exchanged vows in italy yesterday. guests included matt damon, bill murray, and anna wintour. they borded a boat and mrs. clooney could be seen glancing at her wedding ring. i'm erin mcpied in washington. "reliable sources" starts right now. good morning. i'm brian stelter. it's sunday, september 28th, and it is time for "reliable sources." questions about one of my colleagues at cnn, fareed za caca zakaris, a plagiarist? plus a news anchor who does not hide his point of view. plus a is abc news air brushing a scandal involving miss america? aisle be joined by a former cia official who is being quoted in isis propaganda but i want to

start the morning by asking something controversial but something that we as americans have to be asking. is our country again waging war in the middle east based on faulty intelligence and exaggerated threats? i have a pair of guests standing by who have a whole lot to say about this, about the media's duty to ask these questions in times of war. so let me set the table by considering what's happened since monday when the government launched air strikes against isis in syria. we were shown u.s. navy video of the strikes and assured that the bombs hit the right targets. and we were told that the bombs also targeted a group we had barely heard of before,. now, we as journalists have very few ways to verify these claims. so i ask you at home, do you want journalists to assume everything government officials say is true? do you want journalists to assume that everything officials say is a lie and then work backwards and try to verify it? or is there a middle ground here? let's be honest, there are good reasons governments keep

secrets. governments do a lot to keep us safe every day. but governments also have histories of exaggerating threats in order to advance their own interests. and you are not well served if the press just passively plays along. so let me bring in two people who know a lot about this. soledad o brian a former anchor at cnn who produces documentaries. and in d.c. this morning markm azetti, a national news correspondent for "the new york times." you're an anchor at nbc for the time when the iraq war started. did you think the tough questions were not being asked? >> i think there was an atmosphere where the narrative had moved a certain direction and if you were going to be a voice standing up for sort of the other direction, you'd have a terrible feeling. when everything is marching along, the narrative has been set, it's very challenging, especially if everyone around you are all saying this is the narrative, this is the direction you're going.

i think it was a big problem and certainly looking back now many people have written -- >> more skepticism you think? >> i think there has been an appropriate amount of skepticism. >> mark, who is your vantage point on this as someone covering this every day in "the new york times"? >> i was struck over the summer by this isis as a threat but no one was really examining exactly what this threat was all about, and then compound that with very gruesome videos of journalists being beheaded and all of a sudden you had this real escalation of the rhetoric within the u.s. government about the need to go after isis. what we tried do is write a couple stories which was really trying to truth squad this and examine to pick apart what exactly is a threat, who is it a threat to, and how imminent is the threat? as we started asking exactly what was the nature of the plot, we started to learn there had not been a target selected, there had not even been necessarily a mode of attack selected. these are the things as reporters we have to continue to write about and ask questions

about because, you know, we shouldn't just be buying what is said publicly. >> it is patriotic for us to be asking the questions, even though sometimes journalists are accused of being unpatriotic at times of war by challenging the government line. >> yearly. i'm sure you remember very well after 9/11 there was a clear sense of what was patriotic and what was not, and there was a very clear category for you are a patriot and anybody else who stepped out of line really ran the risk of this public condemnation of what's wrong with you? are you on their side or ours? we have just been attacked as a nation. what is your problem? journalists have to get out there and be in an uncomfortable position of pushing people on things they may not want to answer. that is the job. and it's interesting, i remember months ago when i would do interviews and people say you grilled, you aggressively -- >> yes, yes. >> it's like that's the job. that's the gig. it shouldn't be held as something exceptional. this is what the job is. >> soledad o'brien and mark ma zetty, thank you both are fog

her for being here. much of what we know about the terror group comes from their own propaganda materials. how would you feel if isis used your name and quoted you in a recruiting video? well, it happened to my next guest, michael. it happened this week and not for first time actually. he is a former intelligence officer for the cia. he's also an author and blogger with some controversial opinions but also a lot of fans, a few of whom apparently are a part of isis. he joins me now from washington. good morning. >> good morning. >> thank you for being here. tell me about this case. this was one of these videos released where a hostage is basically acting like an anchor delivering isis opinions to the camera. your name came up. how did you find out about this and how did you react? >> well, it's not the first time it happened. mr. bin laden used my name and referred to my work -- >> bin laden recommended one of your books, right? >> right.

