Amy Goodman (born April 13,
1957) is an
American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author. Goodman's investigative journalism career includes coverage of the
East Timor independence movement and
Chevron Corporation's role in
Nigeria. Since
1996, Goodman has hosted
Democracy Now!, an independent global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the
Internet. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the
Thomas Merton Award in 2004, a
Right Livelihood Award in 2008, and an
Izzy Award in 2009 for "special achievement in independent media". In
2012, Goodman received the
Gandhi Peace Award for a "significant contribution to the promotion of an enduring international
peace". Goodman is the author of five books, including the 2012
The Silenced Majority:
Stories of Uprisings, Occupations,
Resistance, and
Hope.
In
1991, covering the East Timor independence movement, Goodman and fellow journalist
Allan Nairn reported that they were badly beaten by
Indonesian soldiers after witnessing a mass killing of Timorese demonstrators in what became known as the
Santa Cruz Massacre.[9]
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.[10] On May 28, 1998, the company provided helicopter transport to the
Nigerian Navy and
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 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 Communication, 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?'"
Goodman had been news director of
Pacifica Radio station
WBAI in
New York City 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 McChesney.[12]
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.[13] Democracy Now! subsequently moved to a studio located in the
Chelsea neighborhood of
Manhattan.[14]
Goodman credits the program's success to the mainstream media organizations who leave "a huge niche" for Democracy Now![12]
When
President Bill Clinton called WBAI on
Election Day 2000[15] for a quick get-out-the-vote message, Goodman and WBAI's
Gonzalo Aburto challenged him for 28 minutes with questions about
Leonard Peltier, racial profiling, the
Iraq sanctions,
Ralph Nader, the death penalty, the
North American Free Trade Agreement (
NAFTA), the normalization of relations with
Cuba, and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Clinton defended his administration's policies and charged Goodman with being "hostile and combative".
Goodman has received dozens[31] of awards for her work, including the
Robert F. Kennedy Prize for
International Reporting (
1993, with Allan Nairn)[32] and the George Polk Award (1998, with Jeremy Scahill).[33] In
1999, 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 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.[34]
On
October 2, 2004, Goodman was presented the Islamic
Community Award for Journalism by the
Council on American-Islamic Relations.[35] On
November 18, 2004, she was presented the Thomas Merton Award.[36] In
2006 she received the Puffin/
Nation Prize for
Creative Citizenship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Goodman
Image By ChrisEaves.com (Amy Goodman Uploaded by
Edward) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
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- published: 18 Dec 2014
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