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(people chattering)

(people chattering)

[AMY] He's a representative of the Trump administration.

[PRODUCER] He's the senior adviser.

[PRODUCER] Yeah, he's the top guy.

[AMY] Okay, let's go.

(people chattering)

[AMY] Hi.

I'm Amy Goodman from "Democracy Now!"

[AMY] Can you tell me-

[WELLS] I gotta go to another meeting.

[AMY] Can you tell us what you think

about President Trump saying climate change is a hoax?

[AMY] You can answer the question.

[AMY] Are you not speaking to the press here?

[WELLS] Excuse me.

I'm sorry. I'm running late for a meeting, thanks.

[AMY] Right, but you weren't running late

like when you're just standing there, so.

[AMY] Can you talk about President Trump's

saying that climate change is a Chinese hoax?

(gentle orchestral music)

[AMY] Are you not talking to the press while you're here?

(gentle orchestral music continues)

[AMY] Can you talk about why the US is here

since President Trump is saying

he's pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Accord?

(gentle orchestral music continues)

Can you talk about why you are pushing coal?

[AMY] No answer on any issue?

[AMY] Can you explain why the US joined with Saudi Arabia

in watering down language around the UN report?

(gentle orchestral music continues)

[AMY] Wells Griffith, can you explain

why you won't answer any questions on the issue

of climate change or why the US is here?

[WELLS] If you would like to set up an interview,

we could do that.

[WELLS] But you're actually harassing me.

[AMY] A reporter asking you a question, Sir, is not harassment.

[AMY] Why not answer a few simple questions?

[WELLS] We can set something up,

if you would give me your contact information.

[AMY] So you're saying you will do an interview.

[WELLS] I'm saying I will connect you with our press folks

and, excuse me.

[AMY] Why don't you give me your card

and we'll set something up.

(gentle orchestral music continues)

[AMY] Oh, thank you. Okay.

You want...

I thought you wanna give me your contact information?

[AMY] Hi.

Can you say who you are?

[ASSISTANT] Email at-

[AMY] I'll take it. Let me take the card.

[ASSISTANT] ClimateCon-

[AMY] You're not going to give me the card?

He said someone would give me a card.

Sir.

Well, we're standing in front

of the United States of America Delegation Office.

We followed Wells Griffith, who is the representative

of the Trump administration.

Wait I have to take my breath.

(gentle orchestral music continues)

(audience applauding)

[REGIS] I went to the annual Christmas party.

[KELLY] Yes, tell me.

On my right was Amy Goodman,

and so I didn't, I was unfamiliar with the name.

"What do you do, Amy?"

She says, "Well I have a show on PBS."

Okay.

"We cover global events."

Oh my gosh.

Global news.

No wonder we haven't seen it.

(audience laughing)

Well now, excuse me, but what am I going

to have in common with someone who covers global news?

-What is global news? -The beautiful baby contest?

That ain't gonna do it!

You realize then-

-Your lack of contribution -What you are doing!

You're doing-

Nothing!

(audience laughing)

(upbeat rock music)

With us, Amy Goodman.

She's the host of the "Democracy Now!"

A daily independent news program.

Goodman has received the

Robert F Kennedy Journalism Award and the

Overseas Press Club Award.

[AMY] What do you say to those who say

that you are a war criminal for the bombing of Iraq?

I've never heard anybody ever say that before!

[AMY] Don't push me.

I'm a journalist here.

You're an activist and a journalist

who say you can do both.

Her program is the only platform

that has given us a voice.

Now, you're a communist, right?

(audience laughing)

You're as mainstream as anybody.

What do you mean by independent?

Independent in contrast to what?

How can you use my name and anti-immigrant

in the same breath?

Radical, leftist,TV program called "Democracy Now!"

[COP] I'm not asking you again.

That way or you get arrested.

[AMY] From Ground Zero.

From East Timor.

As we deplane in Haiti.

In Georgia's death row prison.

We're in occupied Western Sahara.

We've walked across the border.

We're in the middle of Trump Tower.

This is "Democracy Now!"

The War and Peace Report.

I'm Amy Goodman.

Okay, a shipment of US arms.

Roll forward.

Forward, forward.

And we're going to change this one.

Death toll in Israel, and at least, and 1,000 killed.

[AMY] Okay, the majority of Palestinian deaths.

I don't know if you can fix that, Mike.

Keep going.

Meanwhile the scale

of atrocities committed against civilians

is coming to light.

Over 100 bodies were found at the Be'eri kibbutz

near Israel's separation barrier with Gaza.

Yeah, no!

Kibbutzim is the plural.

[AMY] Can you go to the headline, President Biden did not refer

to slain Pales...

To, forward, forward, forward.

[CREW] We're live in five, four, three, two, one.

(upbeat music)

I'm Amy Goodman.

The death toll in Israel and Palestine

has soared to over 2,200 with at least 1,200 Israelis

and 1,000 Palestinians killed

since Hamas' surprise attack on Southern Israel Saturday.

[NEWS ANCHOR 1] Israel has more than 28 villages within two kilometers

of the Israel Lebanese border.

[NEWS ANCHOR 2] There are hospitals struggling to keep up,

amid air strikes from Israel are trying

to take out Hamas' leadership.

We have so much work to do.

[AMY] Tomorrow, I see that someone's already booked in Tel Aviv.

Right?

[MIKE] I have to review what's been done already, but-

Let me see.

I'm looking right now.

[AMY] I would aim to get Sharone Lipschitz.

Her parents are in their 80s and they are hostages.

[AMY] Major peace activists.

And then we should try to get someone

in Gaza because they just turned off the electricity.

[AMY] Oh, God.

Oh, my God, look at this.

(children chattering)

(Amy laughing)

She's a girl, but she marks everywhere.

Oh, that pizza is not for you, Zazy.

[AMY] So Zazou is the name of the anti-Nazi,

anti-fascist youth of occupied France.

They loved jazz and swing,

they went to underground nightclubs

and they fought the Nazis.

And they were called the Zazou.

Now, the problem is, every time I say to someone,

"Her name is Zazu," they say, "Oh, 'Lion King!'"

I didn't know that until after.

But I go, "Yeah, whatever."

Feminist, Feminazi trading cards.

You don't have these.

We're thinking about it.

Female impersonation is not going to go away.

For those of you who are a little uncomfortable

with this, they pack 'em in.

[AMY] I was a big fan

of the Phil Donahue show, from college on.

[PHIL] I have here a collection of some of your quotes.

"If people screw me, I screw back in spades."

Phil, is there something wrong with that?

[AMY] Some of it was the sensational stuff,

but a lot of it were deep issues.

(audience applauding)

And it was the best I saw on commercial media.

I was on this program in 1981.

Phil did the first program about AIDS

anywhere in the world.

I'm on it 10 years later

and I'm still saying the same thing!

(audience applauding)

[PHIL] I suppose we shouldn't be surprised

that prejudice does not go away on the occasion

of one Donahue show, however powerful may be my platform.

(gentle music)

[AMY] When I came back from college, I decided,

"I want to work for the Phil Donahue show.

I will be a producer for "The Phil Donahue Show"

I didn't know who to write

to tell them I would be their producer.

So for two weeks I would handwrite,

handwrite as fast as I could,

the names of every person listed

at the end of the show.

And I mailed them my extremely thin resume.

And then I just waited to hear.

(audience applauding) (upbeat music)

Finally, "The Phil Donahue Show" called.

And they said, "Can you come in tomorrow morning?"

"Absolutely."

And they said, "Great, because we're doing a show

on the unemployed and we'd like you to be

in the audience."

(audience applauding)

So, here's the point.

[AMY] I was devastated, but really I am grateful

to Phil Donahue because instead I found my way

to independent media and WBAI radio.

It's bike week, coming up next on the WBAI morning show.

And I began working with my beloved

colleague Bernard White.

My name is Bernard White.

I'm Amy Goodman.

[BERNARD] And until next time.

Stay strong and pay close attention.

We have a great time.

Me and Bernard hang, we talk, we shoot the beep.

(gentle orchestral music)

[DAVE] WBAI was a special place.

And Amy made it feel like home.

She was all about inviting people in,

and she gave permission to experiment

and try to create something beautiful,

something meaningful, something true.

[DAVE] The first interviews I ever did

were with Amy's pushing and encouragement.

She was giving me advice all the way along,

teaching me my craft.

[PRISON GUARD] Wake Up Call!

Let's go, get up.

Out of bed, let's go!

[DAVE] I was interviewing African American men

at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.

There was this guy, Moreese Bickham,

and he shouldn't have been in prison.

[MOREESE BICKHAM] My number's 75251.

And I'm 72 years old.

I've been in prison ever since 1958.

