"Democracy Now" radio host Amy Goodman hosted a packed Vancouver Library last weekend to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the controversial talk radio program.
Goodman, a journalist who is sometimes described as "radio's voice of the disenfranchised left," is on an 80-city tour celebrating independent radio and television.
"That is what we need right now," she said. "In a time of war it is absolutely critical."
On the tour which she aptly dubs "breaking the sound barrier," Goodman spoke of the current state of the media and how the world—particularly the United States—is in need of "media that covers power, not covers for power; we need a media that is the fourth estate, not for the state; we need a media that covers the movements that create static and make history."
Author of the New York Times bestseller The Exception to the Rulers , Goodman was also on tour to promote her new book Static, which she co-wrote with brother David Goodman. The book takes a no holds barred look at the Bush administration and how the corporate media have worked hand in glove with the powerful to lead public opinion.
"We call our book Static because we have this high-tech digital age with high-definition television, yet all we get is static, a veil of distortion, lies, omissions and half-truths that obscure reality," explains Goodman.
Since 1996, Goodman has hosted Democracy Now: The War and Peace Report—a daily national news program which focuses on issues related to War, peace, human rights and U.S. foreign and domestic policy, giving people access to perspectives rarely heard in the American mainstream media. The program airs on over 500 stations across North America.
Goodman co-founded Democracy Now and was news director of Pacifica Radio station WBAI-FM in New York City for a decade. In 1991 she covered the independence movement in East Timor, where her and fellow journalist were beaten by Indonesian soldiers after witnessing a mass of killings.
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