The American Humanist Association (AHA) is honored to recognize world renowned journalist, investigative reporter, and author Amy Goodman as the 2024 Humanist of the Year. Goodman is the co-founder and main host of Democracy Now!, a progressive global news program that is free of corporate influence. Her award-winning investigative journalism work spans Chevron Corporation’s role in Nigeria, Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara, and more.
Shortly after graduating from Harvard in 1984, Goodman helped launch Democracy Now! and has grown it to become one of the leading US-based independent daily news broadcasts in the world. As a producer and host, Goodman interviews people on the front lines of the world’s most pressing issues, allowing a range of people to speak for themselves in ways that would normally not reach the mainstream media. Goodman and her colleagues often focus on issues they consider under-reported or ignored by mainstream news coverage, like racial injustice and peace activism.
“As we stand with journalists around the world who deeply believe that the mission of a journalist is to go to where the silence is, that the responsibility of a journalist is to give a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, beaten down by the powerful – it’s the best reason I know for us to pick up our pens, our microphones and our cameras both into our own communities and out to the wider world. The media can be, must be, a major force for peace.” -Amy Goodman, Right to Livelihood Acceptance Speech
Goodman has won many honors throughout her career for her work with Democracy Now! and for her investigative journalism work, undergoing considerable risk to bring underreported stories to the forefront. Her reporting on East Timor and Nigeria has won numerous awards, including the George Polk Award, Robert F. Kennedy Prize for International Reporting, and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award. Goodman has received the Society for Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence; American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Award; the Paley Center for Media’s She’s Made It Award; and the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard honored Goodman with the 2014 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’. She is the first co-recipient of the Park Center for Independent Media’s Izzy Award, named for the great muckraking journalist I.F. Stone, and was later selected for induction into the Park Center’s I.F. Stone Hall of Fame.
She has also co-authored six New York Times bestsellers, including Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America, which chronicles the powerful movements shaping our world.
As an advocate for factual reporting that builds bridges between communities, Goodman sticks to facts and holds politicians and corporations accountable. Her commitment to grassroots political journalism is not just inspiring—it’s essential for the preservation of democracy and human rights.
In a time when disinformation spreads rapidly and journalists face increasing threats and backlash, uplifting fearless reporting has never been more critical.The AHA is honored to have Amy Goodman wrap up our 83rd Annual Conference on the evening of September 15th. The Annual Conference will be held virtually on September 14-15th and, in addition to Goodman’s remarks, will feature interactive sessions, inspiring speakers, and opportunities to connect with fellow humanists.
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