norway's population of just 5 million people to the united states' population of 317 million, norway's count is that much more impressive. thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. i'll see you next week. stay tuned for "reliable sources." what happens when you mix a liberal year in review with some bad jokes, a rabid reaction from pundits and a response from a former presidential candidate? you get the biggest media story of the week. we'll examine why it happened and what it says about cable news. later, tech gurus kara swisher and walt mossberg reinvented themselves. they'll be here to tell us why and we'll talk to the guy from gawker who knows how to get you to click. i'm brian stelter and this is "reliable sources."

good morning. welcome to a very cozy studio here in washington. a little later i'll give you my take on this week's winter storm coverage now that i have gone out with one of the bright cnn jackets. let's begin with a partisan storm that happened on msnbc. during a year in review show, she talked about a series of photos including one of mitt romney's family. before we have a discussion about it, let's run the segment in its entirety. >> this is the romney family. and of course there on governor romney's knee is his adopted grandson who is an african-american. adopted african-american child. any captions for this one? >> one of these things is not -- >> and that little baby front and center would be the one. >> isn't the most gorgeous. my goal is that in 2040 the

biggest thing of the year will be the wedding between romney and northwest. can you imagine mitt romney and kanye west as in-laws. >> this picture is great. sums up the diversity of the republican party. >> some called harris opini-per racist and you are panel thugs. >> whatever the intent was, the reality was that the segment proceeded in a way that was offensive and showing the photo in that context of that segment was poor judgment so without reservation or qualification, i apologize to the romney family. on this program we're dedicated to advocating for a wide diversity of families. it's one of our core principles and i'm reminded that when we are doing so, it must always be with the utmost respect and appreciative of everyone who offered serious criticisms of

last sunday's program and i am reminded that our fiercest critics can sometimes be our best teachers. >> our best teachers. she's a time slot competitor. keep that in mind when we talk about this to be fair. let's figure out what this episode says about msnbc. joining me from los angeles, the media reporter for politico and in new york, sally cohen and in boston, the host of under the radar on wgbh. i want to ask you, do you think an apology was merited in this case? >> absolutely. those were inappropriate comments and as the host, melissa harris-perry had to step up and make the apology. beyond that, her brand really is to offer commentary against this type of tone deaf commentary in another situation. so she would have to step up and say that. i think also because of her own

personal racial history that it had a double whammy here in which she wanted to sincerely apologize. as we know, governor mitt romney did accept her apology this morning on fox news with chris wallace and in doing so said that he recognizes sincerity of the apology. >> let's run that tape and then react to it. >> i think people recognize and folks at msnbc have apologized and recognized that people like me are fair targets. if you get in the political game, you can expect incoming but children, you know, that's beyond the line. i think they understand that and feel that as well. i think it's a heartfelt apology and for that reason we hold no ill will whatsoever. >> sorry to cut you off there. what was your point about mitt romney? >> i think that his response was

that he was responding to the sincerity in her apology and not only did she write a piece for msnbc.com and sent out several tweets. she said without qualification and also i'm paraphrasing now, it's not for me to say how much hurt i cause people i may have offended even if i don't think it's offensive. she knew it was offensive. recognized that. as ben franklin says, don't ruin an apology with an excuse. there was no excuses here. that's what made it so powerful, her apology. it was definitely warranted. >> maybe this is a playbook for future cable news hosts who have to apologize for future offenses. >> i think you're right. this business we're in, this 24/7 constant adding twitter on top of that, there's always this incentive to say something that's news worthy, attention getting, but it's really easy to cross the line into offensive and stupid.