what i have said recently is not a lot different from what i have been saying for more than a decade which is we're going to lose this war if we don't come to grips with what motivates the enemy and basically that is all i have said and it's certainly what isis was pointing to, that we have presidents, senators, congressmen in the last three administrations who have consistently lied to the american people about what this war is about. >> so let's be clear. you're saying what is the lie that they are making? >> the lie is that somehow we're being attacked because we have -- my daughters go to university. we have elections early on the presidential years in iowa. we have freedom. we have "x" rated movies and whiskey. they would have none of those things in their country but not one of them would blow themselves up because of those things. what they're fighting is our intervention in their world. our support as we're supporting now, we're in a coalition with tyrants attacking isis. we have long supported for 60

years we've supported tierney across the middle east. >> i have some hesitations about what you're saying but let's take it for a moment at face value because i'm curious if you feel the press is, you know, too complacent going along with what the government, what the president is say being this latest war and not saying what you're saying. >> the media and the political establishment in this country can either be two things, sir. they can be idiots and they really don't understand or they can be liars. i think they're the latter. >> okay. you're only putting two buckets here, idiots or liars, you wouldn't put a third or fourth or fifth bucket here? >> not right now, sir. we have 20 years of the islamists telling us exactly what they're fighting about, and then matching their words with deeds. and we have 20 years of american presidents and most media people saying that, don't listen to them. we know better than they do what they're doing. they're nar cysts, they're nad

men. >> i'd like to think we're not idiots or liars but well intentioned people who are trying our best, would you maybe concede that? >> i'm not sure, sir. i followed osama bin laden for a long time and there was only one of his dozens and dozens of speeches that was ever reprinted in the united states for the american public to read. >> that's actually very interesting because i interviewed someone on the program last month, one of the men arrested in the uk earlier this week on suspicion of terror offenses. it was a tough decision whether we should have him on the program but i thought it was important to hear what he says and how he says it. i think you're saying the same thing, we need to listen to what these mad men in some cases actually believe. >> sir, the american government did a spectacular job during the cold war period in letting the american people know what the russians were up to, what they said, how they behaved, and most importantly letting us know what their intentions were regarding the united states. we will bury you, remember? we have never been allowed to

hear what the enemy says and have people in the united states off their own hook decide whether what the american politicians are telling them is true or whether we have something much greater to worry about. the problem here is underestimation of the enemy. take a look at the young men and women on prosthetic devices in this country. they're everywhere, sir. and why is that? because we were too concerned with how many of the enemy we might kill before they had a chance to kill us. it is a tragedy. >> i will leave it there and thank you for joining me this morning and sharing your point of view with us. >> you're very kind, sir. thank you. >> one final note, if you're a reliable sources regular, you probably remember this interview from last month with the radical cleric. his arrest happened in london. got a lot of attention and then on friday a day after, he was released and he wrote this on twitter. i have been released from police custody just in time for cameron, the prime minister, to declare war on islam and muslims in iraq and syria.

again, something so many would disagree with and yet we have to hear his voice, i believe. we need to squeeze in a quick break. when we come back, we'll take a look at a suspension of a major espn personality and ask did it have anything to do with the network's business ties with the national football league. a lot more ahead this morning. stay with us. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.

charlie, the demand on this network, it is increasing by the second. it's crazy, huh? and people are relying on it more than ever. we cover more than 99% of all americans. i know, i can't imagine living without it. it's a place where people can come share knowledge and ideas. it's beautiful. that's deep charlie. my selfie just hit a hundred likes...(gasps) a hundred! at&t is building you a better network.

