>> now a discussion on minorities in the news media and popular culture. speakers income film director spike lee and hip hop on demand chairman ceo will griffin. this is hosted by the aspen institute. this is an hour and and a half. >> we're going to start in about

a minute. urging people to kind of move up front. take a seat. [inaudible conversations] okay, and just to remind you, we've looked at different contexts for our look at racial questions, and we've gone through the home and family, politics, and them the last session, the institutions, # and now basically a public sphere, the media and popular culture, and i turn it back over to richard lui. >> thank you, charlie. what a great panel today to talk about this. donna byrd here, thank you for being here today.

will griffin, thank you, present ceo of hip hop on demand as well as spike lee, founder of 40 acres and film works that everybody knows. what a great panel to talk about the subject today. as you know, the entire subject we look today in the state of race in america. i want to start by asking you what the state of race in media is. if you could give me your thoughts, and spike, by the way, i forgot to mention, he has to leave at 4 for a plane to catch heading up to new york, and there's a reason for this, and you can explain what you have to be there for. >> well, i have to be there for my man. tonight, chris rock is making his debut on broadway. the name of the play is -- please excuse me for leaving early, and i thought i would be

in the earlier panel, but i have to leave, so please excuse me, thank you. >> i wanted him to announce the name of that play. [laughter] spike, you're doing that. why don't you start then for us, how about that? your feelings about the state of race and media. >> to be honest, it seems like there's panels like this forever. we're discussing the same thing over and over, oveh, over and again, and you know, what is really -- i mean, we have, i mean, what's been done is magnificent, but if you look at the -- i'm really talking about hollywood and networks and cable

television, you know, the -- it's kind of -- >> are we in a better place you think in >> than what? >> than before because you said we've been talking about this over and over and over again. >> look what's on television, and i mean, is there a cosby show now? i think that this reality show is going to bring about the down fall of western civilization. [laughter] these reality shows are unbelievable to me, but i just think that -- and it's something i said before. we can do a lot of stuff up dependently, but we're -- independently, but we're talking about the institutions, hollywood, and television you can break that down into network and broadcast. unless we become the gate keepers of, it's not going to

change. the gate keepers are the people who are a very select few, again, in hollywood and in television, radio, and television is broadcast network, these select few decide what's going on and what's not going on, and there's not one person of color that i know of that is a gate keeper, and what i just said, and you cannot use will smith and denzel because even when will wants to do a film, he still has to call amy pascoe and say i want to do this fill. . of course with him the biggest star in hollywood, of course they say yes, but he still has to go to anyone and say this is

what i want to do. we're not in a room. quick analogy. when "master minds" and an unnamed studio decided they wanted to do a film called "soul plane" there was no one in the room saying wait a minute, can we just talk about this? ask american airlines, they go put rims that spin on the plane, hydraulic wheels, snoop's the captain, there's a pole in the back, and we serve fried check and malt liquor. no one in the room to say wtf, wait a minute, that's not a good idea.

[laughter] we're not in those decision making -- these studios every quarter, they sit around a room and people have green light votes, and they look at the budget. they look at the script, they look at how much money they think they can make overseas, and they vote on what film they're going to make and which film they're not going to make, and we're not in those positions yet. >> how do you get there? >> well, the thing about film is there is no one way to anything. i mean, you could be a hostess at a restaurant and working at being a head of a studio so it's not like you do this, this,

this, this. it's like it's this and that, and i think the number one, we have to delegate. i think the time has to come where african-american artists can't be making art and also be raised in the film too. there's enough african-americans and hispanics coming out of business, staff ford, howard, nyu, coming out of warton school at penn, and i mean, that's not my -- i don't know how to do that business. i just try to do art, and as the artist to also raise the money and come up with a business plan, and if they said, spike, i want you to give me a business plan for x amount of dollars for slater films. i can't do that. i just think we have to get

people -- your jobs to do this, leave the art to the artists, and just get together. >> all right. great way to kick it off. will, what would you say? >> i think a, hollywood in trouble; right? and hollywood is in trouble and the black artists within hollywood are caught up. it's just a dead end to what that system is. we talk quite a bit about this. they have to deal with technology, changes, they have to deal with competition for the consumer and bootlegging and they what are focused on is films and that's about what happens at the studio. now, there is an example, and we didn't talk about this, of somebody when you are a black filmmaker they expect you to be

the artist and the entrepreneur at the same time. you have to produce the movie and make the money. that's the green light. in the real world that's almost superman; right? you got to have it or woody allen before that, these are amazing filmmakers because they can raise the money. they'll bring us a film ready to go, and we just have to put it in theaters. that's the expectation of african-american filmmakers. today, it's just too big. we did a show called a reality cosby show. >> i love that show. >> thank you. there's only a companies that buy it, abc family would have bought it, and then mtv ultimately bought it. it's not like a huge market. the wb didn't want it, abc, nbc, they were not trying to do it.

i think the biggest issue is there are no standards now for the content, and especially as it relates to african-american content, and one of the things it was -- we need the apollo project if african-american media which is a total rethink to say 10 years from now which is what president kennedy looked at years from now is we're going to be on the moon, reaching these points, and the best thinking towards having that goal. i think if we thought 10 years from now or 20 years from now when we look back and said first african-american president, a real life cosby show in the white house; right? i mean, a reality has outstripped imagination of the possibilities, and i think rethink of the media industry would say how do we -- how do we extend our imaginations beyond,

you know, the reality of our society. if people look back 20 years from now, what would we want to say we were about? what did we record on television? what did we put out on film? how did we represent ourselves in our times, you know? when you look at news, where is the new ed bradley; right? he left a few years ago. we lost something. i think about the investigative journalism show. i remember abc and food lion thing and remember that where abc undercover reporters go in the food line and realize that the meat was bad, the way it was prepared was hoosh, they dropped it on the floor and washed it off, and i look at today's society and i look at the tea party in the way it's covered. people cover it play by play. i was like who is going to go out there and tell us the meat

is bad? right? the ed bradley who is going to do that for our culture and go out there and cover it, and i think at the end of the day to ask somebody to go raise money and say do the job that the state is supposed. no, the state is supposed to do it. that's the responsibility of the news media. that's your obligation to the electorat. i feel the same way towards television. there's a responsibility to produce things that will uplift the civilization, that match the values in the society overall, and i think we have to demand that, and i think it's good business. the first studio that stands up and says, you know what? i'm not going to be in just like the last five movies business. i put in half a billion dollars over ten years or a billion over five if you want to get crazy aggressive. you got to bring me along

because spike already said he can't give the money. [laughter] come on. [laughter] >> a billion dollars, and you say we are going to be committed to films for this audience and this market and we are going to make them work. it would capture the united states as a community and would be successful in the market. >> real quickly -- >> yeah. >> the thing that we're forgetting is that the united states census bureau has said by the year 2035, and some states it might be quicker, white americans are going to be minority in this country. any business in this country that does not take that into account starting today or last month and wait to 2035 is going to be extipght.

this country is becoming brown, and if you continue to operate with leave it to beaver and audrey and harry, it's not going to work. 2035 white americans, and i don't make this up, the united states census bureau, white americans are going to be the minority in the country, so that's reflecting not just dealing with media, not just how you portray the media, but also the decision makers. you just can't have -- you got to give the people who make the country give them jobs in meaningful positions too. >> a part of that fabric you bring up here spike and mona is middle americans. >> i'm glad he touched on both entertainment and news because when it comes to both and the many hats, to rip off the hat -- >> his hat was different.

>> very different. [laughter] >> for people like me who wear many hats and i'm of arab dissent and here in the u.s., when it comes to the news media, it's lazy. first of all, as a white american, you can talk about everythingment you are an expert on everything, and i'm fresh off talking about the egyptian revolution on various media outlets, but also talking about that because i was born in egypt. ask me to talk about the libya revolution even though i'm tennessee expert in both countries. they go to the white academics who said this would never happen, and as it was happening, they said it's not going to work out. they continue to tell you these arabs love dictators. i don't think they are going hello, can i talk? nobody is listening. they go to white experts. it's frustrating on that level. when it comes to my muslim hat,

where do i start? muslims were not invented on 9/11. everybody acts like we were. the muslim experience goes back centuries in this country. never talk to a black muslim in the country because they want the foreign muslim experience. my citizenship is official tomorrow. [applause] >> we should have waited a day. [laughter] >> should have waited. [laughter] >> but you know, to me, there's a bunch of other muslims of foreign dissent because it's easy to make that connection. with a muslim experience in the u.s., it was the voice of pakistan. what is it about americans who have been in this country for

centuries. i'm relieved that the muslim congressman in this country was representative keith alison. he's african-american and his family has been here for centuries. you cannot say he's a foreigner. this is a muslim experience on media, and when they go to the foreign muslim, it's the elam, the most conservative example of the muslim experience. hell lee, talk to -- hello, talk to me. 20% of muslims in this country go to mosque and identify with this conservativism that you see on tv, and yet they go to the very conservative man or a woman in a head scarf. on every count i lose when it's to talk about international news issues i lose because the white analyst knows more than i do. when it's my muslim experience and the muslim experience of, you know, you tell people that the documentation, muslim

tradesmen in the country centuries ago and say islam came from slave ships, people go what? all they want to know is that 9/11, islam, what does that mean because it's very comfortable to keep islam the foreign element in the country. it's 10 years after 9/11, have we learned nothing about the muslim experience in this country? when it comes to news media, they are lazy, white centric, and we can talk about this forever and ever and will continue to talk about this forever and ever as long as my voice is not considered an authority, and only an authority -- you know, like i why being enterer intiewed about the budget cuts, why am i not interviewed about planned parenthood. i'm a feminist and have strong opinions, but they don't come to me. unless we push it and point out its laziness, it will not change and comet to be above my ahead

