joins the search for solutions. around the globe, misinformation has been seen to cause social and political harm, with people having less trust in the news, and in some cases being subjected to violence or death as a result. the leaders of france and germany have warned of the dangers posed by the resurgence of nationalism, on the hundredth anniversary of the end of the first world war. and this video is trending on bbc.com. it shows giant portraits of soldiers who died in world war i etched across uk beaches to mark 100 years since the conflict ended. the faces were later washed away by the incoming tide. that's all. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk from washington

dc. iam welcome to hardtalk from washington dc. i am stephen sackur. president trump is an extremely effective communicator. day in and day out, his message is dominate the news agenda and yet he professes nothing but contempt for what he calls the fa ke but contempt for what he calls the fake news media. what is going on here? what is the trump presidency doing to america's political culture ? doing to america's political culture? as part the bbc‘s beyond fa ke culture? as part the bbc‘s beyond fake news season, my guest today is the editor of the washington post, marty barron. in the midst of all this hostility, who is the real enemy of the american people? marty baron, welcome to hardtalk.

from the outside, it looks as though there is a state of unrelenting trench warfare now between the white house and the news media in washington. is that the way it feels to you? i don't feel that way. the white house and the president in particular has said he is at war with the media, said that from day one, his first day in office when he went to the cia and told cia officers he was at war with the media but upset ever since then, we are not at war, we are doing our jobs as outlined in the first amendment which calls for us to examine public characters and measures as james madison said from the beginning. you are sort of suggesting that you can simply ignore what is coming out of the. house but when the president himself talks about your newspaper as one the pillars of the fake news media,

when he calls you an enemy of the american people, you can't ignore that. i don't ignore that but i make sure it's not a distraction from what we are supposed to do. i think we understand here well what our mission is in our mission is to get the facts and get the no matter how many taxi launches against us, we arejust going to many taxi launches against us, we are just going to continue doing that and i think we are very focused on our mission. it isn'tjust about you, of course. it's about a president and a news media more generally. we just seen one of the most remarkable performances i have ever seen from a leader, and let's face it, this is the most important leader in the world, in front of the mass ranks of the american news white house correspondence, the accused some of them of being horrible, of being disgusting, he clearly believes they are lying. he has now revoked the white house pass

of one senior correspondence working for cnn. is there an obligation on you as one of the most senior figures in the washington media elite to take a stand? well, we have taken a stand and i have taken a stand and i've spoken about it often. i have said this has a corrosive effect, we are not the opposition party, i pointed out the flaws in statements he making and that this is having a very deleterious effect on the role of the press in the united states and its inappropriate of a president who say things like this that flatly untrue. in particular when journalists are in a room with the president and he behaves in a way he recently behaved, you believe us journalists have to reconsider how they respond to him? in this particular example, where the president refused to take questions from certain journalists, president refused to take questions from certainjournalists, where he is now banned one particular

journalist, is it incumbent on the other journalists in the journalist, is it incumbent on the otherjournalists in the white house press corps to show solid hour of tea, for example, to consider walking out of a news conference? that's one option, and are others, another for the reported to ask the very same question ought to give another reporter more time to ask a question that the president has cut off. there are plenty of other options beside walking out. what do you want to see happen? in this most recent press conference , you want to see happen? in this most recent press conference, the white house decided to rescind the press credentials for a cnn reporter and obviously that is completely inappropriate. the white house correspondence association has said ina correspondence association has said in a statement its inappropriate and other news organisations have said its inappropriate and my hope is the white house will see the error of its ways and the stories credentials. we know what it's like to have credentials withdrawn. we had ours withdrawn by the trump