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voice we won't get to hear and that's espn's bill simmons. these next two sound bites will explain why. here is the first one from simmons' famous pod cost the bs report where he blasted roger goodell for mishandling the ray rice scandal. >> i just think not enough is being made out of the fact that they knew about the tape and they knew what was on it. if goodell didn't know what was on that tape, he's a liar. i am just saying it. he is lying. i think that dude is lying. if you put him up on a lie detector test, that guy would fail. >> he's lying -- >> and to pretend they didn't know is such [ bleep ] [ bleep ]. it really is. for him to go in this press conference and pretend otherwise, i was so insupplemented. >> liar, liar, liar. he kept going and he dared espn not to punish him for what he just said. >> i really hope somebody calls me or e-mails me and says i'm in trouble for anything i say about roger goodell. if one person says that to me,

i'm going public. you leave me alone. the commissioner is a liar and i get to talk about that on the pod cost. >> we'll bleep the f and the bs. >> bleep that. call me and say i'm in trouble, dare me. >> simmons is one of espn's biggest stars. his job is to spout opinions but even he is not above the law, espn law that is. the next day after that podcast, the network suspended him for three weeks. a lot of fans were stunned, and they supported him with #free simmons. tough wonder if espn's $15 billion contract with the nfl had something to do with this. then again, what would your employer do in this situation? here is jim miller, the co-author of "thoes guys have all the fun" and in atlanta this morning is will leech, senior writer for swtion sports on earth" the founding editor of dead spin.

jim, i think we must have color coordinated here this morning. >> good thing we texted last night. >> bill simmons' contract is up when? >> next year. >> if he was, say, up for renewal right now, what do you think he would do? >> a lot of people is writing it's inevitable he will re-sign. i think it's very much in doubt. >> he more than just about anybody in sports or in media is a personal brand. he could in theory take it and go anywhere. let me brick in will and ask you what you thought of the suspension. three weeks, was that way overboard? >> i don't know espn's rules on this. i'm not sure espn actually knows espn's rules on this. certainly there was a certain symbolic ugliness to the fact that not only was it three weeks -- it was one week longer than ray rice was initially suspended. obviously they're two different companies mostly. we can't compare them apples to apples. simmons i think is an unlikely martyr for kind of censorship

and free speech in corporations but certainly i think by -- this got tied into what's general been going on with the nfl rather than just being something that was inside espn, and i think that's why this became dutch a big deal. >> you wrote for "sports on earth. quption do you think it has something to do with the financial relationship between the espn and the nfl? >> as i joked in the piece there are -- it's infin gnat number of people we could have called a lie earned it would have been fine. certainly espn i think understandably says, well, it was because he challenged us and he kind of put us in that position which is reasonable. he certainly did beg for the suspension but if he would have said gary bettman, the commissioner of the nhl, a league espn does not have a deal with, if he says he's a liar, he's a liar, come on speespn, i dare you to fine me. i don't think he gets fine. particularly how weird the whole nfl relationship with all of these media companies is now. it's hard to imagine -- i get

why espn says it's just about the dare, but to pretend it's not connected to goodell, what's going on in the nfl i think is disingenious. >> jim, you know espn so well. do you think it was about money or something snels. >> i don't think so. with all due respect, will, i don't want. espn has been pummeling the nfl for the past several weeks on this ray rice issue. i think this is about the tact that nobody -- at espn they believe nobody can be bigger than the brand. in bill soimmons mind i think te podcast is sui generous, where he can be more free flowing. espn believes it's all under the same umbrella. so i think if he had just said the first part, he would have been in trouble but the second part when you defy them to punish you, i think that's certainly added on a couple weeks, but there is an interesting point to will's point which is i think espn in some way is going through the same problem that the nfl has in

terms of punishment. because three weeks does seem to be somewhat strange given what happened with steven a. smith. >> that was a one-week suspension for his comments about domestic violence. >> quote, unquote, provoking. i think they need to figure out a punishment structure like the nfl does because none of these suspensions seem to be tied to anything else. >> his job is to give opinions. >> and i get it. listen, i understand the idea that espn feels the podcast is under their umbrella and they probably should. they are paying for it. i certainly understand why they would feel that way. i think the difference is -- to go back to the point, the idea that the reason that he said go ahead, suspend me if you want for saying that was because simmons knew that goodell was a sore spot. going after goodell was going to be a sore spot with espn, but i think there is something -- a lot of this again comes down to taste. a lot -- you hear that clip and you hear him say he's a liar and