regardless if i'm an american citizen or not. >> it was great to have you on msnbc i must say. [applause] we'll see more of you based on what you just said. gr you tell them. >> i'm going to take it home. donna? >> i have to agree with the pommists thus far. if you look at the statistics, of the 815 executive producers in broadcast media, 64 of them are african-american -- >> out of how many? >> 815. >> wow. >> 64 are african-american, 24 his painic, 13 are asian, 1 native american. >> what field is that? >> that's television broadcast, executive producers. looking at print, there's a survey with 900 papers across the country answer the survey. 50% of those had zero minorities

in any management role in the companies. you look at that, i mean, we have an issue, i think everybody noted it already, it's a representation. when you don't have anyone in the room to bring up different viewpoints, different ways of looking at a story, stories that may not be uncovered, then you miss this. many times behind the scenes, you have someone who is producing a show, and they are asking who do you know? right? they are looking for panelists, experts to come on a show, and they may not know that mona has expertise in a specific area. they they, she's egyptian, she can be on for this, but they don't know what she can represent. the problem is they're not people -- there's not representation in the room that can say i know someone who can fill this role and that role and this sort of group of individuals looks diverse. that also has to do with the

stories that are told too; right? so once you have the representation, it has a significant influence on the actual content. that's shown on air, and i work for the root, and we are an online publication written, and most of the writers are african-american. we write about news and politics and culture through an african-american lens, and it's interesting how many people come to our site that are hungry for the stories that are not being covered in the mass media. that's what we get day in and day out, and interestingly enough, we also get many -- nonminority people coming to the site that are looking at, looking for the same thing. they are like, oh, when the story hits that's big on the news, occasionally people come to the site because they want to hear what the black perspective is. we have to sort of move past where we have been. we've been talking about this story for years and years and years, and we have to begin to

effect change. i'm on the business side of this industry, and when i look at it, you know, it's unfortunate when we look at some of what's going on in media today, it has a business implication; right? so when you look at -- i'll move quickly to your glenn becks, the rush limbaugh's of the world -- >> donald trump. [laughter] >> the list is expansive. [laughter] >> let's put him on the list though. [laughter] >> when you look at this, you find unfortunately, racism sells; right? when you have people who are race baiting racism, however you frame it up, at the end of the day it actually does have, it does sell, and it's going to take us standing up and saying this is wrong. standing up to the advertisers plaicessing advertisements on the stations say we will not

watch your programming, and we'll be vocal about what's going on in your program because it's toxic, not only to the individuals that are watching this, but more broadly to our entire community. >> launch of what you said as well as the other panelists. back to you, spike. the idea of an apollo project will brought up and weaving in what was mentioned. what does that look like from your mind? >> not just one, but i think there should be many -- it's all about the money, and, again, we had discussions again and again and again, and it always comes down to money, and now there are enough people of color who have the capital to do it because there comes a point where, you

know, matt morris talked about self-reliance, self-determination, and that -- i mean we got to have a multifacets program, so we should have apollo projects, independent stuff, but that dpunt mean we -- doesn't mean we let hollywood and tv get off too. we have to work in all the different levels. speaking of hollywood and the muslims, hollywood is very, you say it in a little less degree, tv, a little bit, you're always going to have the bad guy. who was the first great so-called film, griffin's "birth of a nation," who was the bad guy? the blacks in the reconstruction, and then you go to the western. who was the bad guy? the -- that's why there's john

ford and the great directors because all the hateful images he did of native american law and john wayne trying to fix up the last film, i forgot the name of it, but so then there's world war ii book out, it's the nazis. we kick the nazi's ass, who is next? the russians. the union blows up. we need a bad guy. 9/11 happens, and boom. you look at every film out since 9/11, it's not the russians anymore, it's the terrorists. it's like muslim equals terrorist. you look at all these hollywood films, it comes down the new boogeyman is the muslim. >> this describes our culture what you described over time in >> no. the american people are being fed this stuff. they are being fed this stuff.

i was thinking when france want to come in, the idiots say no longer french fries or french toast? freedom fries, freedom toast, and they are crazy. [laughter] we're gullible as a people, and you tell the lie long enough and loud enough, people believe it. that's this whole donald trump thing. you know, he's going to keep pounding on it and pounding on it until you have half the country believing it that the president was not born as an more than citizen. >> why does he poll well? >> why what? >> why does trump poll well? >> that issue. it's gist on that issue alone. i mean, to thispoint, the birth issue is the father of the

media, period. now, the media is reporting trump is a legitimate candidate. no, he can't be a legitimate candidate. they should have debunked a lot time ago. can you see walter reading this? no. it's all play by play. that's news now. now in the poll, trump is second. it's just too much play by play. i think this is where the opportunity is, and i agree with spike's point. he did a film where you can't get on the bus, privately funded, and i worked with him on one. we can't privately fund the solution to this problem. that's part of it like he's saying. the apollo project has to be at the studio. a media company has the cut the tag. it's not a problem to throw

money at. it's not poverty. we don't have the money to tell the stories, and you can't throw money at it and make a difference, but in the news, they are just on these standards. if there's an enterprising within the media companies if an african-american doesn't say, hey, i'll be the standard for my cull cheer and report the news the way they did. you don't have that voice on television now, and i think there's an opportunity or would be an opportunity for african-americans to stand up or muslims. james, the right winger with planned parenthood, acorn, he's dismantling progressive organizations with a $600 camera and some access, and i think there's the same opportunity. you are telling me you can't go to ten tea party express stops to make the case this is a racist organization?

you think there's not a time among those 100,000 people that say i don't care whether the birth thing is true or not? you don't think you can capture that on tape. they don't qair whether it's true or not and the news media on the birth issue should say that's a dead issue. anybody who brings it up is ridiculous. [laughter] if you get a phone call and say hey, do you support donald trump, your answer should be no, you're an idiot. he's trying to hustle me out of the boat with a dead issue. no, i don't support him. somebody in the media should be saying that that as a journalist with the responsibility, i can't tell them this. >> you know, one person who has been saying it, and that's john stuart, and speaks to the state of just how miserable news has been. this is a dead word now. we think it means something, and it doesn't mean anything because the way that -- it's basically

been so used that you can have donald trump speak this nonsense with the issue of park 51 and the community center and mosque near ground zero and john stuart said it's not on ground zero. it was a nonissue until people campaigned for the elections. it was -- pamela geller was a nobody who had a lunatic blog that nobody read, and they came out of nowhere and put on news shows with serious people to start the rubbish of the islamization of the united states. if somebody said you speak nonsense, this is ridiculous, she would be deflated, but now she's an expert on hate. she's consistently one after another news show. she was -- she was speaking of

fox news about a year and a half ago talking about the islamic community center and fox said it was a great idea, and pam speers this idea of the blood dripping mosque and the muslims are coming to take over and how babies and this community center and it was taken seriously. what happened between what fox news had daisy on and it was a great idea to last summer and america goes crazy during the summer because you have nothing to think about. it's like forest fires everywhere, and last time it was muslims everywhere. you care about park 51 and this pam lunatic became this huge megastar. i do not understand, and then she invites people over from the netherlands, another hate monger, and she has this congregation of hate in new york whereas in the beginning if it was nipped in the bud, and she was told you are talking hate.

she's free to talk hate, do it on your blog, but to talk with an expert to the fact, i was outside park 51 last summer doing sidewalk activism, and the people here for three weeks tell americans what they should know, and what i'm learning from my citizenship examine is which the first amendment allows you the freedom of worship and expression. outside park 51, all these americans watching fox news and watching pam come to the community center and yell obscenities at us. somebody left a bag of dog poop outside the community center, and another nut case, this evangelist comes outside with a news crew to say he's there to save muse lism women because we need saving. outside the center is six muslim women shouting at him saying we don't need to be saved. it's a lunatic situation where this right wing evangelist is

speaking on my behalf. >> what about the guys burning the quaran? >> he is a congregation of 12. [laughter] >> equate that with the tv space, and he's a megachurch. >> last summer when there was nothing to report, they go to his church and turn him into a superhero. again, i'm not stepping on his right to do anything. >> you think he has the right to burn that in? >> he does. hehe has a choice. sarah palin on the right side come up with this crazy solution. they said if he doesn't burn it, you don't build the community center. that's why he has the right to burn it. the amendment givings him the right to burn, and the 4th amendment gives me the right to

build this commune center. there's no kind of confession done on the first amendment here. you have to tell people that. you do not want to let go of your first amendment rights in order for people like donald trump and sarah palin to speak on your behalf. where is america? i really want to know. >> don, before we get to you, spike, you have to leave in five minutes, and building on what you talked about is the responsibility of media; right, and putting the views out there. spike, where has media been responsible? what are some of the examples that we can hold up? >> i need some help. [laughter] >> [inaudible] >> what? >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> film making, it can be hollywood examples or regard to news as we talked about, but

where is the responsibility you've seen out there, that awareness? >> it's fleeting. >> it's that difficult? >> well, we're being overrun by garbage on television, and it's selling, and especially in this difficult economic times we live in, they are not just going to cut that loose when it's making money, but i just think that people in power, they really just got to come down and understand you have the responsibility because when you get your license from the fcc, there's a responsibility there, but i think that for many people it's profits over people. i think the best example was bp

of the whole bp thing where people in the gulf states were sacrificed for profits, and that's really what the country is built upon though. you look at the what happened to the native americans and this stealing of people from africa -- that's what the country is really built on, you know, exploitation, and it's slicker now, it's glossier. sometimes it's harder to find, but, you know people pray it all the time, people kneel down to the altar of the al mighty dollar and they'll even put their mother on the corner for money. gr what's your -- >> what's your perspective of

large money? the perspective of the media companies, does it squeeze out diverse voices? that's the argument that's being made out there. >> my whole thing is just a matter of huge media companies. i mean, it looks like a couple years, three companies will own everything in the world. it's not just media. yiesm -- i mean, everything is just people buying this and buying that, and there's, you know, fewer places to go to because you got to unlock especially with film. there used to be a lot of independent houses, major stuff where you can go, you can try to get a film made. those companies are out of business. >> they are gone? >> gone. >> what's in the place now? >> the majors.