[DAVE] Myself and an attorney,

we did everything we could to get him out.

And nothing worked.

(gentle orchestral music)

[WBAI ANNOUNCER] This is "Wake Up Call"

with hosts Amy Goodman and Bernard White.

[DAVE] Who was I going to go to but Amy?

I knew that she was going to get it,

wrap her arms around it, and be unrelenting

until the job was done.

So we went on "The Morning Show" with Amy and Bernard

over and over and over again

to try and get Moreese Bickham out.

[AMY] In the summer of 1958,

two white sheriff's deputies in the deep South

in Louisiana came to his home in the middle

of the night and they shot Moreese Bickham

and he loaded his rifle, and he shot back.

People who witnessed what had happened

were afraid to come forward

because he lived in Klan country.

[BERNARD] Right now he's very ill.

He has prostate cancer.

[AMY] He could get out, but he needs the approval

of the Louisiana Governor.

And his number if people are interested

in letting him know how you feel is 225-

The governor was getting so many phone calls

that they had to change his phone number.

(all chattering)

[DAVE] And finally the governor commuted his sentence.

Moreese, I'm Amy Goodman.

How are you?

Oh my god.

It's a great, great pleasure!

[MOREESE] Right on me!

[DAVE] Moreese knew it was because of Amy and Bernard

that he had been freed.

[AMY] Look who's here!

(clapping)

[DAVE] We went right up to New York

and into the studio together.

[MOREESE]

-Oh yeah.

[AMY] And as you speak Moreese,

I'm thinking, you've been in jail at Angola Prison

for 38 years.

You've been in jail for my entire lifetime.

[BERNARD] You know, Moreese, if you put on those headphones

I got something that you might like.

[AMY] Oh yeah, we did promise you something

that day in Mississippi, when you got out of Angola.

♪ I wish I knew how it would feel to be free ♪

♪ I wish I could break all the chains holding me ♪

[DAVE] I think of radio as a medium

of connection and love.

That's the essence of Amy.

She believes that journalism put to its highest use

can be the greatest force for good that the world has seen.

(light piano music)

[AMY] 1988, 1991, 1987, 1992.

A little deck of cards.

November 12th, 1991, the day of the massacre in Timor.

[DIRECTOR] (whispers under breath) Oh god.

(dramatic orchestral music)

[AMY] I went to East Timor for WBAI along with my colleague,

journalist Allan Nairn.

He was doing a piece for "The New Yorker."

And we learned about the horror

that had been going on for years.

(dramatic orchestral music)

(screaming)

(distant gunshots) (screaming)

[AMY] Indonesia invaded East Timor, December 7th, 1975,

and for the next 17 years,

they systematically killed a third of the population.

(gun firing)

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

90% of the weapons used were from the United States.

We had armed, financed and trained the Indonesian army.

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

Most Americans never heard of this.

(person speaking foreign language)

Pure hell on earth.

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

-[ALLEN] Is that the police? -[AMY] Yeah

[AMY] That morning, Allan and I went

to the main catholic church in Dili.

Two weeks before, the Indonesian military

had surrounded the church

and killed a young man named Sebastian Gomez.

(people singing)

On the two-week anniversary of the killing,

there were so many people there that the priest

had to give communion outside under the trees.

(people singing)

(dramatic orchestral music)

After the mass, thousands marched to the cemetery,

where they would honor the dead.

(all chattering)

More and more people joined from workplaces, from homes.

(all chattering)

Allan and I were in the middle

of the crowd interviewing people.

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

And then we saw hundreds of Indonesian

soldiers marching up,

their US M16s at the ready.

We walked to the front of the crowd.

We wanted to make clear that journalists were here.

I held the microphone up like a flag.

Allan put the camera above his head.

The soldiers marched up.

Without any warning, they swept past us

and opened fire on the crowd.

(guns firing)

(siren wailing)

The first to die was a little boy behind us.

He exploded from the gunfire,

and they just kept on shooting.

(siren wailing) (guns firing)

There was another journalist there filming as people ran.

He buried his video tapes in a fresh grave

and would come out under the cover of darkness

and dig them up.

(siren wailing)

A group of soldiers surrounded us.

They beat me to the ground.

Allan threw himself on top of me to protect me.

And they used their US M16s like baseball bats,

and they slammed them against his skull.

They put the guns to our heads.

Western reporters witnessing this was a problem for them.

They killed more than 270 Timorese on that day.

This is a day I'll never forget for the

rest of my life.

I live with every single day.

If we could somehow report it to the outside world,

maybe that would be a way for the killing to stop.

[WBAI REPORTER] In the news tonight, protestors on East Timor

are shot and killed by Indonesian military forces.

WBAI news editor Amy Goodman and journalist Allan Nairn

who are on assignment in East Timor, are also injured

by Indonesian security forces.

[AMY]

[ALLAN] There were some people still standing up trying

to get away and the soldiers were shooting

at their backs and those people were falling as well.

It was massive carnage.

[BBC REPORTER] Incidents in Dili was witnessed

by two American journalists-

[CBC REPORTER] This is CBC radio

[REPORTER] The massacre of 100 unarmed Timorese-

[CBS REPORTER] Suddenly, and without provocation,

say Western reporters, the street became a killing field.

A killing ground

in a remote area of the Far East is beginning,

just beginning to get the world's attention.

That is because Western reporters

were inside Indonesia when soldiers opened fire

on a group of civilians.

We have a report tonight about a very small corner

of the world to which no one pays

very much attention, even though the government

and American oil companies have been involved there

for a long time.

[AMY] The massacre was horrific.

It would change us forever,

and it taught me how critical it was

that we expose what is done in our name.

(dramatic orchestral music)

[AMY] US administrations, one after another,

Democrat and Republican, had ensured the misery

and annihilation of a people.

Yet there was not one mention of East Timor

on the ABC, NBC, CBS evening news

for 17 years,

from the day after Indonesia invaded East Timor

to the day of the massacre.

Free East Timor!

Free East Timor!

[AMY] After the massacre, one congress member said,

"More people have called me on the issue

of East Timor than any foreign policy issue."

[ABC REPORTER] Following the November massacre,

the House voted to cut off all military assistance.

It will be the first American sanction against Indonesia

in all of the 17 years since it occupied East Timor.

(all chattering)

[MIKE] Good morning, everyone.

Nice to be here on a quiet day.

The President of the United States and his lovely bride,

celebrating their 21st wedding anniversary today.

That's the big news at the White House.

[AMY] Will President Clinton push for the sale of F-16s

to Indonesia when Congress returns in January?

[AMY] Jose Ramos-Horta says it's like selling weapons

to Saddam Hussein.

Well, that's not the view of the United States government.

We make arms transfers of that nature

when they are in the interest of the United States.

[AMY] But you are supporting the military dictatorship

by doing it.

Well, you are also advancing US strategic interests

in the region.

Chuck.

[AMY] Will you invite Jose Ramos-Horta-

[JUAN] My first impressions of Amy were

at press conferences, she always tended

to ask the most provocative questions

to whoever was conducting the press conference.

[AMY] Back to the issue of Timor for a second.

President Clinton is not only going to push

for the F-16s.

[JUAN] In the commercial media,

it is accepted that the tougher you are on questions,

the less access you will have.

[AMY] And that was cut off after the massacre

of November 1991 which I witnessed and survived.

Why is President Clinton considering restoring

that military training aid?

I remember thinking,

"Man, she doesn't care what anybody thinks.

She's going to ask whatever she feels is necessary."

(reporters laughing) (dramatic orchestral music)

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

(knuckles rapping)

Hello Daniel, how are you?

Good.

-Very nice to meet you. -You too!

[AMY] I'm very nervous about this interview.

You're nervous?

[AMY] I was trying to prepare all night

reading everything I could.

For my Bar Mitzvah, you have to choose a hero

and a role model.

And I chose you as my hero.

And my role model is Billy Crystal.

[AMY] Billy Crystal.

Very interesting.

Should I start with the questions?

[AMY] Sure.

All right.

How would you describe your personal

approach to journalism?

[AMY] That's a very good question.

I actually was first inspired by my younger brother, David.

He started a press called Dave's Press,

this family newspaper, and I was the one

who made sure that everyone paid their penny subscription.

One day he said, "On this date, Mom spanked Amy."

And so my mother said,

"No, you can't do anything personal in this paper.

No dirty laundry."

David cried censorship.

And he really cried because he was eight years old.

And he said, "It's my right to do this."

(gentle orchestral music)

(gentle orchestral music continues)

[AMY] The Letters to the Editor

were where the whole family fought about issues.

Then it was the war in Vietnam.

My grandfather would write and say,

"Dear Duvidle, you know how much I love you,

but I don't agree with your views on war."