you hear him curse and so on. a lot of people, particularly in the buttoned up worldth nfl, that's stronger than a lot of the fact based things that some of those guys have been reporting. >> i wanted to hear, jim, you know so many people on espn and you wrote on twitter there's a civil war going on in bristol, the espn quarters, about bill some mons. i know a lot of conversations are private but what has the sense been about this three-week suspension? do people think it's jor board? >> the reason i used the word civil war is i think simmons has his supporters and a lot of detractors. i think when you look at what happened with d for instance when magic johnson was taken off the nb show that bill was on, not a lot of people came to his defense. he's been through a lot this past year and i think that there are people there that are gunning for him and his deal is up. >> that's right. and so i go back to will on the point we started with, will, do you think a year from now bill simmons will be at espn? >> i do. i understand simmons frustration

with a lot of those people. one of the reasons simmons feels like he's maybe even larger than the espn brand is he unlike a lot of people at espn is entirely self made. he came in on a freelance contract and built the strength of the audience from his own voice. now i still feel like my joke in my column about this is i feel like the simmons espn suspensions are becoming like when the nba commissioner david stern would fine mark cuban and they would kind of laugh about it later. like it helps both of their -- i hate to say it, helps both of their brands to do it. espn looking like they get tough with him, simmons gets to look like the martyr. it's a wonderful relationship. that's a perfect kind of relationsh relationship. >> i'm glad you mentioned that. will and jim, thank you both for being here. >> thanks. time for a quick break here. here is something to think about. attorney general al sharpton? i'm kidding, of course, but the resignation of eric holder will

be looked at after the break through the red news/blue news prism.

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it is time for red news/new ne blue news. my subject this week has gotten used to all that painting. he's been the attorney general for six years, eric holder, and this week he called it quits. >> attorney general eric hold ser stepping down. a leader who fought to protect and expand the gains of the civil rights movement and reformed the worst abuses of our criminal justice system. >> that's blue news. msnbc's al sharpton and a few hours later on the same network rachel maddow had prepared a pretty impressive highlight reel of holder's tenure. this is just a part of it. >> getting the fbi to start taping their interrogations for the first time ever in the history of that opaque agency.

that is attorney general eric holder. unprecedented federal investigation and oversight of local police departments to get them to stop discriminatory policing. that was attorney general eric holder. oh, and rebuilding a department of justice that was a smoking hulk when he got there. that, too, is attorney general eric holder. >> now, over on fox news the anchors were not spending a lot of time talking about incarceration rates. fox's website had a highlight reel. they even called it a highlight reel but it listed his strofer sis over the years, mostly when the attorney general talked about race relations. a montage aired on the five, too. here are all those hobbess reacted. >> it's like a bond film losing your bond villain. he was our dr. no, our gold finger, or jaws, or odd job. without a bond villain, you don't have a bond film. he arrived -- he arrived to this job with a chip on his shoulder and he left the ghunt pieces because he was so obsessed with

division and separation and righting the wrongs of a bad america. >> so civil rights champion or controversial political activist? which one is it? comparing blue news and red news coverage of this, it was like they were talking about two totally different people. i thought this next sound bite was really revealing. this is from heather childers on fox news talking about the segment on her early morning show where she solicits feedback from her viewers. >> we call it keep talking and today's issue was this, and it was eric holder. everyone was talking about how they don't feel like they were his attorney general, that they were president obama's attorney general. >> did you catch what she was trying to say? holder didn't represent us, he represents them, the others. it's a call back to the rallying cry of the tea party right after obama was elected and holder was appointed in 2009. you know the phrase, time to take our country back. of course, that isn't a uniquely right wing phrase.

during the bush administration taking america back was a talking point on the left. the attorney general post is a part of the never ending push and pull about that, and now this attention is turning to who is going to get the job next. so i'll wrap up where i started with al sharpton. check out this media headline. al sharpton says i'm helping obama pick eric holder's replacement. now, what sharpton specifically said is that his national action network is, quote, engaged in a conversation was the white house in deliberations over a successor who we hope will continue in the direction of attorney general holder. that's sharpton wearing his activist hat, not his msnbc host hat. i know it's confusing, maybe that's part of the problem sometimes. and that's why we try to sort it out here with red news/blue news. it's time for another quick break. when we come back, we're going to talk to somebody i think is maybe a sign of the future of television. he's an anchor who sees nothing

