Democracy Now Productions (frequently styled Democracy Now!) is a left-of-center media organization best known for producing a daily public television and radio show also titled “Democracy Now!” That airs for an hour daily and is syndicated on public radio and television stations throughout the United States. The organization also functions as a left-leaning online news outlet, providing content from far-left perspective on issues including abortion, elections, and gun control.

The Democracy Now! show is hosted by left-leaning journalists Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman, who cofounded the organization and news program in 1996 to provide a further left-leaning perspective of mainstream media, criticizing traditional media’s use of corporate sponsors.

While the organization claims to be “independent” of corporate sponsorship, the organization does receive funds from notable left-leaning grantmaking organizations in the United States including the Annenberg Foundation, the NoVo Foundation and the Craigslist Charitable Foundation. ^{1 2}

Background

Democracy Now Productions was founded by left-of-center journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez in 1996 as a left-of-center alternative to mainstream media. The organization bills itself as “independent” from corporate sponsorship meaning that the group only takes funding from individuals and foundations. ³

When Democracy Now Productions launched the “Democracy Now!” program in 1996, it was the only daily news program on public radio solely dedicated to covering the 1996 presidential election. Early ratings from the program caused “Democracy Now!” to become the flagship radio program of the Pacifica Radio network, a network of over 200 affiliated public radio stations dedicated to promoting left-of-center content. ⁴

Early activities of the “Democracy Now!” program centered around covering far-left anti-industry activists including protests at the World Trade Organization. Covering anti-corporate activism is still a focus of the organization today. In 2000, Amy Goodman interviewed then-President Bill Clinton in an exchange that caused Clinton to call Goodman hostile, combative, and unfriendly after Goodman criticized the Clinton administration from the left for its record on the Middle East, racial profiling, and the death penalty. ^{5 6}

In 2001, Democracy Now! began broadcasting a live television and online video component of the radio program in part to supplement the program’s coverage of the September 11^th terror attacks. The television broadcast of the program was picked up by PBS stations, college television stations, and public access television. ⁷

Other events covered by Democracy Now! have included the 2014 People’s Climate March; Occupy Wall Street; the 2008 Republican National Convention, where Goodman and other employees of the group were arrested; and anti-pipeline protests at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, where Goodman was also arrested. ^{8 9}

Activity

Democracy Now! news coverage currently focuses on promoting far-left positions on political news issues. The organization painted far-left recalled San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin (D) as a “reform minded” prosecutor who lost a recall election due to attacks from the real estate industry and has criticized the Biden administration for participating in a Summit of the Americas that didn’t include the heads of states of communist countries including Cuba and Venezuela. ¹⁰

Additionally, both the organization’s Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez write weekly opinion columns with Goodman’s being syndicated at several newspapers across the U.S. and Gonzalez having been a columnist at the New York Daily News since 1986. Their columns have supported taxpayer-funded universal healthcare, gun control, and elimination of the U.S. Senate’s filibuster, which Goodman called “racist” in one column. ^{11 12}

1. “About.” Democracy Now. Accessed June 9, 2022. https://www.democracynow.org/about
2. “Amy Goodman.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed June 9, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Amy-Goodman
3. “About.” Democracy Now. Accessed June 9, 2022. https://www.democracynow.org/about
4.  “History.” Democracy Now. Accessed June 9, 2022. https://www.democracynow.org/about/history
5. “History.” Democracy Now. Accessed June 9, 2022. https://www.democracynow.org/about/history
6. “Election Day 2000: Bill Clinton Faces 30 Minutes of Questioning by Amy Goodman During GOTV Call-in.” Democracy Now. November 8, 2016. Accessed June 9, 2022.
7. “History.” Democracy Now. Accessed June 9, 2022. https://www.democracynow.org/about/history
8. “History.” Democracy Now. Accessed June 9, 2022. https://www.democracynow.org/about/history
9. “Democracy Now! Journalist Attracts Large Audience in Wilson Hall.” Middlebury College. April 28, 2017. Accessed June 9, 2022. https://www.middlebury.edu/announcements/news/2017/04/democracy-now-journalist-attracts-large-audience-wilson-hall
10. “Daily Show.” Democracy Now. June 8, 2022. Accessed June 9, 2022.  https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2022/6/8
11. “MLK, Jr.’s Birthday, The Racist Filibuster and the Fight for Voting Rights.” Democracy Now. Accessed June 9, 2022.  https://www.democracynow.org/2022/1/13/mlk_jrs_birthday_the_racist_filibuster
12. “Weekly Column.” Democracy Now. June 8, 2022. Accessed June 9, 2022.  https://www.democracynow.org/categories/weekly_column