And David would write back,

"From the Editor, Grandpa, it means so much to me

that you were my first subscriber,

but your views on war are stupid."

And then my uncle would write in,

"Shlemi, how could you criticize

your beautiful grandson?"

And then my great aunt would write in and say...

So that's how it went.

But that was the way that we had conversations

about the big issues of the day.

It came from my Jewish education

that you ask questions.

And you take nothing for granted.

And the way you deal with the world

is with intense curiosity and not being afraid

to stand by your principles.

(gentle orchestral music)

I was active in my high school newspaper.

Then we were holding the principal accountable.

I'd write editorials about him

and what the policy should be,

and I saw they really paid attention.

And then we just went onto a bigger stage after that.

(upbeat music)

From Pacifica Radio, this is "Democracy Now!"

Welcome to the maiden voyage of "Democracy Now!"

Greetings to our audiences in California, Texas, New York,

Pennsylvania, Washington DC,

Washington State, Kansas City.

"Democracy Now!" began on nine radio stations in 1996.

We were a daily morning show providing a forum

to challenge those in power

and to bring out the voices of people

who are not usually heard.

[AMY] Juan Gonzalez is a columnist

with the "Daily News" in New York.

He is also my co-host here.

The "Village Voice" calls him "the most radical person

in the above-it-all world of New York daily journalism."

[JUAN] The human rights abuses

that occur, especially in the maquiladoras

and in Tijuana and yet Vicente Fox-

[Juan] When we first started

as a little radio show, my colleagues

in the commercial media would constantly tell me,

"What are you doing working

with that little radical radio station

that nobody listens to," you know,

and "why are you wasting your time with that?"

And I would say, "Listen, the audience for 'Democracy Now!'

is completely different than the readership

of the "New York Daily News."

You have no idea who we are reaching!"

[JUAN] I always saw my role in journalism as helping

to shape a different narrative.

I knew from the beginning,

I can only see the world with my eyes.

Up until this time it wasn't a real radical movement.

It was a movement of the mouth.

And now there's a real movement

and a sense of people committed to social change.

(gentle orchestral music)

I was one of the founding members

of the Young Lords in New York City.

(gentle orchestral music continues)

We probably got the most favorable news coverage

of any revolutionary

organization of the 1960s and '70s.

But it was no accident.

We cultivated that image.

[ABC REPORTER] The Lords have a strong sense of community,

and while they may be regarded as a threat

to the white establishment downtown,

their stock here in El Barrio is rising rapidly.

[JUAN] We understood the importance of being able

to package our message and our stories

for the commercial and corporate media,

and we learned that if

you don't fashion your own narrative,

others will do it for you.

[GUEST CALLER] I don't hear the business community complaining

about the fact that they have inexpensive labor.

[JUAN] The key thing about "Democracy Now!"

is that we just let people talk.

[GUEST CALLER] Members of the local police department admitted.

[JUAN] The more you hear people talk,

you get a better sense of what they stand for,

and you can make up your mind yourself.

[GUEST CALLER] It's an opportunityto point fingers

and to blame people who are different, who look different,

who act different.

[JEREMY] This show was totally swimming against the current.

At a moment when you had right-wing Republicans

and far-right evangelical Christians coming together

to try to, essentially, take over the United States.

Early in the week we talked about whether

or not it was time to rethink this whole business

of women in the military.

[ANNOUNCER] Radio free D.C., with G. Gordon Liddy.

He's on board

the conservative freight train.

[RADIO HOST] It's the liberal

sissy booger-eating nose-pickers.

Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program,

a program exclusively designed

for rich conservatives and right-minded Republicans.

[JUAN] When Rush Limbaugh was at his height,

the Republican Party National Committee, every day,

would send a list of its key talking points

to Rush Limbaugh, and then Rush

would basically parrot those talking points.

(upbeat music)

It was a complete merger of the commentators

with the political parties.

(upbeat music)

[JEREMY] This is happening at a time

when powerful Democrats

and powerful Republicans are allowing fewer

and fewer corporations to own more and more means

of communicating over the public airwaves.

(dramatic orchestral music)

[JUAN] The Telecommunications Act of 1996

created the giant conglomerates,

the Viacom's and the Fox News's and the Time Warners,

with a responsibility to their shareholders

and to their investors to deliver profit.

And not only to deliver profit,

but its maximum profit.

(dramatic orchestral music)

That laid the basis for the privatization

of the internet, where this incredible invention,

completely financed by the American people,

has been given away to the private market.

[C-SPAN HOST] Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!"

Thanks for being with us.

It's great to be with you.

An unprecedented wave of consolidation.

How is news affected by this corporate ownership?

Oh, in all sorts of ways.

You have really a homogenization

of a message, of an agenda.

We see towing a corporate line,

we see the lack of criticism, for example,

of corporations, in fact.

[JEREMY] In the midst of this unprecedented

media consolidation,

you have "Democracy Now!" starting up,

the moral bizarro world

of what these very powerful right wing forces were doing.

From Pacifica Radio, this is "Democracy Now!"

[JEREMY] This is a independent, non-corporate,

community radio show that depends

on begging ordinary people for money to stay on the air.

(gentle music)

[JEREMY] In 1996, I was living and working

at the Catholic Worker in New York City.

We had a soup line and then we also would give baths,

showers, haircuts to guys who lived in the subways.

I loved doing the morning shifts there.

We'd go down to the kitchen, we'd be smoking cigarettes

and we'd be waiting for Amy Goodman to start.

"Is Amy on yet?"

"What time is it?"

"When does Amy come on?"

Will you apologize to American women

for calling the First Lady a bitch?

[JEREMY] On one segment.

-That's just plain false.

Amy would be confronting an American politician.

And then she's covering indigenous rights' protests

in Mexico.

And then she's interviewing rebels

in the mountains of Congo.

[AMY] That's our flag of neutrality.

I didn't know who Amy Goodman was,

but I knew there was something incredible

about what I had heard.

And I just knew this was what I wanted to do with my life.

I didn't have a college degree.

I didn't have a CV or a resume.

I would write her things like, "if you have a dog,

I'll walk your dog.

If you have windows, I'll wash your windows.

I'll go and get coffee, like I'll do anything.

I just want to be a part of this."

And eventually Amy had to make a decision.

"Do I get a restraining order against this guy,

or do I, you know, give him a chance?"

The elevator opens

and a plume of smoke

just comes into the elevator from the radio station,

and I see what I think is Amy, and she's got a pair

of headphones on one ear, she's carrying a stack

in both hands of newspapers.

And then she has like maybe a half a dozen big round reel

to reel tapes that we used to use to record audio.

And she's running and I was like, "Amy!,"

and she sees me and she couldn't

have looked less excited to see me.

She says, "Oh, right, come with me."

[AMY] It's cold here.

(printer whirring)

[JEREMY] So we go into a tiny supply closet that has stacks

from floor to ceiling, newspapers and tapes.

She said, "Go through this whole stack of newspapers

from the past several months and clip everything

about Iraq and make a folder for her."

I was like, "Great."

And I said, "Where's your office?"

And she said, "You're in it."

[AMY] Where's the lead?

And can we close the door?

(chaotic music)

[Jeremy] I had imagined an entire newsroom of people working

to create what I was listening to every morning

because it was that good.

And then it turns out it's just her.

Amy and three other people, making this every single day.

That was "Democracy Now!"

(people chattering)

[NERMEEN] I know, I know.

It’s hard to say

but his guy should have arrived.

-No no, it wasn't in there. -So he's just arriving?

Wait, should we put it in.

Oh no!

My phone died, which'll take 10 minutes.

-Here, here Amy. -I might need, no, no, no.

I might need a computer.

A Palestinian child screams out,

"We did nothing wrong, we did nothing wrong"

as Israel bombs for a third day?

This time hitting (coughs) a school by

the UN Refugee Agency!

[Nermeen] Very soon after I joined "Democracy Now!,"

a few months, if that, Amy asked,

"Would you be interested in co-hosting the show?"

From New York, this is "Democracy Now!"

And I thought, "Wow, I mean, yes what an honor,

and thank you so much."

She was like, "Okay how about tomorrow?"

And I was like, "Uh." (laughing)

I'm Amy Goodman joined by "Democracy Now!"

producer Nermeen Shaikh,

who will be co-hosting with me today.

Welcome, Nermeen.

Thank you, Amy.

In Libya, rebel forces say Moummar Gaddafi's strong-

I've never been in front of a camera.

I've never read a teleprompter.

Forget doing these things live!

I felt completely terrified.

But in the breaks, she said, "You're doing a great job,

just relax, it's just like we're having a conversation."

He was, he was so good in the pre-interview.

I thought, this guy's gonna be great on the show.

The strength of "Democracy Now!"

and also its singularity is speaking

with people who have no platform.

