For Amy Goodman, the concept of the “embedded journalist” is not a new one. But her concept of “embedding” is markedly different from Donald Rumsfeld’s. Rather than join the troops, Goodman believes a reporter should plant herself in the midst of the communities on the receiving end of military action.
This is not an ivory-tower theory for the host of Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now! In 1990 and 1991, Goodman traveled to East Timor to report on Indonesia’s brutal (and U.S.-backed) occupation of the tiny island nation; she witnessed the massacre of 270 civilians by Indonesian troops, and was herself beaten by soldiers, but her reporting won numerous awards, including the Robert F. Kennedy Prize for International Reporting. In 1996, she founded Democracy Now!, which has become the flagship program for the Pacifica network, and can be heard on over 160 radio stations, as well as on Free Speech TV (Channel 9415 of the DISH Network satellite TV service), access TV, and at www.democracynow.org. On Oct. 1, her hourlong program began airing on Austin cable access Channel 16 every weekday at 6pm.
Goodman says the Green Festival is “all about environmentalism and sustainability. We’re all on this planet together, and we have to figure out a way to live together, and I am always committed to being at events where organizations and people gather together to discuss important ideas and support each other.”
The Austin Chronicle: Can you give us some hint of what you’ll be talking about at the Green Festival?
Amy Goodman: I’ll be talking about independent media in a time of war and elections — the importance of having media that is not embedded, media that is there to hold those in power accountable. I think that is what journalism is all about. Talking about what I think is the lowest point of journalism, which is this year, the coverage of the invasion of Iraq — the Pentagon’s perfecting of the embedding process, and how successful it was for them, and the lack of resistance on the part of the media. You had U.S. reporters who were embedded in the front lines of troops, and you could hardly tell the difference between the troops and the reporters. If you’re going to make the argument that “Well, how else would you get that picture from the front line?” — then why aren’t reporters embedded in Iraqi communities? Why weren’t reporters embedded in the peace movement all over the world?
It is so critical to shore up public media right now, when the Federal Communications Commission is there to change rules to increase media [ownership] concentration. We are fighting back. We [Pacifica Radio] are part of a media and democracy movement in this country that believes communities need media that they can control. If we don’t use these public airwaves, we’re going to lose them. I hope we’re a good model for people to use the airwaves responsibly and bring out a full diversity of voices.
AC: This festival will focus on building a green economy. How do you intend to tie this democratic media concept to environmentalism, and what role does the media have to play in building a green economy?
AG: It’s about sustainability. It’s about how we sustain our institutions in a way that makes it possible for community organizations to support themselves. It’s about improving the planet, making it safer for all of us, whether it’s to do with war, with the environment, with controlling our own media. A lot of people now feel locked out of electoral politics. They feel that their voice doesn’t matter, that you’ve got dirty elections [controlled by] the companies, the corporations, or the individuals with the most money — often the same entities that pollute our planet and that don’t care about sustainability. So I see everything as connected. This is about democratic institutions, which will mean cleaner air, cleaner elections, and a safer world.
AC: Many view your show as filling a number of gaps left open by the mainstream media. Where does the mainstream media fail on environmental issues?
AG: I think that they’re not critical of the government. And I mean that in a nonpartisan way. It’s not about Democrats or Republicans. It’s being extremely skeptical about what the government says. You’ve got this classic situation, especially around the environment, where right now the Bush administration is not making clear where it stands on issues of global warming, air pollution, nuclear nonproliferation treaties. It’s up to us as journalists to get that information to people who don’t have time to investigate but who care deeply about the survival of their families and the planet. I think our role is to dig out the truth. As the great reporter I.F. Stone said, governments lie. And we have to get behind those lies, because it really is a matter of life and death. Whether it’s war, or whether it’s global warming and extreme weather, it matters. And it’s our role to be the watchdogs.
AC: So what took so long for your show to come to Austin, a market that would seem to be such a good fit for your politics?
AG: I’m just excited that it came to Austin and that a group of people in the community [including activist Stefan Wray and Iconmedia] have organized to get us there. We’re now on public access TV, and I’m hoping that we can also be on public radio, either community radio or NPR. Usually what happens is we come into a town, [first on] either radio or TV, and [then] the other form … People are very interested in hearing it as well, so they work to get us on there. It’s a very good model. It’s about grassroots activism. It’s not top-down. It’s not us coming in and saying “Put us on.” It’s people hearing about the program, or watching it, or listening to it on the Web, and then somehow organizing with other people to say, “Hey, let’s get Democracy Now! on the public airwaves.” — Lee Nichols
This article appears in October 10 • 2003.