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you. al jazeera america. take a new look at news. there's more to financial news than the ups and downs of the dow. for instance, can fracking change what you pay for water each month? have you thought about how climate change can affect your grocery bill? can rare minerals in china affect your cell phone bill? or how a hospital in texas could drive up your healthcare premium? i'll make the connections from the news to your money real. >> welcome back, we're discussing the future of news. two days ago, the committee of journalists issued a report t. saying that the obama

administration has not come through a more transparent government. an obscure 1917 law to enable felony progressions for six government employees for leak being classified information to the press, compared to all previous administrations combined. let's talk about the general move away from reporting from newspapers and tv and networks. throughout my career, investigations seem to ebb and flow. the investigative teams, and a lot of it seems 20 depend on the economy, but right now, it feels different, it feels like a more permanent shift. >> i think that's right. it was created five years ago because what has gone on, as the business price of the press has accelerated, almost in every case, and there are a couple of exceptions and the new york times is a notable exception,

but with a few exceptions, people have systematically cut back. investigative reporting is risky and doesn't always yield stories, it makes enemies, it's not commercial, and it's impossible to turn a profit into such, and that's why phil's operation is a non-profit and that's why ours is as well and depends on donors, and there is a systematic cutback across the board. i would add one note that goes the other way. i would have to say that the reporting this summer in the last six months that we have been able to play a small part in with the guardian and the new york times, based on the snowden documents, has in many ways been some of the most important, and i think will very clearly prove the most productive investigative reporting perhaps in 40 years in this country. i think there's a serious crisis in this area,

premature. >> talking about the hostile climate in investigative journalism. chris says: mike says: and manuel says: jordan, talk toking you about the impact that this has had in the aggressive prosecution, and what happened with the department of justice, seizing the ap's phone records and talk about the future of investigative journalism? >> it makes journalists afraid to dig deeper, and you're going to see that there are organization that's are going to fill that gap. and i think that journalists are nervous, and that's not good for

democracy, because you're not going to get the stories that you want to see, and the nsa is going to scare them off. >> talk about the nuance affects, when the organization decides whether it's wort it to embark on a particular investigation, do the actions play into that? >> we had a steroid case, and we had two reporters sentenced to 18 months in jail for not revealing the source, and we fought that for close to 2 years, and it cost $2 million to the hertz company, and unfortunately, the ceo and the council were behind us all the way. and those will be issues where mainstream media have the wherewithal and means to support if they wanted to. and some did and some didn't. but part of the problem with smaller

organizations, they may not have states, and they were talking about it then. that the obama administration would be supportive of that. and there's though shield law, so the fear that you're talking about can be very real. >> fill in the blanks for those not familiar with the shield law. and 40 plus states have them. and what that means for journalists, and what that could mean for citizen journalists and bloggers. >> shield laws can be very important in dealing with

nuisance speens. reporters are professional investigators, so the easiest way for a litigant in a civil or criminal case, rather than doing our own investigation, we'll try to piggyback on the work of some reporter who has looked into that. and that can be enormously burdensome, and speed laws are important for that. but i want to talk about the press throwing itself on the mercy of congress. anybody looking at what's going on in washington this month would have to conclude that no one in their right mind really wants to count on congress for anything. the first amendment says congressional make no law abridging the freedom of the press. and i would say strongly that the shield law we need is in the constitution of the united states, and when we have the congress muck around and decide who is a

journalist, are they a blogger or a journalist, the chances of them getting it right and expansive to the full right of the constitution, i think that he's unfortunately very littled. and even if they get it right the first year, they will expect you to come back around the second. i'm a little bit of a radical on this. i think that the press is best apart from the congress as a check on the congress, rather than a part of the congress or a supplement to the congress. it would be hard to disagree with that. >> our community tuning? passionate about this. >> the real media shield is the constitution of the united states. >> i'm not going to disagree with him, he's an expert and an

attorney, and the fact is that i believe that the more protection we can get, we're not talking about trading favors here, we're talking about doing what's right. i would love to be able to rely on the first amend: it's a very powerful tool for journalists and others for free speech. but we talk about protect being the afflicted, but the most powerful is the u.s. government. and their job is to create a mythology, or spin about themselves and sell it. that's why there are press conferences and press secretaries and releases, and we need every tool we can get in order to counteract them. so we have a campaign that's about redaction. the government redacts document. >> don't get me started on that.

the black indelible line. and we'll come whack and talk about what happens to civil society when it loses that robust media. that's all i have an real money. victoria azarenko

(vo) friday fa

that's all i have an real money. victoria azarenko (vo) friday faultlines chases the flames as they spread throughout the west. >> there's a thick, acrid smoke smell in the air and we're following a strike team now to the top of the mountains where the fire line begins. (vo) it's a war being fought by air and on land costing millions of dollars every year. >> you will make an individual decision to build a home there, but what's the cost to the rest of us?

(vo) what's going wrong with the war on wildfires and what are the true costs of putting them out? my name is ranjani chakraborty, i'm from houston, texas, and i'm an associate producer for america tonight. i grew up in a very large, loud indian family. they very much taught me how to have a voice, and from a very young age i loved writing, and i love being able to tell other people stories. the way to do good journalism is to really do your research, to know your story, to get the facts right, and to get to know the people involved in your story. america tonight and al jazeera america, it's a perfect place for that to happen. that's all i have an real money.

victoria azarenko (vo) friday faultlines chases the flames as they spread throughout the west. >> there's a thick, acrid smoke smell in the air and we're following a strike team now to the top of the mountains where the fire line begins. (vo) it's a war being fought by air and on land costing millions of dollars every year. >> you will make an individual decision to build a home there, but what's the cost to the rest of us? (vo) what's going wrong with the war on wildfires and what are the true costs of putting them out? my name is ranjani chakraborty, i'm from houston, texas, and i'm an associate producer for america tonight. i grew up in a very large, loud indian family. they very much taught me how to

have a voice, and from a very young age i loved writing, and i love being able to tell other people stories. the way to do good journalism is to really do your research, to know your story, to get the facts right, and to get to know the people involved in your story. america tonight and al jazeera america, it's a perfect place for that to happen. that's all i have an real money. victoria azarenko

ray powerful earthquake that hit a holiday island. welcome on am stephen cole you are watching al jazerra life there doug doha. coming up a powerful typhoon kills 14 people in japan as it seeps up the country's east coast. united states has warned its credit rating could be downgraded as a budget stalemate continues. and dancing down to rio. bosnia celebrates reaching the