If you think of media as a frame,

you are framing a story.

The problem with a lot of media

is that so much is excluded from the frame.

There's a kind of erasure.

It's as though those people, they simply,

the people don't exist.

Right, so "Democracy Now!,"

what we do is expand the frame so those things

that are on its margins are allowed in.

And not only allowed in, we center those voices.

[MUMIA] My name is Mumia Abu-Jamal.

I'm a journalist, a husband, a father,

a grandfather, and an African American.

In 1981, I was a reporter for WUHY

and president of the

Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.

I've been a resident on Pennsylvania's death row

for 11 years.

[AMY] The second day of the commentaries

of Mumia Abu-Jamal recorded on death row in Pennsylvania.

[JEREMY] Just as I was starting to work with her,

Amy had made a decision to air the prison commentaries

of Mumia Abu-Jamal,

who had been a journalist in Philadelphia,

convicted of murdering a Philadelphia police officer,

but maintained his innocence.

[AMY] We didn't originate the idea

to air the commentaries.

The credit for that goes to NPR.

(gentle music)

[Mumia] Tune in to hear my regular reports.

From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal

on your public radio station.

[AMY] But right before they were going to air,

the Fraternal Order of Police

were meeting in Washington,

and they put enormous pressure on NPR.

[SENATOR] The last time I checked, we were trying to fight crime,

not subsidize it or promote the fortunes

of convicted murderers

through taxpayer-supported public broadcasting.

[AMY] And that was the end of it.

It was then we thought, "We have to pick up the baton here."

Mumia Abu-Jamal did not talk about his own case.

He talked about what life was like behind bars.

[MUMIA] As over a million persons serve sentences,

many set to expire, if at all, into the next century.

US prisons, far from being a place of restoration,

are social sinkholes of despair, of degradation,

of spiritual death.

As we went to air, we heard that Jazz FM had dropped us.

[AMY] (on radio) Radio station WRTI in Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, unilaterally canceled "Democracy Now!"

Also affected were 11 other radio stations

across Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware.

[AMY] Just hearing his voice, why was that so dangerous?

(dramatic orchestral music)

We are alone in the industrialized world

in executing people.

It's our job, as journalists, to ensure

that these voices get heard.

[JEREMY] She just wouldn't back down

and continued to air those commentaries.

And there was a real question of whether "Democracy Now!"

was going to be able to continue on because

of the emerging reputation it was getting,

that this is a problematic entity.

That Amy is not really a journalist, she's an activist.

[DAVID] If she believes something, she's gonna fight for it,

and get it out to the world.

And to me that's just straight up journalism.

It's not advocacy, it's just a pure belief in what's good.

And fighting for that with everything you've got.

[AMY] This is my office.

I never really had an office before

so I don't even know what to say.

It's amazing every time I walk into it!

This is my father with a stethoscope,

and in that stethoscope is the image of a nuclear bomb.

"Your doctor is worried."

My dad was with Physicians for Social Responsibility.

My mom started the first chapter of Sane Freeze,

a peace group on Long Island.

They were a mighty duo.

This poster appeared

in all the Long Island Railroad stations.

My dad said the hardest part of the photo shoot

was not being able to smile.

(gentle orchestral music)

He was just a man who deeply believed in justice

and that everyone deserved a chance in the world.

(gentle orchestral music continues)

In 1970, my dad was asked to lead a task force

to integrate the schools of Bay Shore.

(gentle orchestral music continues)

We had a diverse community, but segregated.

I would go with him to the cafeterias and the auditoriums

of the local schools.

Thousands of screaming parents.

People moved to a community to be next to a school

and they didn't wanna change.

(gentle orchestral music continues)

There were death threats against

my dad and other members

of the task force, but he just kept moving on.

And he guided this community to a more just system.

I have a Letter to the Editor from Dad.

"Dear Dave, I enjoy all the publications

of Dave's Press very much.

An occasional cartoon or humorous poem,

just two lines would do, might be a nice addition.

Another idea would be to include a famous quotation

at the end of an issue.

But these are just extra ideas.

The publications are really great.

Dr. George Goodman."

(Amy laughing)

I do remember getting a call while you were

in detention in Indonesia, trying to get into East Timor.

[STEVE] That's exactly right.

It was Thanksgiving.

And so Thanksgiving was transformed

into working the phones

and finally getting through to you.

And I may have said something about calling

from the State Department.

[AMY] Yes, it was in an Indonesian military base.

We were being interrogated.

And the person said,

"Ambassador Dave is on the phone." (laughing)

I said, "Ambassador David?

David?"

And then I took the phone and you said, "Hi, it's me."

I remember when you were going to go to Nigeria.

She didn't want you to go.

-Mom and Dad. -Right.

And she said, "Okay, if you go, I go."

And she bought tickets.

From then on, I only called them from the airport,

and I said, "Hi, I just want to say

I'll be back in a few weeks.

I'm just heading off to wherever."

(birds chirping)

(tense music)

(crowd cheering)

We are going to demand our rights peacefully,

non-violently, and we shall win.

[AMY] You're listening to WBAI.

This is "Wake Up Call."

I'm Amy Goodman.

We're joined in the studio by Nigerian Ken Saro-Wiwa.

I got a call that the Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa

was in town and they'd like to bring him in.

I said, "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry,

the show is booked solid."

And so we said, "Okay, a couple of minutes."

And as Ken Saro-Wiwa talked about what was happening

in Nigeria, the destruction of Ogoni land

by Shell Oil,

we canceled the rest of the guests on the show.

[KEN]

[AMY] Who is the government now of Nigeria?

[KEN]

[AMY] How do the oil companies,

how do Shell and Chevron deal with you?

[KEN]

(gentle orchestral music)

[JEREMY] Amy was deeply moved by meeting Ken Saro-Wiwa

and then reporting on his execution.

[AMY] Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists

were hung earlier today.

Yes, I do take it personally.

I feel like a failure.

You should think about what you want

to do with your Shell credit card folks.

You should think if you want

that blood put into your gas tank,

if it will serve your car well!

Ken Saro-Wiwa had been executed

for taking this story abroad, trying to put pressure

on this oil giant from the outside.

You know they care.

Just listen to Ken Saro-Wiwa's brother

who had secret talks with top officials at Shell.

They said, "If you call off the international protests,

we will save your brother's life."

I decided to go to Nigeria.

It was the summer of '98.

I had just met Jeremy.

And he said, "I want to come.

I want to be a part of it."

I said, "only if you stop smoking."

Which he did for I think for two days before we went.

♪ Hey yeah ♪

♪ Everybody run, run, run ♪

♪ Hey yeah ♪

♪ Everybody scatter, scatter ♪

♪ Hey yeah ♪

♪ Some people lost some bread ♪

♪ Hey yeah ♪

♪ Someone nearly die ♪

♪ Hey yeah ♪

♪ Someone just die ♪

♪ Hey yeah ♪

♪ Police dey come, army dey come ♪

♪ Hey yeah ♪

♪ Confusion everywhere ♪

[JEREMY] We're going there

to do the most forbidden thing journalists could do.

We're going to go to the Niger Delta,

the oil epicenter of Nigeria, to do an investigation

of the relationship between American

and multinational oil corporations

and a very brutal, murderous dictatorship.

(tense music)

This was extremely dangerous, not just for us,

but for the Nigerians who took us there.

I had just turned 22, 23 years old.

I'd only been out of the US once in my life.

We had to smuggle in our recording equipment.

The whole thing was crazy,

but Amy was totally chaotically

brilliant at the spy game.

She's a magician.

That's how I saw her.

(dramatic orchestral music)

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

While we're on the ground,

we hear that there has been this incident

with the Chevron Oil Corporation.

[AMY] People were protesting the oil leaks

that were destroying their mangrove forests.

We learned Chevron had flown in the Nigerian Kill'n'Go.

That's Kill and Go.

And the military opened fire on the protesters.

They killed two, critically wounded another,

rounded up others and jailed them.

The survivors told us it was Chevron

who flew the military in.

[JEREMY] So Amy says,

"Let's just go to Chevron headquarters."

It's like entering a military base.

And the armed guard comes out, "Can I help you?"

And Amy says, "Oh, yes, we're here to see,"

and she gives the name of this guy.

Said, "Do you have an appointment?"

And, "No, no, we we we've been talking to his office.

We're here to see him."

"Where are you from?"

"America."

Amy says, "America."

"Yeah, but what?

Who do you represent?"

And she says, "America."

And then she's like, takes out her passport.

And she said, "You know, we're here to see him.

We're from America."

And he's looking at her and she's looking at him

and she's just as though, it's like just as clear

as day that that's a perfect answer to the question.

"We're from America."