and that's a split second judgment sometimes. what really matters is how you address it when it happens. i really thought this was a textbook apology. you could tell she was sincere. she didn't qualify it. i got choked up. we can compare it to when people said things offensively in moments of poor judgment and have tried to not walk them back. >> there have been complaints from some liberals that people on fox news tend not to apologize when this happens. >> i'm not going to judge how anyone behaves in these moments. i think these are uncomfortable and unfortunate moments. i do think she set the bar higher and i hope more of us can reach that bar and reach the bar of forgiving. that's the other side. i would like to see the right drop it now. she apologized. >> do you think this episode says something larger about the

discourse on msnbc? it comes only a month after martin bashir resigned after talking about sarah palin in a derogatory way. >> right. i think that's only the latest in these sort of controversial remarks made by msnbc host. you have seen a string of it. i think what happened with melissa harris-perry is a continuation of that and i think the biggest problem is that msnbc wasn't just supposed to be a liberal counterpart to fox news, a sort of place for the progressive base to go every day and every night, it was also supposed to be smarter. it was supposed to elevate discourse and idea that you were having these smart, well educated progressives coming forth and changing the conversation and lean forward and lean into the 21st century and so much of these remarks which have to do with going after someone's family, issues of race with martin bashir suggesting that sarah palin should be treated like a slave, all of these things are leaning

backward and it's totally not what msnbc was supposed to be about originally. it's doing real severe damage to the brand. >> do you agree? >> i agree -- did you say sally? >> sorry. i was hoping to go to you. >> i agree in general about what dylan said but i have to say i would not compare what happened on melissa perry-harris' show with what happened with martin bashir. again, i want to return to the fact that her brand is to exactly be on top of the kind of -- i would say ignorant and racist commentary. so for her to even in a slight way seem to be supporting that was important for her to speak to. that's not where she's going every day. she stands for something else. i'm not saying that martin bashir didn't but i think that

was so out of pocket that it was an entirely different case. i get in general where dylan is coming from but i think -- i'm not sure everything can be lumped together in this way. >> go ahead. >> i couldn't agree with you more. two very different cases. i think the point i'm trying to make here is there is a sort of whether it's bashir or harris-perry, there's a desire to demonize the republican party and it makes one sort of inel t intellectually lazy. each show as a different tone and purpose but they fall into the same trap. >> i think it would be good if i played a clip from some of the reaction to this. this is a clip from cnn talking about this case a few days ago. >> a senior adviser to mitt romney's campaign in 2012 says msnbc has become a club for the smug to go and exchange hateful

opinions and reassure others and each other that it's acceptable. >> he has a point with that. i don't think melissa represents this point. i think there are pockets of msnbc which are echo chambers which are smug and condescending and a bunch of people on the left who agree with each other. that doesn't make for good tv. >> you wrote on politico this week about cnn and fox news covering this story. do you sense there's something about rivals of msnbc going after a rival in this way? >> i think there's a little bit of that. i don't think you can discount that given how much fox news hates msnbc. they probably enjoy seeing them fall on their face. cnn and msnbc in a ratings race depending on how you look at it. the larger thing here is that these sorts of controversies, and senses that someone in the media especially in the liberal or mainstream media fell flat on their face, that i can tell you

as someone who has a media blog, that traffics well. people enjoy seeing that. it makes for a good story. people enjoy seeing people fall flat on their face. not a good thing but that's reality. >> let's make sure we're properly in our chairs and not about to topple over here. i wonder since you're the host of a radio show in boston, you have guests on like melissa harris-perry did that say things that are outrageous. what do you do in those cases? >> in the moment i distance myself from the comment. you have to. as a host of the show, you end up taking most of the blame if that's said on your show and left unchecked. in this instance in the moment, she didn't react fast enough to realize, wait a minute, where is this conversation going. you have to in that moment and then you know what? in those cases where i didn't react fast enough, i have to come back and say here's what was said. here's what i should have said in the moment. and make it plain that i didn't approve of an inappropriate

comment. >> a good closer for us. "the new york times" wrote on twitter a moment ago. cable news should turn all weekend programming to emotional apologies and open that up to nonhosts and make for good tv he said. i don't know if that would make for that good tv or not. sally, would you watch? >> well, i actually would love to see television. i do think there's something worth noting here between three cable networks and their audiences which is that i'm fascinated that the right, which has sort of argued that politico correctness is this problem and railed against it and complained any time people want to critique coverage on fox or elsewhere as racially insensitive and yet they're the first people to grab the mantel in this case. i hope again we can all step back, learn a larger lesson that it's important for us all to be sensitive on these issues across

