Discernment of who to trust for our media resources is critical. All around us we are witness to the impact of misinformation, lack of information, and polarizing and toxic propaganda. Only looking through the lens of our side versus your side, left/right, conservative/liberal, democrat/republican, black/white, etc. can tempt any of us to be swept up in perspectives and belief systems which limit us in seeing the truth of larger pictures. And then we are vulnerable to becoming unknowingly invested and complicit in putting personalities before principles, in shedding truth for that which reinforces our explicit and implicit biases, and even in unconsciously experiencing the poisoning of our hearts and minds to the extent that we become actively complicit in that which causes great harm and suffering. I believe that the integrity of our resources makes all the difference in the world and how it is that we are, or are not, forces for peace, truth, compassion, wisdom, and love. Amy Goodman is among those whose integrity and courage, authentic investigative journalism, and passionate commitment to truth and justice has spanned her lifetime. May we all be informed and inspired by Amy Goodman and others who are the wise and vital voices of truth in these sad, scary, and dangerous times. ― Molly
 |
| With Amy Goodman, Portland, Oregon, 2017 |
Illuminating Quotes From Amy Goodman
The media is
absolutely essential to the functioning of a democracy. It's not our job to cozy
up to power. We're supposed to be the check and balance on government.
As journalist, I'm responsible to
the American people, not to the military of the United States.
But for the media to name their
coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq the same as what the Pentagon calls it —
everyday seeing "Operation Iraqi Freedom" — you have to ask: "If
this were state controlled media, how would it be any different?"
War coverage should be
more than a parade of retired generals and retired government flacks posing as
reporters.
I really do think that
if for one week in the United States we saw the true face of war, we saw
people's limbs sheared off, we saw kids blown apart, for one week, war would be
eradicated. Instead, what we see in the U.S. media is the video war game.
Who among us has any
conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when
one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes...reach
the light of day?
Going to where the silence is.
That is the responsibility of a journalist: giving a voice to those who have
been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful.
Journalism is the only profession explicitly
protected by the U.S. Constitution, because journalists are supposed to be the
check and balance on government. We're supposed to be holding those in power
accountable. We're not supposed to be their megaphone. That's what the
corporate media have become.
[The media] are using
a national treasure--that's what the public airwaves are. And they have a
responsibility to bring out the full diversity of opinion or lose their
licenses.
Independent media can
go to where the silence is and break the sound barrier, doing what the
corporate networks refuse to do.
I've learned in my years as a
journalist that when a politician says, "That's ridiculous," you're
probably on the right track.
So it is fair to ask, why not
address the threat of climate change when it is still possible? Asad Rehman, of
the international environmental group Friends of the Earth, who was in New York
for the climate march, told me, “If we can find the trillions [of dollars]
we’re finding for conflict whether there’s been the invasion in Iraq or
Afghanistan or now the conflict in Syria, then we can find the kind of money
that’s required for the transformation that will deliver clean, renewable
energy.”
Beyond the borders of
wealthy countries like the United States, in developing countries where most
people in the world live, the impacts of climate change are much more deadly,
from the growing desertification of Africa to the threats of rising sea levels
and the submersion of small island nations.
The U.S. news media
have a critical role to play in educating the public about climate change.
We must build a trickle-up media
that reflects the true character of this country and its people. A democratic
media serving a democratic society.
We have to protect all
journalists, and journalists have to be allowed to do their jobs.
[The media can be] the
greatest force for peace on the earth [for] it is how we come to understand
each other.
People who are against
hate are not a fringe minority, not even a silent majority, but are a silenced
majority, silenced by the corporate media.
Go to where the
silence is and say something.
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