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“If for one week [America] saw the true face of war, war would be eradicated,” broadcaster and activist Amy Goodman told a supportive crowd of several hundred who turned out to see her receive this year’s UC Berkeley Mario Savio Free Speech award at UC Berkeley’s student union.  

The well-known journalist and host of the radio program Democracy Now, Goodman had one important message to deliver: Change the media and you can change the world.  

Her speech left many glued to their seats, mouths agape, as she interlaced hard-hitting facts with riveting personal stories.  

Known as the diva of alternative media, Goodman has hosted Democracy Now, the nation’s leading alternative news broadcast, for the past seven years. Her show is taped at Pacifica member station WBAI in New York City and aired on stations across the nation.  

According to event organizers, she was picked for the Mario Savio Free Speech award for a host of reasons, but principally, they said, “because Goodman has always asked the questions we’ve thought but never articulated.”  

For many, her weekday morning show is their primary news source, providing in-depth coverage of the leading news stories and more. 

Many fans in the Berkeley audience said they stayed glued to her broadcasts during the events of 9/11 and the war in Iraq to avoid the daily barrage of media hype and hyperbole that they say Goodman cuts through so effectively.  

Thursday’s speech summarized what’s she’s seen throughout this time period and focused specifically on what she knows best: the role of the media.  

“We’ve got to take control of the institutions that feed this war machine, and the most important is the media.” 

As part of the event, the university also awarded the annual young activist award to 20-year-old Rocio Nieves, a member of the Oakland-based Youth Force Coalition, a group working to stop the growth of the prison industrial complex.  

The award, given yearly to young activists, was presented to Nieves for her work with the coalition during their campaign that ended with the halving of Alameda County’s proposed new “superjail” youth detention center.  

“To think that health care sucks in this country and we want to put money into locking people up. . .come on, we have no shame,” Nieves told the crowd as she fought to hold back tears. “To know that we don’t just live in this fucked up society, we try to change it is truly inspiring.” 

The event proved especially meaningful for three UC Berkeley students convicted by a campus tribunal for their actions during an anti-war protest last March. The students, who have been fighting the charges, were asked to stand and received a roaring round of applause after Goodman acknowledged their fight.  

“[Their participation] is a tremendous community service and they should be honored,” said Goodman, a not so subtle dig at the suggested punishment for the students—which includes between 20 and 30 hours of mandatory community service.  

For those interested Goodman’s show, Democracy Now, airs every week day on KPFA 94.1 FM from 6-7 a.m. and again from 9-10 a.m. Information on this week’s shows and other upcoming programming can also be found at the program’s website: www.democracynow.org.