campaign during the presidential campaign. we know what that's like. but we also know that we have to keep doing ourjobs and the most important thing the press can do is continue asking the kinds of questions that need to be asked. but there are times when certain critics of the media here in washington thinks that it has become a circus. donald trump is the ringmaster, he is dictating the terms of the relationship and journalists are frankly dancing to his tune. some people say that. i don't happen to believe that's the case. the important thing is we do not dance to his tune, that we are journalists, we report stories and ask the hard questions on the best in the press can do is to continue to ask the hard questions of the administration in the way it's supposed to do and not be intimidated. let me ask you about something from a while ago, it made news at the time, i don't know if you were there but it was the white house correspondence dinner, where

invited to speak was a comedienne, michelle wolf, and she said this to all the reporters, some of the washington elite reporters gathered. she said, the truth is, you don't wa nt to she said, the truth is, you don't want to admit it but trump has helped all of you. he helps sell your newspapers, your books and tv. you helped create this monster and now you are profiting off him.|j guess it's a pretty cynical view of what's happening. coverage of the trump administration has led to higher ratings, its lead to more subscriptions and readership and all of that. it has been commercial gold for the washington press. in the short run, in some ways, absolutely but in the long run it is highly corrosive to the role of the press in the united states. we have a very polarised society and a polarised state of information consumption in this country and over the long run, that's not a good thing for our business. let me ask you about that

small little word, lie. —— lie. it's a word that appears in your paper. you have a fact checking teeth in which record the number of lies, untruths and misleading statements that stack up from the trump administration month by one month. you are well into the thousands. 6000. is that right? there are some journalists such as the former wall streetjournal editor gerald journalists such as the former wall street journal editor gerald baker who says journalists need to be much more careful about the use of the word lie because he says to use that word, you not only have to know what is being said is fake or wrong but you also have to know about the intent. i actually agree with him on that and that has been our policy. we have been very cautious in our use of the word lie. music sometimes but not always. when we've been able to document what the president said, he knows what he is saying is false,

we use the word lie. when he knows it and he intended it to be a falsehood. how can you know? a great example, talking about the meeting with russian ‘s income tower. it involved donald trump junior. with russian ‘s income tower. it involved donald trumpjunior. when donald trump junior was expected involved donald trumpjunior. when donald trumpjunior was expected to issue a statement responding to the initial press reports about that meeting, that statement, we wrote that statement was dictated by the president of the united states. the administration denied that. up and down, they denied that. later on when they had to respond to the special counsel, they should as a short —— a letter to the special counsel acknowledging the president had dictated that statement. we said the president lied. it was clear he knew he had dictated the statement, he knew he did it he allowed his administration to declare to the entire world that he had not dictated the statement. that is a clear line. what does that say to

you? you clear line. what does that say to you ? you call alkali clear line. what does that say to you? you call alkali and frankly, a huge number of people in this country shrugged their shoulders. sure, that is concerning and we have a very polarised society and polarised consumption of information. people will be dismissive full of what we report or other people will be dismissive of other people will be dismissive of other news organisations but the reality is, we have to look over the long run. it's important to look back at the time of watergate. that investigation was under way by the washington post and other news organisations and a lot of people but that investigation as being com pletely but that investigation as being completely partisan. they viewed the washington post as being essentially the opposition party to the nixon administration. they didn't believe what the washington post was reporting at the time. it turned out the reporting was solid. the reporting was later validated. and ultimately people came to realise that the washington post had done

its duty. i spoke recently of the former editor of the guardian who i dare say you know quite well. and he said by 2017, it seemed that news, the thing that helped people understand the world and oil the wheels of society, pollinated the community and kept the powerful honest was, in that sense, broken. community and kept the powerful honest was, in that sense, brokenlj don't think we are broken. there are some who believe it is but there is an incredible amount of excellent journalism that has been practised today. some of the bestjournalism ever practised, as a matter of fact. ido ever practised, as a matter of fact. i do think we have a broken information ecosystem at the moment and we have an administration right now that is trying to disqualify the press as an independent arbiter of fa ct press as an independent arbiter of fact and not just to disqualify press as an independent arbiter of fact and notjust to disqualify us as an independent arbiter but to disqualify other institutions as independent arbiters. disqualify other institutions as independentarbiters. law enforcement, intelligence agencies, the court system, scientists, all of

