watch every sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. eastern. in 2017, we'll be talking about america's new presidents, trials and triumphs every week. thank you for being a part of my program this week and a very happy new year to all of you. hey, happy new year to you and your family. thanks for tuning in. i'm brian stelter and this is "reliable sources," our weekly look at the story behind the story. that's how the media really works, how the news gets made. welcome to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world on cnn international. this hour, new hopes that this will be the year austin tights will be reunited with his family. he's been missing for four years but american officials believe he's alive in syria. his parents will join me for an interview coming up. plus, the connections between american politics and populism across the atlantic. hear from top reporter in london who says she was humbled by 2016. and now, in 2017, what's the

right approach to coverage of the incoming trump administration? we will get into that. but first, today calls for some new year's resolutions. after a profitable but polarizing and bruising year of come pa campaign coverage, we all know reporters sometimes have blind spots and they were very visible. so let's look ahead now. maybe be optimistic and see how 2017 can be a reboot with three of the top editors in the united states. joining me here in new york, kathleen carol, the outgoing executive editor of the associated press, head of npr and carol ryan, senior editor for politics running trump coverage of "the new york times." kathleen, first, congratulations are in order. this is your first day as the former editor of the "a.p." how do you feel? >> rested. >> so you can be completely honest with us now. the biggest media screw-ups of the past year? >> well, i think probably there

was a lot of huberous more in the discussion of what happened after trump was elected than in the coverage beforehand. i know there was coverage as the medium is the story and the medium is that story. i think anybody who wanted to could find great coverage of the candidates and of the issues that were royaling people in the united states and around the country. but i think afterwards there was this idea that the media should have predicted what was going to happen and it's not our job and i think the media discussion around what we should have done is just wrong-headed. >> i think one thing that that raises for me is we had all kinds of content. the content was voluminous. the voices from people out in battleground states, the stories about the candidates. but i think right now, because we have such an arsenal of alerts and notifications and how we present things, i sometimes feel like we're not elevating the voices of regular people and

it feels like that's a lesson not only do we have to listen and report but we have to make sure that the blockbuster stories don't drown out what's happening on the ground. >> interesting. >> i agree with this and i would sum it up this way. the media mistake of 2016 was the impression that we might be trying, that the idea that that's even a shred of our job was a big mistake. and we really have got to learn that lesson once and for all. >> media relying too heavily on polls? >> i mean reflecting polls as if they have some real bearing on what you need to know as a citizen. that a campaign, an election, especially a presidential election, is a conversation the country is having with itself and our job is to get out in the country and understand that conversation from every possible angle and to share that with all of our viewers and listeners and readers. and that's what we should be

doing. i actually do think, as kathleen said, i think a lot of that went on. david green, the host of morning edition on npr, he had a conversation at one point during the election year with four voters in florida, two trump supporters, two clinton supporters. and they argued furiously and strenuously with each other. they really were a little microcosm of the campaign year. at end of the conversation, heard by millions of listeners, they got up from the studio table and hugged each other. that's the power of listening to conversations and we need to do a lot more of that and do it a lot better. >> i agree with mike about the listening part. there's too many organizations, maybe not the three represented here but too many others that are quoting people's facebook feeds or twitter feeds, are e-mailing an interview and that's just lazy. >> we have to distinguish between real reporting and

commentaries. let's talk about the toughest decisions you all had to make in the past year, what that means for 2017. kathleen, you first. any tough call you had to make in the final year as editor of "the a.p."? >> the tough call was deploying people in dangerous places and this year was it hard not to send people to terrible places we knew was happening because we couldn't get them there safely. >> places like syria? >> yes. we were only in aleppo once. we were able to talk to a lot of people in aleppo that we have credible relationships but there's nothing like being there and talking in person and -- >> another form of listening. >> another form of listening. >> let's look the the data real quick for the fifth year in a row, syria, the most dangerous place in the world for journalists. 48 killed in 2016 and 259 imprisoned. michael, this was personal for

