‘They slammed their M16s against his skull’: inside the film about Amy Goodman’s fearless reporting
A new documentary, Steal This Story, Please!, profiles veteran journalist Amy Goodman, founder of the independent broadcast Democracy Now!, exploring her decades of frontline reporting on wars, disasters and protests without corporate sponsorship. Directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, the film follows Goodman's tenacious pursuit of accountability, including doorstepping Trump's climate adviser at a Cop summit, and reflects her belief that significant stories should be shared widely rather than kept as exclusives.
The film traces Goodman's four-decade career, from community radio to building Democracy Now!, an hour-long daily broadcast now aired across the US, Canada and beyond, funded entirely by viewer donations with no advertising, sponsorship or government grants. Now 69, Goodman recently marked the programme's 30th anniversary at Riverside Church in New York, with appearances by Angela Davis, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen; the venue also recalled Martin Luther King's 1967 speech condemning US violence during the Vietnam war. The documentary and interview also touch on Goodman's experiences of danger and censorship while reporting, including violent encounters covering conflict and civil unrest, ahead of UK screenings and appearances.
- Documentary Steal This Story, Please! profiles journalist Amy Goodman's career
- Goodman founded Democracy Now!, funded solely by viewer donations
- Film marks Democracy Now!'s 30th anniversary; UK screenings planned
New here? Start with this
Democracy Now! is an independent daily news programme in the United States, founded and hosted by journalist Amy Goodman. It has run for around three decades and reports on wars, protests and disasters without taking money from advertisers, corporate sponsors or government grants, relying instead on donations from viewers and listeners.
A new documentary, Steal This Story, Please!, made by directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, looks back at Goodman's career and her approach to journalism, including her insistence on reporting from the scene of major events and her belief that important stories should be widely shared rather than treated as exclusives for one outlet.
Goodman, now 69, began in community radio before building Democracy Now! into a broadcast carried across the US, Canada and other countries. The film and related coverage explore the risks she has faced while reporting from conflict zones and protests, as the documentary receives screenings and public appearances in the UK.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters see Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! as a vital corrective to a media landscape dominated by advertiser and shareholder interests, arguing that funding drawn solely from viewers frees the programme to pursue uncomfortable stories – war, corporate malfeasance, state violence – that better-resourced outlets soften or ignore. They view her willingness to doorstep officials and put herself in physical danger as exactly what a free press should look like, and her instinct to share footage widely rather than hoard scoops as a public-spirited rejection of the exclusivity-driven incentives of commercial news.
The case against
Sceptics, while often admiring her courage, argue that Democracy Now!'s explicit sympathy for protest movements and activist causes makes it advocacy journalism rather than neutral reporting, and that being free of corporate sponsors does not mean being free of ideological perspective. They contend that presenting a consistent editorial viewpoint as simply "independent" or "fearless" – without acknowledging its own selectivity in which stories and voices are foregrounded – can blur the line between journalism and campaigning, and that audiences are better served by outlets that strive for institutional balance even if imperfectly than by openly mission-driven ones, however well-intentioned.
Art Climate Culture Entertainment Film Geopolitics Politics Science