them, to disqualify them and say the white house itself, the administration is the only source of truth. that is what they would like to have. this if i may say so goes deeper than the trump administration and its behaviours. if you look at polling evidence among ordinary americans, there are some disturbing figures. for example, according to a range of polls, more than 50% of republicans, tens of millions of people across the nation, agree with the idea that the media it is indeed the idea that the media it is indeed the enemy of the people. three quarters of registered republicans think that the media routinely makes up think that the media routinely makes up stories about the current administration. there is a crisis of trust you. i think there is a crisis of trust and i think the administration has done a good job, not a beneficialjob, but an effective job of suggesting to the american public that they can't believe what they were read in the

mainstream american press. so you are piling all the blame on donald trump and his associates. a suggesting there is nothing the media needs to look at to look inward a little bit and wonder if it might be partly responsible for this lack of trust? i think we do share some of the blame on there are things we can do to help restore trust. i hope they will be effective, i can't assure that. we need to be more transparent about how we go about our work, to show more of our work, talk about more of who we are. there are an incredible number of stereotypes and misconceptions about who we are as journalists and we need to talk about our professional background, how we acquired our expertise. and also talk about the reporting process. that's a very interesting point. you are sort of suggesting that there might be some inherent, maybe unconscious bias is within media organisations such as your own, bias is that to affect the way you see and report the world. everyone comes to the world with their own preconceptions and

emotions and things like that. people have been talking about that now for 100 years. walter lippmann wrote a book in 1920 called liberty in the news where he broached the idea of objectivity and the idea of objectivity really was, how do you set aside your own preconceptions and set aside your own emotions and try to get the facts in the most objective possible? that doesn't mean it's objective possible? that doesn't mean its white balance, 50% on this site and that side but how do we strip away the preconceptions and our emotions and almost in a scientific way try to get at the actual facts? do you, scientific way try to get at the actualfacts? do you, in a scientific way try to get at the actual facts? do you, in a way, feel that there are understandable reasons why that there are understandable reasons why some that there are understandable reasons why some people in the united states of america today can look at organisations like the washington post and, say you are a quy washington post and, say you are a guy who's working in a factory in 0hio guy who's working in a factory in ohio or michigan or wherever, you might feel that that organisation has a set of attitudes, a moral

outlook which is so far removed from yours that you can't necessarily trust the way they report the world can really relate to your own life and reality. i certainly understand that and that is the case. that is how we are viewed in certain sectors of american society. do you think that your own newsroom is a good reflection of the united states of america today? i think we do quite a good job of— we get ill from all over the country who grow up in a lot of different backgrounds, who grow up on farms, pennsylvania, south carolina, people like that. we are billed surge in the military would like to have more people that served in the military. we have a photographer who is a refugee, people who went to state schools, ivy league schools, who drop in small towns. we have two people who went to evangelical colleges. 0ne

small towns. we have two people who went to evangelical colleges. one of them grow up in a hassle of talk it and was homeschooled. there would be surprised that we have people like that on our staff. we do have people a gun on our staff and we welcome people cannot our staff. let me out isa people cannot our staff. let me out is a somewhat different. there is worrying evidence that there may be a collection between the toxic political culture that we see in washington are now and examples of very real abuse, sometimes even threats of violence aimed at journalists. do you feel that there is more danger in the world right now for reporters that there has been before? in the united states, yes, it has got much worse. there area yes, it has got much worse. there are a lot of threats against our journalists, we have had to increase our security increasingly. that started in the last president of campaign. increase your security and watsons? i cannot give details. but