you at npr. in 2016, two of your journalists were killed in afghanistan. >> yeah. there is nothing harder about the decision whether to send somebody into harm's way and we lost two fine journalists in afghanistan. and they wanted to be there because they had a story to tell about what was happening in that war just as there are journalists all over the world who want to be doing their jobs. a terrific photographer just the other day standing in ankara, turkey, taking photos of the ambassador of russia being assassinated. he said, that's my job. part of our job is to hold them back sometimes not because we're mean to them but because we're not willing to sacrifice their lives and sometimes there is -- it does happen but that's not the trade we should be making and the tragedy here is not just the danger to the journalists. it's the things we don't know. >> right. >> about these terrible situations.

i think there's a lot we don't know about the war in syria and the main reason is, it's virtually impossible to cover it. and by the way, that's not just a casualty of war. that's a strategy. journalists -- and i think it's a strategy on both sides in syria, that journalists have been targeted and kidnapped and killed to keep them from being journalists, to keep us from understanding what is happening in these wars. >> we'll have more on that later this hour. i wonder about domestically tough decisions that he had fors and newsrooms have to make. the toughest overall call is about deploying reporters into harm's way. what about, carolyn, covering politics day to day, what are the tough calls that you have to make with regard to reporters? >> this was perhaps the most inflamed, passionate, kind of intense partisan election we've covered in a very long time. so every decision becomes

elevated and freighted with that. i still remember one of the things that we wrestled with was trump's lack of truth and basic, regular communications and it reached ahead the day that it came out, as you'll recall, to talk about birtherism, not only to disavow it but to blame hillary clinton for starting the birther conspiracy about president obama. and i spoke to dean -- >> the top editor of the paper. >> -- we wanted to call him out as a liar and wanted to do it on the front page and be very blunt about that. ordinary narrowly that's a conversation that might take place over many hours. we made it within 40 minutes and it was jarring to a lot of our readers but that's what we ended up doing in a very straight ahead and pointed way and it was upsetting to some people but those were the kind of decisions that the extraordinary campaign forced us to make really on the fly. >> no doubt. donald trump stated more false hoods than hillary clinton on

the campaign. michael, where do you stand on this? >> i wouldn't have and we did not use that word but it's important to talk about why we decided that wasn't the thing to do. everybody has to edit their own publications. i have enough trouble with the decisions we have to make at npr. but i think the most important thing for us to do, and i think it's more important now than before the election, is to make sure that the fact-based journalism, based on reporting, reaches people. the problem is, whenever we get into these judgments, these characterizations, we use them as introductions to the story, there's a reason why tone matters so much and why "the new york times" has been so scrupulous about its tone for so many years. >> is it because the audience can't handle the truth? >> no. those people who have a point of

view are pushed away by anything that challenges their point of view. so you have to challenge them with fact. >> well, i think there's so much noise out there and people are casting around trying to find a place where they can find information that they find trustworthy. they may choose an organization or a side or group of people that are not trustworthy and they have to be able to get in front of audiences who may not have trust in the institution of media or institutions in general. a lot of this election was about mistrust of institutions in general and we're part of that and we have to have a conversation with people who will continue to be relevant. otherwise, we're just shouting at them. >> this is our most important job. >> that's exactly right. >> re-establishing the relationship with the country at large. we all have followings and groups of people who follow our publications or our stations but

we do not have the widespread trust of the public and we need to rebuild it. >> part of that is listening to them, listening to our readers or viewers and part of it is being better about telling our own story, showing our work and explaining in the face of all of this criticism and is the swipes from trump, what it is that journalism does. >> on that note, a quick pause for a commercial break. when we come back, we'll look at the president-elect's campaign promise. our editor stitched it together. how will journalists hold him accountable in 2017? we'll be right back. for me oligrip doe is it keeps the food out. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. super poligrip is part of my life now. (vo) what'scorn? dog food's first ingredient? wheat? in purina one true instinct grain free, real chicken is always #1. no corn, wheat or soy.

