has aggressively pursued human rights violations in East Timor, Nigeria, and other countries. Goodman was born in Bay Shore, New York. She graduated from Harvard University in 1984.
Goodman was news director of Pacifica Radio station WBAI-FM in New York City for a decade, co-founding Democracy Now! in 1996. The show moved off-site permanently in 2000 as a result of a conflict over control of Pacifica Radio with a group of board members favoring the sale of WBAI. The show moved to a converted firehouse (where it is still located) and began broadcasting there. The show was pulled from all Pacifica national broadcasts on September 11 2001 following the terrorist attacks. Listeners who tuned in to listen to news coverage in the days following the 9/11 attacks found nothing but commentary-free jazz. Listeners eventually regained control of Pacifica and brought the show back. [link]
In 1991, covering the independence movement in East Timor, Goodman and fellow journalist Allan Nairn were badly beaten by Indonesian soldiers after they witnessed a mass killing of Timorese demonstrators in what became known as the Dili Massacre. [link] She has speculated that having an American passport was the reason why her fate was different from that of Australian journalists who were killed in East Timor in 1975; the United States was providing military support to the Indonesian army at the time. The U.S. did not cut off military aid to Indonesia until 1993.
In 1998, Goodman and journalist Jeremy Scahill documented Chevron Corporation's role in a confrontation between the Nigerian Army and villagers who had seized oil rigs and other equipment belonging to oil corporations. Two villagers were shot and killed during the standoff. [link] On May 28, 1998 the company provided helicopter transport to the Nigerian Navy and notorious Mobile Police (MOPOL) to their Parabe oil platform which had been occupied by villagers who accused the company of contaminating their land. Soon after landing, the Nigerian military shot two of the protesters, Jola Ogungbeje and Aroleka Irowaninu, who died, and wounded eleven 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 won the George Polk Award in 1998.
In the run-up to the 2000 presidential election, President Bill Clinton telephoned WBAI to argue in support of Vice President Al Gore over Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. The ensuing interview between Goodman and Clinton, which the president characterized as "hostile", became well known among American progressives. [link]
Goodman has received dozens of awards for her work, including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the George Polk Award. In 2001, she declined to accept the Overseas Press Club Award, in protest of the group's pledge not to ask questions of keynote speaker Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. [link]
In 2004 Goodman published her first book, The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them, co-written with her brother, the Mother Jones reporter David Goodman.
Quotations
- "But for the media to name their coverage [of the 2003 invasion of Iraq the same as] what the Pentagon calls it – everyday seeing 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' – you have to ask: 'If this were state [controlled] media, how would it be any different?'" — Amy Goodman, [Independent Media in a Time of War]
- "Going to where the silence is. That is the responsibility of a journalist: giving a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful." The Exception to the Rulers (2004)
External links
- [Democracy Now!]
- [Peace Correspondent: 'Democracy Now!' Host Amy Goodman Is Making Her Voice Heard on Iraq] - Published on March 10, 2003 by The Washington Post.
- [C-SPAN Booknotes: Amy Goodman on The Exception to the Rulers] - June 6, 2004; RealVideo format.
- [Independent Media in Time of War] - A documentary featuring Amy Goodman in RealVideo format.
- [Big Picture TV] free video clips of Amy Goodman (Windows Media)
- [Selection of Democracy Now Broadcasts @ Archive.org]
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