>> how do they do that? >> my man said now they want movies. if it can't be done in 3-d. come on, we're people of color. they don't make a black swan, fire, true grit, those films like $20-$35 million, but african-americans, it's hard to do, especially when denzel's not in it. >> or you. >> or me? no, no. don't put me in that. no, the thing it's not just african-americans, but i just think -- unless your spielberg, james cameron, tyler, it's hard to get a film made nowadays

because the median range budget film they do not make anymore. they give you pennys or $20 million. >> last words. i know you have to hit to road to go to that -- [laughter] >> woman with the hat? [laughter] >> i just think that we have to keep fighting, and we have to think about our past. think what oscar myrrh shell went through, same with nat king cole, many, many people, jim brown, people -- my man ossy davis, ruby dee, great, great battles have been won and sometimes likes like we're moving backwards, so we just got to, you know, keep going bard of

the it's tough now. it's tough. >> spike lee, thank you for being here. i know you got to go. >> okay, thank you. [applause] >> donald, let's continue with you then, what are the examples, you said on the business side that looked at that you would hold up as ones that have been responsible, media companies or filmmakers or writers, columnists, what have you seen out there in >> i think there's a number of examples of folks that have been responsible. i was thinking when spike told the story, one of my stories from last year was the turn around of how everyone came out and were attacking from the get-go, and at the moment they found out the information was incorrect, i enjoyed watching the unfolding and the news stations and the online publications and the print communications all coming back

and actually apologizing for what they did, so i think, and i think after that point, they were responsible, granted they were very quick to accuse, but they were able to come back, andic that they gave her -- and i think they gave her the air time to give her the amend to correct what they did incorrectly. that's one case that started bad, but turned good at least in terms of that particular story. i think on the business end as we look at this space it's kind of hard to see that; right? as i mentioned before, the dollars are tracking quite frequently with the sort of base level type of content, and the viewership, people are

watching -- >> like what you were saying? >> similar police take. spike talked about reality tv moments ago. it's unfortunate, but inexpensive to produce, and people watch it, get sucked in, and the people who produce it are introducing the people to be on the shows looking for points of tension, frequently racial tension, and they cast the stereotypical black woman who is loud and boisterous with all kinds of craziness going on with her life, casting her with someone else and want to see tension occur on television, and when that occurs, the ratings go up because we're tuning in, and our country, we continue to tune into this stuff, and i had these conversations with friends who will sit there and talk about just what happened on i won't name all the shows, but they talk about what happened on the

shows, an the next sentence is about how awful media is today, and the fact of the matter is you have to begin to vote with your, you know, with your tv or with your newspaper choices or with your online choices. you have to determine what is, you know, what is sorpt of media -- sort of media that is fairly representing of what's going on in our country and support those outlets and turn off the other wops because -- ones because until we do that, we're not going to see much of a change. i mean, it's -- many of these cases, it's a business decision and it is what drives ratings and the advertising dollars. >> will, reality tv show there; right? >> right. >> did quite well. >> yes. >> what is positive about that >> well, i just think it was in tune with the times..

.. the watch what ever is on. and they aren't going to vote with their feet. they just won't. ultimately it's the kind of obligation of the media

companies to say our goal is to try to be diverse. you want examples of a responsible and most of these are historical and when the movement was happening then that would drop out, they didn't have any black reporters so they hired some come some of the early guys that -- that's how the central lagat discovered. i remember the situation with mack robinson when they had the hostages, the only person they would talk to was max robinson. and then a couple years later he was on the anchor desk. i remember seeing bernard shaw over in iraq with bombs in the background and then he came back and cnn really hasn't recovered from his departure because they don't have an evening news program when he was there and i don't think they realized what they had while he was there.

we've told in 60 minutes they are trying out some guys it just became obvious they were not brimming barred revenue or mentoring somebody i think in the news rooms or even in the media companies it's become in the mud to talk about the diversity because people are against goals and targets, etc.. if you don't plan for it it isn't going to happen. and that's what needs to happen within the news rooms and what happens with the entertainment companies. i want to have ten black films, start with that we are going to fund it. and then you can open the door and start taking pictures and they can't all be the same i don't want all my reality shows to be conflict and i want to see different slices of life and you say that's what we are buying and where the creative community essentially will be selling. >> i agree with what you're

saying but i also believe that consumers and watchers and viewers do have to say and we just recently freedom of peace last week on race state inverses racism. it was the people who ran talking about andrew, the same, but basically it changed and they decided they were going to start a position to be a competition to get rid of him on the "washington post" and the have i think it was 43,000 people that signed the petition, it raised the eyebrows of the folks the "washington post" and they actually did take a minute and start looking at andrew and they responded by saying he doesn't have racism in his heart. he's just priest beating. so, however you want to slice the birds and whatever you want to do with that the fact of the matter is that they have been looking at where to put him on

the site and they have been responding in part to what color change to it, and i think that there is something to be said about the viewers and consumers taking an active role in change, and they can make a difference in doing this whether it is the petitions with these types of things. i agree it's not going to happen as quickly as if you were to fund it from the top but i do believe there's a rule to be played. >> anything - ten we aren't even at this level where we can think what is ahead. so on a good day in the so-called established media like "the new york times" on a good day they would have a story in the way they did about six or seven months ago and the muslim women in the u.s. and every single one of them where the heads are off because that's what the muslim woman is to "the new york times" and the muslim women like me have to go okay at least they see a positive role

models of the women but none of them look like myself and at least they are there's a that's why i'm talking about stopping at a disadvantage or about a month ago they had a huge magazine off about in muslim preacher in the u.s. again who represents a tiny slice of the muslim experience in the u.s. trying to explain where the ultra-conservative views come from. this ideal at least we've got to get rid of this at least because many of you out so at least i or someone who believes what i did so we had very little in common that they had and i think the pushback is coming not so much from the established media itself because they don't recognize our diversity where the pushback is coming from this social media. social media is where a lot of the voices who don't have room in the list published media coming from so you have consumer

media watch set up by muslim women and north america basically come and they have writers from across the world who monitor the way the muslim women are portrayed in the so-called stub bush meant major media. and you have independent writers who because they don't have a place in this so-called established media they have to go and created online and i am fine with that because i think in a few years that will be the place to go because when i look at egypt i think one of the main drivers of the revolution is what has been happening in the region is the young people who've gone and created spaces for themselves where they've not existed before and they've used as platforms to take on these regimes, so that is what it takes here and if i have to look at the guest of which media as the regime in this country then so be it because it's not happening, we are not creating that space. they might take a muslim reporter war two but still the same story that at the end of the day makes me think of leased line there but i've got another five or ten years before they recognize that dhaka, too and a

muslim in this country. >> we have had these large buckets. you did a great job, mona, describing the muslim community and they are diverse in their experiences with a come from culturally as well as ethnically in nationality as well but also exists in the asian-american community as we all know, so with all this diversity, within this diversity to the question is should they be presenting all of these, is it physically possible, can you do that for these media companies? >> they are representatives of people who live on earth. it's not like -- it's not like somebody is sitting but people on tv that don't reflect the human being or the american population. i think the center on this is why i say it was back to what are we -- what are our values as a country, and whenever we get into those perlstein or we have to go back to the root of we are as a country, i count several as being probably the the era where

we have the basic, then we start making decisions that are based on that like yes, there should be african-americans should have equal access to schools, different minorities should have equal access to hospitals. when we go back to the root of we are as a country and once we establish, we are a representative democracy. and that should be reflected in all the major sectors of our country. and the media should be no different from that. and so it i run a major media company i do think there's a difference between the news and entertainment i won't go all into it here because entertainment is a very finite resource 100 some odd major companies per year. it is hitting the water to get a film made so that is a different discussion. television and news is different. it's not as finite.