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the #1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. now in kids chewables. welcome back to "reliable sources." donald trump's anti-media campaign is likely to continue after he's sworn in on january 20th. there's a lot of chatter in newsrooms about how best to cover this particular president, how to hold him accountable for these promises. >> we're going to bring our jobs back to our country. >> we have to rebuild our infrastructure. >> we're going to get great trade deals because we're going to use the smartest people. by the way, we're getting rid of common core. we have to repeal and replace obamacare. we have to do it. we're going to get rid of isis. total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> we will build a wall. mexico is going to pay for it and they'll be happy to do it. and we're going to do it with heart and get along with people

and everything is going to be great and we are going to make our country great again. >> and back with me now, carolyn ryan, are we supposed to take trump literally or not? that was a debate last year whether we take him literally or seriously with his words. >> i think those are fairly specific promises, if you're talking about getting rid of common core, we'll have a team of education reporters all over him aggressively scrutinizing. but one thing that your list sort of left out that i think is going to be just as important in the coming year, he's not a normal president in terms that he's head of a global business and one thing you're seeing now in places like "the new york times" is the creation of teams just to look at the tentacles of

his business, the potential conflicts of interest or foreign citizens looking for something and that's going to be a whole, rich and potentially problematic line of reporting. it feels like you've got to do both. you've got to go governing but you can't take your eye off the business. >> michael, there are so many different strands with this new president. >> it is keeping us busy and we have, in fact, devoted more journalists, both to the close-up covering of the white house and capitol hill, which will be a very important place in this new government and to pursing both substantive conflicts of interest. it's our job to describe what the president does and how that marries up to what he said he would do. no question about that. but it's the public's job to decide whether that's living up to his presidency. we can take him literally and judge whether he's actually

fulfilled a campaign promise but it's not our job to decide how the public should decide that. that's the public's job. >> carolyn, we have a president-elect who tweets about "the new york times" from time to time saying that the president is failing, that the paper is biased. the paper has its share of business problems and challenges but i don't think it's failing. how do you handle this? how do you cover this person fairly when he's railing against your news organization? >> well, it's not failing. in fact, it's thriving. and one one thing that's been concerning to me is not trump so much directly but what happens when his followers get impassioned about a reporter and they are tough, thick-skinned people but we have to keep covering him with some

scrupulo scrupulous neutrality. >> be fair but don't be intimidated. >> do not be intimidated, do not shrink from the difficult questions, from the difficult stories. and basically trump, even as he attacks our reporters, he also is quite fixated on "the new york times" and does seem to read it, absorb it and whether it has an influence on him, i'm not sure. but it's not an entire hostility that we're getting from donald trump. it's a complicated fixation. >> that's a love/hate relation. >> i'd make a specific point to the president-elect, who i understand watches. >> he's probably watching now. >> there's a big difference between taking on journalism as a profession or even a big institution like "the new york times" and coming avfter young journalists. one suffered a great deal of abuse this past year and she

showed an extraordinary of harassment from trump supporters because once they started to talk to them, they understood each other. he has a responsibility as leader of the country to suffer the personal attacks on individual journalists from the fair game conversation about whether journalism is doing the job they are supposed to be doing and whether we are faired or biased. i have no problem with that conversation, happy to have it with him personally. but he should not be calling out individual journalists and helping to lead an attack on them as individuals. that's not right. >> kathleen, do you expect this anti-attack strategy to continue, to criticize individuals? >> sure, that sort of thing works for him and for other presidents and not quite like this, he's taken it to a new level as he has in the campaign. but running against the media is out of, you know, page 47 of the

politician's handbook and they can call us names and we can take it. the point that others have made about specific individual attacks is important and it's important not just because these are journalists that we don't think are deserving of the hate mail, it's important because if it's okay to do this as journalists, is it okay for a teacher who stands up and says something you don't like, for a mayor who is doing something you don't like, for members of congress, other staffs or an ordinary citizen who says something you don't like? you are the president of all the people and not all of them are going to love them every day and you have to take a couple of punches when you have the biggest job on the planet. >> i will grant one exception. and someone says something nasty

