states has made progress moving from fifth place to third place. last place goes to the african nation of guinea. overall the study warned about the uneven face of change around the world. thank you for being part of my program this week. program this week. i will see you next week. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. i'm brian salt ter. it's time for "reliable sources." i'll tackle isis and see if fear is getting in the way of the facts. and chuck todd, i'll show you my interview with him in a few minutes. we are going to start son a somber note. the funeral of joan rivers is getting started at the temple emanu-el. who have you cena rife so far? >> reporter: brian, this is exactly what we all expected and what joan rivers would have wanted, truly an a-list cast of

celebrities. we have a bus right behind me, but let me tell you about who we've seen, everyone from whoopie goldberg to donald trump who brought her on to celebrity a pren disgiving her rejuvenation later on in her career. who's who of the media world. diane sawyer, joy behar. we know cindy adams will be speaking. she's a columnist and long-time friend. she wrote in the "post" she will be speaking. we saw her arriving. deborah norville tweeted out that she will be one of the speakers here at joan rivers memorial service in new york city. brian, joan had joked in her book about the kind of celebrity show business kind of affair that she wanted. it seems that that's exactly what she's going to be getting. we know that the new york city gay man's chorus is performing. they say joan rivers was a big

supporter of their organization, that they're honored to perform here. they're going to be doing some pieces that they feel are reflective of joan. "hey big spender" is one of them, "there's nothing like a day" and "what a wonderful world." and it will reflect the mood of this service. so many people pouring in to honor joan rivers. i don't want to miss some of the celebrities who have shown up. kathy griffin, kristin chenow h chenoweth. kathie lee give ford, hoda kotb. this is a private service, brian, invitation only, but of course we know that joan rivers' friends were celebrities. so they're the ones that are here. two most important people are not yet here, and that would be of course melissa rivers, joan's daughter, and her grandson cooper. >> so i expect they'll be

pulling up any moment now. thank you for joining us. we'll keep an eye on the live shot outside. the funeral location, as you mentioned, what joan rivers said she wanted at her funeral. i want to play that audio. this is from her autobiography where she jokingly talked about how she wanted this morning to go. >> when i die, and, yes, melissa, the tai will come, yes, melissa, everything is still in your name, i want my funeral to be a huge showbiz affair with lights, camera, action. i want crass services. i want paparazzi. i want publicists making a scene. i want it to be hollywood all the way. don't give me some ran by rambling on. i want meryl streep crying in five different accents. i don't want a eulogy, i want bobby vinton over that casket to pick up my head and look into my lifeless eyes and sing "mr. lonely." i want to look gorgeous!

better dead than i do alive. i want to be buried in a valentino gown. i want harry winston to make me a toe tag. i want a wind machine so strong that even in the casket my hair will be blowing more than beyonce's on stage. >> trying to make us laugh even today. let me bring in cnn correspondent nischelle turner here in new york. seems like she's getting some of what we wanted. >> yeah, we know she is. we don't know if she'll be buried in the valentino gown. maybe she will be buried in roberto covali. we are seeing all of her star-studded celebrity friends to say good-bye. >> we know deborah norville, cindy adams? >> we're hearing hugh jackman may sing or speak at the funeral as well. we heard that the gay man's chorus will be singing one of the numbers they will be singing is "what a day." i think that's very fitting. "what a wonderful world" they

will be singing as well also, very fitting for this morning. i know the temple holds a couple thousand. we're not sure how big the crowd will be. it definitely has capacity. >> 65th street in central park over on the upper east side of the manhattan where joan rivers lived. let me bring in larry king. he's on the phone with me now. larry, what should we remember about joan on a sad day like today? >> we should remember, brian, the joy of her laughter. the skill of her mind. joan rivers was a brilliant woman. she was valedictorian at barnard, fbi bephi beta cappa. she was wonderful to be around. yes, she punctured the world. she took on everybody, but she took on herself just as well. she gave as good as she got. she was downright funny, and the

best minimum ri we have of herr is laughter. i think in the future, brian, when anybody mentions the name joan rivers, people will smile. >> 81 years old when she passed away and was still working every day. tell me what that says about her and about television, that she was able to stay relevant for so long, just like you, larry. >> frank sinatra once told me there's a lot to be said about longevity. she would prove she had a lot of ups and downs, the suicide of her husband, the terrible occurrences that happened with johnny carson where they never got back together. she hit the bottom and she kept coming back, and that's a great sign of our people, when they can get up from the floor and come back. she was working the night before she had the accident in that center where they were doing the throat procedure. she was scheduled to work the night after. joan never -- to my knowledge, never turned down a gig.