in many ways we have increase security. —— in what sense. some of the reporters in certain situations had you have bodyguards? we have not gone that far, but the reporters in the united states who do have bodyguards, particularlyjournalists who work for some of the television networks. arthur salzburger, publisher of the new york times, he told donald trump to this face that donald trump of the rhetoric will lead to a rise in threats and ultimately a rise in violence. he met towards journalists. you and those sentiments? i think it is right, absolutely. —— he meant. the kind of rhetoric that has been used makes life more dangerous for journalists. it is a ready led to threats and it is a dangerous path to travel. the boston globe launched

the not the enemy initiative when they got a whole range of newspapers, seem united states, but some overseas, as well, hundreds of them, tojoin a declaration some overseas, as well, hundreds of them, to join a declaration that i'd just insisting that the media was doing a vitaljob to society and should not be in any way characterised as the enemy. the washington post refused to sign a collective letter. why? was not involved in that. that was the editorial page. this country, for the most part, there is a sharp division between people who are responsible for covering the new sky people who write editorials. i am response orfor people who write editorials. i am response or for the news and features coverage. they can may ask you, with the washington post have been well advised to actually sign up been well advised to actually sign up to been well advised to actually sign uptoa been well advised to actually sign up toajoint been well advised to actually sign up to a joint declaration that involved so many newspapers around this country of the world?|j involved so many newspapers around this country of the world? i as it

would have made a difference. i think one thing to try to do is to avoid suggesting that the media and in other states is at a monolith, and that as a monolith. the washington post is written in a rural editorials about the administration ‘s posture towards the media. we have written about that in our news coverage as well. i don't think we have two act collectively with news organisations around the country in order to effectively make that point. around the country in order to effectively make that pointlj suppose one big question for you is whether you truly believe that this organisation, so identified with its history with exposing the truth behind the pentagon papers, the watergate scandal, do you believe that your rhone organisation is capable of running, resulting those sorts of expensive investigations today? —— sorts of expensive investigations today? —— your own. sorts of expensive investigations today? -- your own. i do. we are those investigations are they any many ways they think those investigations are the business

model. because the public wants us to do that. they see us as their representative and holding government accountable. the supporters as a result. that is widely ascribed to us. when you look at it, there is a lot of focus on trunk of what people really want an independent news organisation that is holding their government officials, their politicians, and the policymakers, accountable. any critical use of independent when you owned by one of the— actually, the richest man in the united states, jeff bezos? at it we can. i did approve this in the work we do. if the looks at our work in holding powerful individuals and government officials and policymakers accountable, they see that we do it ina accountable, they see that we do it in a non—partisan way. accountable, they see that we do it in a non-partisan way. but in terms of this background, this values, it is what he was to get out of the washington post, this is a different environment. he suggested he was to

get anything out of it other than us being a good newspaper, good news organisation, and what he really wa nts organisation, and what he really wants is for us to be a vibrant, self sustaining, independent news organisation. and that is a must as it is said to us. those who want you to investigate the way in which the biggest tech companies in the world use a global presence to avoid paying tax, at least as many people we re paying tax, at least as many people were said, a fair share of their global tax? that is your statement. it is worth investigating are you so well. and we have. have you looked at this tax affairs around the world ? at this tax affairs around the world? neade yes. and we have done a lot of clinical stories about amazon. he said when he got yet that we could cover him and am is on the way that we cover any other company. he has reiterated that on other occasions and we are taken at the heart that is what we have done. we have at any number of negative stories about amazon, and we haven't heard from jet base of on that

matter. —— jeff bezos. heard from jet base of on that matter. ——jeff bezos. he heard from jet base of on that matter. —— jeff bezos. he doesn't get involved in the news coverage. you don't alter every week? every two weeks we talk about business, strategy, technology, things like that. we never discuss coverage. he is not assigned a story was suggested a story or suppress their story. he has not critique the story will criticise the story. he has told us those are our decisions and thatis told us those are our decisions and that is how we, that is how we do business around him. wirral was out of time, but there is one of the subject must residue, and that is your cause on gemma visually. we interviewed him on my show. you knew him, of course, because he was victor vito, columnist, at the washington post. ——jamaal khashoggi. we know that he was brutally murdered. giving the us government has done enough to insist the saudis that the full truth come

