'Movements Matter'

"It is the oxygen of democracy," she tells SFR. Independent, community-based media gives voice to people at the roots of an issue, rather than the rotating roster of pundits so often trotted out—"that small circle who know so little about so much, explaining the world to us and getting it so wrong," as Goodman says.

She'll be speaking in Santa Fe at the Lensic on Tuesday, April 26, as part of a 100-city tour.

Democracy Now! started in 1996 as an assignment from Pacifica Network to cover the presidential elections, but Goodman didn't expect the gig to continue. It's now broadcast from 1,400 community stations around the globe on both radio and television. The more places she's seen the show travel, she says, the more people have come forward, wanting to share their stories. Every week, a new station picks up the show, which has become a global news hour.

"I think it is a testament to the hunger for those voices," Goodman says of that pace. And by "those voices," she means the voices of people at the heart of a story.

"Whether you're talking about a Palestinian child, or an Israeli grandmother, a kid in the South Valley in Albuquerque or a kid in the South Bronx, when you hear someone describing their own experience, it breaks down barriers that fuel the hate groups, because hate groups thrive on ignorance, on people not knowing each other," she says. "You look at this presidential election and the kind of underbelly of hate that is being tapped when Donald Trump says, 'We're going to build a wall. We're going to stop all Muslims from coming into the country.' He's tapping into fear. If people know each other, it makes it much less likely that they'll want to destroy each another. I just think the media can be the greatest force for peace on earth, and instead it's wielded as a weapon of war."

Part of her enthusiasm for bringing her tour to New Mexico stems from the multiple community media outlets she'll be fundraising for here, including KUNM, KSFR and KNME-TV, and nonprofit media organization Quote … Unquote.

As it stands now, she sees the media failing to serve our democratic society in many ways, from wars to elections. With yet another presidential campaign circus now well underway, she's calling for a season without polls.

"It doesn't matter what your family thinks, what other people think; who do you feel is the best person to lead this country?" she says. "The networks spend millions of dollars on these polls, they talk about the polls leading up to the elections and caucuses, and then they talk afterwards about why the polls got it so wrong. Why not have that same money, energy and investigation into what the candidates' positions are, what their records are?"

Data hawks will still get their numbers every time there's a caucus or a primary, at which point they can see what people think, as well as have a chance to collect demographics, including race and age.

"I think a big story that isn't focused on is the number of people who don't vote," she says. "Eighty percent of people don't come out for these primaries and caucuses. But the polls are there, and instead of speculating, let's look at the hard facts of people's records. Instead, it becomes a kind of horse race coverage that makes people's eyes glaze over. These are critical elections. They will help to determine the state of the planet, and we have to take them seriously, and cover them responsibly."

The subtitle of her latest book, co-written with David Goodman, her brother, and Denis Moynihan (who will join her at the Lensic), focuses on the movements that run counter to the mainstream drumbeat in America—suggesting in ways most news updates often don't that there is activism and hope and a will for change afoot.

From where she stands, Goodman says, she sees movements reshaping elections—the immigrants rights movement affecting campaigns even while a decision on undocumented migrants sits with the US Supreme Court, and Black Lives Matter activists appearing at campaign stops and disrupting the program when they're not given a chance to participate in the conversation: "The corporate networks won't hand them a mic, so they grab the microphone, and they demand answers."

The journalist's job is to hold those in power accountable. In an era of increasing police brutality, it's all the more important to monitor the state—and monitor the police. Just last week, a pair of journalists filming for Democracy Now! were among two dozen people taken into police custody at an anti-Trump rally in Manhattan. They shouted, "Press! First Amendment rights!" even as the police pulled the camera and microphone from their hands and knocked them to the ground, Democracy Now! reported.

The task essential to a democratic society gives voice to those fighting for equality and for peace.

"It's about movements. That is ultimately more powerful than even any president of the United States, who occupies the most powerful position on earth," she says. "Movements make the difference. Movements matter. The media denigrates activists, but what could be more noble than dedicating your life to making the world a better place?"

An Evening with Amy Goodman
7:30 pm Tuesday, April 26
The Lensic Performing Arts Center,
211 W San Francisco St., $15
988-1234

Santa Fe Reporter