Steal This Story, Please! builds a fast documentary portrait of Amy Goodman, the investigative reporter who founded and hosts the independent news hour Democracy Now!. Directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal shape the film as an argument for adversarial journalism inside a media landscape defined by corporate structures. The documentary traces roughly four decades of Goodman’s career and casts her work as a counter narrative to institutional power.
The title, taken from Goodman’s own stated belief, spells out the central idea: news stories that matter should circulate freely and be amplified by every possible channel, a stance that challenges the proprietary logic of global news distribution. The film anchors this perspective in the daily reality of uncompromising reporting and offers an admiring view of a journalist whose experiences shaped a globally focused practice. It mounts a spirited defense of a press that answers only to the public.
A Transnational Identity: Reporter as Conscience
The film stages a dialogue between Goodman’s crisp on air presence and the physical toll and personal insight that sustain her work. Her professional habits rest on relentless persistence and a refusal to accept established limits on what questions may be asked or which stories deserve airtime.
A Fox News anchor’s loaded query about her capacity to be both “activist and journalist” becomes the frame through which the documentary reads her practice, and the film depicts her decision to inhabit both roles. That tension receives an expression in her legendary 30 minute on air interrogation of Bill Clinton, where her insistence on difficult questions for powerful figures shapes the exchange.
Away from the microphone, Lessin and Deal include moments of downtime with colleagues and glimpses of her personal life, including walks with her dog Zazu. Her Jewish heritage, marked by a tradition of questioning and resilience, appears as a quiet engine for her journalistic drive and returns in her reporting on Jewish protests over the violence in Gaza.
The film also foregrounds the physical risks that accompany this stance, citing high stakes situations such as her reporting during the East Timor massacre and the deadly protests tied to Chevron’s activities in Nigeria. Her willingness to revisit past professional missteps and reflect on them positions vulnerability as a source of honesty that can inspire those who seek a path in independent media.
The Mechanics of Truth: Democracy Now! as a Model
Steal This Story, Please! presents Democracy Now! as a working model for ethical journalism and rejects the idea of a personality cult. The program’s stated mission is clear: to “bring out the voices of people who are not usually heard,” with a focus on the marginalized.
Specific stories, such as the campaign to secure the release of prisoner Moreese Bickham or the exposure of toxic materials after 9/11, give concrete form to that ambition and highlight a commitment to local and global situations that major US outlets often ignore. Lessin and Deal pay close attention to the process of news creation, emphasizing the “muscle memory” of source verification and context building carried out by the entire team in their studio, a refurbished fire station.
This emphasis contrasts with mainstream outlets that prioritize corporate profit and shy away from difficult stories. The documentary spells out an implicit critique of media organizations that become “embedded” with institutional power, including the military and government offices.
The film argues that conventional ideas of “objectivity” can be turned into a tool that erases context and shields power from scrutiny. In response, Democracy Now! orients its editorial choices around the perspectives of people most affected by policy and power, a principle that the film identifies as a source of genuine moral clarity.
Structural Resonance: Crafting the Argument
Lessin and Deal organize the documentary with a forward drive that feels almost chaotic yet controlled. The editing relies on a sequence of “wave surges,” where the crescendo of one major story carries smoothly into the next and keeps a sense of urgency alive.
The filmmakers interlace archival footage of international crises, such as the violence in East Timor, with present day reporting on events like the ongoing conflict in Gaza. This editorial strategy creates the feeling that time collapses and that struggles over press freedom still operate in current fights over information and power. Zoe Keating’s score works in tandem with the images, lending a subtle pulse that supports narrative momentum and underlines the drama and sense of dread that saturate the work without overwhelming the material on screen.
The film functions as both a biographical sketch of Goodman and an operating manual for a specific mode of journalism, offering a principled benchmark for news practice that treats factual evidence and human empathy as shared obligations and proposes a necessary shift in the global media status quo.
Steal This Story, Please! is a 2025 American documentary film centered on the decades-long career of independent investigative journalist Amy Goodman, host and co-founder of the global news program Democracy Now! Directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, the film provides an intimate look at her commitment to covering consequential stories, amplifying voices excluded from the mainstream, and exposing corporate and governmental misconduct. Having premiered at the DC/DOX Film Festival on June 12, 2025, and screening at major festivals like Telluride and IDFA, the film’s availability for wider viewing is expected through a streaming service or broadcaster following its festival run.
Credits
Title: Steal This Story, Please!
Release date: 2025 (World Premiere: June 12, 2025, at DC/DOX Film Festival)
Running time: 98 minutes (Some sources cite 101 minutes)
Director: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin
Producers: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch, Dominique Bravo, Julie Cohen
Executive Producers: Dominique Bravo, Julie Cohen, Rosario Dawson, Tom Morello, Tony Tabatznik
Cast: Amy Goodman, Juan González, Jeremy Scahill, David Isay, Nermeen Shaikh, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Zazu
Director of Photography (Cinematographer): Cliff Charles, Nausheen Dadabhoy, Julia Dengel, Daniel Marracino, Keith Walker
Editors: Mona Davis
Composer: Zoe Keating
The Review
Steal This Story, Please!
The documentary successfully champions Amy Goodman's dedication to adversarial, context-driven journalism. It functions as both an admiring biography and an essential operating manual for ethical reporting, contrasting her team's global focus with corporate media structures. The directors use a propulsive, well-edited structure that convincingly links decades of political struggle for press freedom to current events. It provides necessary moral clarity by centering the voices most affected by power, making it a powerful and urgent watch.
PROS
- Propulsive, urgent editing and structure.
- Effective balance of professional work and personal context.
- Provides an essential model for independent, ethical journalism.
- Skilfully weaves past and present global crises.
CONS
- Can feel overly admiring as a biographical portrait.
- Focus on journalistic process may slow the pace for casual viewers.
- Critique is heavily centered on the US media landscape.