news i think should reflect the culture, and i think msnbc so far has done the best job of reflecting the way from what happened during the obama administration, before obama msnbc on a demographic point of view was no different -- was behind cnn to tell you the truth. it was after the obama campaign started kicking up and he became very serious than people who had -- the start of pulling people in from chicago now moving to new york. people who then had access into the world and the obama phenomenon than became -- then they started being put on the air. and i think it's good for that to happen that way. but i think that somebody can be more intentional, and if you were more intentional you would be a big winner. i will give you quickly the converse. i used to work of news

corporation, and it was in the very beginning years of fox news. >> still nice guy. don't worry, i got goldman and other stuff landstuhl chongging -- [inaudible] [laughter] but fox news is in the early stages and that the beginning roger ellis came over from cnbc and he still had his ideology and political views but he was trying to program it has a broad based network. alternately with a decided is forget the broad base, let's just go back to what we do best and what was being done in the u.k., primarily what had been done in australia, and we are going to become the conservative outlet and have diversity point of views within conservatism, and they went from being the last please note this tradition in new york and l.a. to becoming the monster that they are today. and i think msnbc has tried, but it hasn't been falls road, the

same thing with cnn. you know, you can't straddled between object -- for objectivity and sound point of view. i think your values shouldn't be a point of view they should be your values, period. you planned those and then build your company are now those values and i fink within the first media company that says we are a media company within a representative democracy the first one who increases that -- increases that i think will blow the rest of the water because they will have nieces and the different points of view that represent the country as a whole. >> donna, to you. as we see the specialized media, specialized news channels and i mean not only in broadcast but also printed online as a distinguished themselves based on ethnic groups, does that help

or hurt the issue we are talking about today which is race in the media? >> for the moment i think it still helps mainly because there is no representation in terms of mass media. so these outlets provide an opportunity for people to congregate to discuss and engage a around issues that are very relevant in the communities. and i think that too will's point as soon as someone understands you can integrate all of these stories and these people into the fabric of what you're doing and actually gaining broader audiences respected for doing all of those will work and until then it still makes sense for us to have these places that are basically surfacing, stories that are not being seen other places. >> and you're saying there is a time you say that these sorts of

ethnic based media organizations may not be seen that way anymore or they will be integrated in or they will buy other companies. >> two things. there will always be the need for people to find the people with like mind and to complicate and discuss issues. i think double always be the case whether it is drawn on the racial lines, religious lines or whatever, economic lines that will always be the case. but i do believe at the time progressives you will see more integration, you have to see it about the browning of america. if you are going to win in this space you have to begin to look at how to incorporate all these voices, you must to even play long term in this business so i believe over time you will see much more integration but i think it's going to take -- it's the first move. who's going to be the first company? again i think nbc has done a good job in terms of increasing

minority managers and employees and raising them throughout the company but i think we need more. and if you look at the other companies, there are very few companies that are really looking at this seriously to figure out how they are going to win long-term. >> two things come to mind, the arab community in the u.s. right now there's a growing american comedians who started around 2003 and they perform a function very similar to a jewish comedian, and richard pryor and eddie murphy and chris rock facing head-on discrimination for comedy and arab-american communities sold-out a theater on broadway about four or five months ago it was the first time they managed to sell out a broadway theater and was a great moment, and soon after that we

began to hear questions should they identify more or should they be canadians -- should they be pigeonholed and that is constantly de dial am i and for a certain amount of time you do need to identify and work within the so-called pigeonholes because you want to present these diverse spaces but sooner or later you ought to be accepted as arab-american comedians and for the comedian in the muslim community we are not there yet. >> on that point that is the question i was going to ask when we see faces on television often you will see those of certain ethnic backgrounds they would be talking about those specific issues related to their ethnic background, and i think it was brought up earlier by the panel is there a point you think where we can get those faces on air that are talking about muslim american issues, so you will come on and talk about business, for instance, and how do we get

there? >> we get there by inviting more and more people on. shaping up rolodex basically because anyone who works in the news industry you know how much time you have and that little time combined with laziness you go to the people you know so it is the same old faces over and over again, the usual suspect so until we break out and start asking friends of friends, ten french removed who do you know and recommend, unfortunately to break into something like the opinion industry which is what i've been trying to do is incredibly difficult because when you don't have any connection how are you going to get on to these pages and then they continuously say women don't want to leave the want to read the pieces but no one goes to the women when they want an opinion piece written by women and then they complain. it is a catch-22 they get to either way, so you have to start just going to the usual names and just start fresh with people you've never heard before and give them a chance. if they don't have anything to say don't invite them back. i am not saying bring someone who is an expert or an unfair

advantage but have them talk about everything because what upsets me when it comes to tv every year something i want for this, we have a piece about what it's like to be muslim and that person is never asked about anything except what it's like to be a muslim. do they not have an opinion on the elections were on every devotee television? i spend my entire life just thinking that simple. you need to give people a chance and i'm sure we can start speaking so just opening up to more people and you see it happening with other religious groups. the focus on religion, when it comes to catholic issues for example someone who used to be catholic they will focus on someone who has a complicated relationship or talk to some of that single orthodox catholic but when it comes to muslims it's like this and it's not that simple. we are very diverse. muslims just like everybody else

come in all shapes and sizes and not just about muslim issues but about a whole bunch of. my opinion about the neighborhood -- >> we can do that next time. >> is a supply or demand problem? you wrote your having difficulty developing serious reporters and serious times is it a supply problem or is it a demand problem? something i asked myself when i entered the industry as well. some devotees reacting to the success of fox news. and what fox paid is it sold the news and so no every network is selling the news instead of reporting. >> in the stivers sees as supply versus demand. >> this is why we are seeing that so now everybody is, cnn is trying to sell the news come msnbc is on the news, abc, everybody is basically trying to

sell the news. so as soon as you try to sell the news to viewers, when you get into the sale mentality what are you doing? i don't want them to report something i don't report, i don't want something on their store shelves that is and online so you start reacting to everything out there and start getting stories from twitter and according to facebook and seeing me in a chat room, you just start getting caught up on the play-by-play, and when that happens, anybody can be an expert on the subject because you're not talking about anything that the other guys aren't talking about. you don't need experts to basically report what is being sold as news right now. as a result it gets back to what you said which is who is closest to me? who can get down to my studio in the next hour to talk about the story that just broke on twitter that is essentially daytime news right now. a big chunk of it. you know, about what just broke

out on twitter, who can get to the next studio in an hour-and-a-half for two hours. so there aren't a set of values for people the media covered or at least it isn't apparent. i think you would change. i really do think when 2012 comes around, i think we will see kind of beside the point when the campaign kicks off and the coverage happens and the tea party dissipates back to the niche that is the essential when it becomes an interest group essentially to the report showed and when people start seeing the house party, the rally they are going to be like i need people who look like those people to go out and report on this campaign again, and i think you're going to see another influx of pieces that are going to be on cnn and msnbc, you know, for sure, but it would be much better if that the top management level within the media so not just the network, but the owners of the

network said listen, all of not accompany we have a mission to diversify from our suppliers to the subscribers that we go after to the customer service, and it will also be true in our entertainment products and who reports the news, not what you report it is who, and we are going to become a more representative company, and i think once one company makes that statement and they begin to see the benefits of doing that, then i think that will have an impact on the rest of the industry. >> turning the boat a little bit, and i will move into talking about hip-hop and definitely get your view as well as a multiracial movement, and what it's meant to the discussion that we are having today which is race and media. >> he should start with will not one. >> we can start with will and circled back if you would like.

>> hip hop and the rule of muslims and arab-americans as well as international hip-hop stars or rap generally because colin the african revolutions can tell you of rappers in libya and tunisia and egypt and so many countries that have taken mix ackley the value of hip-hop as it started in the u.s. and the late 70's, early 80's, have taken that art form as the main expression against oppression and injustice and underrepresentation and using it in the most passionate way many of us who love the beginning of hip-hop continue so it's been amazing. it's taken it exactly and when you hear the songs now, but stick to nisha for example there is one that is the general and he wraps in arabic. tunisia is known for a lot of people to speak french but they

represent the upper middle class existence and those who follow the revolution started by the young man who set himself on fire a working-class town that has nothing to do with french or upper-middle-class existence but very much to do with the upper representing class nobody's all so this idea to point at the invisible isakson ackley what he was doing, and because of that two or three days into the revolution he was arrested by the regime and after he was released and arrested for the rap basically saying you will meet the day your people will overthrow you and they really did. and soon after he was released his next rap was come on other arab countries we need the resolutions and he's basically passing on the book on to egypt, libya, algeria has we have seen it and now there's a mix tape even the idea of mixed tapes

there's a mix tape of rap, revolutionary rap in the middle east and north africa that's exciting so not only is it representing the values but it's now being sung in the language that the average working-class underrepresented person can understand and not the language of the privileged and affluent and that is exactly the kind of value that it started with. [laughter] >> we don't have a straight up and down hip-hop credit on the panel, so i'm not just going to be as animated as i normally would. but the biggest thing about hip-hop is it is the window of culture so it is people who don't live in the same area who don't have the same life experiences but have the same emotions and are looking at the same will have a common language they can talk to each other, and that has been a movement going on since the 80's until now.

like it has literally brought -- when you've show the census, the multiracial statistics, hip-hop is a big part of the reason why the raises have gotten together to the point of the essentially, you know, creating more kids together. so it has been -- it just has been amazing. but in the same ways -- >> what is the sort of -- >> because here is the biggest problem at least in the 50's, 60's and 70's. anything before the 70's people did not know each other. they did not live together. they didn't talk to each other. white parents didn't want black kids -- they didn't want their kids to go to school together. they didn't know each other. in the deep south, blacks and whites knew each other but only in a subservient relationship, so they didn't know each other as equal and together. so in the 80's, when it became -- it could have happened some

like if the rock movement had in the 80's than it would be like rock was this amazing revolution for the races, but it didn't because the races were still separate when the rock revolution happened and what stock happened. there were just starting to come together but when hip-hop have been the they were just coming together. so it gave people a way to talk to each other. that is the reason why win obama is up and at the time hillary clinton was criticizing him he could just brushed that off the shoulder. an auditorium full of white people went crazy and blacks because they knew what that meant. so he had a lot and they were like this is our president, too. so you could just feel that swaggart and black-and-white and everybody felt it. now here's the limit to hip-hop. it is a social values of some of the way people hang out, we get along, etc.. it isn't a moral value system. like it cannot replace -- it

cannot replace what religion, the role religion plays as far as morals. it's about who we are. it can get us to get there but it's not the golden rule. it doesn't tell me how i treat you. and so, for people who think because it brought people together that now it is a new moral code, it's not. it's a social -- it is hard with a social engineering benefit. it doesn't have the moral benefit. that still has to come from the church. that still has to come from what you believe about the country, your political values. all of those things still have to be put into the individual person. it can't solve that problem, but it's done a lot to bring people together, and it's all over the boat. >> wouldn't use it devolved though significantly from the messages from the 80s and 90s to what you're hearing today?