she loved to be on stage. she loved to entertain and she was -- i think of so many things, brian, that she said over the years on my show and in other places. she once said there will never be a woman jewish terrorist because no woman would put a bomb in her gucci bag. >> there were so many of these lines. i love that we've seen them over the past few days being broadcast and rebroadcast. i want to show you one more. i saw this in cindy adams column. a day without working is a day lost. that's what you're saying as well. larry, thank you for joining us. hope to see you soon. >> you, too, brian. let me bring in one more person who knew joan rivers. dick is on the phone with us. dick, you said joan was warm, big hearted beneath all the sharp jabs, sometimes the mean humor. tell me about that. >> yeah. this has surprised people

because they would say, she's so raucous, so mean. are you telling -- she's a lady and if you ever talked with her, i echo what larry said, she had not many phi beta cappas from barnard make it into television. there is a time for me to tell you stories that would come under the head of kindness that joan did to people who are working with her back when we were in little clubs together, in the village. later on in her life when she sat with a young comedian, changed her airplane seat, said, let's hear your act, fixed it up for him. there are hundreds of stories like that for her. i'm sure any psychiatrist would say she was come pulls civilly driven and neurotic to be as successful in the way she was. well, thank goodness. we were the beneficiaries of

that. and also let's not pretend that we don't all love hearing the rich and famous getting secured. when elizabeth taylor gained 100 pounds, and joan said i took her to mcdonald's and she couldn't get through the arch, you hated yourself for a moment for laughing but had to admit that we all loved to hear those things. >> that's a very good point. >> she held on in a career -- in a business where successful careers last maybe eight years. joan went decade after decade after decade and only a handful of people have ever succeeded in show business the way she did. and then way too soon she died. >> nischelle turner with me as well. i want to talk about that point that dick was just making about her career. >> yeah. >> she is -- she was the star of a big show on the enetwork, "fashion police." >> yes. >> we don't know what's going to

happen with that show? >> we don't know. officially e put out a statement we are mourning joan's loss and we'll worry about programming and what we'll do at a later date. i did speak with some folks who are involved with that. >> for fashion week, this is a huge time for that show. they were bringing the entire production here, this was joan's super bowl, fashion week. they decided to cancel the tapings here that will air, not "fashion police" shows but fashion week type of shows. after that they're not even sure what will happen to the show. they can't imagine going on without joan. >> before we wrap here, i want to make one more point about family. we look at the pictures and the celebrity arrivals, and we think of her as celebrities. there are family members. i happen to be friends with one of her nieces. melissa rivers and joan rivers had a close relationship. >> the closest that mother and

daughter can have. i've been reflecting on that. i'm an only child and so very close to my moerks and seeing them in the photos that we've been showing, 75% of them have melissa in it. you usually didn't see one without the other. i mean, that -- i can't imagine the grief and loss that melissa is going through today because, yes, we're all close with our parents, but they were a team. they were a pair. they were the rivers' family. you never really saw them without the other. >> any person who's lost a parent has to feel some pain about having to see this on television as well. >> oh, absolutely. >> we are celebrating her life. it's a wonderful thing but to have the cameras outside even though it's what joan would have wanted, it does make it a tough day. nischelle turner and dick cavett, thank you as well. stay with cnn all day. squeeze in a quick break here. when we come back, we'll take a look at one of the top stories of the week and of the summer really about isis and the middle east and ask you what a radical

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welcome back.

another freelance journalist, steven sotloff beheaded. it was shown in another propaganda video from isis. now these videos are being countered from the u.s. government. this is a state department video. it is graphic at points that uses the extremists own words and images against them to push back against isis recruitment efforts. it is up on youtube if you want to see it but i warn you it is graphic. every week here on "reliable sources" i ask you to send me a message on what you think of a show. you spoke with me after i invited chowdery. i showed her what chowdery said. she was disgusted. >> thank you for joining me. >> thank you for having me.

