Abby Martin

Born in Oakland, California, Martin grew up in nearby Pleasanton,^[7] where she attended Amador Valley High School, graduating in 2002.^[8][9] She became interested in journalism when her old high school boyfriend enlisted in the military after the September 11 attacks in 2001. "I didn't want him going to war, let alone fighting in one," she recalls. "I began to critically ask 'What is really going on?'"^[10] By the time she was a sophomore at San Diego State University, she began questioning what she called the "selling" of the Iraq War by the media.^[10][8] She received an undergraduate degree in political science and minored in Spanish.

In 2004, she campaigned for John Kerry's presidential campaign, but became disillusioned with the left–right paradigm, a concept proposing that societies have a tendency to divide themselves into ideological opposites.^[11] Martin worked for a time as an investigative journalist for a San Diego-based online news site until moving back to Northern California.^[12][13]

In 2008, Martin was active in the 9/11 truth movement,^[14] a movement which disputes the consensus regarding the attacks of September 11, 2001. Martin set up her own "truther" group in San Diego, California.^[15][16] That year, Martin said that the attacks of September 11 were "an inside job, and that our government was complicit in what happened".^[17] In March 2014, the Associated Press wrote that Martin no longer believes that U.S. government officials might have been complicit in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.^[18]

In 2009, Martin founded the organization Media Roots, a citizen journalism platform for reporting news.^[19] As an independent journalist with Media Roots, Martin covered the Occupy Oakland actions during the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011.^[20] Her documentary video footage of Occupy Oakland protests was used by the family of Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old former Marine and Iraq War veteran, in a lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department. Martin's footage was used to argue that the protests were non-violent at the time Olsen was allegedly hit in the head with a police projectile.^[8][21] RT took notice of Martin's work and began employing her as a correspondent.^[22] In the fall of 2010, she moved to Washington, D.C.^[23]

From 2012 to 2015, Martin hosted her own show, Breaking the Set, on RT America.^[24][25] The program described itself as "a show that cuts through the false left/right paradigm set by the establishment and reports the hard facts".^[26] The original opening credits depict Martin applying a sledgehammer to a television tuned to CNN.^[27]

Shortly after beginning her show on RT, Martin stated in an interview with media studies professor Mark Crispin Miller that "the media dismisses things that are too controversial as conspiracy theory".^[28]

In 2014, Martin gained attention for her criticism of RT's coverage of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. Martin closed her show on March 3, 2014, with a minute-long statement condemning the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.^{[29][30][31][32]} Glenn Greenwald compared Martin's statement favorably to the unquestioning behavior of the United States media during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.^[33] Critics of Martin argue that she appeared to be reading from a teleprompter, implying that her remarks were made with the consent of the show's producers.^[34][35] RT issued a statement saying: "Contrary to the popular opinion, RT doesn't beat its journalists into submission, and they are free to express their own opinions, not just in private but on the air."^[36] RT added: "[W]e'll be sending her to Crimea to give her an opportunity to make up her own mind from the epicentre of the story." Martin declined the offer, saying, "I am not going to Crimea despite the statement RT has made."^[37] The New York Times wrote that RT notified Martin that what she had said about Ukraine was "not in line with our editorial policy".^[38]

Martin left RT in February 2015.^[39] An RT spokesperson told BuzzFeed: "Abby decided that this is the time for her to try something new. We are proud of the great work she has done as the host of Breaking the Set."^[39][40]

Martin called the charges of foreign control over her and Tulsi Gabbard "neo-McCarthyist hysteria" typical of the New Cold War. She said that the "campaign to malign RT" by "the corporate media" had resulted in a chilling effect over legitimate dissident reporters. She said that she had "complete editorial control" over her RT show, as did other American RT journalists like Chris Hedges and Lee Camp.^[41] She had earlier refused RT's offer to send her on a tour of Crimea, saying she didn't want a "vetted PR experience."^[39]

Millennial Magazine has described Martin as an outspoken media representative for the Millennial generation who reports "stories that deserve public recognition".^[42] Journalist Glenn Greenwald praised Martin for condemning the Russian invasion of Crimea during an episode of her RT program Breaking the Set, saying Martin demonstrated "journalistic independence".^[43][44]

In September 2015, Martin launched The Empire Files, an interview and documentary series. She has hosted guests including Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Richard D. Wolff, Ralph Nader and Jill Stein.^{[45][non-primary source needed]}

The show was originally hosted by Telesur English, a media outlet sponsored primarily by the government of Venezuela. Martin told Ben Norton writing for AlterNet: "The show is totally independent of Telesur. We merely sell them the content; they have zero control over anything we do".^[46] In 2018, Telesur stopped funding The Empire Files due to increasing US sanctions on Venezuela, according to a press release published by Martin's Media Roots website. Martin, her co-producer and husband Michael Prysner, and other Telesur contract journalists had their funding blocked by the application of United States sanctions against Venezuela.^[47] Academic Stuart Davis cites the cancellation as an example of how United States sanctions hamper public funding of media production in Venezuela.^[47]

In August 2018 the show moved to a donation model in order to continue production.^[48] The show has since become a web series exclusively, with episodes being uploaded to Martin's website, YouTube and Vimeo. Released in May 2019, her feature film documentary, The Empire Files: Gaza Fights for Freedom, concerns the Gaza–Israel conflict.^[49] It was shown in the US, UK and Australia at independent theatres.^[50] In May 2021, Martin released the film for free on YouTube.

Martin was interviewed and featured in the award-winning documentary feature film Seeds for Liberation (2026) by director Matthew Solomon.^[51] The film discusses the Free Palestine movement and references her Empire Files.

In February 2020, Martin's booking to speak at a conference at Georgia Southern University on Critical Media Literacy was canceled when she refused to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel as required by law in the State of Georgia. Martin, represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, filed a free-speech lawsuit against the State of Georgia.^[52] The conference was later canceled.^[53]

In May 2021, in a federal court hearing in Georgia, District Judge Mark Cohen ruled in Martin's favor when he found that a law created to discourage the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was in violation of the First Amendment.^[54][55] Judge Cohen ruled that Georgia's law "prohibits inherently expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment."^[56]

Martin is married to her Empire Files co-producer, Mike Prysner, an Iraq War veteran.^[57]