out about the murder of jamal khashoggi. there is no question that they have not done enough. it does appear that the administration would make this issue to just go away, because it wants to have a strong relationship with saudi arabia, and doesn't want an issue like this to get in between the interests of the united states and the interest is saudi arabia. so we don't see a very aggressive posture on the part of the administration about investigating this brittle bone up. this brings us back to began, the relationship between donald trump in the news media in washington. you have an editorial to basically accuse the trump administration, and has been a world that is used in advice, enabling abuse of saudi arabia's crown prince. is that really fair to cool donald trump and a neighbour of me in essence, the

murder of a guy who wrote a column for the washington post? you are saving our editorials, and is the point about you are saving our editorials, and as pointed out to you, i have nothing to do with our editorials. i'm the executive editor, the editor of asia's report to me. it reports of the publisher of the news organisation. anti- with a personal portal we have talked about the importance ofjournalism. i guess in many ways the loss of jamaal duchovny brings home the degree of the commitment to genuine expression, freedom of expression. ——jamal expression, freedom of expression. —— jamal khashoggi. expression, freedom of expression. -- jamal khashoggi. there is no question. this was an effort not just to suppress dissent but to extinguish the actual dissenter. there is enormous risk and free expression, and that is why we need to work so hard to protect it. we have do in there. the thank you very much will be on hardtalk. hello.

the week ahead will be a fairly mild one for this time of year, even if we start on a fresh note for some. but it is a week that starts the way as the weekend finished, with a blustery showers around, particularly in the south and west. low pressure with us. rising helping with the shower clouds. this weather system across northern france will be close enough for the south—east and east anglia. the cloud stops some morning sunshine. showers building in south—west scotland. much of north—west england

and scotland side dry. the north of scotland does cross posting. for most of us frost free week. showers in the west will push a bit further north and east given the strength of the breeze. there we parts of the midlands or a north—east england, northern scotland, northern ireland governor will stay completely or almost completely dry throughout the day. to britain's12— 1a degrees. still higher than it should be this time of year. and it will be one of the cooler days of the week. going through monday night and into tuesday, a few more showers will push eastwards. the wind switches to more of a westerly direction into the morning. it will be a cool night. averages in the single figures. most will be frost free thanks to the breeze as mist tuesday. high pressure puts a cap in the atmosphere and stop some of the show from building. a few around in the western begin with. but for the most, most will have a dry day with temperatures similar to those on monday. but the breeze will die down limit. 0ur press the red in northern western parts of the uk, is resistant west of scotland and across scotland. across the board, he sunshine or rain, a mother if the time of year. and it is across the missionaries of scotland, northern england, and is the buzz of northern ireland, with temperatures around 16 or 17 degrees. and we stick with a minor seem as we go through to the end of the week.

high pressure builds of the live across continental europe are giving weather fronts to the west, keeping things dry, and given that southerly airflow, so the format will remain with us. across will remain with us. the board, he is an channel rain, across the board, he is an channel rain, a monday for the time of year, and it is grasim is an air of scotland, northern ireland could see to it is around 16 or 17 degrees. and we stick with that mile of them as we go through into the end of the week. high pressure builds a little bit across continental europe, bringing the weather front to the west, kevin king strycova given a southerly airflow so the warmer air will those who remain with us. that is winds for lighter later this week, we have a greater risk of seeing some risk and fog fall. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore.

the headlines: beyond fake news — as social media is blamed for an increase in violent attacks across the globe — we begin a major series looking at the issue of misinformation. the remotest parts of this country now have access to internet and whatsapp and a lot of these people are not digitally literate so they will believe whatever they see on whatsapp. the bbc pledges to be part of the fight to restore the public‘s faith in news organisations — over the next month, we'll bring you special reports, documentaries and debates. i'm ben bland in london. also in the programme.