Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back by Amy Goodman and David Goodman

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and her author brother, David Goodman, follow up their bestseller The Exception to the Rulers by again synthesizing radio interviews and commentary with secondary sources on charged issues that the corporate media too often overlook. “The Bush administration is obsessed with controlling the flow of information,” the authors declare, citing examples from Iraq to Katrina. One glaring hypocrisy is the president’s claim that “we do not render to countries that torture”; the authors find mounds of evidence to the contrary. They also remind us of the unseemly ties between Republican Party supporters and Pentagon contracts in Iraq. In one hilarious episode—lightly reported in the U.S. media—a British activist group, the Yes Men, hoaxed the BBC regarding Dow Chemical’s apparent willingness to apologize for the Bhopal disaster. On Goodman’s show, a former U.S. Army interrogator acknowledged that 98% of those picked up in Iraq “had not done anything.” A brief final section highlights those who fight back, including antiwar mom Cindy Sheehan, and a former British ambassador in Uzbekistan who blew the whistle on that regime’s human rights abuses. The book should be popular with fans of the show. (Sept. 5)
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“Amy Goodman has taken investigative journalism to new heights of exciting, informative, and probing analysis.” — Noam Chomsky

“Amy Goodman has taken investigative journalism to new heights.” — Noam Chomsky

“Amy Goodman is not afraid to speak truth to power. She does it every day.” — Susan Sarandon

“Pick up this book . . . and go raise some hell!” — Michael Moore on The Exception to the Rulers

“This book puts the pedal to the metal of lies we’re told, day in and day out . . . Pick up this book, shake your head in disbelief, and go raise some hell!” — Michael Moore on The Exception to the Rules

“What journalism should be: beholden to the interests of people, not power and profit. Her work is invaluable.” — Arundhati Roy on The Exception to the Rules