about tiffany or even ivanka, he should go out and do what he needs to do. >> one minute i have left. beyond politics, what else will you be watching for in the media world? i'm watching to see the future of fox news post roger ailes, at&t/time warner deal, it's under scrutiny. what are your eyes going to be on? >> facebook and their relationship with publishers and the relationship with its readers and the whole question of fake news and to what degree does facebook shift its identity beyond just a platform to recognizing its role in the media ecosystem and it feels like a very kind of difficult dance for them and that's where i think we'll see a lot of those tensions play out. >> kathleen, michael, carolyn, stick around. think about your new year's resolutions. a reporter says she's covering an anti-factual science movement

around the world. sounds challenging? well, yes it is. a blunt conversation with cnn's clarissa ward, next.

welcome back to this new year's edition of "reliable sources." i'm brian stelter. now for a look at the 2017 international news agenda, the rise of trump is being replicated in other countries. this wave of populism is sweeping across europe as well leaving many journalists on both sides of the atlantic, well, stunned in its wake. looking back at 2016, cnn's clarissa ward says never has there been a more humbling war for a reporter. clarissa is joining me now.

2016, a humbling year. always good to have humility on this job. how will that inform how you do your job in 2017? >> well, i think the first thing that we have to realize going forward was that we have to listen and spend more time paying attention of talking and hearing what people have to say because i think a lot of reporters understandably in a sense did not really realize how deep the shift was. taking place right beneath our feet, it felt like we were the last people to realize it. i'm talking about this not from the perch of covering the u.s. election, which i did not. i'm talking about covering it from overseas. i remember the day before the brits voted to leave the european union, the day of the referendum, i was on a train

from brussels to london and all he wanted to talk about was brexit and this vote and he was fired up about it and i couldn't fathom why this american was so interested in what i saw as a largely domestic issue that i assumed would probably not have such huge international ripples and now i realize that was the moment where we saw this change, where i saw it for the first time. it's much deeper than that. it had already been happening. the lesson i take from it, well, one among many lessons, is that even when we don't agree with all of the views being expressed and we find them offensive, we're there to listen. it's a big part of our duty. to listen, to give a voice to people. i have a feeling there will be a lot of challenging in 2017, too, and we also need to really listen to people and get out of the echo chamber. >> and these biggest of stories, this tactonic shifts, are the

hardest to cover. these pop lulists set out compl issues and it's anti-factual and anti-science. now, this is all uniquely challenging to cover as a reporter, isn't it? >> it really is. and i think for two main reasons. firstly, there's a deep an tip pa three at mainstream media and a lot of people view us as part of the problem and that makes it very difficult when you go to someone in good faith to have a conversation and you find hostility being directed to you. that then makes you defensive. i mean on twitter now, i can't even tell you the barrage of abuse i get every time i appear on television. so that's part of the problem. the second part of the problem is, especially for someone like me, i've devoted the last 14

years of my life, brian, to traveling the world, to trying to understand geopolitical issues, to trying to understand islam and terrorism and sometimes i find myself, you know, trying to engage with narratives that simply don't seem to be based in fact. they are in a much more gutteral and emotional response to larger forces. it's difficult to come back and say, let's take a more nuanced approach when a lot of people don't want to hear that right now. >> there's nothing more powerful than fear. it sounds like the conversation in the u.s. about a post truth era is the same conversation you're hearing elsewhere in the world. i'm interested to hear you say you hear anti-media rhetoric coming from people because we've heard that from donald trump and it's being echoed in other democratic countries. >> it's being echoed across the whole of the west. it really is extraordinary, both in the uk but we've seen it spread across europe. i think that britain was sort of

the canary in the coal mine with a shift as i said before and now we've seen it spreading further and further across the entire west. so it is difficult as a journalist to be confronted with a lot of the hostility that i talked about, a lot of fake news that we've seen proliferating online, claiming that everything we say is lies, that it's all garbage, that the media has an agenda, that we work for the cia, that we love terrorists. at a certain point, one loses track of all of these allegations and accusations being leveled our way. i don't think you can win over everybody at the end of the day. you just have to sort of keep your head down, try to do your job, try to pick up as much information as you can. and you do. as i said before, you have to listen and approach things from the flip side as well.