channels and stop saying only one side should be held accountable. that's immature and unhelpful. >> a good place for us to pause. thank you so much for joining us. we have more in a moment. when we come back, would you believe me if i told you that north korean leader kim jong-un fed his uncle to 120 hungry dogs? [ male announcer ] legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪

overmany discounts to thine customers! [old english accent] safe driver, multi-car, paid in full --

a most fulsome bounty indeed, lord jamie. thou cometh and we thy saveth! what are you doing? we doth offer so many discounts, we have some to spare. oh, you have any of those homeowners discounts? here we go. thank you. he took my shield, my lady. these are troubling times in the kingdom. more discounts than we knoweth what to do with. now that's progressive.

unisom sleeptabs help you fall asleep 33% faster and wake refreshed. unisom. a stressful day deserves a restful night. welcome back. the word benghazi by which i mean the city in libya, has come to mean something very specific in the american media. benghazi now seems to mean the september 11th, 2012, attack at the city's u.s. consulate resulting in the death of four americans including ambassador chris stevens. last sunday "the new york times" published a reconstruction of the attack. it pointed the finger away from the group that some believed were the perpetrators. here is what the reporter wrote. "months of investigation by "the

new york times" centered on extensive interviews with libyans in benghazi who had direct knowledge of the attack and its context turned up no evidence that al qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault." he also concluded that a youtube video ridiculing islam was one of the reasons why the attackers stormed the u.s. compound. conservative advocates have mocked that idea ever since it was first spoken aloud. i know a story like that one took months to write. it almost completely contradicted the story that conservative media outlets have told about benghazi. if you watched fox news this week, this is what you saw. segment after segment that tried to undermine "the new york times." one graphic read not fit to print. they said they had sources that al qaeda was involved. talking heads suggested the "times" is trying to help

hillary clinton by cleaning up what they see as a benghazi scandal. to bill o'reilly, it was "pure bull. reque what's this all about? joining me from new york, a senior fell for defense of democracy and a senior edit yoo and sally and dylan are returning. you wrote that the "times" white washed benghazi. how so? >> they have done granular reporting in a dangerous area. anyone familiar with the u.s. investigation not just conservatives but also democrats on the intelligence committee said there's no al qaeda ties to the benghazi attack. the bottom line is there are a lot of threads left out of "times" reporting that point to international actors who were

tied to al qaeda. in october, the united nations security council designated an egyptian network that found reports of his involvement and network's involvement in benghazi was credible. one of many ties to a broader international network left out of the "times" reporting. >> this is one of the comments that bill o'reilly made. biggest host on fox news. this is what he had to say a couple days ago. >> the "times" says the attack does not appear to been mat matticously planned. nonsense. for more than two hours, they assaulted the u.s. mission compound in benghazi. militants were seen on video cameras casing the mission before the attack and they hid themselves until opening fire. i guess the word meticulously is the paper's fallback but it is

pure bull. >> thomas, what are reasons why you think there continues to be so much uncertainty about what happened that night? >> there are a lot of reasons. once this enters the political realm, you get different arguments what it means for politicians. one thing we have called for is more evidence surrounding benghazi and related matters. there are a lot of areas the u.s. government could step up and declassify information. a lot of other details surrounding that night. don't leave it to just the infighting but let's see facts about what the u.s. government knows about the suspects. >> dylan, i want to read a quote from one of your colleagues who wrote a column talking about benghazi. he said the volume of reporting on benghazi is enormous and alternative explanations are available to those seeking one. is that a fair assessment? >> i think so.