>> let me play one of the bites and we'll talk about it. >> what i'm trying to say is people perceive journalists in a very bad light. you only need to see what took place in gaza with 2,000 people slaughtered. for the american journalists they said that was defending themselves. how absurd is that? what do you expect the muslims to treat western journalists when this is the propaganda they are pushing? >> is it a widespread view that journalists are pushing propagan propaganda? >> after september 11th there were few voices. these are the extremists. moderate voices like all the scholars that came out against isis, against al qaeda,

el sahar, obviously they are not relevant news as much as this guy who is crazy. >> you're saying that has an effect on the coverage. let me play one more bite because i asked him about the warping -- the many muslims reject a lot of what he says. let me play that as well. >> look, i've been in propaganda against islam. most of the leaders have been on many platforms. if you go to prak tisching around the world in indonesia, middle east, they'll say the same thing for me. i'm not calling for leadership for individuals i'm calling for leadership for islam. what i'm saying goes according to the koran. >> he's trying to reject the label extremist. >> how can he reject the label extremist when he's saying what he's saying? look, there is a battle of ideology that is taking place within the arab muslim world, within the islamic world between different forces. my father was an imam of a

mosque. he used to be a sofi. this guy is a wahabi, salafi and somebody that advocates for jihad and the world and having sharia in the world. the majority are saying no. >> how would your father react to hearing these sound bites? >> probably he would be horrified. he would think the danger isn't in the books he read, it's in the minds. gaza after the war, 80% of the gazan people are saying not only no to isis, they reject totally the approach of isis and the decapitation. they think it's horrifying and it's not a strategy. it's actually -- it has a backlash on them and they think this doesn't represent them, doesn't represent islam. this is gaza where 1.8 million people are living under occupation. if you look at what's happening in syria, in iraq, in somalia

with shabab and boko haram, these extremist groups are trying to take over their reality and impose their extremist views by manipulating versus of koran. we need to come there now. the majority of muslims in the world are moderates and they want a different islam. >> that's the point i want to underscore because it disturbed me so much to see the racist comments that i received on facebook and twitter from viewers who said now do you see how muslims feel? i barely knew where to start to respond. how would you respond? >> he doesn't represent muslims. even if you look at his twitter account and followers, the debate he has, he's not really one of the mainstream. mainstream muslims in the u.k. took a daze disstrans from his speech. not only in the u.k., who is he talking to?

he's not talking when he talked about somolia, when he talked about malaysia, he's talking about people that are groups of extremists around the world. as muslims we are 1.2 billion people. of course you will find extremists. of course you will find people who are advocating for having sharia law. what you can do is look at the other side and cover the whole picture. the whole picture is different. >> i want to play one more bite. we didn't televise this. this is from the sound check before the interviews. let me play that. >> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 9/11, 7/7. 3/11. >> do you think that sort of behavior was intentionally provocative trying to get me fired up before the interview? >> of course. of course. everything is calculated.

it's not meant for you, brian, but for people who are -- this is a journey of radicalization that he went through. he's trying to grab other people. he knows that there will be room because today when you look at the way arab rulers are treating the majority of muslims, look at egypt. our ally in this journey and the fight on terror and war on terror, thousands of muslims are in jail. 1,000 were killed a year ago. what arab rulers are doing are creating the condition for these extremists to thrive. we need to be clear about that. we need to stop this person. this person should speak in no venues because he is recruiting. he's utilizing networks obviously to accepted message to the rest of the people that are in this moment might be borderline in identity crisis and might be recruited. >> television, youtube, twitter as well.