>> it's just at the bottom it's gotten better. because it is more people who are doing it. now people would say in the beginning it was just fun and party. that's not true. in the beginning there were gangs with deejays in the bronx and you go to a party and it's just go off, turning into mass flights. if you go back to news clips in the 1980's you couldn't go to a show in the quarter without a brooklyn being in the house. when i say brooklyn is in the house and brooklyn comes in and they tore up the ladder in court or as if frank was here he was doing his part in it. [laughter] >> now he is gone you can see that. it's on tape. >> but a big part of it, it was still a lot of angst. it wasn't as pervasive as it is now. so the for the negative effects our people feel now because it's all over they are going to feel it all over.

>> two now moving to questions and comments for the panel and anybody that has a question or comment, please. >> the president and ceo of the national puerto rican coalition. i also sit on the board of the hispanic leadership agenda and the diversity of the council for the abuse corporations. it's interesting when you're talking about. i have a comment and question. my comment is it's very interesting. i've been here all day listening to different panelists and two panels i think are very crucial to the hispanic community, just the politics and the media i haven't seen one hispanic, and i haven't heard about the hispanic experience and that is a little disturbing to me. so that's my comment. maybe it's time for us to start finding the word diversity and maybe that is something to think

about. i haven't heard the word of advertising agencies to read advertising agencies i call it with the media is all about because the move that had in the right direction. can you comment on it? >> who would like to comment? >> i want to be clear on the question. are you stating specifically with your creating in terms of advertising work? >> the control the dollars from the corporations. the advertising agencies tell the corporations where and how to invest in the dollar on the media outlets. so they definitely have a very important role for us to be able to leverage them so than the media outlets will create the demand and supply that. >> i think what's happening in the advertising agency is exactly what we've been talking about in hollywood and what we have had in the news media that there is a lack of representation. if you look at most of these

advertising agencies large agencies, most of them at the highest levels have very little diversity. many of the agency's recently started acquiring small warehouses that focus on the hispanic media will focus on african american media or asian media. but for the most part of the highest level there is very little diversity and that certainly has an impact -- is certainly has an impact on what's being created, the type of advertising that you're seeing, and also has an impact on where those advertising dollars are going. does that answer door question? >> what is your definition of diversity? isn't there a lot of, you know, folks from jewish background in the advertising industry and in the media? that to me is diversity. so diversity, are you talking about color? >> it can represent in many ways certainly better its religion, whether it's race, whether it's economic status. and there is a broad range of

ways to look at it. and in the end, the advertising world there are very few minorities and i say minorities i am speaking specifically about ethnic minorities and represented at the highest levels. >> do you have a follow-up question? >> it's just it seems to me when we are having a conversation about the state of the race in america we keep using the word diversity coming and we use diversity whenever it is convenient to us and really it's time for us to find that word because if we are focusing on differences, then we are always going to perpetuate the problem that the difference exists, and all we do this with spikes that at the beginning. we talk about the same thing over and over and over and maybe it's time to find that terminology so that and everybody starts working from the same foundation.

>> hispanic representation as it relates to the media and because in many ways an african-american entrepreneur is look at companies especially when it comes to television, the latinos are a model minority in the ability to have networks that are across the nation and to go and get specific budgets from the effort pfizer's. >> we can with of the concept like hell are we going to create more houses, right? essentially was the question. the bottom line, if you -- if sponsor comes and they need, or proctor and gamble says we're going to back this showed an mtv

or a network will put it on the air almost assuredly. so we went and we tried to put it together. they couldn't get on their side enough johnson & johnson, walgreens.com wal-mart, enough advertisers with in their portfolio coming into the global media, media holdings and ad agency this isn't a boutique agency this is a major agency and they couldn't get them to come at -- connect to the several million would take to put together on that scale. now they took the same idea and probably you've worked with these guys took the same idea and said we are going to try with of the hispanic community without were latino content. do you know that within 120 days they were able to get nine figures worth of commitment for latino programming and there's many reasons for that, but one

is the hispanic community is much more organized when it comes to getting corporate dollars. you won't see it in the film industry or some industries, but when it comes to television, print, and you have your own distribution, the second player, telemundo -- >> but it isn't hispanic owned. >> but you have to -- i know that's important from the wealth building perspective, but if i am a consumer and at the end of the day tyler perry doesn't own the studios, the theaters in the neighborhoods. i don't dig deep about what percentage owned is lying in state -- lions gate. like i want to see my image, so

univision is valuable for consumers. i understand the argument that you're making it at the end of today but i'm saying we had on ideas on shows that were working that couldn't attract advertising dollars and versus shows that were still in theory that could attract advertising dollars from the latino market, and the answer to that isn't for me to be mad at latinos and for us to get into it over those limited budgets, it's to go back to the core principle which is to say media companies need to tell the advertisers we are going to be represented. across the property is what we produce, who calls the shots we will be represented at the democracy. so when we say diversity that's what we mean. it will reflect the population of the country. >> thank you so much. we've got three more minutes coming up.

>> my name is carol gregory, with the economy in a director of communications of special-interest and you talk a bit about the lee zenas of journalists and to point out also and based on the old business model that started failing and focused it and recognized the and that the internet would have of the social media, the fact that the bloggers of the press controls the news rooms have shrunken terribly and in addition to laziness you have news rooms that were cut in half, print news rooms also cut in half and a lot of the veterans are gone you have very young kids out there telling those stories. i wonder as you're looking -- i think i mentioned in a kind of shot out one econ amine launched something called the public internet channel pic.tv and we have people such as robert

townsend who produces program where he can't get that on regular tv but he's doing it on the internet and not just because he can't do it on regular tv but because he's realized so many people are getting content and it's a strategic move in reaching an audience that's growing. do you think the internet has the capability of being what television might have been 20 years ago for the media and also for entertainment distribution etc. >> i will be very quick and done i can jump in, too. as we move forward as traditional media like "the new york times" and others stop putting the ball the payrolls as budgets become a reality i'm glad you mentioned that because budgets are obviously a consideration. i think the kind of media model we give to start looking at now that isn't on the contentious relationship between traditional mainstream media i think they have to start dancing together.

they have to understand the need each other because the budget cuts and because mainstream can't move that far the have to start depending on what has become known as citizen journalists or people who are on a twitter or facebook more and to offer it very quickly. at the same time those citizens could also use the huge platform that there is a mainstream media type can offer them so this is the model we have to look at. i don't think one or the other is the and to replace the other. it has to be this very paranoid contentious relationship. i think it should be symbiotic and they can look at ways to strengthen each other because that will be the future. i spent my entire day on twittered. if someone can get me on to better i will be there. so this is the model where they learn to dance together rather than combat each other. >> 30 seconds. >> i agree wholeheartedly. basically actually if you look at the recent statistics on

online dollars from advertising dollars, they are actually doing more and more toward from print to on-line journalism. also if you look at the online leadership upnews versus print, 46% of americans actually get their news now from online pleases versus the print newspapers so you're saying to see this movement and i'm not saying that no one is right. i think the models are going to be completely different. i think you're going to start seeing different ways to pay for media whether it be micropayments, you might see the subscription models the line excited to see what's going to happen at "the new york times" and recent pay models and a number of different models over the next couple of years until someone gets a right. >> yes, more every day. [laughter] last question, please.

>> i just wanted to ask you to say a little bit more about the difficulty responsibility. the shared responsibility challenge. it to the extent the problem that we face is the structural racism this matter of media representation is a critical part of the problem and dismantling the represent -- changing the representation i think is a critical priority. but could use a a little bit more about how the responsibility towards addressing these images and stereotypes and the representation that we see so often across the media ought to be shared? you talk a little bit about the importance of those who lead

these organizations, recognizing the importance of the diversity but can you say more about what you think the responsibility of the consumers are, and also the folks who participate in these programs who, you know, accept the rules in the movies that are not necessarily positive. can you say and little bit about how you think the balance ought to be struck? >> good comment there. also final words if you could to the panel, and again in about 30 seconds. i apologize as we wind it up here. who would like to start first? >> in terms of -- in terms of what you were asking i think that over the next number of years we're going to continue to see the growing diversity the major media as i mentioned before their must -- there has

to be a change at the top level there has to be a change of the sort of bottom levels of what's going on in order for companies to succeed long-term i will tell you a very brief story but a colleague of mine came in the office the other day and he said you know it's interesting to me? my child just had -- to girls the other day i asked him who they were in fighting over for a sleepover and he said his daughter explained that the girls were really smart and funny and lots of fun and when they got to the house both children were black and his daughter was white and he was absolutely baffled that his title but didn't mention that these two little girls were black. and i think as we look at this nation and we look where we are going as a nation and how we is evolving and changing the people are going to be -- we have to begin incorporating and integrating people from all

different religious economic and ethnic backgrounds and in order to be representative because we have a whole generation that's coming up that doesn't see the world in the way that we have seen the world and they have to be inclusive. >> about the american muslim community, 9/11 was a shock to everybody. muslims included the died in the attack and it made us realize whether we have been in this country or are newcomers to the country than i am it is our responsibility speaking out, and one thing i learned last year during the part 51 debacle according to the polls only 38% of americans say they know a muslim but that is two things to me. they are such a small minority in this country but most americans probably don't think i am a muslim so they wouldn't tell them that they know me as a

muslim so my responsibility becomes now it's almost like being gay you try the first three sentences to put into the conversation that you are in muslim. [laughter] so that is my talent now. i will meet complete strangers whether it is in a hotel, breakfast buffet or in a supermarket and we are having a conversation and within three sentences it is my challenge to let them know i muslim because i want them to go home and say i met a woman who turned out to be muslim and i never would have guessed she was a muslim. so this kind of like we of saying that the american muslim community recognizes we have to speak out more, get out there more, as we now have comedians, writers, actors come active in the rules to your taking and a lot of the actors are speaking out saying no more doing this because they do feed these awful, hateful images people are getting but also the community is learning to write when the ca eight full story. the community in the campaign. it is kind of grass-roots stuff but the community and all of its diversity is learning.