And somehow the gate opens.

We end up sitting face to face with the head

of Chevron's media operations in Nigeria,

and Amy starts confronting him with questions

and Amy starts confronting him with questions

and Amy starts confronting him with questions

and Amy starts confronting him with questions

about these operations, and he admits

to basically everything.

We had all the proof.

We had the people saying

they recognized the Chevron helicopters

and we had Chevron themselves saying proudly,

"We brought them in."

[JEREMY] We hightailed it out of there.

We managed to smuggle out our tapes.

We came back to the United States,

asked for an interview with Chevron, based in California,

and they said, "We're not going to

waste our time on you.

You already talked to our chief

spokesperson in Nigeria."

[AMY] (on radio) Drilling and killing:

Chevron and Nigeria's oil dictatorship.

A special report, coming up.

[JEREMY] We're about to go on air live

with this high stakes thing

where we're accusing a powerful American corporation

of murder.

(upbeat music)

You couldn't have been in a bigger pressure cooker.

The theme music is starting,

and Amy wasn't even finished editing it

when it started to play on the air.

[AMY] (on radio) From Pacifica Radio, this is-

[JEREMY] And it wasn't like you have it in a computer.

It was on reel to reel tapes.

[RADIO VOICE] Chevron, just like Shell-

[JEREMY] She cuts the documentary

literally with a razor blade in half,

and she puts the first half of it on one set

of reel to reels,

knowing that she has

to read the headlines and then immediately go

and edit the end while we're live on the air.

[PROTESTERS] For oil money.

[JEREMY] And we can see the counter clicking downwards

of how many minutes are left.

And now she cuts the second half into half

and starts playing that

so that she can edit the end of the documentary.

And she pulled it off.

[JEREMY] And Chevron eventually did try to go after us,

and they lost.

[DIRECTOR] Do you have a trick

to get these kinds of admissions on tape?

It's just showing up and asking the questions.

No one had bothered to ask him.

Tricks is an interesting word.

One thing that I just have seen Amy do over

and over again-

[AMY] Mr. Mayor, we all packed in there

to ask you questions.

It's okay, I'm from New York.

[JEREMY] If she has zeroed in on a target,

she always finds a way

to ask the questions no one else will ask.

Whether its powerful corporate people

or the president of the United States.

(upbeat music)

[AMY] (on radio) $25 or $30 gets you the DVD

of our Sunday night event

as we talk about independent media in a time of elections.

It's Election Day 2000.

This is the presidential race between George W. Bush

and Al Gore.

We got a call.

I thought they said, "the White Horse calling."

That's a historic bar in Greenwich Village

where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death.

And they said, "The President would like to speak to you."

I said, "the President of what?"

And they said, "The President of the United States."

"Oh, the White House, not the White Horse!"

So we go running into master control

and it's an alternative Latino music show.

Gonzalo Aburto is at the controls.

You hear salsa music loud,

and underneath it all President Clinton

is saying, "Hello, hello.

Is anyone there?"

-Mr. President, are you there? -I am.

[PRESIDENT CLINTON] Can you hear me?

[AMY] Yes, we can.

You're calling radio stations to tell people

to get out and vote.

What do you say to people who feel that the two parties

are bought by corporations

and that their vote doesn't make a difference?

[PRESIDENT CLINTON] That there's nota shred of evidence

to support that.

That's what I would say.

It's true that both parties have wealthy supporters.

[AMY] It was very interesting talking to the leader

of the free world.

President Clinton,

Amnesty International has described what

the Israeli forces

are now doing in the occupied territories is-

[PRESIDENT CLINTON] Listen, I can't do a whole press conference here.

It's election day and I've got a lot of people

and places to call.

[AMY] Well I guess these are the questions

that are very important to our listeners.

[PRESIDENT CLINTON] Now, let me just tell you,

on the Israeli-Palestinian thing,

the only answer is an agreement

that covers all the issues

that the Palestinians feel aggrieved by,

that guarantees the Israeli's security and acceptance

within the region, and is a just and lasting peace.

He was animated, he was angry, he was forceful,

and he was staying on the phone.

Many people say that you've been responsible

for taking the Democratic Party to the right.

[PRESIDENT CLINTON] What is the measure of taking the Democratic Party

to the right?

That we cut the welfare rolls in half?

That we have the lowest African-American,

the lowest Latino unemployment rate in the history.

-[AMY] Some people- -Now let me just finish.

-[AMY] Let me just say - Let me, now wait a minute.

You started this and every question you've asked

has been hostile and combative.

So you listen to my answer.

Will you do that?

[AMY] They've been critical-

[PRESDIENT CLINTON] Now, now you just listen to me.

You have asked questions in a hostile, combative,

and even disrespectful tone and you have never been able

to combat the facts I have given you.

People can say whatever they want to.

Those are the facts.

[AMY] What people say is that you pushed through NAFTA,

that we have the highest population of prisoners

in the industrialized world, that more people

are on death row in this country than anywhere else

and that people are-

[PRESIDENT CLINTON] Well, all right.

I disagree.

I think NAFTA has been good for America.

Now, I've talked to you a long time,

-It's Election Day. -[AMY] We appreciate that.

There are a lot of other people in America

and I've got to go.

[AMY] Thank you for spending the time, President Clinton.

[PRESIDENT CLINTON] Thank you!

-Goodbye. -Goodbye.

[GONZALO] Hasta la vista, President Clinton.

[AMY] I go into my office and I get a furious call.

"You broke all the ground rules."

And they were weighing whether

to ban me from the White House.

I said, "what are you talking about?

He called me!

I didn't call him."

"We told you he had a few minutes.

You kept him on the phone for more than half an hour."

I said, "He's the leader of the free world.

He could hang up if he wanted to.

Did no one ask questions outside getting out the vote?"

And they said, "No one did."

(gentle orchestral music)

[AMY] My mother's father was an Orthodox Rabbi.

But he would accept all questioning,

fundamental questioning.

We would argue about everything.

I would walk with my grandfather

through the streets of Brooklyn

and we would go into shuls, synagogues.

And on the first floor the men would be praying,

and on the second floor the women would be praying.

I'd say, "Zadie, I'm going to pray next to you."

And he would say, "No you are not.

You are going to go upstairs."

I'd say, "No.

There's no reason to separate men and women."

He said, "Don't be ridiculous.

The men are very observant and filled with prayer,

and the women, they gossip."

And so I'd have to go to the second floor

and I'd be with the women,

they would be (speaking Hebrew).

The women.

And we would look down at the men

and they would be slapping each other on the back.

And I would say, "Yeah, who are the observant ones Zadie,

and who are the ones that are filled with prayer?

I think I know why you don't want us

to see what's going on down there."

(train clattering)

(train clattering)

Hi, it's Amy.

Is grandmamma there?

I forgot to tell her I was coming.

I don't like to give her too much advance warning

because from the minute I tell her she thinks I'm late.

She was a refugee from Russia and Poland

and she came over by boat through Ellis Island

with her husband, my grandfather.

She is a woman of three centuries.

(knuckles rapping)

She doesn't like it when my hair is messy.

-Bonjour! -Hello!

[AMY] I brought some friends from New York City.

[AMY] Our friends here, we're finding it very difficult

to believe how old you're going to be, 106 years old.

Can you hear me?

No.

Maybe we could try a little experiment.

Can you hear me fine?

[AMY] Well, more or less?

Yes.

(Amy laughs)

[SONIA]

[AMY] There was a time in my grandmother's life,

they had no money.

And on the side as a Rebbetzin, a rabbi's wife,

she got a beautician's license.

[SONIA] Yeah, that's right.

This is the best gift I could give to my grandmother

on a Sunday afternoon is to comb my hair.

I always try to do it just in her honor

at least once a week.

Do you know who George Bush is?

(Amy laughs)

Can you hear me better now?

Yes.

(Amy laughing)

Oh well, so much for technology.

(door clicking)

(door clicking)

(traffic humming)

[JUAN] When we set up at Downtown Community Television,

we started with this little cubby hole up

on the top floor.

Literally, it was a cubby hole.

[JEREMY] We were becoming more popular as a radio show

and we started flirting with the idea

of doing television journalism.

What if people looked in at something?

Like in a frame of a radio?

[JEREMY] And Amy was stuck in this zone at the beginning

of it being a TV show that's about a radio show.

I think one person

with a handheld would be more interesting.

[AMY] Radio was the heart of what we did.

I said, "As long as the TV cameras that you set up

at Downtown Community Television don't get

in the way of the sound."

[AMY] (on radio) How do you, as a woman political activist,

deal with the voice of the government?

[RADIO GUEST] The voice of the government or the voice

of the citizens.

[AMY] I'm going to interrupt this taped conversation.

