Monday, August 17, 2009

Amy Goodman, co-host of Democracy Now! (replay of Episode #13)

This week we repeated Episode #13 (from April) with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! to call attention to the fundraiser at Casa on Aug. 22, 2009. The April broadcast of Reform Radio featured an interview of Amy Goodman, executive producer and co-host of the groundbreaking independent news program, Democracy Now! (The second part of "The Gnat and the Elephant" will air in May.) Over the years, Goodman and Democracy Now! have won numerous journalism awards including the George Polk Award for Radio Reporting, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, and the Society of Professional Journalists' Best Investigative Reporting Award. On March 31 she, along with Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald, received the first Izzy Awards, named in honor of the legendary investigative reporter and publisher, I.F. Stone. During the interview Goodman addresses the importance of independent journalism, why she became a journalist, and her experiences in the struggle to speak truth to power.

Goodman came to Athens and Ohio University on her 72-city tour of the country promoting independent journalism and public radio, and to broadcast Democracy Now! live from the television studio studios of WOUB. She also was one of two keynote speakers at the the first Shuneman Symposium on Photojournalism and New Media held April 9 by the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Her speech brought hundreds to Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Click on the media player below to hear Athenians' reactions to Goodman's address and their support for independent journalism programs as Democracy Now!