Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan visit Evergreen
“Democracy is a messy thing, and it’s our job to capture it all,” said Amy Goodman on Friday, October 26, which might as well be her career’s tagline. In a benefit talk for KAOS Radio and Thurston County TV, The Evergreen State College hosted Denis Moynihan and Amy Goodman of the political radio/TV production DemocracyNow! on the last leg of their 100-city “Election 2012 Silenced Majority Book Tour” through the country’s swing states.
Yet, Goodman elaborated beyond the sole topic of the two-party system. In a display of story-telling and fact-reporting, Goodman wove together her experiences reporting on seemingly unrelated news events into one enormous anecdote about the corruption of media and the presence and significance of the ‘media elite’ (major news networks who report “news” that is rarely accurate or in the best interest of the network’s viewership).
“We need a media who broadcasts the voices of Palestinian children and Israeli grandmothers…It’s that kind of government that can save the world,” said Goodman, giving example to the idea of the media exposing and supporting the minority, the voiceless. Goodman spoke on her experience at the execution site of Troy Anthony Davis and the discrimination felt at being a reporter for an independent news source,“Dissent is what will save us,” she said. Evergreen’s Longhouse was full-to-brimming with students and locals to witness Goodman, while the event was broadcasted by Thurston County TV, with a few other local news organizations.
Goodman’s message was not so much about voting and the two-party system, as it was about an accountable media. Her words were saturated with the belief that a free and independent media is the only way for the world to truly understand the events occurring within it.
“Independent media is our only hope for peace,” she said towards the end of her two-hour talk. “The government is sending a message of fear to people who are trying to expose the crackdown of access to information.”
By Anatalia Nicholl