Just a little while ago, we heard

a loud sonic boom-like crash, and we heard sirens.

Well, it appears that planes crashed

into the upper floors

of both World Trade Center towers, minutes apart.

We're in Chinatown.

We're not far from the World Trade Center buildings.

This is all unfolding as this broadcast takes place.

Clouds of smoke engulfing the World Trade Center.

[JUAN] I was actually there the day of the attack,

covering it for the newspaper

as well as for "Democracy Now!"

All of lower Manhattan turned dark in the middle

of the cloudless, sunny day.

(dramatic orchestral music)

[AMY] (on radio) You are listening to Ground Zero,

The War and Peace Report.

We're broadcasting just blocks from what used

to be the towers of the World Trade Center.

This weekend, not much luck with finding anyone alive

in the rubble.

We spent last week since the attacks here

because we were afraid we would not be able to come

in to broadcast if we ever left the site.

We are in the evacuation zone.

[JUAN] That whole area was off limits after the attack.

But Amy managed to keep producing the show.

(clearing throat) Military- (coughing)

There's a lot of smoke around here. (coughing)

[JUAN] There were so many toxic chemicals

in those buildings,

all pulverized and burning at Ground Zero for months.

[PRESIDENT GW BUSH] This nation stands with the good people

of New York City and New Jersey,

It was George Bush

who personally ordered the reopening

of the financial district within a week of the attacks,

sending hundreds of thousands of people back to work,

into that toxic area.

(dramatic orchestral music)

[NYSE SPEAKER] Ladies and gentlemen, our heroes

will now open the marketplace.

(bell ringing)

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

[JUAN] There was a concerted effort

of the business community,

the national leaders and the local leaders

to quell the idea that there were problems at Ground Zero.

The air quality is safe and acceptable.

Everything we're getting back

from the sampling that we're doing

is below background levels.

[JUAN] And the press bought the official narrative.

[NEWS ANCHOR] Tests conducted by the EPA say that once again

no hazardous substances have been detected in the air.

If the Mayor says it's okay,

then I believe him, it's okay.

[AMY] (on radio) Co-host Juan Gonzalez has a cover story

in today's Daily News.

He says toxic chemicals

and metals are being released into the environment

around lower Manhattan.

Dioxins, PCBs, benzene, lead.

[JUAN] No one else was following the story,

and all the government officials

were denying what I was saying.

My editor was removed just because he continued

to defend me.

They buried me back in the back pages of the paper.

But I continued reporting the story, and at "Democracy Now!"

we continued to get information into

the hands of the public.

No one tested the dust clouds that came down

on tens of thousands of people.

So no one can say what the impact

of such a massive dose of-

The only thing that I was wrong about

was that it didn't take 20 years for people

to start dying.

It only took five years.

[AMY] Search and rescue workers are experiencing a high level

of respiratory illness.

But it's not only the rescue workers.

Chronic coughs, upper respiratory infections,

bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma are plaguing residents

and students at Ground Zero.

(dramatic orchestral music)

I think about, wow, what it was like then.

And how it's this ritzy area and how so many people

had to have gotten very sick and they don't (coughing)

think of that. (coughing)

I say as I'm coughing.

[NERMEEN] Yeah, cough is also related to 9/11.

[AMY] The emergency cough button is right here.

Whenever I have to cough on the air I just hit it.

[AMY] I remember the day when the elevator came up

to the garret of the firehouse and opened

and for some reason at that moment,

there was this kind of gust of wind that came out

of the elevator and I had

an absolute- Dust-

Coughing attack.

It was my first that I can remember,

and I think it was on the air, and we went to break.

And from that moment on I've coughed.

I've discussed it with Dr. Zazu, but-

And what's Dr. Zazu's take?

She didn't have a formal enough education

to really understand it.

Okay, Baba.

[PRESIDENT GW BUSH] Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists!

(audience applauding)

[ATTORNEY GENERAL] The Department of Justice is waging a deliberate campaign

of arrest and detention, removing suspected terrorists

from our streets to prevent further terrorist attack.

[SHARIF] After 9/11, someone turned me on to "Democracy Now!"

and I started to listen.

And it was the first place, there were people who were

from my region speaking on the air.

There was deeper analysis.

What about the relationship between US Intelligence,

which helped to train Osama Bin Laden

and other Islamic militants in Afghanistan?

[SHARIF] When I started working with Amy,

I would stay up all night following all the news

and writing headlines.

Once in a while, Amy would read one of my headlines

and I would be very excited.

Where is the lead?

I need the lead.

[AMY] I believe I'm missing the first page?

[SHARIF] I had just quit a job at an investment bank,

structuring deals for multinational corporations.

So I had to write a lead about the World Trade Organization.

It said something like,

"Leaders of the world's richest nations

are gathering to solve the problems of the world's poor."

I handed it to Amy during the break.

And then she looks and she goes "I'm not

reading this shit!"

[PRODUCER] We go back to it and then we go to the song.

And she threw it and she goes, "I'm going to wing it!"

We are going to go briefly to the streets

of Cancun where thousands

are protesting the World Trade Organization.

[SHARIF] I was just horrified.

It was the first time that anything

like that had happened to me.

And afterwards she came and she said,

"Look, you need to read up."

I was learning an alternative history,

an alternative economics, an alternative way

of seeing the world.

(all chattering)

Many of those who lost loved ones

in the World Trade Center attacks are saying,

"Not in my name."

[RITA] It is in my brother's name that I pray that we,

this country, that has been so deeply hurt,

not do something that will unleash forces

we will not have the power to call back.

(dramatic orchestral music)

[AMY] Why did George W. Bush invade Iraq in 2003?

If you asked most people at the time they would say,

"Well, for 9/11 of course!"

9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq.

But the US was on a mission of war.

[JEREMY] The first big video

field reporting that "Democracy Now!" did

was Iraq after 9/11.

(on TV) This is Jeremy Scahill,

with Jaquie Soohen, on the highway into Baghdad.

We figured out a way to circumvent

Saddam Hussein's secret police,

and we're interviewing Iraqi civilians

about how they see this impending attack,

and we're telling stories about ordinary Iraqis.

[AMY] When you hear someone speaking from their own experience,

it makes it much less likely you'll want to destroy them.

Tens of millions of people took to the streets

over the weekend in some 600 cities

around the world to protest

the Bush Administration's plans to attack Iraq.

Over and over again,

the world is saying no to war.

Pay no heed to the peaceniks

and the left-wing rock stars.

They've had their 15 minutes of fame.

[AMY] The corporate media has become a recruiting arm

for the military.

The advanced troops for the Pentagon,

waging war on another innocent population.

[BILL O’REILLY] Once the war against Saddam begins.

We expect every American

to support our military,

and if they can't do that, to shut up.

[PRESIDENT GW BUSH] The United States and our allies are authorized

to use force in ridding Iraq of weapons

of mass destruction.

This is not a question of authority,

it is a question of will.

[DENNIS] We have an ill-informed populace in this country

who are seeing war being turned

into a game-made attractive, exciting, romantic almost.

It's bizarre to see this happening.

Dennis Halliday,

former assistant UN Secretary General,

there for more than 30 years.

Now on the outside speaking out.

You are listening to "Democracy Now!,"

back in a minute.

[DENNIS] I don't think I've ever been so depressed

as I am now about what's about to happen this week?

It's just...

I still think it's conceivable it's not going to happen.

[DAN RATHER] American reporters have now joined US military units

in Kuwait as part of the Pentagon's effort

to make any war with Iraq

what the Pentagon calls a media friendly campaign.

[SHEP SMITH] We have a number of correspondents in bed

with our troops across the region.

Very deeply embedded in a personal way

with the marines that he is traveling with.

[AMY] The embedding process brought the media

to an all-time low.

US Army's 7th cavalry-

[AMY] How do you think a reporter's gonna feel

when they're eating with the troops,

sleeping with the troops, when your life is in their hands.

You have a certain perspective,

but from only the trigger end of the war.

[REPORTER] The clock is ticking

for the end of that ultimatum.

[REPORTER] And the oil fields are left largely intact.

Let's not just stop

at a couple of cruise missiles.

[NBC ANALYST] We have been told so many times, shock and awe,

to just bomb a few targets and then back off

for 14 hours while we wait for darkness

is not my idea of shock and awe.

I mean, it's just a bloodlust.

Let's call Baghdad.

[DN! REPORTER] Are there any other Americans there?

Hello?

[AMY] They said they're going to engage

in the largest bombing campaign in

the history of the world.

On a civilian center?

(dramatic orchestral music)

[SHARIF] The first day of the Iraq war, the show was live.

And it was just absolute mayhem.

The onslaught began.

Buildings are on fire.

Plumes of smoke can be seen rising

from the heart of the city.

