great story where amy is talking to a mainstream reporter at the two thousand and eight convention amy goodman a democracy now in the mainstream reporters this gee i didn't get arrested and amy says what were you out there covering the protests and he says no i haven't left the building and amy then quotes woody allen who says ninety five percent of life is just showing up i mean you know if you if you really get harassed in this country or arrested if you're a journalist if you are in the wrong place you're out of line you're out of place if you follow along with the she at your dock to you don't step out of line you'll be pampered in privilege that is contrary in other words the reporters that act as independent journalists sometimes get in trouble with their bosses sometimes even with a lot. but if you if you don't step out of place out of line then you generally are papered privileged in the society we always colorful analysis from jeff cohen professor of journalism at ithaca college and author of cable news conference. now forty years ago today more than thirty thousand protesters descend

you get some voices on your show, amy goodman, "democracy now," but not as a steady presence in the public discourse. tavis: i want to talk about some of the issues in your book, but i have always been fascinated by the fact that you have started out inside the body politic. you were with lyndon johnson, inside the white house, and your views over the years, if one did not know your back store, are not necessarily the story of one who is in government at the level, intrenched where you were. you are hanging out inside the white house and you have these kind of views about washington. >> that was in one part because i saw how washington really worked. i realize the important thing, particularly for journalists -- i had been a journalist before, was not how close you were to power but how close you were to truth. all governments lie, all governments make compromises that are designed to perpetuate their power, and you see that when you are inside. i was very young, 26, 28 when i was in washington, and the white house, naive. i accepted the ruling ideology, the two parties are the best way to

story and got an award for it and it had to do with bradley manning's confinement i also think that amy goodman could have been a good source to go to i kind of question why they didn't put daniel ellsberg on camera for an interview yes he appears in a protest that clotted go but they don't actually get his point of view which i think is very you know it's important i mean he was the one who leaked the pentagon papers and he has the most credibility in talking about whistleblowers and how governments will come after you and you know in his case the trial that he faced the charges they fell through the government was not able to make a case and and he's made a lot of arguments that the same thing that happened with bradley manning and we're going to get his take on this tomorrow coming up on our show having i want to thank you very much for joining us tonight thank you. coming up next the toughest sheriff in america is tonight's tool time winner for having criminals inside some departments and then defending the fourth amendment in the us some lawmakers are being called brainwashed brackley advo

dispersants and if any of you listen to democracy now the other day, our executive director was on and amy goodman pointed out and interesting that she noticed the main dispersants used in this bill is actually banned in the u.k.. it can't be used in the u.k. so bp has a stop pile of millions of gallons of the stuff that can't be used in u.k. or anywhere in your. what do they do at the stuff lex lets ship it to the u.s. and use it. we have got to get rid of it. and these kinds -- we see how so many decisions, these policy decisions are made basically with a gun to the head. you have lisa jackson ahead of the epa desperately tried to figure out is anything i can do? is there anything we can do on the and the government is under criticism for an action. well, we are going to dump millions of gallons of this stuff because we have to show people we are doing everything we possibly can and we will deal with the impacts later because our decisions are being made on a 24/7 news cycle. that is the scary, scary reality that we live in where our policy decision are being made in very short windows. it used

disbursements and if any of you listen to democracy now, the representative of the group here was on and amy goodman pointed out, it was interesting that she noticed that the mean disbursement used in this bill is actually a band in the u.k.. can't be used in the u.k. so bp has a stockpile of millions of gallons of this that can't be used in the u.k. or anywhere in europe so what do they do? let's shoot over to the u.s. we've got to get rid of it. and it's we see how so many decisions, these policy decisions are made basically with a gun to the head because you have lisa jackson the head of the e.p.a. desperately trying to figure out is their anything we can do? and the government is under criticism for inaction. we are going to dump millions of gallons because we have to show people we are doing everything we possibly can and we will deal with the impact leader because our decisions are being made on a 24/7 news cycle and that is the scary have reality that we live where our policy decisions are being made in very short windows. it used to be people have said the best way to make decisions is to lo

day and night, the largest demonstration in wisconsin history, and the only one to cover it was amy goodman on democracy now. this is what race means, concern even for your protest and your rally on saturday. >> our. >> our. [laughter] but that's my point. our should have been coming and there were national movements to support the people in wisconsin. >> there are. >> that their rights are gone. >> but it is a law that is beating us. it's not a tool we can use jury often. but -- >> that's my question. what can -- if we gather in the streets, what can we do? >> one interesting thing to happen in wisconsin is after president bush had said i can have the legal war and torture and imprisonment and spotty because my lawyer said i could, the governor of wisconsin, after having been unable to pass this bill and in pretty clear violation of the constitution of that state in a number of ways had his lawyer write a note that said he could and they went ahead and they did it and this is an issue of culture and education that americans have to understand that even if you pay a lawyer to say you can do