Steal This Story, Please!

Carl Deal and Tia Lessin's film about the independent investigative journalist Amy Goodman and her show Democracy Now! chronicles the rise of the distinctly non-coorperate TV and radio news program and why it has become such an outlier in a media landscape that has gotten more and more driven by the need to make money for shareholders and less and less concerned with informing the public. It paints an entirely loving and positive picture of the fearless and tireless Goodman, with no detractors represented. That seems a little at odds with the philosophy of Democracy Now!, which, while it is unapologetically an outlet for advocacy and activism as much as information (something Goodman has never seen as a conflict), is far more "fair and balanced" in terms of presenting all sides of an issue than networks that overly claim this lack of bias. However, it's difficult to imagine how hearing any of the voices that would criticize Democracy Now! and Goodman in general, adding anything to this film, as we hear and read those voices continuously every day to such an extent that virtually anyone going to see this movie will know "the other side" all too well. Still, we don't get a broader sense of Goodman beyond the person we see on TV or hear on the radio.

The film showcases how Goodman got where she is, growing up with a brother who, at age six, started a daily newspaper for their family, and how she became fascinated by the Phil Donahue Show, as the only television program that seemed to give voice to everyone. We see her early years on the radio, and how her small public radio program morphed into the determinedly independent program it is today. Time is devoted to several key episodes in her life and the program's, which gives this briskly paced doc a solid structure. Still, we never see Goodman make a mistake or learn about any episode in her decades-long career that she might regret or feel ambivalent about. The film devotes some time, though not enough in my opinion, to how Bill Clinton's signing of the 1996 Telecommunications Act enabled (and virtually guaranteed) the media hellscape we currently live in, removing vital regulations that allowed a small number of corporations to take over the airwaves and placing control of what news and entertainment Americans consume in the hands of a few conservative billionaires. We do get to relive her famous interview with then-President Clinton, who called her as part of his re-election-day routine of phoning into radio and TV shows, and got an earful from her for passing NAFTA and moving the Democratic Party to the right, but that gets much more screen time than the Telecommunications Act. It's certainly more fun, but is it as significant to Amy Goodman's life?

Steal This Story, Please! goes on to showcase what makes independent media so vital by showing how Goodman chooses stories the mainstream press won't cover, or at least won't cover until they have to. The title comes from the idea that Democracy Now! tries to shine a light on under-reported events occurring all over the world in the hope that larger outlets will take these stories and make them their own. The movie is rousing and inspiring, though once the lights come back up, we do wonder how "scalable" this model is (to use a corporate term). The filmmakers are obviously preaching to the converted with their documentary. They are not only trying to keep progressives from disengaging, but to get them fired up and more involved. On that level, they succeed. I come away from Steal This Story, Please! liking Amy Goodman a great deal, though I still don't feel like I know her in the way I have watching similar docs.

NOTE: While I was not a direct funder of this movie, I was the head of the Threshold Foundation's High Impact Documentary Funding Circle when we made a sizeable grant to this project, and Threshold is listed as one of the film's presenters.