Amy Goodman, along with co-host Juan González and Pacifica Radio, launched Democracy Now! on WBAI 30 years ago as the only daily election show in public broadcasting. It grew from nine community radio stations to television, as well, the week of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. There’s a new documentary about Amy and Democracy Now! called Steal This Story, Please! We speak with the film’s Oscar-nominated directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin. Their previous films include Citizen Koch and Trouble the Water. The film’s executive producers include Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson and Tom Morello. The documentary has won over a dozen audience favorite and jury prizes at major film festivals around the country and will be screened in theaters nationwide.

“People want to see and read and hear content that speaks to this grave political moment, and this film does just that,” says Tia Lessin.

Democracy Now! “has been leading this effort in bringing stories in from the ground — the stories that are shut out of the mainstream quite frequently,” adds Carl Deal.

Transcript

NERMEEN SHAIKH: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Nermeen Shaikh.

We end today’s show with a look at the new documentary about Democracy Now! and the life and career of our very own Amy Goodman. Democracy Now! just celebrated its 30th anniversary at Riverside Church in New York last month.

Well, 30 years ago, Amy, along with co-host Juan González and Pacifica Radio, launched Democracy Now! as the only daily election show in public broadcasting in 1996. It grew from nine community radio stations, expanding to television, as well, the week of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. It’s now on 1,500 public television and radio stations across the country and around the world.

The film is called Steal This Story, Please! And here’s the film’s trailer.

AMY GOODMAN: Hi. I’m Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!

WELLS GRIFFITH: Sorry.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us what you think about President Trump saying climate change —

WELLS GRIFFITH: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: — is a Chinese hoax?

WELLS GRIFFITH: I’m sorry. I’m running late for a meeting. Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Right. But you weren’t running late when you were just standing there, so…

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: My first impressions of Amy —

AMY GOODMAN: What do you say to those who say that you’re a war criminal?

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Man, she doesn’t care what anybody thinks.

AMY GOODMAN: Don’t push me. I’m a journalist here.

Independent media is the oxygen of a democracy.

TUCKER CARLSON: What do you mean by “independent”?

AMY GOODMAN: Not being sponsored by corporations.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Amy is chaotically brilliant at the spy game.

AMY GOODMAN: We began on nine radio stations.

DAVE ISAY: If she believes something, she’s going to fight for it and get it out to the world. Straight-up journalism.

AMY GOODMAN: It came from my Jewish education, that you ask questions.

Sharif, can you talk about what’s happened on the Gaza Strip?

From ground zero, from East Timor, as we deplane in Haiti, from Georgia’s death row prison.

JEREMY SCAHILL: We had to smuggle in our recording equipment. This was extremely dangerous. We’re accusing a powerful American corporation of murder.

AMY GOODMAN: Without any warning, the military opened fire on the protesters. They put the guns to our heads.

It is critical that we expose what is done in our name.

Donald Trump understood corporate owners of the media would do anything for money.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: She taught me: Speak to the people at the target end of the bomb. Speak to those who are being deliberately silenced.

AMY GOODMAN: When you hear someone speak, it’s less likely you’ll want to destroy them.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We expand the frame and center those voices.

AMY GOODMAN: There is a great force that would like to silence us.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The press is the enemy of the people.

TRUMP SUPPORTER: I will not tolerate fake news no more!

AMY GOODMAN: And we’re not going to let it happen.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: That’s the trailer for the new independent documentary about Democracy Now! and the life and career of Amy Goodman. It’s called Steal This Story, Please! and opens in theaters in New York this week.

The film was directed by the Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, known for their previous films Trouble the Water and Citizen Koch, also longtime producers for Michael Moore. Tia also won three Emmys for her film The Janes. executive producers of Steal This Story, Please! include Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson and musician Tom Morello. The documentary has won over a dozen audience favorite and jury prizes at major film festivals around the country. Its theatrical release begins Friday in New York here at the IFC Center and expands to theaters across the country. Carl and Tia now join me in our studio.

Carl, why don’t you begin by telling us what prompted you to make a film about Democracy Now! and Amy?

CARL DEAL: Well, thank you, Nermeen, for having us here. We’re really happy to be here. We’re grateful for all the people on the other side of the glass behind you there and all the great work that Democracy Now! has been doing over the last 30 years. So, happy anniversary and congratulations.

