About this episode

Ash Sarkar interviews Amy Goodman about her career in journalism and the current state of media and democracy.

The genocide of Palestinians, carried out by the Israeli army with backing from the US and the British state, has lead to an almighty breakdown in public trust in the West. Now more than ever, citizens are turning away from establishment media sources in search of journalism that more closely resembles the world as we see it. This week on Downstream, Ash Sarkar sits down with Amy Goodman, veteran journalist and founder of Democracy Now!, one of the leading independent media organisations in the US. Goodman is the subject of a new film, Steal This Story, Please!, which documents her storied career covering some of the most consequential moments in American living history. She has confronted sitting presidents, bore firsthand witness to 9/11, survived a firing squad in East Timor and exposed major corporate crime in the Niger Delta. What drives Amy to do the work she does – shining light on humanity’s darkness, decade after decade? How did her Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn inform her work? What does good journalism look like to her? Why does she believe we all need to re-learn the lost art of disagreement? And does she think American democracy can survive?

People in this episode

Host: Ash Sarkar

Guest: Amy Goodman

Topics covered

• journalism
• media
• corporate crime
• public trust
• American democracy
• independent media

Keywords

• journalism
• Amy Goodman
• Democracy Now!
• media trust
• independent journalism
• public discourse
• American democracy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Democracy Now!

Books & works: Steal This Story, Please!

Places: Israel, US, British, East Timor

More episodes of Novara Media

• Downstream: The Big AI Lie w/ Cory Doctorow · September 7, 2026 · 2h 9m
• Downstream: Multiculturalism Will Save the Working Class w/ Jonas Patrick Marvin · August 31, 2026 · 1h 19m
• Downstream: Elites Have No Plan for Climate Change w/ Bill McGuire · August 25, 2026 · 1h 26m
• ACFM Microdose: How Britain’s Coastal Communities are Reclaiming Power w/ Hazel Sheffield · August 16, 2026 · 53 min
• Downstream: Ex-Oil Engineer Turned Climate Whistleblower: “We Face Collapse” w/ Kevin Anderson · August 10, 2026 · 1h 47m
• ACFM 62: The Beach · August 9, 2026 · 2h 2m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Novara Media podcast page.