[JEREMY] This area where the heavy attacks appear

to be taking place

is also a very crowded residential area.

It is not just an area

where there are government buildings.

(explosions booming)

(dramatic orchestral music)

I really naively felt, "We are gonna do this,

we're going to stop this war!"

(dramatic orchestral music)

[JEREMY] We were working 18, 20 hour days.

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

[JEREMY] There was a lot of sorrow and sadness and anger.

We failed.

We didn't stop the war.

And in fact, it was worse than we could have imagined.

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

(crowd chanting)

♪ Mothers and fathers are crying ♪

♪ Because their children are dying ♪

♪ Why don't y'all send 'em back home ♪

♪ This is where they belong ♪

♪ This is a rich man's war ♪

♪ We are the veterans ♪

♪ The anti-war veterans ♪

♪ The anti-war veterans ♪

♪ The pissed-off veterans ♪

♪ The pissed off veterans ♪

Amy, Amy, nice to see you.

(all shouting)

(crowd chanting) This is what democracy looks like.

(phone ringing)

[SHARIF] Nicole and I were

at the TV station where "Democracy Now!"

was based during the convention.

And we looked out the window

and saw just a massive phalanx of police

in riot gear walking down the streets.

[PROTESTORS] Whose streets? Our Streets!

Whose streets? Our Streets!

Whose streets? Our Streets!

Whose streets? Our Streets!

Whose streets? Our Streets!

(gun cocking) (tense music)

(guns firing) (all yelling)

(can spraying)

Ow!

(all shouting)

[SHARIF] The police very violently arrested Nicole.

And then they beat me up and arrested me.

(siren wailing)

And then God bless her, Amy came.

[DENIS] Release the accredited journalists!

Release the accredited journalists now!

[RIOT COP] You're under arrest.

Stay right there.

Back up.

Back up. Let go.

[DENIS] Release that accredited journalist.

[JOURNALIST] Hey Max, they just arrested Amy Goodman,

Nicole Salazar and Sharif Abdel Kouddous.

(upbeat music)

♪ Celebrate good times, come on ♪

♪ There's a party goin' on right here ♪

♪ A celebration to last throughout the years ♪

♪ So bring your good times and your laughter too ♪

[KATIE] Lookie here, I've been joined by another white male

here on the platform.

But you're always welcome.

[AMY] I was just wondering if you were doing any coverage

of the reporters, who were getting arrested here.

I was just arrested on Monday.

You were?

I have actually,

I will actually do it very quickly, you know,

we haven't done very much

on the reporters who're getting arrested

or the protestors and I actually asked

about that the other day.

Unfortunately, you know they are packing in speeches

and a lot of videos that people wanna see,

but I'm definitely following it and paying attention to it.

The whole world is watching.

The whole world is watching, the whole world is watching.

Media.

B-I-N-I-O.

[PROTESTOR] You're arresting reporters.

You don't give a shit.

You're arresting reporters.

[JEREMY] That's the difference between Amy

and so many corporate journalists.

For her, the center of the action is what is happening

in the street.

Those are the people that are mocked, made fun of,

dismissed, not allowed on TV.

Amy takes those people seriously.

She's rooted among people of conscience,

people of struggle, people that dare to say no

during a time of universal yes.

(dramatic orchestral music)

[AMY] We turn to a growing protest in North Dakota

where hundreds of Indigenous activists

have shut down construction on the 3.8 billion dollar

Dakota Access Pipeline.

The oil pipeline threatens

to contaminate the Missouri River,

which provides water not only for thousands

of residents on the reservation,

but also for millions living downstream.

[AMY] One man in a hard hat threw one

of the protestors down.

Protesters on horseback have just ridden up.

The security with dogs.

The dog has blood at its nose and its mouth.

He just maced me in the face.

[AMY] Sir, what are you spraying people with?

I haven't sprayed anything, ma'am.

[AMY] But what is that?

[AMY] We kept our cameras rolling.

We had the videotape.

We posted it online that night.

Within 24 hours, there were 14 million views.

(dramatic orchestral music)

All the networks used our video.

A standoff in the Great Plains.

200 native American tribes are fighting construction

of an oil pipeline.

Protesters stormed the site and private security

for the pipeline company, Energy Transfer,

responded with dogs and pepper spray.

Anger over a new pipeline in North Dakota

[JOY] Here's a report

from the scene courtesy of "Democracy Now!"

[SCOTT] Captured by Amy Goodman

and her crew at "Democracy Now!"

[REPORTER] Protestors accused security guards

for the construction site of using dogs.

[AMY] A few days later they issued an arrest warrant for me.

This wasn't personal.

The authorities in North Dakota were sending out

a warning to all journalists:

"Do not come to North Dakota."

It may be one of the most important civil

and environmental rights stories of our time.

So, has it been under-covered?

Amy Goodman, the host and executive producer

of "Democracy Now!" says yes.

She joins me now here-

[AMY] Often when I had gone into CNN and MSNBC,

I would say to the host,

"Why don't you cover the climate issue?"

And they'd say, "The executives upstairs say

it makes people's eyes roll and we care about eyeballs.

Right?

We care about people watching."

This gave the lie to that.

[AMY] Why is this such an important fight to you?

Because water is life.

Thank you, we appreciate your being here!

Our philosophy is, "Steal this Story, Please."

If the media covers the climate emergency,

that is fantastic.

The problem is, do they connect the dots?

[REPORTER] Overnight, an apocalyptic scene

across Southern California.

[FOX ANCHOR] Do we know how this happened?

I don't think we do!

And have we ruled out all outside agitators?

No.

It truly is a really tough situation

to wrap your mind around.

It actually looks pretty.

Nine feet, that's enough to completely submerge

some buildings.

[JUAN] It's part of the entire way of being of the media.

If you try to make sense of the world,

if you're trying to figure out

hot to solve the problems, that's boring.

If there's terror, if there's fright,

if there's a sense that the world is out of control,

that's when people will tune in.

(camera shutters clicking)

(dramatic orchestral music)

[AMY] Donald Trump used the media masterfully.

In 2016, they rolled out the red carpet for him.

Five billion dollars worth of free media.

(crowd cheering) (dramatic orchestral music)

Go ahead.

[AMY] Sure, he questioned the media.

He viciously attacked the media.

[TRUMP] You're the enemy of the people. The press.

[AMY] Journalists needed security guards to go out

and cover his rallies.

But he understood that the networks

would do anything for those ratings to bring

in the advertisers who would pay ever more money.

(bell ringing)

If you stoke fear and insecurity enough,

you're going to get a reaction from the masses of people

that you feed that to.

[TRUMP] We will root out the communist,

Marxists, fascists,

and the radical left thugs that live like vermin!

They're poisoning the blood of our country!

(all shouting)

Let's go.

[AMY] This is where my grandmother was born.

Something like a third of the city or more was Jewish.

The Nazi headquarters of all of Ukraine was right here.

(gentle orchestral music)

All my grandparents were from Eastern Europe.

Our whole life was infused with the sense of people

who were persecuted, people who escaped,

and people who didn't.

On November 7th, 1941, the Jews of Ruvna were called

to the town square and they were told they were going

to be transported to a place that they would have to work.

But instead they were brought here.

The Nazis, with Ukrainian police help, dug ditches

and over three days,

they slaughtered 25,000 Jews.

My grandmother, Sonia Shoukat Bachelchok,

she left with her husband, Benjamin Bachelchok,

because of the pogroms leading into World War II.

But some of her family didn't leave,

and we believe that they were slaughtered here.

This is like le, la, Rayla.

(speaker speaking foreign language)

It could be Raisle.

They were 30.

They were 30.

And their baby was four.

This is the family Shokat.

And each of these stones are another family?

(Amy praying in Hebrew)

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

(person speaking foreign language)

(no audio)

[AMY] It's so terrifying finding out

what hostages are out, what aren't.

There's a little girl who's three,

who's gonna be released.

Her fourth birthday is Friday, tomorrow.

-[DENIS] Abigail. -Abigail, that's so sad.

Let me know when you're recording.

As Israel's seven-week bombardment of the Gaza strip

has killed over 14,000 Palestinians,

more than 5,000 of whom were children,

courageous Palestinian journalists working

in Gaza under unbelievably difficult

and dangerous circumstances are being killed one by one.

The US media has primarily relied on reporting

from inside Israel, venturing into Gaza only

when embedded with the Israeli military.

[CNN REPORTER] Journalists embedded

with the IDF in Gaza have

to submit all materials and footage

to the Israeli military for review prior to publication.

The Israeli military is taking us into Gaza.

We are inside an armored personnel carrier.

[FOX REPORTER] Driving into Gaza,

we're embedded with the IDF's 55th brigade.

known as the tip of the spear brigade...