i do want to ask you about one more sound bite from fox news this week. islam is not the only religion where we see extremism or extreme points of view. this is phil robertson of "duck dynasty" fame on shawn hannity's show. >> in this case you either have to convert them, which i think is -- would be next to impossible. i'm not giving up on them but i'm just saying either convert them or kill them. one or the other. >> i just have to ask for your reaction to that? >> i don't agree with these two. they look alike if you think of it. it seems like extremists and fanatics sound alike and look alike. >> before you go, let me ask you about steven sotloff, the journalist who was beheaded on camera this week. al-jazeera made the choice not to broadcast any of the photos that isis released. that's a more conservative stance than cnn or other groups

took. what did you make of that decision? >> first off, my heart goes out to the families of the journalists that were beheaded and there are thousands of them that were beheaded before that are arab muslim. it's the hardest job to be truth tellers in war zones. it's the hardest job to be truth tellers on air covering situation when people are dying. saying that, i actually admire the decision of al-jazeera. they don't want to be considered. during the iraqi war al-jazeera was considered to be a propaganda organization. >> he was unfairly demonized by the administration. >> it was demonized multiple times. in this point i think you don't want to be used by extremists as a propaganda organ. they already have their messages on twitter, on facebook. they have on internet. they upload videos. every -- you know how many videos they upload a day, isis? at least 20 to 25.

you need to counter that narrative, and they're actually inviting jihadists. they are recruiting. this guy is recruiting and isis is recruiting on daily basis. how can you stop this? by not giving them air time i would say. >> thank you for joining me. >> thank you for having me. so as always, let me know what you think. send me a message on twitter or facebook. my user name is brianstelter. i take you into the halls of nbc. hear chuck todd's plan to revive "meet the press." a card that gave you that "i'm 16 and just got my first car" feeling. presenting the buypower card from capital one. redeem earnings toward part or even all of a new chevrolet, buick, gmc or cadillac - with no limits. so every time you use it, you're not just shopping for goods. you're shopping for something great. learn more at buypowercard.com

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welcome back. this is chuck todd's first morning as moderator of "meet the press," the longest running sunday morning political program on tv. and he is feeling the pressure. "meet the press" used to be untouchable. after tum ruim russert died andd gregory took over, it fell from first place to third place. todd is the ultimate political insider but he says political journalists have failed the public and he hopes to fix that. over at nbc's bureau in d.c. we

had a frank conversation about that. check this out, chuck todd, "meet the press." >> there's a perception "meet the press" is broken. i don't know that i agree with that. do you? >> no, i don't think it's broken. i look at this challenge as different from what some media critics see in us. i look at it as political journalism is going through the same issues that washington politicians are going through. i think the public, their frustration with washington. they've lumped us and the media as part of the problem. if they think the media is doing that. so i think symbolism wise, political journalists are front and center of the they don't get it. so i think what's, quote, unquote, broken is the credibility of us in the media channelling the frustrations of americans. >> is that a fair critique on the part of the viewers? >> yes, i do think it is. this is something that i always like to use the phrase sell a

corridor. the new york washington take ignores what's going on in america. it's that disconnect that leads to the perception that, you know, this show's broken, that show's broken, whatever. it's really about this lack of credibility that did the political reporters really understand? >> i have the political journalism professor on and they said maybe people like you should come on and say, we're part of the problem and we should address it. it sounds like you agree? >> i think when it comes to the economy and the recession, we generally didn't do -- we have not understood the depth of the problem. >> is it the insider versus outsider issue? journalistness washington are too close to their sources? >> i don't think it's that. we've got to get out. we aren't above washington. we aren't above new york. we have to work harder at that. when all political journalism is at its best it's when it's

channelling the american frustration to back through and translate that. >> is part of this about the guests you decide to book? there have been so many criticisms of the same old predictable guests? >> i think it is. booking is harder today than it was because the newsmakers have so many choices that they can decide. i don't want to have a tough interview. i'm going to go over here with somebody who will cheer lead my point of view. >> or tweet their statement? >> absolutely. so, you know, you hope that you elevate the program over time where people feel like, boy, they kind of have to go it will be embarrassing if they don't. >> how important are newsmaker interviews? you had president obama for your first program. is that still the heart of "meet the press"? >> i think it should be because i think the last thing we -- you know, here we are in the cable landscape. the five-minute interviews don't give you the depth that people say they want. i mean, i've gotten a lot of advice, solicited, some unsolicited as you might imagine. all of them universal.

