#womeninarmedconflict — Public Fediverse posts

Review: Steal This Story, Please!

Year: 2025

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directors: Tia Lessin, Carl Deal

By Joan Amenn

“We will not be silent.”

-Amy Goodman, “Democracy Now!”

Where so we find journalists who speak truth to power and do not bend to corporate interests? Obviously not in the major news outlets the public previously looked to for information in this time of danger and despair. “Steal this Story, Please!” is uncomfortable and provoking in all the right ways, much like Amy Goodman who is the focus of this film.

As a journalist and the producer of “Democracy Now!” Goodman has seen some things and encountered a wide range of people from ordinary citizens to the famous (and occasionally infamous.) As this documentary shows, her heart and her reporting are firmly with those who would otherwise not be seen or heard of if not for her independent and privately funded programming.

Tia Lessin is a director best known for the excellent documentary, “The Janes” (2022) about the underground network of women who provided abortions in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Now teamed with Carl Deal (“Citizen Koch” (2013)) the duo have outdone themselves in producing the definitive documentary of our time. In “Steal This Story, Please!” we have a thrilling and chilling reminder of how and what journalism should be to the American public. The personal costs and dangers are not played down nor is Goodman set up on a pedestal, even if this reviewer personally finds her heroic.

The duo have outdone themselves in producing the definitive documentary of our time. In “Steal This Story, Please!” we have a thrilling and chilling reminder of how and what journalism should be to the American public.

Clearly, “Democracy Now!” is a platform that remains very much needed and thankfully, it can be accessed in multiple ways, including on YouTube where it has over three million subscribers. Goodman and her team are the kind of journalists that belong among the ranks of Murrow and Friendly, not to mention Woodward and Bernstein before they decided that shilling books was preferable to informing the public. Goodman makes it clear she comes from a family history of standing up to those in power and she is completely unfazed by any (typically male) crash outs her line of questioning might cause.

In short, she is a national treasure that needs protecting at all costs.

Inspiring, infuriating, and galvanizing, “Steal This Story, Please!” is a call to action at a time when there seems to be similar calls made to the public every day. How much longer our country can survive the outrageous slings and arrows that Goodman and her crew report is anyone’s guess but it’s comforting to know that they’re out there and they’re on our side.