I subscribe to a large number of podcasts and try to keep up by listening to some during my journey to and from work. "Democracy Now" is one of those that i regularly listen to.
Website: http://www.democracynow.org/Twitter: https://twitter.com/democracynow
Democracy Now is a daily american news programme, broadcast on radio and various TV channels. It is normally one hour long. It starts with a news round-up and then normally has 3-4 longer items, normally interviews. It is proudly independent of the big US media companies and covers stories of people affected by the US - mainly the rest of the american continent but also globally. The show clearly has a pro-worker, pro-women, pro-democrats, pro-gay rights, pro-choice, pro-immigration agenda that is rarely challenged.
Quite frankly, i do not have time to listen to five one-hour shows a week, but i do make an effort to listen to the news section, find out what the other items are, and then choose to listen to them or not - the benefits of listening to a podcast.
The show is hosed by Amy Goodman, supported by Juan Gonzalez - both respected reporters. Amy's interviewing style is not to start with a question but instead to say "Talk about..." - an approach which differs from most UK journalists but seems quite effective.
The show proudly talks about giving a voice to those excluded by the big media companies such as workers, activists and foreigners. They produced numerous stories about the Occupy movement, from the indignados in Spain (who arguably launched the movement) to the heights of Occupy Wall Street and now reflections on what will happen next. Each time they try to get the views of those that are actually involved, not just government spokespeople.
The people on the roundtable debates on the show do not tend to have huge ideological differences but they are given time to make arguments, not just present soundbites.
The show is obviously made by Americans, for Americans, so it is always amusing when the cover a British story. They find a stream of Guardian journalists (or Johann Hari before his fall from grace) or a random Labour MP, who then makes lots of points about how the British people will rise up to overthrow the evil Coalition government/Rupert Murdoch/multinational companies. Not the view of a majority of the country, but i guess representative of the views of some vocal left-wing minority group.
Recommendation: A good sources of American/global news stories that don't normally make it to the UK.
Previous podcasts i like:
Broadcasting House - What podcasting was made for!
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