you have to try to understand these larger, deeper movements that are taking place. >> and you were in moscow back in december. of course, russia is going to be a very interesting story and the media spotlight is going to be on russia. is it harder to cover the kremlin as a national reporter? >> it has become very hard, brian. it's always been difficult. i've lived in moscow twice now. it's always been difficult in that the kremlin does not give a lot of access to any journalists, let alone western journalists. it's always been challenging, but the narrative that i was talk talking about, nowhere is it stronger than it is in russia. i can't even tell you, some of the most horrific things that i've read and seen on the internet, some of it being spread by the head of russia today which is owed by the kremlin accusing me personally of justifying the killing of the

russian ambassador to turkey back in december, all sorts of accusations. a lot of it very intense, making it much more difficult to do our jobs. i do think in 2016, russia is going to be huge story. it's a country i love and know well and i just hope that it won't continue to get more difficult to work there as a western journalist without the fear, really, of this constant barrage of hostility and even threats, brian. >> verbal hostility, sometimes also physical dangers. clarissa, thank you for being here. we talked earlier about physical dangers for journalists in courntries like syria. the only american journalist still missing in that country, austin tice has been missing for more than four years. will this be the year for good news for his family? we'll speak with his parents right after the break.

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welcome back to "reliable sources." i'm brian stelter. a new year is a reminder of how much time has passed by. this brings me to austin tice, an american journalist who went missing in syria in august 2012, more than four years ago. he's the only u.s. journalist still being held in that war-torn country. so will this be the year he comes home? there have been some encouraging new developments recently.

president obama's special envoy for hostage affairs says the government has high confidence that tice is still alive. joining me now are austin tice's parents, mark and deborah. they are in houston today. thank you for being here. >> thank you, brian, for having us. >> you all have remained optimistic throughout this ordeal. tell me where you find that optimism and what you believe is his current status. >> well, the optimism comes from, we had had credible report ever since austin was taken that he is alive and so we've hung on to those messages without doubt, without any doubt. what was the second part of your question? >> do we have any sense of what his condition is, where he's being held, what has scared me most is someone who reads about his case is that we don't know

who took him, what happened that day he disappeared. >> absolutely, that's the most frustrating thing for us, is that his captors have not reached out to us. you know, we don't have any way of, you know, completing this solution to bringing him home because only half of the equation is working here and that half is, you know, the efforts that we've done, the efforts of the united states government and all those people and organizations that have been supporting us. but it was extremely comforting and -- >> uplifting. >> -- uplifting to hear and for the office of the special enjoy and united states government to say that their assessment is that he's alive.

we have every reason to believe he's reasonably well. and so, you know, we continue to press that there's every reason to do everything possible, keep doing everything possible to bring him home. >> i know there were times in the first two years since he went missing that you felt the u.s. government was not responsive enough. now the state department says this case has the attention of the highest levels of the u.s. government. are you feeling that today? and what are your expectations as the obama administration transitions and the trump administration takes over? >> well, since the presidential directive establishing the hostage recovery fusion and presidential government has changed so amazingly, it's

improved so much, communication within the government, communication between the government and us and, you know, as americans, we're very fortunate that one of the foundational tenants of our government is the peaceful transfer of power and so we do believe the current administration has been all in for austin doing all they can to bring him home and they've assured us that they are going to make sure that the incoming administration also has this as a very high priority and so this period of transition we really see as a time of almost doubling the strength on our team as we work to get austin home. and so what we really need is for the other team to come to the field and so that we can find a solution and come to an agreement about how we're going to bring austin safely home.