i don't think you will ever have as comprehensive a report about what happened in benghazi as you would like. i'm sure there's a lot more out there. i will say that "times" reporting is deep. the "times" has a very strong team. a very strong reporter. he unearthed a lot. you have to take him seriously. i think there's more to be reported. i would welcome more reports on it. i think the conservative blowback says more about the conservatives right now than it does about "the new york times." >> sally, because dylan mentioned that, it's worth bringing up. we saw the editorial page editor say no to conspiracy theories. no connection between the news reporting and the opinion side of the newspaper here. what did you make of the fact he came out and said that? >> i found that somewhat troubling. there is this sort of trend that that comes on the heels of

conservatives for a long time arguing that there's this sort of liberal media bias. and then it becomes the self-fulfilling prophecy. the media rushes to prove it's not and they fall over itself to defend its actions and the "times" actually upped the conservativism of its reporting to try to appeal to appease those conservative critics and then create a conservative bias in the media. so it is deeply troubling. the other thing troubling about this overall, it's good to get the facts. i agree with everyone. we need the facts about what actually happened. the reason this continues to be an ongoing story is solely because of conservative desire to smear president obama and hillary clinton and so the lens through which every little granular piece of information is manipulated, they are attacking "the new york times" for having sources on the ground and saying they should have gone and

interfered or done something to prevent the violence. the story jumped the rail frankly. >> i want to bring up one other different international story because this blew me away the last couple days. google news results for term north korea dogs. you'll see dozens of headlines claiming the north korean leader fed his uncle to a pack of 120 dogs. this all stems from one unreliable source. one online news report that's been translated and mistranslated over again. no kim jong-un did not feed his uncle to 120 hungry dogs. what does it say about current media climate where we have so many websites repeating this unsubstantiated rumor. >> more and more media organizations have fallen victim to this.

i have too. you see a tantalizing story and you write it and you say unconfirmed report reports so and so says we are unable to confirm and you put it out there. it keeps repeating itself and repeating itself. and when the story gets proved wrong and someone comes to you and says why did you report on that? i just reported this other guy or one source reported on that. i was just throwing it out there. the problem with that is that the role of the media should be to go out and confirm this news and the news that might not be true -- those stories aren't stories we should send out into twitter verse that go viral. that's not our role. >> to cnn's credit i saw an e-mail chain trying to fact check it saying we're not going to report this as fact because we don't believe it's true. i wonder if this just shows that people are willing to believe anything about north korea because it's so hard to see inside the country. >> of course. certainly north korea is the

tail wagging the dog. if ever there was an example there was. we have a click driven and first on the scene driven media which is understandable because that's actually how it is structurally set up but leads to things like i'll put out this unconfirmed rumor about 120 hungry dogs. the most obvious reason this isn't true is at a moment like that, who has time to count the dogs? >> that's the perfect thought for us to close on. sally, dylan, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. thomas, thank you for being here as well. i would love to hear what you think of the show so far on facebook and twitter. i'll be checking out your comments. we're heading online next. we have a pioneering technology jou journalist here to tell us about his new venture and how can any news outlet stand out. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is the story of the little room over the pizza place at 315 chestnut street.

the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the dusty basement at 1406 35th street. it is the story of the old dining room table at 25th and hoffman avenue. the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ...and the second floor above the strip mall at roble and el camino. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. ♪ so different and so new where those with endless vision and an equal amount of audaciousness believed they had the power to do more. time and time again. ♪ and then, it happened at dell, we're honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. stories that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- # 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is.

welcome back to "reliable sources." i'm brian stelter. >> this has been a big week for kara swisher and walt mossberg. it's been required reading for people like me and anyone interested in technology and media ever since.

on new year's day, the deal ended and they introduced a new site called recode. they bet on the idea the personal brand they forged from years of strong writing and reporting is more influential than institutional reporting. why? let's ask. joining me here in d.c. is walt mossberg. kara is under the weather in san francisco. let me start with the personal brand. what appealed to you about making this leap? >> well, this was not fleeing "the wall street journal" or fleeing dow jones. it was a decision kara and i made a year and a half ago that the way we could really expand and build and take some risks with the business that we had and some experiments in journalism, the best way to do that was to be independent and have our own company and credit to dow jones. they gave us a ton of autonomy

but ultimately there were things you just need to have your own business and your own show to do and that's what we're doing. >> what does that say about where we are with digital media? we continue to see seem leaving old institutions like newspapers. we saw nate silver go over to espn. reports as decline of "the washington post" might go out on his own. are these just a series of coincidences? >> i don't think they're coincidences but i would say two things that are really important. one, and here i'm quoting my pal, kara, who made this point the other day. we're not all hung up on old media versus new media. it's all media. it's all journalism. some is done well and some poorly. there are terrible newspapers and terrible websites and great websites. so it's all blurring.