the african american muslim community knows it very well because the have been facing discrimination as blacks in this country for centuries. we as the newcomers to this country was immigrant ascent must learn more from our african-american muslim brothers and sisters and all the others in the community, from the asian community, the jewish community, all communities we have so much to learn that the biggest thing is to just speak out and speak out louder. >> the individual always has the ultimate responsibility for their choices in their lives, period. i just think that's a fact. when did you get into the public square and you're talking about media and government, etc., then those entities also have a responsibility. and so that's the reason why i take the point of view that the media has responsibility but i'm super optimistic because even in my adult lifetime wilder left

office in virginia and people like will there ever be another black governor? it was over, like the government there's a black president and he's not even done with a first term and they are saying will there ever be another black president? so i just think -- i'm pretty optimistic on all these questions and in the media in particular i just want to be a part of it which is the reason why i'm an entrepreneur and by immelt and active and i just believe that my -- when my kids grow up they will be able to play in a pretty much everything all over the globe. i just think there's an opportunity now if the media company would seize it. >> will griffin, thank you so much, donna as welcome impressive and so open about all of your views today.

thank you so much. [applause]

now the head of the bureau of ocean energy management on the future of offshore oil and natural gas drilling. michael bromwich says his agency's goals are increased drilling safety and reducing the risk of a major blowout. he spoke at the center for strategic and international studies on the day before the first anniversary of the deepwater horizon explosion in the gulf of mexico. >> it's our pleasure to the -- this is our eighth installment on the gulf oil series. we actually started last june i think it was two days after director bromwich was sworn into his new job. over that period we've held consecutive sessions that looked at energy technology, looked at well-designed, but the international standards and best practices. at one point we looked at the environmental impact and we can do better. we saw what we would do today is

the vote since we are almost at the anniversary of macondo a tragic accident that there was, but we want to look forward so what's the path forward when you look at rising prices, unrest in the middle east, how your gasoline, it's no question at least in our mind we need to get back to work in the gulf of mexico but we need to do better, smarter and safer. today what we have assembled for you we think director bromwich is going to speak first and we have a panel discussion and we are going to take you through energy research and technology what's been done on the industry side in terms of the task force and the safety institute. we've got mike wallace of the constellation energy which you might find a little unusual in this setting but there's been so much discussion in the safety case and safety organization regulatory organization that is a good model for the offshore and i think in principle is on the nuclear side there are some differences with the oil and gas industry offshore and then rabin is going to join as well.

we are going to divide the session into two separate segments so the director bromwich will speak first and take questions after that and then we will reconvene the panel discussions, the presentations with the permission of the speakers and it will be available on the web site. a couple of administrative things since we are talking about safety where we have low probability but high impact events in the event we have to evacuate because it is already very warm in here the stairwells are out the door and to your left, mike wright once you are in the stairwell you have two choices you can go upstairs or downstairs one level down brings you to the garage, follow-up and you're on 18th street, take one level of and you are on the full year on case street and exit to the front. this would be a great time to turn off your cellphone before we get started and it's my pleasure to have director bromwich here today. he was here earlier when we talked about actually earlier this year about getting back to

the gulf and taking bets what we would be on the first or second corridor for the activity does start again and now the permits are being led. the safety institute is being proposed and up and running or organized, so a lot of activity has occurred. there's a lot more work to do and we think that this would be a work in progress. >> and that is a good thing because this is an evolution, one tiny event you need to react to bulkeley if you get things better it will occur again or you can minimize the danger that it occurs again. director bromwich for those of you that don't know has a distinguished career in the public and private sector. he was on the litigation team and he's been a former inspector general at the heart of justice and june of last year sworn into his new job as the director of the bureau of ocean energy management regulation enforcement. i got that right this time.

since we have a full agenda, ladies and gentlemen it's my pleasure to give you michael bromwich. [applause] >> thanks very much, frank, and good morning. >> [inaudible] >> is that better? more? is the better? okay. thanks for inviting me back to speak about future of offshore oil and gas development in the u.s.. when i was here three months ago in mid january to participate in the same goals oil series, the national commission on the deepwater horizon spill and offshore drilling, the president's commission, just issued its final report. it was the time no deep water exploratory development permits had been approved since deepwater horizon. most of the questions here and

elsewhere at that time involved whether and when deepwater drilling would resume. well, much has happened since then. we further elaborated and implemented rules and regulations that substantially enhances drilling and workplace safety and strengthen environmental protection. in addition, unlike a year ago when we watched in agony as idp attempted to improvise the response to contain the macondo well out, operators must now have a plan in the ability to shut the deep water blowout and capture oil flowing from the well. that is a huge advance. so as we approach the first anniversary of the deepwater horizon, which comes tomorrow, many people are asking that perfectly appropriate question what has changed since last april? the answer is the new safety regulations, the new come tiemann requirements, and much, much more. these are some of the elements of the picture i want to paint today of the future of offshore

energy development. but to talk intelligently about the future, i have to anchor it in the recent past and present and i will do so by focusing first on the progress of our agency reorganization which frank mentioned and which i began outlining for you in january. second i will bring you up-to-date on the status of offshore drilling in the u.s. water focusing specifically on the gulf of mexico and the development over the past few months. third, i will describe 7% recent international developments that suggest the value and importance of international cooperation and collaboration in the realm of offshore drilling. and finally, i will outline a comprehensive set of guiding principles relating to the future of offshore drilling. a year ago tomorrow, the deepwater horizon began to unfold in all of its human and environmental horror. the explosions and fire on the rig to the lives of 11 men on the rig, injured many others and resulted in this bill close to 5 million barrels of oil into

the gulf of mexico. in some ways these seem like they took place a long time ago. but in other ways they seem to have occurred far more recently. at the time and in the immediate aftermath, deepwater horizon served like an electric current jolting the industry out of complacency and overconfidence that had developed over the preceding decades. while also serving the message the government had to reexamine their practices. the memory of the 11 members have guided our work and i think the work of the industry and reinforced our determination to diminish the risk such a catastrophic a blowout can occur again. what i was hearing outlined in broad strokes the reorganizing former middle management service into three separate agencies within the department of the interior. a week later on january 19th, secretary salazar and i outlined more specifics about the

reorganization. we describe how the new structure would be eliminate the inherent conflict existed when it was responsible for promoting resource development and forcing safety regulations and maximizing revenues from offshore operations. the president's commission from the conflict resulted in an agency the was guided for decades by a predominant interest in maximizing revenue for the u.s. treasury rather than promoting safety and rigorous oversight. that was unacceptable. and that is why one of our guiding principles has been to eliminate the conflict by separating and clearly delineating missions across the agencies. the first stage of the organization took effect on october 1st of last year when the revenue collection of the former mms begin the office of natural resources revenue. now located in a separate part of the interior reporting for a completely separate chain of command. we are in the best for

implementing the second critically important stage of the reorganization separating the offshore resource management from the safety and enforcement programs. the steps we are now taking on more difficult. but they are extremely important. on october 1st of this year, it will cease to exist and in its place we will have to brand new agencies. we are creating the bureau of ocean energy management, the oem which will be responsible for managing the default of the nation's offshore resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way. we are also creating the bureau of safety and environmental enforcement which will enforce safety and environmental regulations. in making the important structural and design decisions that are shaping the two agencies, we have relied on several guiding principles. these included first, separating resource management from safety oversight to allow were providing engineers and inspectors greater independence, for budgetary economy and clear sr. leadership focus.

for betsiboka list to create an aggressive tough-minded but fair regulator that can effectively evaluate the risk of offshore drilling, promote the development of safety culture in offshore operators and keep pace with technological advances. second, ensuring that we create a sufficiently strong and effective betsy so it can probably carry out the critical safety and environmental protection functions that are central to its mission and that have been historically slighted and underfunded within mms. through, providing an organizational structure that insures that a thorough environmental analysis is conducted and that the potential environmental effect of the proposed operations are given appropriate weight during the decision making related to the resource management. now we are placing the balance of our environmental science and environmental analysis resources and boem to ensure that they are properly balanced and

environmental considerations are fully taken into account at early stages of the process, not after important resources decisions have already been made. but it takes more than good intentions to address some of the institutional weaknesses of the past. it takes a concrete and specific action, and that's what we are taking. to provide you with a few important examples, we are strengthening the role of environmental analysis and enforcement. many of the investigations and refuse over the past year whether the president's commission, the safety oversight board commissioned by secretary salazar, the department of interior inspector general in council on environmental quality came to the conclusion that in the rush to maximize revenue the agency had given short shrift to environmental considerations. in response and among other things, we are creating a brand new position of chief environmental officer in boem to provide institutional assurances that environmental

considerations will be given adequate consideration in the resource to the limit decisions, including the development of the five-year plan, leasing decisions, exploration and development plan reviews and other decisions that bear on the resource management. we are recruiting nationally to fulfil this position now and hope to attract an environmental science of national reputation that will serve as an important voice for environmental considerations and the agency and be a key player in developing the nation's ocean policies while at the same time recognizing the role is not to the rest offshore energy development. we are also creating a new dedicated environmental enforcement compliance program. when we lease offshore operators agree to certain stipulations to minimize adverse impact on the environment. later on in the process, when operators said that the exploration plans they undertake the mitigated environmental effects produced by their activities. historically, were overworked

person outright from time to time to determine whether those commitments in the form of stipulations and medications have been fulfilled. but the agency has never had a personal specifically dedicated to that task. now we will. we think this will make offshore energy development more environmentally responsible and provide opportunities for dedicated professionals interested in ensuring that the ocean and coastal environments are protected. as to our inspections program which has been under resources and outmatched by industry we are creating for the first time the national training center led by training director who we are also seeking for the nationwide search. our inspectors have generally learn how to do their jobs through a combination of on-the-job training and in this response to a course is aimed at teaching how certain types of equipment work. the agency has never had a training center dedicated to training inspectors on how to do

their jobs now we will. let me briefly discussed important substantive work that is going on within the agency to provide the tools, the training and the changes to the culture to make sure the organization will have the results we are aiming for. as part of our broad continuing reform efforts, we created last call in number of implementation teams which have been hard at work for several months. they are the central focus of our efforts to analyze critical aspects of structure, function and process these and implement the needed changes. these teams are in trouble to our reorganization and reform efforts. they are considering the various recommendations for improvement that we have received from numerous sources including the investigations i mentioned earlier. through the work these teams are leaving the foundation for the lasting change in the way we currently do business and with a successor agencies will do business in the future.

