Late Call – Editors Blog 5

 

It’s unlikely that the US state considers award-winning journalist Amy Goodman to be a national treasure but she’s in danger of becoming one of the great inspirations for radical media activists everywhere.

Goodman, along with Juan González, is news anchor for the daily political news bulletin, Democracy Now!  She came to prominence in 1990/91 when she reported on the elections in East Timor and witnessed the Indonesian military massacre 270 East Timorese.  She was subsequently arrested and expelled from the country.

Democracy Now! was launched a few years later, in February 1996, as a daily radical news bulletin on Pacifica Radio, and has grown exponentially since then.  Its hour-long daily news broadcast is essential viewing for the US radical left and is now screened on over 1,200 TV and radio stations worldwide.

Posted above is part of an episode of Democracy Now! screened earlier this week on 2nd July, and available internationally on their Youtube Channel.  Its worth watching for a couple of reasons.  This 6 minute extract from their full show is worth watching for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, to see how someone like Amy Goodman reports on a thorny subject like the ongoing Julian Assange affair, which the mainstream media in the UK prefer to sweep under the carpet. This is an issue many on the UK’s radical left won’t go near for fear of getting caught up in a human rights versus sexual abuse maelstrom. Amy Goodman gets the tone right, and shows how it can be done without ducking the key issues, to provide the kind of quality news journalism BBC Scotland seems incapable of these days.

Also, crucially, Democracy Now! sets the gold standard to which those of us who are part of  Scotland’s radical media should aspire to.  If YES wins in September – which of course it will – it would be great to have at least one professionally produced, professionally presented, daily news bulletin which could be syndicated globally and broadcast from Scotland to the world.  It would be a welcome alternative to the politically skewed news broadcasts of the BBC, STV and SKY.

Comments (3)

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  1. mary vasey says:

    Very interesting post, thank you. I thought what Assange was doing on wikileaks was good then came this accusation from Sweden which, to be honest made me wonder but with all the lies coming from MSM and politicians then listening to his solicitor now, it seems like more lies. I shall listen to this democracy now more often. Thank you for informing about this.

  2. Fay Kennedy. says:

    Love the idea of Scotland emulating Democracy Now. The world needs more gutsy and honest information.

  3. Clootie says:

    A blank screen would provide more balance than the BBC/Sky and STV.

    Democracy Now are doing a great job of highlighting the degree of manipulation of the News Media by either a few powerful people or by the state.

    It is not just the quality of a specific article it is also the general geographic slant. The coverage of the USA contrasts with European topics. However the almost total exclusion of nations from the BBC/SKY news coverage is dramatic. Excluding World cups, Election results,Terrorist attacks and major disasters when was the last time you seen a quality report from South America / India / Australia / Africa. The last of the list being a very good example of my point – one “celebrity” commits a crime and that fills our screens for weeks. The News is has become our new weekly SOAP episode.

    The News is now designed to distract you, to shift your focus, to form your opinion.
    It should be trying to inform you.

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