Leading The Way: A Tribute to Women of the 20th Century

First draft: (about 700 words)

Amy Goodman has been characterized, somewhat wryly, somewhat reverentially, as “beaming from some alternative left galaxy.” She can certainly be considered a major icon of the leftist movement, but—as her scores of fans swell in ranks each day and her news program reaches an ever-growing audience—she is acquiring a legion of admirers from all colors of the political spectrum. Goodman is a journalist, author, activist, pacifist, and host of the radio and television program Democracy Now! A figurehead and fervent proponent of the independent media, she dives headlong into stories and controversies that no one else dares to tackle or even raise.

Born in 1957 in Bayshore, New York, Amy Goodman is the descendant of Hasidic rabbis and the daughter of peace activists. In 1984, she graduated with a degree in anthropology from Harvard University. Living with her parents on Long Island, contemplating graduate school in biochemistry, she happened to one day discover the “peace and justice” radio station WBAI, Pacifica Radio’s station in New York City. "I was just completely shocked by this place I stumbled on. It was just raw. It was all the beauty and horror that is New York in all of its myriad accents. And I said, What is this place?" She proceeded to spend ten years as producer its evening news show. Her radio program Democracy Now, which she co-founded in 1996, currently airs on approximately 300 stations in North America and has been hailed as “probably the most significant progressive news institution that has come around in some time" by professor and media critic Robert McChesney.

Democracy Now! is an independent news outlet that effectively represents what Amy Goodman stands for: purveying and spearheading the power of dissent. Goodman embraces those points of view that have been shunned, overlooked, and excluded by the mainstream news media, embraces those groups of people that have shunned, overlooked, and excluded. Her overarching philosophy concerns the right of the listener and the responsibility of the journalist: her listeners have a right to know what other media sources do not tell. The calling of the journalist is to “go to where the silence is”, hold those in power accountable, engage in unembedded reporting and refuse to let issues pushed aside by corporate networks fade from public consciousness. Media, for Goodman, should “build bridges” and “dignify life” by allowing the individual to tell her story. The perspective of the silenced and the victimized must mercifully come to light. Working with community bookstores, radio and television across the country, Amy Goodman is at the forefront of a movement to oppose media consolidation and the engulfing of public airwaves by the corporate elite by building up a stronghold of diverse media outlets.

A recipient of journalism’s highest honors, including the Robert F. Kennedy Prize for International Reporting and the George Polk Award, Amy Goodman has investigated human rights violations in such countries as East Timor, Nigeria, Haiti, and Peru. In 1991, during a trip to East Timor, she and a fellow journalist were nearly killed in a massacre of at least 271 Timorese. Professedly one of the most horrifying moments of her life, Goodman was able to escape by virtue of what she speculates to have been her American passport. That single moment that laid bare the grim realness of war seems to have a pivotal moment in her career, tied to her activist style of journalism that has garnered both praise and censure. Amy Goodman's indie-media celebrity status has all but flourished in recent years. She is currently touring across the country to promote two books she has co-authored with her brother, David Goodman, including the New York Times bestseller The Exception to the Rulers. Using the opportunity to speak against the homogeny of corporate media and to raise money for community broadcasters, she pumps her fist at the end of her speeches and proclaims her mantra “Democracy Now!” She seems not to be an author promoting a book but the leader of a groundbreaking movement, a movement to create a public forum in which people can speak freely, a diversity of voices are represented, and “a democratic media serving a democratic society” is thrust into the forefront.