>> what do you do all day to day? what are your coping strategies? it's about the rights and responsibilities of journalists from being able to report all around the world and that's what he was trying to do in syria, tell the story of the syrian people. but this is also about your child just vanishing. >> well, for me it's about a really deep foundational belief that there is a higher power that has a purpose for every life on earth and believing that austin is on his path and knowing that he's really in god's hands. also, we have six other children and they definitely fill our hearts with a tremendous amount of joy. >> are there times, marc, where

you ever wish austin had chosen some other easier line of work? are there times where you have that kind of discomfort? >> honestly, i can say "no" to that. and as debra and i have talked about many times, debra encourages our children to find your passion and pursue it and if that's what you're doing, then you're on the right path. well, austin chose a path that not many people have. and it's impossible for us, as his parents and people who believe in him, to tell him, no, you're on the wrong path and you're making a bad decision. i think he's doing what in his heart and soul he wanted to do and needed to do and so how can

he have regrets about that? >> right. i admire that so much. thank you for talking to us on this new year's day for looking ahead to 2017. you know, when donald trump rides by the museum on pennsylvania avenue in a couple of weeks, he's going to see a big banner about austin. that's one very visible sign of this case. i hope he sees it and the new administration continues what you're describing, the responsiveness that you've had in the last couple of years. >> thank you, brian. we really hope that this new year brings a renewed hope for an end to conflict and a beginning of healing all over the world and especially in the middle east. >> and we want to be sure and thank everyone, every organization, every individual that's been, you know, faithfully and tirelessly supporting us and wish them the very best in this coming year.

>> did you very much. we'll stay in touch. >> thank you. >> thank you, brian. when we come back here on "reliable sources," the trump administration and the challenges that lie ahead for journalists here at home covering the incoming administration. john avalon coming up right after the break. i don't use super poligrip for hold, because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even well fitting dentures let in food particles. just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. so it's not about keeping my dentures in, it's about keeping the food particles out. try super poligrip free. of your brain can make it hard to lose weight? contrave is an fda-approved weight-loss medicine that may help adults who are overweight or struggle with obesity lose weight and keep it off. contrave is believed to work on two areas of the brain: your hunger center...

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welcome back to this new year's edition of "reliable sources." i'm brian stelter. my next guest says this is our murrow moment. john avlon is joining me, a cnn political analyst and author of the new book, "washington's farewell" out next week. you wrote that the trump administration, covering trump promises to be a stress test. what do you mean by that? >> the next four years are going to be challenging. there are going to be attacks and insults and perhaps a crisis or two. but the character of the nation didn't change on election day and i think the job of a journalist is more important than ever before. when we look back on all the fights and struggles and contentious times we'll have covering this new president, wishing him well, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, i think we'll look back

on it as the best time to be a journalist, because it was hard and our mission is clear. we need to honor the office of president and hold the person accountable. >> i've heard this, i was at a conference in early december, where some journalists were saying privately, i'm not sure i want to be doing this anymore. i'm not sure i want to put up with the hate mail, put up with the sarcasm and ridicule, including from the president-elect. you say, now is the right time. >> i understand it's rational to feel exhaustion after what we went through but we don't have that luxury. instead of feeling that, we need to feel infuriated by the obligation that we have going forward. we have a role in keeping our society moving forward and not being dragged off in one direction or another and this is a test of that opportunity and responsibility right now. it will be tough. it will be tiring but we should

feel invigorated. you talk about the murrow moment. what do you mean by that in the digital age? >> well, remember, all parallels aside, we take comfort from history because it offers a sense of perspective and that's something we have least of in our politics today. but i think what the murrow moment means for us is, first of all, there was a time in the high seats of government, a lot of people were being cowed into silence, questioning their patriotism and loyalty and ed murrow, iconically, stood up and on his show "see it now" held mccarthy to account and let his

own facts and words be his ultimate indictment. it was unpopular but took courage to change the tide. personal dissent is not disloyalty but we won't be driven by fear into an age of unreason and the dangers of that that come directly out of the hyper partisanship we see in news that is valued trust and we're going to have to do it by leading that sends forward ripples to get through the next four years more civically than we have. >> everyone is talking about fake news.