we are also in the midst of reviewing our application of the national environmental policy act including in particular the use of categorical exclusion is. we have obtained public comments on the policy and are reviewing and analyzing the comments while working with to develop in the framework designed to ensure environmental risks are thoroughly analyzed and appropriate protective measures are implemented. in the meantime, we are requiring cite specific environmental assistance as opposed to the categorical exclusion reviews performed in the past be conducted for all new and revised exploration development plans in deep water. to address the conflict of interest we it issued a tough recusal policy that will reduce the potential for the real perceived conflict of interest in the enforcement programs. employees in the district office including our permitting engineers and inspectors must notify their supervisor about any potential conflict of interest and request to be excused from performing in the official duty and which such a

conflict exists. thus our inspectors are required to recuse themselves from performing inspections on the facilities of the former employers. also our inspectors must report any attempt by the industry or other personnel to inappropriately influence pressure or interfere with his or her official duties. soon we will be issuing a broad version of the policy that applies to these ethical standards across the agency. i know this is presenting operational challenges for the district offices in the gulf region which are located in small communities where the employers are offshore companies. but the need for tougher rules and finding the boundaries between regulators and the regulated is necessary and compelling. the rules are necessary to assure the public that our inspections and enforcement programs are effective, aggressive and independent. finally, we are continuing to staff our investigations and review unit to the right to create immediately upon taking over the agency.

this unit which is currently composed of professionals with law enforcement backgrounds promptly response to allegations or evidence in this conduct and unethical behavior by the bureau employees. but also pursues allegations of the conduct against oil and gas companies involved in offshore energy products. when there is credible evidence the rules and regulations have been violated. earlier this year we issued the first major report to come out of the iru with the bps leah in the mexico debate took off mexico. when i was here in january as discussed the reforms we were pursuing to improve the effectiveness of the government oversight of offshore energy development and drilling. these changes in safety and accident prevention blood was contained in this bill response were and continue to be both substantial and necessary. however as the report of the commission makes it abundantly clear the industry must change as well. some of the work must be initiated and implemented by the industry but how were agency has a clear and an important role in

helping to spur that change. and we are doing so through the issuance of the tough new regulations to bolster the safety and to enhance the evaluation and mitigation of environmental risks. we also introduced for the first time the performance standards similar to those used by regulators and the north sea where the operators are responsible for identifying and minimizing the risk associated with drilling operations. we've done all this through the development implementation of the two new rules announced last fall that raised standards for the oil and gas industry operations on the of our continental shelf. the first rule emergency will prompted by the deepwater horizon and creates a tough new standards for well-designed casing and cementing and control procedures and equipment and including the the blowout preventers and their required to bring independent third-party inspections and certifications of the proposed jeweling program and process. in addition an engineer must certify the presenters need new standards for testing

maintenance and capable of supporting the turtle pipeline through anticipated pressures. the second rule is the safety rule which requires operators to mr. risks and establish barriers to those risks and at many accidents and oil spills. this was prior to deepwater horizon but its issuance was deferred, delete and blocked for many years. under the workplace safety rules also known as the safety and environmental management systems, operators are required to develop a comprehensive safety and environmental management program that fully guided the size the potential hazards and risk reduction strategies for all phases of activity from will design and construction operation maintenance, and finally to the deconditioning of platforms. although many progressive forward-looking companies had developed such systems on a voluntary basis in the past, many had not and the reviews demonstrated that the percentage of offshore operators that had

adopted such programs voluntarily was declining over time. in addition to these important rules, we issued notices to the lessees the provided additional guidance to the operators on complying with the 16 regulations to request a summer we issued the operators and oil spill response plans specifically include a will specific lot and worse case discharge scenario but operators provide the assumptions and calculations behind the scenarios. our engineers and geologists independently verify the worst case discharge calculations to ensure we have an accurate picture of this bill potential of each well. following the listing of the deepwater drilling moratorium we issued ntl ten that has a mandatory corporate statement from the operators certifying it will conduct the operations in compliance with all applicable agency regulations including the new drilling safety rule. it also confirms that it will be

conducting weld bodwell evaluations as to whether the operator has demonstrated that it has access to and can deploy subsidy contained resources that would be sufficient to promptly respond to a deep water blowout or other loss of control. so as i mentioned at the outset, operators must now have a plan in advance to shut in deep water blowout and capture oil flowing from the well. they must have a plan, they must have access to the equipment and air arrangements, contract or otherwise that show their ability to make use of that equipment. in this way rather than improvising the content response on the fly with its inevitable hits and misses, each operator needs to work through its containment plan in advance, and we have to approve that plan. not over to the free changes over the past year have been sweeping and swift especially

compared to the historical piece of change. and we've been asked many questions from industry about how to comply. we worked through the policy and implementation issues diligently with frequent consultations both in the gulf of mexico and here in washington. the process was constructive, done in good faith and we made very substantial progress in defining and clarifying issues for the operators and the industry more generally. in fact, it was an example of appropriate engagement between government and industry. but what was destructive, corrosive and not done in good faith was the sniping from certain public officials and industry trade associations. they claimed and some continue to assert repeated as recently as yesterday that we have imposed a defect a moratorium or created a permit torian that had been blocking the issuance of drilling permits not because the applications had failed to meet all the requirements which was the fact, but supposedly because

we had made politically motivated decisions not to issue them that couldn't have been further from the truth but it was repeated often enough people who should have known better came to believe it. so, for example, a businessman from louisiana told me that he understood we in washington had fully complied and permit applications sitting on our desk awaiting approval. he's and supplies vital in our district offices in the gulf of mexico have that job and that i have no role in making decisions on individual permits. in fact the chief obstacle standing in the way for approving trade water drilling in october when the moratorium was lifted through the middle of february was the unavailability of the resources to contain the subsidy blow out. the absence of the ready-made subsidy contained systems and advanced plans on how to deploy the systems is what allowed the macondo well to flow on for 87

days. now last summer, the major leal and gas companies announced the formation of the content company whose mission was precisely to develop such to the devotee and make it available to the community of the deep water operators. subsequently the second industry group, and he looks containment group announced its intention to build a separate contant system with similar capabilities. we encourage both but endorsed neither. during the period from october to mid february we had numerous meetings with the containment companies and individual operators who acknowledge the understood no deepwater permits could be issued until the capabilities had been developed, tested and reviewed. unfortunately that simple truth fails to make much of an impression on those alleging that the facto moratorium. needless to say it would have an irrational and irresponsible to resume deepwater drilling before the viable containment systems were available. finally, in mid february but he looks and the mwcc said that

they were able to operate. the systems including the capping stacks were tested in the presence of the engineers and test results were viewed. in addition secretary salazar and i went down to houston and met with both groups and the kept capping stats. the availability of the containment systems is what led on february 28 to the issuance of the first new deepwater julich permit since deepwater horizon. ..

this well by well analysis of the time intensive intensive process won the crucial ensuring adequate containment are available for each deepwater while it is drilled. as we move forward with appropriate speed, we've continued to issue shallow water permits and advocates of the application complies with all the heightened standards that apply to shallow water operations. as of yesterday, was approved for dementia in permits for new wells in shallow waters since last summer and are paid shallow water permitting has and distant from anyone, averaging six per month since october 2010. while this piece is slightly below historical averages, there is my backlog of applications. there currently are only five shallow water permit applications pending with another four return to the operator for more information.

such historical comparisons are at some level really besides the point because we don't have a permit quota or even a permitting school. our goal is to prove every fully compliant permit application with the emphasis on fully compliant as promptly as we can with our limited means. which brings us to the key issue of resources. when i was here in january, i address the historical, consistent and shameful underfunding of mms. despite mms important missions i have surely seen, expiration of production, agency was put on a starvation diet throughout this very but especially in years. unanimous conclusion of the many reviews and investigations is the central source of the multiple problems at the nation's oversight of harsher energy development has been the lack of resources. even so, financial support has been slow in coming.

president obama submitted seeking an additional $100 million for the agency. until last week, the premise of a brighter future could not be redeemed because congress had not acted on the request. we were poised to hire the additional aspect areas, environmental scientist and permitting personnel we needed, but we didn't have the funding. not least a part of the request has been met because last week congress passed and the president has signed a continuing resolution that provides the department of the interior a total of $68 million above this year 2010 funding levels for both ballmer and the office of national revenue. so receive approximately $47 million of that 68. that is far less than what we need, but is a significant sum, especially the constrained -- environment where the funding of most other regions these are being a.

