Steal This Story, Please!

New York-based independent investigative journalist Amy Goodman has been reporting from hotspots around the world for decades: from East Timor to Morocco, Nigeria, and Gaza, and closer to home during 9/11 and the Iraq War. Goodman and a small group of colleagues present the daily online, TV, and radio news program Democracy Now!, which has been on the air since 1996 with no government funding, thanks to contributions from donors, foundations, and news consumers.

Goodman’s motto is “steal this story, please” and share it with the world—an idea that has only gained urgency since US president Donald Trump declared the press an enemy of the people. With admirable perseverance, Goodman has become a watchdog of democracy, in the increasingly rare role of investigative journalist.

Interviews with colleagues and clips from her career are interspersed with conversations with Goodman, who recounts how she was introduced to journalistic principles and censorship as a child through her brother’s family newspaper. In addition to her life story, this film shows the alarming history of the commercialization of media and attacks on press freedom in the US.