i would like a longer interview. i'd like to learn more. lack of time pressure. i think you still want to have that out there. people said, look, what are some of the still more popular news programs that you're seeing growing in audience? the ones that take a step back these days. some of these weekly shows. >> yet the stereotype is the tv viewers goes on. they always want to move faster. >> i understand that. i like to think if you're doing a compelling interview you shouldn't want to do that. you want to have a little more depth. you want to have a little bit longer. i think sunday morning is different. i think people sit back. >> you mentioned russert. i want to ask you what you have learned over the years from watching his interviews. this is a clip from the first interview of vice president cheney after the 9/11 attacks. i was struck recently about how russert zeroed in on so many topics that were still relevant a decade later. >> you're convinced he's in afghanistan?

>> we don't know. >> is there any united states law which would prohibit us from killing him if we found him? >> not in my estimation, tim. >> russert goes right to the question that was answered a decade later with osama bin laden. what are the lessons from russert's time on "meet the press"? >> the number one lesson is preparation. i watched it firsthand. he was preparing for interviews he hadn't yet booked a month, two months in advance. i think the other thing was he always had the saying that's very true that he used to say that he borrowed which is simply learn everything you can about your guest's point of view and take the opposite takt. >> it's one thing to play devil's advocate but do you express a point of view to show where they're coming from? >> look, i think my title is moderator. i think i should moderate that. i think my job is to broaden the amount of people that i have, people that are invested in a policy outcome.

i want to see both of those sides. see if you can have a respectful way to do it. >> some people at home think neutrality is the problem in journalism. >> there's no such thing as balancing the truth, okay? it's -- it's fairness, period, okay? i know this whole thing of neutrality, i'm not going to sit here and say i'm invested in which party wins. i'm he not invested in which party wins. i'm invested in who's governing right. who's not offending the founders of the democracy. >> what do you say to people who say you're coming from msnbc which is a lib call cable news channel, so you must be tainted. >> look at my work. the guilt by association crap, which there is a lot of people that are invested in building their own internet profiles and internet sites and traffic and all of that stuff, that's a form of a campaign, right, trying to get into the whole media scheme. look at my work. look what i did on the daily

rundown. >> what would you say to people who say that nbc treated david gregory so poorly on his way out from "meet the press"? >> i don't know everything that happened. i was more out of the loop than i think some people would like to believe. i know -- i've learned in my seven years now in the television business this is hard. >> when i asked for comments someone asked are you going to shave? what happens to the goatee? >> i'm not going to shave. this sounds corney. my late father had -- his whole life had a beard. his was a full 3w50erd. same exact color. when i grew a beard, same exact color. he died at 40. i look in the mirror, i see my father. if i shave, i feel like i'm erasing a tiny bit of my dad. i ain't doing it. i'm going to have this beard probably until i'm laying in a coffin. >> check out more of my interview on cnnmoney.com. i posted a story. coming up next, we're

talking about the cable news cycle and how it influences president obama. this morning todd interviewed the president and he said -- obama said part of what i love is a vacation from the press. well, that's not going to happen any time soon, but two former presidential press secretaries will join me right after this. but most of our employees a, live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪

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he's going to outline a plan on wednesday. does president obama have any fans left? his strategy or lack of strategy in dealing with the terror group has been blasted by all signs, including by many, many media types. when is a presidential press secretary to do. earlier i asked two people who have been there and done that. ari fleischer who was george w. bush's president secretary and bill burton who was press secretary until 2011. ari, do you feel any sympathy for the present administration who fends off what is an attack from the republicans and many democrats and the news media about the handling of this? >> professionally i do, ideologically i don't. there's no question what the white house is going through now is brutal on the staff. any time the staff has to pick up one of these, follow the president around, they're in big trouble. the part where the president said we don't have a strategy yet, which is a terrible statement, and then his multiple

contradictory statements, it all puts the staff in a terrible follow-up situation where they cannot have good answers because the boss didn't give them the right things to say. >> bill, did you have to carry around a broom when you were working at the white house? >> in the modern age we use different tools to clean up messes. look, no matter however you slice it, you know, the president can get those words back, i'm sure that he would state them a little bit differently. there was clearly a little bit of a misfire. what's more important than the words and whether or not the president misspeaks which, ari, can talk about presidents who misspeak and having to go back and clean up the words, what's important is the policy. what the president is doing is focusing on a long-term sustainable effort to destroy these monsters and make sure we go out and get the people who are committing these atrocities. the president has a long track