that's one really important point. the other thing and it's pretty obvious is if this were 100 years ago, it would be hard to start a new newspaper. 50 years ago it would be hard to start a new television network if you were just a journalist. digital, yes, we did have to raise money. we have great investors, one of hoom is nbc news and so we had to raise money. not like you can do it for no money. it's a lot lower barrier to entry to start your own thing as a journalist than at any time in history. >> and what's it been like to be out raising money? you have been report on these people for decades? >> it's a great question. it's really kind of a little bit of a surreal experience. i will say we had dozens of inquiries from people who figured our contract with dow jones was going to run out and

it was very nice to have people say you're great and here's some money. or we would like to give you some money. you know, very often the fit wouldn't have been right or the exact nature of the way these folks want to do it wouldn't have been right. so we were very lucky to find great investors. to answer your yquestion of wha it was like, it was like living the thing you covered and it was surreal. >> i think i know what you're talking about here being on television now. i had a question from a viewer. yes advice for the upcoming era of journalists. there are technology reports just getting started. >> i think, yeah, i have three pieces of advice. i could have 12 but i'll do three because it's television. one is honesty and ethics. it counts corny. if you want to differentiate,

people need to trust you. that's been our -- we hoped that distinguishes us. that's one piece of advice to give to the questioner. and the second piece of advice would be think about being entrepreneurial. even if you're inside another organization -- we were inside dow jones. i personally was inside "the wall street journal" and still tried to be entrepreneurial and start new things and you can do that and now we're doing it again in an independent way and so i think those would be maybe just two but that's enough. >> two good ones. let's point out, it's not just you and kara swisher. you have a big team that you have brought from dow jones to the new site and hired new people as well. >> exactly. thanks for asking. there's been a lot of focus on what you asked about. us going out. this is not the walt and kara

show. we have 18 journalists which is not a big team in compares op to other tech sites. the thing i'm really proud of and kara is really proud of is that every one of them is coming with us. most of them had other job offers. and also coming with us are web developers and 100% everyone, our web developers and conference producers and administrative people, all our journalists, all our editors, are coming with us and we've just hired a great managing editor from reuters and we have hired a science correspondent from the san francisco chronicle. so kara and my intention is not only for recode to become a brand but also each of these people to be able to build up their own brands the way that we've been lucky enough to do.

>> walt, thank you so much for spending time with us. best of luck with the new site. >> thanks for having us. up next, an interview with a different internet pioneer. what can we learn from the man called a viral genius. ♪ humans -- we are beautifully imperfect creatures, living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back, offering exclusive products like optional better car replacement, where, if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask an insurance expert about all our benefits today, like our 24/7 support and service, because at liberty mutual insurance, we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, so we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. plus, you could save hundreds when you switch --

up to $423. call... today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

welcome back. on friday, neetzan zimmerman

quit his job. who is he? he's the guy behind the headlines like these. a reporter nearly killed taking most dangerous selfie ever. grandma writes letter disowning daughter after she disowns gay son. zimmerman combs the stointernetr stories that will go viral. he subsidizes the other writers at the website. he joins me now from new york. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> tell us how you do what you do. >> for the most part it involves sifting through the web so find what people are talking about. the conversations that people are having among each other are crucial to the content that i publish. i want to know what people are talking about on facebook, what they're talking about on twitter, what they're talking about amongst themselves and i

want to spread that conversation further to the people who aren't talking about this particular topic yet. it's all in the packaging. it's all in how you sell it to people. make them understand why it's relevant to their lives. >> headlines have to capture the audience. let's put up traffic for gawker on screen. this is amazing, this graphic. gawker publishes this so people can see it. you are the top line there. every other writer are lower lines. there's a dip in the middle. that must be because it was new year's day and you took a day off. >> that's right. >> when you see this traffic, what does this tell you about what the economics of the web are? >> i think for the most part people want to be talking about this stuff. i mean, this is stuff that's relevant to their lives even if they don't know it yet. for me, the most important thing is to explain to them why they need this stuff in their life and make them understand why it's going to be valuable to them.