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remember all the stories you heard about central american children all alone, sneaking across the border in the united states? it was a front page story back in july, a crisis. as children were said to be crossing the southern border in record numbers. we heard about the train that carries immigrants across the mexico and crossing the rio grande river and the awful conditions of detention and processing facilities in the u.s. and we all saw the protests going on along the border, but the story has mostly faded away here. i watch a lot of tv news and most of the border mentions i have heard lately have been about the idea that terrorists might sneak across the border. meanwhi meanwhile, the children keep coming. 66,127 unaccompanied children have come across between last september and this august versus

35,209 a year earlier. that's according to the border patrol. there is a television network where this is still a daily story, and that's univision, the main spanish language network in the u.s. as you're about to see, their biggest news anchor, jorge ramos, has been outspoken about the need for immigration reform. he swam across the rio grande this summer to make a point. he anchors in spanish on univision and also in english on a cable channel called fusion. earlier i spoke with him about what it means to be a news anchor with a powerful point of view. did you have any hesitations about making yourself part of the story? >> no. i think we have to show what's going on, and that's exactly what's going on. i think something seen on tv can be boring. if people don't watch what we do, they'll look for something else. so i think we have to find interesting ways of making

people watch what we do, and it was -- the story was not about me. the story was about the children who are doing exactly the same thing. it's just we don't see it. >> this is why i think you're so interesting as an anchor, jorge, because like you said, off point of view on some big stories, and you go and experience it firsthand. i have a hard time imagining peter jennings ever swimming across the rio grande river. >> well, peter jennings did a fantastic job s. as a matter of fact, he's one of my idols in journalism, and we have to remember peter jennings went to every single place where he believed there was news. i think that we have to be covering these stories in a completely new way because otherwise no one is going to be watching what we do, and, of course, we have points of view. brian, you have a point of view and you have prejudices and i have points of view and i have prejudices, but the difference

is that nowadays is that people are very smart. they do know that we're not talking in a vacuum. we do know we have political points of view but i never go on the air in these news rooms every single night doing for fusion or for univision saying vote republican or vote democrat. i mean, i'm a registered independent. so it is -- it doesn't make any sense to try to hide that from the public. of course i have a point of view and i'm an immigrant. i came from mexico. that's a very important part of my life, and that is reflected in my reporting, but that doesn't mean that when i'm reporting about syria or iraq or what's going on at the border that i can't say -- >> i share a lot of what you're say being the value of point of view in journalism, but on the other hand there's a lot of anchors and reporters who would say they leave their opinions out of it completely and they just report what people tell them, what other people tell

them. i kind of hear you saying that but -- >> that's fine. i respect that. i respect that, but we know that they have points of view. the fact that they don't want to make it public, that's their prerogative, but the fact is they do have points of view. what i think is important is that when you go on the air, that you are professional and that you are fair. the idea of objectivity as you know in every journalism school is always being debated. the fact that we are discussing syria and iraq and not senegal and mexico and nicaragua, that's a decision. you could argue that we're not being objective. so in other words, what i'm trying to do as a journalist every single day is to be fair, and also, brian, i think it's important that being fair doesn't mean that you have to be bland and that you have to be boring. i mean, being fair means many times confronting the precedent and going to the congress and

confronting john boehner. sometimes as a journalist you have to do that. cronkite did it and jennings did it and ted koppel and amanpour and anderson. they do it all the time. >> -- they know what you believe in and what you stand for? >> but i'm not hiding anything. >> and that's my point. i wonder if some people are wary of talking to you, some officials, some congressmen or some presidents because they don't want to face the questions they know you're going to ask. >> some of them. yeah, i think some of them are, of course, worried and some of them decide not to talk to me and that's fine. so far what i find very refreshing both on fusion and univision is that with that actually no problem whatsoever talking to the most important people not only in this country but in the world. i mean, they -- i think they come to our shows on fusion and on univision because they think they know that i'm going to be fair with them, that i'm going to allow them to give their point of view and if that point

of view is controversial or if that point of view doesn't reflect what they've said in the past, i'll confront them, but, again, my purpose as a journalist -- >> i continue to believe that point of view journalism is going to keep taking up a bigger and bigger space in our media world. >> i think so, too. >> jorge ramos, thanks for joining me this morning. >> brian, thanks so much. >> i think he is a fascinating guy. let me know about what you think what he said. i need to take a quick break. when we come back, a question about abc. did its business relationship with the miss america pageant cause it to gloss over a potential scandal with the newly crowned winner? i know, i can't imagine living without it. it's a place where people can come share knowledge and ideas.

