Democracy Now!

It is refreshing to see honest, unbiased reporting of important stories through out the world. Thank you for your work DN!

Amy and her crew work very hard to bring us unbiased and independent news. They have no advertising or other corporate connections, which makes them one of the lasts voices of truth in the media landscape. If you find independent news important please think of supporting them in any way you can. Also funny (and scary) to see how many low ratings they have received here, seeing as they report very factually and never pull any punches. Long live Democracy (now)!

Excellent source of in depth coverage of US and international current affairs. This is substantive journalism. One of their guiding principles is to correct for the structural biases found in mainstream corporate media. This means they will often have against the grain content you will have a hard time coming across elsewhere. Very valuable. They actively try to amplify the voices of marginalized and invisible people, this is not bias but rather serious humanistic journalism.

Sadly, there is are a lot of utterly shite so-called "News" shows online now. This is not one of them. The reporters here have years of experience and awards. ( I'm not in the crowd of thinking experience is a bad thing I'm afraid). You can tell they have taken this experience and decided to set up an organisation that works the way they would like to run a current affairs show. Stories are presented in great detail with lots of references in the mix, from accurate sources. They present details that almost every other media outlet, both mainstream and online, seem to miss. The show truly holds governments to account, which is what a journalist should do. They are not there is to be best buddies with certain groups, rather to reveal mistakes and inconsistencies in organisations. It could do with having more head-to-head debates, rather than single guests giving off their opinions. It's slightly more liberal than conservative judging from the guests (though I have seen conservative guests on there), and I would like to see more strong questions asked to conservatives on the show. Other than that, this is a disciplined, well structured show, that frankly shows other online shows how it should be done.

I usually listen to the "Democracy Now!" radio broadcast, but I do occasionally get to see the TV show, and I've liked it every time. Featuring Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez reporting on things going on in the world, you can tell that they take journalism seriously (among other things, Amy Goodman doesn't focus on her looks). Seeing that it started in 2001, I suspect that they launched it to challenge the support-America-no-matter-what zeitgeist that arose after the September 11 attacks and scared all other media outlets into submission. Though such a mentality has subsided in the six years since (actually, it'll be the six year anniversary in four days), it's a good thing that they challenge the party line.

The most recent TV broadcast that I saw featured an interview with City Lights bookstore owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and he recounted stories of the Beat generation. This episode certainly offered a glimpse into the world of honest journalism that "Democracy Now!" represents. I would say that anyone who actually cares about democracy should at least listen to the radio broadcast and watch the TV show if possible. I consider this one (along with "The Daily Show" and "Real Time with Bill Maher") the most reliable media source of all. Of course, I realize that the Bush lovers out there wouldn't even give it the time of day.