record of getting the bad guys. i think there's no doubt that the american people believe in this case that's going happen again. >> there's some doubt for sure. the washington post said mr. obama should stop attempting to minimize the threats in the middle east. ari, do you feel he's trying to minimize the threats? >> i think president obama doesn't want to be george w. bush. he's so reluctant to get america involved in anything militarily in iraq, in syria. he's trying to find a line where he doesn't have to use america's military power other than for the smallest of surgical strikes and that won't work against isis. it's why so many democrats are bolting against the president. elizabeth warren says we need to destroy isis. >> it's so easy to say we need to destroy isis. it's so much harder to do it. >> no, it's not. it's what presidents do. when presidents say we need to destroy it, we need to back it up. he set a red line for syria and

didn't act upon it. words matter. that's why being a spokesman, that's why being the president is so important. they rally coalitions. they rally leaders around the world. they send signals to friend and foe alike. when the president's words are contradicto contradictory, it has a terrible impact on policy. >> do you feel like some media outlets are pushing the president to attack, to escalate this? >> the press has a tendency to push the white house to act faster than they like. you see it in the briefing room and the talk shows. one of the defining characteristics of this president is that he is not -- he does not let his policies get dictated by those sorts of things. >> and, ari, i think that probably frustrates you. >> well, i think you have a good point there, brian. the press is always interested in the next biggest story and they do try to push in the direction of controversy and bigger news for them to cover.

there is a bit of self-interest in what the press asks and what they seek, but no white house needs to listen to that and none should. i don't think president obama is going to make a military decision based on what the press wants or doesn't want. >> i think if we see on the front page of the newspapers for days and days and weeks and on cable news banners for days and days and weeks and months about how big of a threat isis is, it has an effect of compelling action. i've forgotten about the times weeks ago where we were talking about immigration in this country or about race relations in this country because stories seem to come and go so quickly nowadays. that's something i would think every white house has to contend with. >> i do think that in the modern media, this has been the case for a decade, news spikes up with much more drama than it used to and it comes back down and the press goes onto the next spike. it's as if everything has to be a driver of the news and everything has to be a lead story as opposed to there are multiple stories going on at one

time and they can go up and down in relevance but the press hypes whatever is hottest. >> before iraq, i know there was a big drum beat leading into that. i don't think that necessarily forced president bush's hand. i think there was a plan to do that rasegardless. you have this ebb and flow of big issues all the time. they seem like they're the biggest issues on earth and then they go away. >> i do have to point out with the case of isis, there is a legitimacy to heavy coverage here when you have the attorney general talk about what a threat they are to the homeland, when you have a secretary of defense talk about what a threat they are. administration officials armed with expertise and intelligence have made newsworthy statements and certainly the two beheadings, of course they are going to get covered. there is a legitimacy to the coverage. it does push administrations in certain directions but, again, it's the job of the administration to be sober and

make the best judgment regardless of the press coverage. >> ari fleischer and bill burton, thanks for joining me. >> thanks, brian. when we come back, more on the drum beat that bill burton mentioned and why i'm concerned that the american media may be falling down on the job. a red news/blue news you've got to see after this. woman: everyone in the nicu -- all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment.

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it's time for red news, blue news.time for red news, my weekly look at partisan media misbehavior. i want to begin with a provocative thought about the coverage of the islamic extremist group isis. it's clear it's a barbaric group determined to force its way of life on to others. it's not just politicians calling for military action. it's a lot of media big wigs, too. here's the banner headline earlier this week. media war frenzy like 2003. that's a frightening concept

right there. and here's a quote that jumped out from me from one of the columns on national journal.com. he quoted a leader that said a decade ago we all hopped on the bus so the white house could take us to war. now, it seems like we're driving the bus. consider this remark from fox news channel. he wrote this on twitter. behead the isis butchers. it seemed like another fox anchor almost lost her mind earlier this week. look at this tweet, obama, do something, do something. and going on, and i have to wonder if some of these commentators are letting the fear get the best of them or the ideological agendas. one big difference from 2003, we had red news on tv, we had fox, but we didn't have solidly blue news from msnbc. it wasn't a liberal news channel back then. now it is. here's what rachel maddow reminded her viewers this week. >> we know from our own history that terrorists provocations