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welcome back to "reliable

sources." miss america is a pageant of all pageants and perhaps the brand of all brands. at the beginning of the week allegations surfaced on the blog jezebel that the newly crowned miss america was involved in sorority hazing. not just involved, she was kicked out of the sorority as a result. to defend herself or at least to do some damage control, she went on ""good morning america"" and sat down with lara spencer. >> all i can do is sit here and be honest and share that, yes, i was involved under the broad definition of hazing at some point but never, ever in a million years what this is claiming to hold. >> here is the thing. abc was the broadcaster of the pageant earlier this month and spencer was a co-host. it did okay in the ratings. it was down from last year but still true in a significant audience. i don't think you can blame miss

america for seeking out a friendly interviewer but can you blame abc for air brushing? my next guest thinks so. tell me how this story came about for you. >> we didn't pursue it. somebody cage to us with a tip. >> an anonymous tipster. >> well, i was aware of who it was but the tipster said they didn't want their name revealed. we got more information and the more we looked into it, the more it checked out. >> you thought it was newsworthy, why? >> i thought it was newsworthy because miss america traffics in role models and hazing is a serious problem. so it stands to reason that an organization that wants to find a role model for girls would maybe not want someone in that role that had participating in hazing. >> you were bothered and you wrote on twitter about it and wrote on jezebel that abc didn't contact you ahead of time about the "gm a" interview an you thought the softball questions were a problem as well. what was your impression of the

interview, the clip we laid. >> to be short and sweet, it was a commercial, it was an ad. it was "good morning america" protecting miss america's reputation and presenting it as though it was news. >> if i said to you every broadcast network does this with their different parts of their company, for example the "today" show promotes universal studios because it's all a part of comcast, you would say what? >> i would say cross promotion makes sense in media. it's an inevitability and commercially it's groood but my problem is i'm a person who cares about trying to at least get to the truth, and i think journalism should be a search for truth. >> when i asked abc, they decided they didn't want to comment. i was with lara the night after and this was a big deal for her, to be the co-host of this big prime time broadcast. what you're say something that's fine but then don't be the one to also do the interview when there's news about this. >> exactly.

>> you saw i'm sure on fox news earlier this week the show "the five" sort of went after you. let's play the bite and hear what you have to say about it. >> it's ridiculous, and this angry website that tried to out her, it's a bunch of angry chick that is hate on really attractive women, they should find something else better to do. to me this is a total nothing burger. >> what did you make of that? >> first of all, i think that you're just jealous excuses is from like the middle school greatest hits of ways to kind of deflect conversation. >> that's funny. >> i also think, you know, it's not a nothing burger. it's something that's important. this isn't maybe something that's important to media elites living in new york city. maybe it isn't important to people in college right now. maybe this is kind of old-fashioned but there are still little girls that look up to miss america. it's really important to those little girls that the role model that is chosen for them is a good example. i think on a larger scale hazing is a big deal.

people have died from it and people who haven't died have gone to the hospital, been psychologically damaged. >> there's a big story that "good morning america" and the "today" show could investigate. i think this issue you're bringing up, i would call it sources going direct, seeking out the safest place to do an interview is one that comes up every day. so to have a chance to highlight it has been very interesting. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> i need to squeeze in one final break. when we come back, i'll tell you what my reporting leads me to believe about fareed zakaria and accusations he's facing about plagiarism. ...sexiest, ...baddest, ...safest, ...tightest, ...quickest, ...harshest... ...or nothing. at mercedes-benz, we do things one way or we don't do them at all. introducing the all-new c-class.