web economics is real life economics because it translates into conversations they can have with their peers and seem relevant to the people around them and make them influencers in a way. >> when you said you were leaving, gawkers said they'll have to find people to replace you and it's important to the site to have this fire hose of traffic. why did you decide to leave and what will you be doing next? >> i decided to leave because one of the things that make me good at my job is my attention deficit disorder. and in a way, it also makes it tough for me to stay in one place for too long. >> what will you be doing now? >> i'm very excited about this opportunity that i've been presented with. i'm joining a company called whisper. i'll be their editor in chief. a department that needs to be built from the ground up. this company i would say in a few words is the unanimous anti-facebook. what i mean by that is a social

network but the focus is on anonymity. so you would share the sort of things you may not want to post on your facebook page. things that are more intimate to your life but you might benefit from sharing them with other people. you can find other people like yourself who might be struggling with certain things in their life, things that you want to vent to the world, but don't necessarily want your mother or your grandmother seeing now that they're on facebook alongside with you. >> sounds very useful. thanks for coming on the show. best of luck. >> thank you. >> we have one more internet pioneer on the way this morning. this one is a company helping to reinvent television on the internet. take a tour of hulu with me next. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. polident kills 99.99% of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains. that's why i recommend polident.

[ male announcer ] cleaner, fresher, brighter every day. what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'. [ woman ] hop on over! side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. [ rattling ] that's one smart board. what else does it do -- reverse gravity? [ chuckles ] split atoms?

[ whoooosh! ] hey, how is that atom-splitting thing going? [ rattling ] [ electronic whistling ] oh! [ zap! ] a smarter way to shop around. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

welcome back to "reliable sources." i'm brian stelter. if you ever used hulu, it's probably because you wanted to catch up on episodes of tv shows that aired on nbc, abc or fox. the owners of hulu are making it harder to do that. new limits on abc shows go into effect tomorrow. it still is more profitable for the networks if you watch their shows via cable or satellite subscription. hulu is doing something smart acting more and more like a

network even though it's a startup. premiering original tv shows not just repeats from elsewhere. if it sounds like netflix strategy, that's because it is. we have the head of development for hulu originals and she gave me a tour of the company's very cool new offices. this definitely feels more like a startup than a television network. >> it definitely is about having a piece of the silicon valley culture here in southern california. it's democratic setup. everyone just has a desk. it doesn't matter. >> even the ceo. he sits out in the open. >> even you? >> even me, yes. >> i guess that of the forrers more conversations about what you're working on. >> it let's accidents happen because you can join in on conversations or learn about conversations your colleagues are having. >> i don't think this job that you have, head of development at hulu, existed when hulu was founded. how new is it? >> i joined the company three years ago. it came about as an evolution of

hulu being a successful online distributor. we were successful at doing premium content distribution for other people and it made sense for things that are uniquely and distinctly ours. when i joined the company three years ago, the idea was let's figure out modest but interesting projects to start with and see if we can make our own shows, see if we are able to figure out how to distribute them and how to find the right audience on the service. >> people like me weren't just watching "modern family" on hulu but "a day in the life." >> that was our first in-house original. the biggest o ones are out ther. it's been great in terms of dovetailing with his film career and bringing him to an american

audience and i think we've also had some good critical success with our series. >> this looks like the cafeteria. maybe also a screening room. >> this space doubles as lunch meeting great acoustics. sometimes we're lucky enough to have the create ores do a q&a. that's really exciting. they seemed almost as excited to be here with hulu as the employees were excited to meet them. >> how do you get seth miers to even think as hulu. >> they think of it as an opportunity to be a part of the future of television. for someone like seth, for mike as well, they are experienced. they know the world of television. i think they are excited by what on demand and what online brings to them in terms of the audience they can reach. take me back a couple years

