by Eva Dameron
Daily Lobo
Amy Goodman said America needs a people's media because of the reliance on corporate media.
She said at a talk Saturday that independent media should be a place to report news from the perspective of people, not a venue for government or corporate influence.
She spoke to an audience of about 600 people at the SUB on what the American people are not being shown about the war in Iraq and other post-Sept. 11 controversies.
Goodman is an independent journalist who hosts "Democracy Now!," a radio program broadcast nationwide on National Public Radio.
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"We have this paradox," Goodman said. "There's this reality TV craze that's going on, which actually doesn't reflect reality, and I don't like it very much. But when it comes to war, we need a little reality TV."
She is promoting her book, The Exception to the Rulers, on an international tour called "Un-Embed the Media!" - a reference to the practice of embedding reporters in military units.
Wayne Cobb, who attended the event, said her lecture was a reiteration of her book, which is "beautifully written, very direct, says what it needs to say."
"I think I read it in a few sittings," he said.
Before her talk, a video was shown that briefed the audience on Goodman's views about the war and her significance in independent media. It also showed images of Iraqi civilians who were victims of the U.S.-led bombings in Iraq.
Goodman said these images are being televised all over the world but not in America.
"There's a kind of sanitizing going on in the media," she said. "We are shown these romanticized pictures of soldiers against sunsets. If for one week the media showed Americans the footage that everyone else is seeing, I think we could eradicate war."
She said while America televised the statue of Saddam Hussein going down repeatedly, in other countries, the screen was split to show the falling statue on one side and civilian casualties on the other. She described U.S. corporate media as the daily drumbeat reporting to manufacture consent for war.
She also talked about how the labels conservative and liberal are breaking down.
"In some ways, I consider myself a conservative," she said. "Conservatives, like progressives, deeply care about issues of privacy, corporate control of our lives, our out-of-control war budget, Social Security."
She said President Bush is having a hard time, because he is not up against traditional opponents.
"It's almost everyone who is opposed to what he's doing," she said.
Tova Indritz heard about the event on KUNM-FM.
"It's always important for us to look critically at ourselves, the media and our government," she said. "And she facilitates that."
After her speech, Goodman signed copies of her book and talked with people.
UNM student Jessie Miles said Goodman is amazing.
"She gives a really fresh perspective," she said. "As a female role model, she sets a good example for women in journalism and women to get into the intellectual sphere of politics and government."
The event was sponsored by KUNM. "Democracy Now!" has 12,000 listeners in Central and Northern New Mexico, according to Richard Towne, general manager of KUNM.