make us more likely to act. they do not make our actions more likely to succeed. that's the beauty of terrorism, right? that's the strategic beauty of it. that's what they want. >> i, myself, am very concerned about the press provokining pan about isis, but i'm keeping an open mind. and earlier in d.c., i asked ron what he thought as well as the editor of the proudly liberal magazine "the nation." here's a bit of our conversation. >> i write a weekly column for the washingtonpost.com. and i've said many things contrary to the conventional wisdom. but on friday, you had mitt romney accusing the president of appeasement. you had charles krauthammer calling for u.s. war with ewe krin which doesn't have any strategic priority for this nation. i'm just saying, the "washington post" has not seen a war -- >> there are sure a lot of

politicians stoking war rhetoric, encouraging the president to do something. and i wonder about whether the media is pushing the president toward a further escalation here. look at the new york post, the new york daily news. the new york post cover. this won't stop until we stop them. that kind of rhetoric. now, of course, this is a tabloid. i wonder if there are market pressures, katrina, that are causing the press to overplay the threat that isis does pose. >> no question about it. there is a trivialization, a tabloidization of news coverage that has infected and affected the way this country, much of the media has covered the world. not all of it. and the "new york post" is a tabloid, run by rupert murdoch. but you do have fox and other outlets. and it's just not asking the tough questions. i'm not saying we shouldn't ask tough questions, but ask the tough questions, especially 13

years after 9/11 about what are the real threats to this country? hasn't this country gone through very bad times? aren't we allowing the extremists to defeat us if we give into fear and not show the resilience of the great nation. >> thomas friedman made that point in the "new york times" this week about how isis wants the u.s. to overreact. that's exactly what any extremist group wants. >> that's what they want. and that is why i fear that the more we feed the panic, the more those who beat the drums of war, the fear mongering that they are hurting, damaging the security of this country and the resilience of this nation to confront effectively with tough questioning with smart solutions to these problems. >> look, we all -- >> on the other hand, is it worse to overhype a threat than it is to underplay? is it -- what's worse, do you think? undercover something or overplay it? >> you know, i don't know, that's a false choice. what's bad, wrong for journalists to do at this early in the stage to conclude

anything. to be able to say we need to go to war now is irresponsible. to say we can't go to war now is irresponsible. the fact is, one thing katrina's right about, we haven't asked all the questions yet. so, yes, media is sensationalized right now. media tends to hype any shiny object that comes along right now, but that doesn't necessarily mean that isis is not a threat. >> bottom line, we journalists cannot let fear amongering get in the way of facts. up next on "reliable sources," a tribute to a cnn legend. [ female announcer ] you get sick, you can't breathe through your nose... suddenly you're a mouthbreather. well, put on a breathe right strip and instantly open your nose up to 38% more than cold medicines alone. so you can breathe and sleep. shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right.

that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. so you can breathe and sleep. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a

performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. go to comcastbusiness.com/ checkyourspeed. if we can't offer faster speeds or save you money we'll give you $150. comcast business built for business. before we go this morning, i want to take a moment. bruce's broadcast career stretched more than 40 years. at cbs and then later at cnn. he was writing until the end. a few days before he died, he was posting about the midterm elections on his blog. yes, one of the original members of the boys on the bus who started his craft pounding away at a manual typewriter about a

blog. a lesson to us all about being anyone to adapt a technology. that's all for this televised edition of "reliable sources." but our media coverage keeps going on cnn.com. we'll see you next sunday at 11:00. now "state of the union" when candy crowley starts right now. september brings the president double trouble in an election season. handling isis and immigration. california congressman is one of many unhappy democrats is with us. then, the strategy is still uncertain, but the end game is defined, destroy isis. >> you can't contain an organization that is running rough shot through that much territory. the goal has to be to dismantle it. >> go to people on national intelligence. mike rogers and dianne feinstein are re