and why hulu felt it needed to have original series at all and not just shows that have been on abc, nbc and other networks. >> we're really lucky to have all those shows, and from other networks. >> it probably brings people into the door for the first time. >> that's right. it's sort of like the supermarket, you know you'll always buy a milk, but you might try a new brand of cookies. part of it was the differentiation strategy, and the pipe bringing other people's stuff, to a service that has an personal. >> i think it would surprise viewers that hulu is competing with channels like comedy central and mtv for shows. >> the landscape for buyers is not as wide as one would imagine. everyone is looking for the next distinctive voice that will bring people to the channel.

we're big admirers of those more established buyers. we're big fans of lieuies and the league. >> sounds like you're trying to get them to come to hulu. >> it gives people a sense of what makes cool comedies for us, and we want to follow in the footsteps for the buyers that have gone before. i think there's a feel that the pie is getting bigger. >> and for consumers as well. >> there's more choice. we're definitely striving to have more choice. >> netflix, of course, got for "house of cards" and "arrested development" does hulu see it -- >> i think we're all three approaching it differently, but we're doing it at the same time, so is thists the mind-set on how to look. >> would hulu like to be

nominated? >> of course we would. >> when hulu's owner said they were going to stay invested, they were going to spend $750 more million. >> that's motivating. it's like winning the lottery. >> content is one of them? implgtsds content will be a key component of that spend, both what we've -- i think we're in an interesting stage of our growth where we want to try more robust and interesting projects. we've reordered second seasons of a lot of our shows, the the idea is to put down deeper roots and really use that as a way to cat pault ourselves into the next level. >> charlotte, thanks for joining us. >> it's been a pleasure talking to you. thanks for having me. in a few days hulu will announce its lineup for the coming year and we'll have more details on cnn.com. coming up, my inner weather

geek comes out.

i learned a new phrase this week, a term that producers use for this -- when a bunch of reporters are all standing outside various live shot location. it's called a show the force. that's me in the upper right-hand corner. this week i helped out with cnn's coverage of the first blizzard of the new year. it got me thinking about how television covers weather. >> the big apple frozen to the core. >> it's freezing. listen to this baby. >> i'm actually leaning against this deck here just to brace

myself so i don't lose footing. >> we could sit out here all day and stay cozy. >> i have the tears coming out. >> listen to that. that's a banana. >> it's so cold that a lot is frozen solid. >> we have our measuring stick. >> there are workers here in this city that can help you with that. >>s there's perfectly good reasons. ening case a third of the population was affecteder weather stories warn viewers and readers to get home and stay off the roads. in big storms, that can save lives. >> that's why i was out there turning into a human popsicle. but this is good television. these stories have an obvious beginning, middle and end, automatic drama and entertainment. that's kind of entertaining, i think. while it's hard for the crews

standing out there shivering, it's easy to go wall to wall with weather. there's often a big ratings bounce. you may call it a perfect storm of elements. so it's best when television reporters and anchors are transparent and have fun when it's appropriate. endless hype and -- the next time people won't trust you. you know when you're freezing out there tethered to a camera. it feels like the producer in your ear has complete control over you. even after your report, they'll say over and over again, you're not clear yet, you're not clear yet, that means the show of force is still on the screen. but really it's the people out in the snow who have the power. they have the power to put the storm in perspective and relay important unless. i left long island equipsed it is possible to create both good

television and good journalism while being blown around in a blizzard. you know, that's auld for this televised edition, but our media coverage continues all the time on the reliable sources blog on cnn.com. we'll see you back here next sunday at 11:00 a.m. eastern. "state of the union" with candidate crowley starts right hue. new year, old trucks. today, health insurance in the balance, and an economy on the mend. >> i'm optimistic for the year that lies ahead. >> your health care, your job, your money, what to expect from 2014. a conversation with gene sperling, director of the national economic council. then, is he the one? >> the answers won't come from washington. >> he took on public unions and became the only governor in history to survive a recall election. wisconsin's scott walker is the first in our series