You know, what Democracy Now! has been doing and what Amy has been leading, this effort in bringing stories in from the ground, the stories that we’re not going to hear, that are shut out of the mainstream quite frequently. And it’s not lost on me today listening to your guests today in the studio talking about Iran, when you contrast what you just presented to your audience with what we’re seeing in the headlines today. The headlines in the mainstream press right now, the commercial media, are all about, you know, what’s going to happen to oil prices now, who won and who lost — or who won, not even who lost — and you’re presenting another side of this, of sort of the brutality and the cruelty of this attack on civilian infrastructure. And so, you know, that’s kind of the key difference between what happens here and what happens elsewhere.

And it’s because you’re independent. So, for us as independent filmmakers, we’ve been doing this for decades, and we’ve always tried to work a little bit out of the mainstream and have always admired what Amy has done. And so, for us, it was a no-brainer. When she consented to let us follow her around for the last couple years, which was an exhausting endeavor, for us, it was an opportunity to say something in this really critical moment.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Tia, if we could — as we mentioned, the film has won multiple audience awards around festivals, at festivals around the country. So, if you could say more about how the film has been received by audiences and, indeed, by critics? It seems to have received excellent reviews.

TIA LESSIN: Well, thank you, Nermeen.

Yeah, you know, look, some would have you believe that the only nonfiction storytelling that audiences are interested in, you know, is true crime stories and celebrity profiles. And, you know, we think they’re wrong. And I think our experience so far to date with this film proves that. And we’re looking forward to continuing to bear that out in the theatrical release. You know, people want to see and read and hear content that speaks to this grave political moment. And, you know, this film does just that.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: OK, well, let’s go to more of the film. These are other clips from Steal This Story, Please! In 1991, Amy and fellow journalist Allan Nairn witnessed and survived a massacre carried out by the U.S.-backed Indonesian military against civilians in East Timor. They then, Allan and Amy, reported on the massacre.

AMY GOODMAN: 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 U.S. 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. It’s 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.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: That was a clip from Steal This Story, Please! from 1991. In this next clip, Amy takes a call from President Bill Clinton on Election Day 2000.

JEREMY SCAHILL: One thing that I just have seen Amy do over and over and over again.

AMY GOODMAN: Mr. Mayor, we all packed in there to ask you questions.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOOMBERG: Careful. You’re going to trip.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s OK. I’m from New York.

JEREMY SCAHILL: If she has zeroed in on a target, she always finds a way to ask the questions no one else will ask, whether it’s powerful corporate people or the president of the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: Twenty-five dollars, $30 get you the DVD of our Sunday night event as we talked 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?

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: I am. Can you hear me?

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, we can.

GONZALO ABURTO: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: 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 BILL CLINTON: That there’s not a shred of evidence to support that. That’s what I would say. It’s true that both parties have wealthy supporters, but …

AMY GOODMAN: It was very interesting talking to the leader of the free world.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, that’s obviously an extraordinary moment. If you could talk, Tia, about the significance of this documentary coming out during the Trump administration, an increasing crackdown on media in general, and on independent media in particular?

TIA LESSIN: Well, that’s right, yeah. I mean, look, we saw in 1996 the Telecommunication Act accelerated the consolidation of media, and that has really, you know, been chilling at this moment. So many — there are so many journalists out there that want to report the news, that want to, you know, aggressively ask the questions, and they are compromised, and they are censored, and they are silenced by their own networks, that are trying to curry favor with the Trump administration, with corporate sponsors.

And one of the remarkable things that, you know, we think of in terms of Amy’s coverage over the years and Democracy Now! is that it is not — it’s accountable only to its listeners. It’s not accountable to corporate sponsors. It’s not, you know, beholden to government funding. And that’s what makes you guys really different and so refreshing right now.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And we have just 20 seconds, but talk about the significance of independently distributing this film.

TIA LESSIN: Well, that’s right. We’re actually going to be in about 80 art house theaters across the country. They’re mostly nonprofits. We are a nonprofit distribution company that’s putting out this film. It is a time when, you know, Amazon, controlled by Jeff Bezos, and Paramount, you know, controlled by the Ellison family, they’re not taking films like these. And so, we’re excited about, you know, getting it out directly to audiences. And we are looking forward to meeting folks on the road.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We’re going to have to leave it there, Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, award-winning filmmakers. We all look forward to seeing the film in theaters. To find out where it’s playing, go to StealThisStory.org. Thanks so much for joining us.