Goodman keeps up the good fight on 'Democracy Now'

With the war in Kosovo over, the attention of the American press has, inevitably, begun to drift elsewhere. Not Amy Goodman's.

If anything, the New York-based host of Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now" plans more reporting from Kosovo in peacetime. While other news organizations are sending their reporters out of the battle-scarred province, Goodman is sending hers back in. That's par for the course at "Democracy Now," heard 9 a.m. weekdays on KKFI-FM (90.1).

Now in its fourth season, the boldest, most contrarian and least commercial news program on radio isn't afraid to take on unfashionable topics. "I thought it was interesting when President Clinton said we will only spend humanitarian money in Kosovo to rebuild hospitals - and nuclear power plants," Goodman said. "We want to look into this." Nor is it afraid to look into erstwhile hot-button issues such as health care, as it did Wednesday with an hourlong panel discussion.

"Health care is for many people the No. 1 issue," Goodman said in a phone interview. "Yet how many candidates do you hear talking about it? Here in New York, where Hillary Clinton is about to run for the Senate, you see Democrats running away from it," fearing voters might recall the president's failed health-care reform and his wife's role in it. The roundtable - which was informative but not exactly riveting - showed another side of "Democracy Now. "

It's not ashamed to load up a panel with left-leaning guests, and it couldn't care less if the discussion took on a slower, C-SPAN-ish ambiance. Many listeners may not realize it, but Pacifica is public radio and, like National Public Radio, receives grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. What sets Pacifica apart is its refusal to accept corporate underwriting, a policy many would like to see NPR adopt.

"You hear full-fledged commercials on public broadcasting," Goodman said. "The commercialization of public radio is a real threat to educational programming." That's never been a concern to Goodman, who produces "Democracy Now" with a tiny staff at WBAI-FM in New York, one of 30 stations that carries the show. She has spent her entire radio life at WBAI.

"I always say that I am lucky to have found at the beginning of my career what other journalists only find at the end of their careers, which is independence."