Democracy Now! is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program based in Manhattan and hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, is broadcast on the Internet and via more than 1,400 radio and television stations worldwide.

The program combines news reporting, interviews, investigative journalism and political commentary from a progressive perspective. It documents social movements, struggles for justice, activism challenging corporate power and operates as a watchdog outfit regarding the effects of American foreign policy. Democracy Now! views its aim as one providing activists and the citizenry a platform to debate people from "the establishment". The show is described as progressive by fans as well as critics, but Goodman rejects that label, calling the program a global newscast that has "people speaking for themselves". Democracy Now! describes its staff as "includ[ing] some of this country's leading progressive journalists."

Democracy Now Productions, the independent media nonprofit organization that produces Democracy Now!, is funded entirely through contributions from listeners, viewers, and foundations such as the Park Foundation, Ford Foundation, Lannan Foundation, and the J.M. Kaplan Fund. It has over $36 million in assets and about a $10 million annual budget. Democracy Now! does not accept advertisers, corporate underwriting or government funding. The show has become popular on the internet, and from the late 2010s onward, has been involved in pioneering extensive media cooperation in the public sphere across the US.

Democracy Now!, also called Democracy Now! The War and Peace Report, Democracy Now Independent Global News, or Democracy News, was founded on February 19, 1996, at WBAI in New York City by journalists Amy Goodman, Juan González, Larry Bensky, Salim Muwakkil, and Julie Drizin. It originally aired on five Pacifica Radio stations. Goodman is the program's principal host, with Juan González and Nermeen Shaikh as frequent co-hosts. Jeremy Scahill, an investigative reporter and co-founding editor for The Intercept and Drop Site News, has been a frequent contributor since 1997.

The show covered the Seattle protests (1999) targeting the World Trade Organization.

Democracy Now! partnered with Free Speech TV (FSTV) and Deep Dish Television to cover the 2000 Democratic National Convention. The event marked a turning point for Democracy Now!, as in addition to its presence on radio, it became a television show. From then onward, Democracy Now! has had their content promoted and broadcast on FSTV.

Democracy Now! began broadcasting on television every weekday shortly after September 11, 2001, and is the only public medium in the U.S. that airs simultaneously on satellite and cable television, radio, and the internet.

Democracy Now! has been critical of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. After data disclosures by the whistleblower organization WikiLeaks regarding the TPP in 2010, Democracy Now! has given a significant media platform and extensively covered them since, and like some other news networks cooperated with its leader Julian Assange. Coverage of WikiLeaks by Democracy Now! was sympathetic.