(gentle orchestral music)

[AMY] 1988.

I went to Israel and to the West Bank

and Gaza to investigate the situation there.

It was terrible.

How could people tolerate how repressive it was

in the occupied territories?

Certainly people in Israel knew what it meant

to need a safe homeland.

And it's exactly what the Palestinians wanted

and were fighting for.

(gentle orchestral music continues)

In that sense they weren't so far apart.

But they were worlds apart.

Many members of my family had gone

to Israel, fleeing persecution.

And so as a kid I went there to visit my family

and saw it as a place that was a refuge.

And then as a grown-up, I go back

and I see that very same place

that I had those childhood identifications

with as a refuge for some.

But for others, they were being persecuted.

It seems to run against everything

I was raised to believe Judaism represents,

warmth and protection, belief in the highest ideals.

It's so important that this is not seen

as something inherent in a religion,

but this is a terrible political problem.

[AMY] Sharif, can you talk about what happened

since we last spoke 24 hours ago?

Well Amy, right after I spoke to you, news broke

of that shelling of the UN school in-

[SHARIF] We covered Palestine

and Israel over the years, and through it all,

Amy covered it as she would anything else.

She covered it as she would cover Iraq

or as she would cover Minneapolis.

21 people have been wounded in a bus bombing

in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

Tuesday saw an unrelenting wave of Israeli strikes

on the Gaza strip,

[SHARIF] She taught me who to talk to, how to talk to them.

How to cover a story properly.

It's speak to the people on the ground,

speak to the people at the target end of the bomb.

Speak to those who are being deliberately silenced.

And yeah, put those voices on the air.

(dramatic orchestral music)

[SHARIF] Israeli victims of Hamas, we know their names,

we know their stories.

We know about their families and how they are suffering.

And we should!

We do not know the other side.

When you see who Amy is having on,

she's not ignoring all the civilians that Hamas killed.

She's speaking to the relatives of hostages,

she's speaking to people who have had relatives killed.

[MOAZ] The cycle of blood between Israelis and Palestinians.

My cry, my cry is to stop the cycle.

[SHARIF] She's just covering the whole story!

The bombardments were relentless.

There is no safe passage for people to move

from the North to the South.

If you say Gazan should leave Gaza.

To go where to?

It's not enough, the words that I need do not exist

in our dictionaries to describe the horror

that my friends in Gaza now go through.

Three generations of one side

of my family were all killed.

My cousin Jamad Farra, his son

who was a physician Dr. Tofir Al Farah.

His wife who was pregnant,

two of their beautiful daughters Reem and Hannah,

Jamad's brother, Asam, his wife, Samad,

their daughters Rosa Tokah and Adian Tokah,

her wedding day was the day she was killed.

Couple days later, one child out

of that whole three generations survived, Hamza.

His siblings, his parents,

his uncles and his aunts, his grandparents, all had died.

Excuse me.

And then he died himself.

[DN! GUEST] In Shifa hospital, 100 burn patients

with more than 40% burned body surface area,

most of them children.

Infections in these burns are fatal.

They get septacemia.

So to cut off the water to 2.8 million people...

(dramatic orchestral music)

Oh god!

Sorry, I'm in no condition after a show.

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

(siren wailing)

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

(protestors chanting indistinctly)

Ceasefire now,

ceasefire now, ceasefire now,

[AMY] Thousands of people converged

at Grand Central Station for the largest sit-in protest

the city's seen in over two decades.

[POLICE] I am ordering you to leave the premises now.

You will be arrested on the charge of criminal trespass.

As a Jew, I believe it is absolutely imperative

that we stand up today.

Right now I believe that Palestinian rights

are inextricably tied to Jewish safety.

[AMY] Why are you getting arrested?

I was horrified by what Hamas did to Israel,

but I am horrified now by what Israel is doing to Gaza.

So many of the Jewish New Yorkers here

are struggling through heartbreak and mourning

of October 7th, and they have made it very clear,

do not use their heartbreak, their tragedy,

as the justification for the genocide of Palestinians.

My parents were Holocaust survivors,

and there's one thing I learned.

Never again means never again for anyone!

Ceasefire now!

[SECURITY] You gotta stay out of the way.

You have to stay out of the way!

[AMY] I've got to do my job!

Just getting this video in.

As you can see, virulent, widespread hatred,

anti-semitism at a level that beyond shocks the conscience.

I'm 81.

What do I have to lose?

Let's go then!

(dramatic orchestral music)

(dramatic orchestral music continues)

I was saved by God to make America great again.

(crowd cheering)

(upbeat rock music)

Donald J Trump has been sworn in

as the 47th President of the United States.

I think we're going to do things

that people will be shocked at!

♪ There was a wicked messenger ♪

♪ From Eli he did come ♪

♪ With a mind that multiplied the smallest matter ♪

The White House Correspondents Association

has long dictated which journalists get

to ask questions of the President

of the United States in these most intimate spaces.

Not anymore!

You are an obnoxious, a terrible,

actually, a terrible reporter!

I think the license should be taken away from ABC!

Are you stupid?

Putting American people first,

your thoughts on that.

We are, thank you.

I like that question.

Boy, I want more questions like that.

[REPORTER] What has made you and your team so effective

in finding locating, apprehending

and deporting these violent, illegal migrants?

I love this guy!

(crowd cheering)

USA, USA, USA, USA.

A number of major news organizations face accusations

of already bending a knee to Trump.

ABC settled a defamation suit

by making a $15 million donation

to his future presidential library.

The parent company of CBS News has agreed

to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought

by Donald Trump as Paramount seeks federal approval

for its $8 billion merger with Skydance media.

[NERMEEN] "Out with the fact checkers!"

That was the message delivered by META CEO Mark Zukerberg,

as he announced sweeping changes at Facebook,

Instagram and Threads.

The decision comes a week after META

donated a million dollars to Trump's inauguration.

[JUAN] A system of knowledge and information unparalleled

in the history of the world has been hijacked

by companies who just want to sell you stuff.

They don't want to inform you.

They want to increase their wealth and their power.

[DAVID] Ownership really matters,

and you know we're not just another widget company,

This is not a time in American history

where anybody can remain silent or neutral.

The media has to reflect on itself.

What it allowed to happen.

And what still could happen!

(all chattering)

You don't have the authority to arrest US citizens!

[WOMAN] I'm gonna give you my ID back,

you give me my daughter back.

One more.

You go back there and I'm gonna put you under arrest.

This is United States federal government.

I will arrest you.

(person screaming)

I was just trying to get to the doctor

and I'm autistic.

It takes me a second to understand.

[ICE] Get back!

(door banging)

[WOMAN] My son is a citizen.

We have all the paperwork!

What rights you lose today, you will not get back!

(dramatic orchestral music)

[AMY] Hans and Sophie Scholl.

They were a brother and sister in Nazi Germany.

And they thought, "What can we do in the face

of the Nazi atrocities?"

And together with their professor and other students

and workers, they formed the White Rose Collective.

They published six pamphlets.

On the fourth was written the words,

"We will not be silent."

They were beheaded by the Nazis.

"We will not be silent."

Those words should be the hippocratic oath

of the media today.

Should be the hippocratic oath of us all today.

We will not be silent!

Democracy now!

(audience applauding)

(upbeat rock music)

♪ I was dreaming in my dreaming ♪

♪ Of an aspect bright and fair ♪

♪ And my sleeping, it was broken ♪

♪ But my dream, it lingered near ♪

♪ In the form of shining valleys ♪

♪ Where the pure air recognized ♪

♪ And my senses newly opened ♪

♪ I awakened into the cry ♪

♪ That the people have the power ♪

♪ To redeem the work of fools ♪

♪ Upon the meek the graces shower ♪

♪ It's decreed ♪

♪ The people rule ♪

♪ People have the power ♪

♪ People have the power ♪

♪ People have the power ♪

♪ People have the power ♪

♪ Vengeful aspects became suspect ♪

♪ And bending low as if to hear ♪

♪ And the armies ceased advancing ♪

♪ Because the people had their ear ♪

♪ And the shepherds and the soldiers ♪

♪ Well they lay beneath the stars ♪

♪ Exchanging visions and laying arms ♪

♪ To waste in the dust ♪

♪ In the form of shining valleys ♪

♪ Where the pure air recognized ♪

♪ And my senses newly opened I awakened to the cry ♪

♪ Come on ♪

♪ People have the power ♪

♪ People have the power ♪

♪ To occupy ♪

♪ To vote ♪

♪ To strike ♪

♪ To rise up ♪

♪ To act ♪

♪ To dream ♪

(crowd cheering)

[PATTI SMITH] Use your voice.

Democracy now!

(crowd cheering)