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the ultimate arena for business. hour after hour of diving deep, touching base, and putting ducks in rows. the only problem with conference calls: eventually they have to end. unless you have the comcast business voiceedge mobile app. it lets you switch seamlessly from your desk phone to your mobile with no interruptions. i've never felt so alive. get the future of phone and the phones are free. comcast business. built for business. finally this morning, a story about the ethical practices of television shows, like this one. earlier this month, anonymous bloggers calling themselves our bad media accused one of my

colleagues fareed zakaria of plagiarism and e stealing someone else's words and passing them off as their own. and they cited examples from "fareed zakaria gps" and i disagree with the bloggers' message, because i believe that the media companies should be transparent and just like we want politicians and ceos to be and because my reporting leads me to believe that zakaria's program made a attribution mistake, and a few to be fair, but the kind that some journalists and viewers can learn from. and in the interest of transparency, i trusted fareed before the allegations, and i still trust him after studying all of them. he is one of the a kind, and one of the sharpest thinkers anywhere. and he got this because of

charges leveled against him in while writing a column for "time" magazine. he said he had confused the notes, and he apologized. cnn kept gps off of to a air for two weeks while they reviewed the on-air work, and then reinstated him indicating no other serious ooffenses were found, but our bloggers at bad media said they did find some, but it is clear to me that these people are waging a campaign against zakaria and not just his cnn work, but the columns and books, too. most of the claims about "gps" 26 tote the al, do not hold up under close scrutiny. the closer you look, the less it looks like capital "p" plagiarism. and as kelly mcbride of the investigative industry told politico, they were low-level. and they were likened to

misdemeanors. and here is an example, one of the "what in the world" segments in june appeal s s to have lift two sentences from the appeals court ruling without attribution, and then in a handful of cases it seems that some of the articles were raw a materials from a couple of articles and reworded it and then added his own insights, and so what are misdemeanors plucked from shows like gps. but "gps" and this one strives for highest standards so this is where i wish i could tell yowsah car ya's side of the story, so many of the producers write the story, so did zakaria or his producers write them? but he declined to appear on an interview with me, and several p.r. people declined to comment as well in cnn except to say that they have the highest

integrity of fareed zakaria's wor work, and we have nothing to give us cause for concern. so i can only tell you what my reporting has led me to leave believe. i believe that the perception is worse than the reality, but i understand why there are raised eyebrows, because we are in the business of raising eyebrows after all. and beyond gps, tell the vision newscasts are inspired by newspaper and web stories all of the time, and we look at their ideas and run with them, and sometimes they run with our ideas and sometimes we don't acknowledge it, because we are short on time, and maybe, just maybe because we want to sound all-knowing, like we didn't need the help. that is not good enough. for people like zakaria, and people like me, and for people who read the scripts on television, the pressure is on us to be generous with the attributions to figure out ways to give krcredit where it is du without blogging down the scripts. i think that the web's norms of linking to the sources are becoming the world's norms, and the more transparent we are, the more trustworthy we will be.

that is all for this televised edition of "reliable sources" but our media keeps on going seven days a week at reliable sources.com. coming up next is "state of the union with candy crowley" after news update. i'm erin mcpike and here are the big stories we are following this hour. ferguson, missouri h is still on edge after a teenager was shot and killed last month by a white officer, and now the shooting of two officers overnight stirred up emotions once again. one officer was shot in the arm while on patrol, and the authorities say there is no reason to believe that shooting was connected with the michael brown killing. that suspect is still at large. and then three hours later, someone opened up fire on and o off-duty officer who was hit in

his car. no charges have been filed. and there has been a gruesome killing near oklahoma city. they say that nolan beheaded a co-worker, and then was shot by a company executive. it happened shortly after he had been fired. the fbi has been called in after co-workers said that he tried to convert them to islam. police were able to interview nolan after he regained consciousness. and not even with the bright red pants can the united states win in the ryder cup. this year, it is the u.s. trailing 10-6 before the final match play in scotland, but the europeans clinched minutes ago to win the third straight ryder cup. i'merrin mcpike -- i'm erin

mcpike in washington. stay "state of the union with candy crowley" starts right now. a new front opens up in the fight with isis. war without borders or without end. today, isis, the long haul. will president obama's shiny, new coalition stick together and what does winning look like? a retired general, a former diplomat and a sitting senator on the war ahead. plus, the feds warn attacks against isis could prompt lone wolf attacks in the u.s. fyi or cya? we'll talk with president obama's national security adviser tony blinken. >> our security is challenged by outlaw groups. >> the brutality in syria and iraq forces us to look into the heart of darkness. >> 44 sounding like 43, our political roundtable on the transformation of president barack obama. and -- >> this is one case where really more boots on the ground, more people helping can make a huge difference. >> in the war against ebola, ebola is winning. we're joined by a doctor and a