let's talk about that. >> fake news. >> fake news. >> completely phony story. we're doing great here on the real news show. >> that was geraldo at the end there. the fake news, the term has been exploited and misused and it's been everywhere. it's turned into something more than just the original definition, which was stories written by people designing, trying to trick readers. >> right. >> this is on facebook, people trying to be tricked by hoax stories. fake news is now whatever you disagree with. >> that's hugely dangerous. and because i think, to point out, the key criteria is designed to deceive. it bridged from partisan news which gave people the ability to self-segregate into separate realities. what make news did, it took our

confirmation bias and that poisoned our political conversation with what is propaganda. >> there's a want to believe it and can't resist clicking on it because -- >> it's so salacious that hillary clinton may have committed some nefarious act you hadn't heard of. but that starts to get into the water and that's what we're dealing with right now. the push back right now that you pointed to is particularly insidious. people are saying, let's expand that to anything we disagree with so therefore we can't say what is true and false because everything comes with a different perspective and bias and spin. that's incredibly dangerous. our job ultimately at its core is to separate fact from fiction. and the second people try to push back and blur those distinctions, by saying, you know, what stephen colbert joked about in 2004 --

>> truthiness. >> yes. that's being taken seriously now. the idea of facts, that's something sinister we need to push back on and we do it without apology. >> john, thank you for laying this out for us. up next, our a-list panel for their new year's resolutions. corn? wheat? in purina one true instinct grain free, real chicken is always #1. no corn, wheat or soy. support your active dog's whole body health with purina one.

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before we go, let's bring our top panel back talking about what you're talking about at home today, new year's resolutions. carolyn, kathleen and michael

are joining me. kathleen, you have time off now. what are your new year's resolutions? >> spend some time with sights and news organizations that i haven't been able to learn more about how other people are dealing with the issues that we've discussed here and conversations going back and forth and how they are dealing with the rises of populism and the great societal shifts taking place in so many places in the world. and personally, i hope to sleep more and have some more red wine. >> in just a couple of minutes, we can get to that. michael, how about you? >> so i am determined and committed and so are many of my colleagues to devote a lot of time to rebuilding local journalism. you know, there's a lot of great local journalism in this country but also places in this country that the university of north caroli caroline has described as new

deserts. there are no local journalism and that is where democracy lives. democracy is every community in the country where nobody is watching the city council, where nobody is watching the school board, where barely anyone is watching the state legislature. >> how do you do it, michael? they feel their local paper is thinner than ever. >> we are going to work with them and they are going to work with others in their communities to try to strengthen local journalism. in some cases, that could be public reporters working in public radio and other not-for-profit organizations working for us and we'll look for formulas in different places. and we've also announced already that we at npr will work with every public radio station in the country to try to improve

coverage of the state legislature in the statehouse. so those are concrete steps. we can can't do it alone and a lot of damage has been done but we can start to rebuild. >> carolyn, what about you? >> i want to call out -- i don't know if you saw the west virginia series on opioids. >> by december, looking at the pills pouring into that state. >> yes, and just looking at a local problem with investigative muscle. in terms of new year's resolutions, i think for us the keys are listening, engaging with readers wherever they are and more conversation and it feels like those will be the guiding principles for 2017 for us, not just as we look at the trump administration but as we look at what is going on in the country. >> my resolution, new voices, more voices.

so i appreciate the three of you starting your day off with me. michael, kathleen, carolyn. we're out of time here on television but our coverage continues online. sign up at cnnmoney.com/media for our newsletter. i'll see you back here next week. new year, new president. >> you'll be so proud of your president. you'll be so proud. >> with just days until his inauguration what do we know about how trump will run the country? plus, advise and consent. what capitol hill will and will not work on with trump. >> speaker paul ryan, he's been terrific. if he ever goes against me i'm not going say that. >> top members of congress will be here with insights on 2017 agenda. and moving day. >> michele and i only get an eight-year lease on the white house.