our funding needs have real-world implications. the 2011 funding bill will preserve our most essential functions for the remainder of the year as the president promised to allow us to make significant incremental progress. they won't allow us to improve operations for the future to the extent and in the ways we think are desirable and necessary and others who have reviewed the agency's operations think are desirable and appropriate. we desperately need more engineers, inspectors another safety first we desperately need more environmental scientists and more personnel to do environmental analysis. we desperately need more personnel to help us with the permitting process and much more. we have already taken the first steps to ramp up our hiring in certain key areas. last october and november that by engineering schools in louisiana and texas as part of a drive to recruit engineers and inspectors to it for the agency. we generally more than 500 job

applications in 10 days of our hiring was clouded by the continued uncertainty about funding. the week before last they extended the drive to include environmental sciences. i visited nine top environmental science schools on the west coast in five days and in response, we've already received more than 600 job applications. that was at a time when we were not yet assured of the funding. now that we have it, or some other, will be able to hire some of these enthusiastic environmental scientist who help us perform a mission as well as some of the engineering students who apply lustful. to further extend our recruiting, think of is the number of other schools and regions around the country. we are determined not to simply use these additional resources and personnel to do more what we've done before. we need to learn from our shortcomings, address weaknesses in figure that are more efficient methods for doing our work. both of the resource to build

the site as well as on safety oversight and force inside. we will be aided to a great extent by the recommendations that will flow from the internal implementation teams i mentioned earlier, but will seek guidance from as well. one of the sources as the new ocean energy advisory committee chaired by former laboratory director dr. tom hunter which met for the first time in washington yesterday. the federal pfizer committee includes representatives of federal agencies, industry including charlie williams we'll hear from max, academia, national labs in various research organizations. the 15 member committee will work on a variety of issues related to assure energy safety including drilling in workplace safety, while intervention containment was the response. this will be a key component of a long-term strategy to address on an ongoing basis, a psychological need an inherent risk associated with onshore drilling in deepwater chilling in particular. the advice and recommendations

of the distinguished advisory committee will be welcomed by your agent he can after october by bethany. the ocean energy safety institute will be nurtured and shaped by the advisory committee for which requires congressional authorization will foster collaboration among all key stakeholders to increase offshore energy safety. yesterday when this phone will focus on a broad range of matters, including joint or workplace safety and while intervention and containment and oils by response. the walsall spur collaborative research and development, training and execution. most importantly, the advisory committee in this institute are key components of a long-term strategy to address an ongoing basis and inherent risks associated with offshore drilling in deepwater drilling in particular. a final and very important part of our long-term strategy includes continuing and strengthening collaboration with

international counterparts. the recommendations the president's commission stressed the importance of shared experiences and global standards and we agree with accurate after regulators regulators have my shoe the environmental safety and soundness of onshore operations around the world. to this end last week, secretary salazar, deputy secretary david hayes the night hosted ministers and officials until countries in the european union for the minister of oil and offshore drilling containment. this was truly an historic meeting for the department and it led to a fruitful dialogue about best practice is and how best to develop cutting-edge effect to save dean can tame the technology. the meeting concluded with unanimous back -- and that this dialogue should and must continue at the highest levels of government. going forward, will continue to work to strengthen the channels for international cooperation and sharing of best art says across different regulatory

regimes. ballmer will continue its foreign, and organization that helped found back in 1994. -- or regulatory agencies in the u.s., u.k., brazil, norway, canada and the netherlands, new zealand and mexico participated in the irs. these countries share information on to logical advances, safety issues, accident investigations, regulatory policies and international standards, performance measurement and research. numbers mass exchange personnel and establishes the bowl agreements. bobo also continuous participation in this important as well as the foreign. in addition boemr participates in government to government initiatives working with regulatory agencies around the world to share best practices and build regulatory capacity or department of state's energy, governance and capacity

initiatives. this is a multiagency global effort to provide a range of technical assistance to institutions through this program, our experts have participated in these assessments and have conducted workshops and do not come uganda, new guinea and liberia. in may, will bring a team to uganda to discuss specifics of oil and gas reserve classification and economic valuation for discovered and undiscovered resources. a separate table that vicky on to conduct a workshop entitled u.s. experience in managing offshore oil and gas sector. in addition to the state department sponsored initiative, boemr continues with technical assistance with governments in iraq and india. in february 2011 with a second joint industry regulator workshop in new delhi focused on asset integrity management with regulatory counterparts in india. in may will participate on an interagency team sponsored by

the state department to provide technical assistance immunization to the government of iraq. specifically ministry of oil contractor licensing department. finally a very significant beadwork with counterparts in mexico toward an agreement that would define regulatory protocols for the potential development of oil and gas reservoirs in the gulf of mexico. the development of common standards for major deepwater operation are shared waters in the gulf of mexico is a priority for my bureau and department of the interior as will his administration and it is for the government of mexico as well. as a result of this government to government engagements, we've embraced the opportunities to establish long-term working relationships and promote sound energy government. going forward, it is i hope will continue to collaborate with foreign counterparts both through bilateral government to government assistance programs

enter appropriate multilateral channels and developing safer, more environmentally responsible drilling in the world solutions. we have recognized that there was no escaping the essential fact that offshore drilling not only will continue, but that it will expand in ever more challenging areas around the world, including deeper waters, specifically in the arctic. the world demands energy into an increasing extent the ocean is where we find it. we meet the global institutions and standards necessary to meet these challenges and to ensure safe and responsible development offshore resources around the world. off shore drilling the united states and indeed around the world will never be the same as it was a year ago. that much is clear. the changes we have put in place will endure because they are urgent, necessary and appropriate. and more change will surely come although not at the frantic pace of the past year. in fact, we are moving ahead

right now. first will be launching in the near future a major rulemaking designed to further enhance offshore drilling safety. this process will be broad, inclusive and will be ambitious. our goal be nothing less than a further set of enhancements will increase really tasty and further diminish risks of a major blowout. it will address weaknesses in necessary improvements to blowout preventers as well as many other issues. we genuinely hope you brought efforts undertaken by the industry in the wake of the deepwater horizons restaurant industry task force says it recently announced in a grocery safety as well as of the vehicles will provide the basis for a solid recommendations for best practices, including those within prescriptive or performance-based regulations. second, will be enhanced in the stands will be issued last fall by requiring third-party audit for the programs as well as other modifications and improvements for the rule.

we are determined this role will live up to its promise by causing operators to comprehensively irresponsibly identified, dress intermediate the risks of offshore drilling, especially those associated with conditions of deepwater drilling. while much has changed over the past year and as i discussed some of her continue to drilling standard, i want to be absolutely clear about something. the process of making sure energy development both safe and sufficient to meet the nations of the world's energy demand will never be complete. it is a continuing, ongoing, dynamic enterprise. those who asked the naïve and simplistic question, south shore oil and gas regulation fixed yet for is the agency fixed yet miss the most important lessons the deepwater horizons. the central challenge the deepwater horizon exposed and highlighted is the need to

establish the institutions and systems and the processes of cultural change and improvement necessary to ensure that neither government nor industry ever again become self-satisfied to the point they would answer that question, yes. it is exactly that sort of complacency and overconfident that set the stage for deepwater horizon. let me describe for you some of the key elements my vision of the future of offshore energy overs eyed in development include, most flow directly from the issues i've just discussed. first, a well-funded and resource pastures a few regulator that closely evaluates the relevant rest associated with offshore drilling and other energy development activity in designing its regulations and compliance imports programs. this includes development of more sophisticated metrics for measuring risks in designing

programs for evaluating risks and accepted by the industry managing risks appropriately. second, industry performance standards, particularly for the highest risk operation in deepwater and challenging area says the arctic because operators to engage in rigorous and deep resolve critical evaluations of the hazards posed by operation and measures implemented to address those hazards. third, regulatory agency has the tools and resources of technological and human to hold all players involved in drilling and production activity in the nation's oceans to rise and are and if there are safety or environmental violations or an accident holds all responsible parties accountable. importantly, this includes not only those companies that operate these lives, traditional subjects of agency regulation and enforcement, but their contract there's an service providers such as owners of drilling rig's as well. for us, jerry and institutions

that are continued government and industry focused on innovation in the areas of risk assessment, technological advances in emergency response equipment. further improvements in effectiveness and availability of subsea containment resources and oil spill response systems and coordination. fifth, a resource management agent be that develops and takes advantage of all available scientific information and is to support balanced decision-making with respect to the environmental risks and economic in the face of offshore resource development. sixth, regulatory system that's effective and strike an appropriate balances and ensuring energy energy development is conducted safely in an environmentally sensitive manner and is also more efficient, transparent and responsive than it then. seventh, elise and revenue generation system that encourages active development of the nations national resources

made available to industry to provide for the country's energy needs. eighth, a set of common principle standards by which companies drilling and producing the ocean govern conduct regardless of where in the world they are operating. and finally, an ocean energy program that includes not only development of oil and gas resources also be aggressive and responsible development of renewable energy resources. a long-term solution to meeting nation's energy needs must include power derived clean and renewable sources such as offshore wind. following deepwater horizon, a broad consensus quickly emerged in government and industry that there was an urgent need for upgrading the safety rules and practices within the oil and gas industry. the farmer quickly than many people anticipated, that consensus began to weaken and fray as new rules were developed a new requirements are imposed on companies operating ossuary.

some offshore operators and support companies claim they recognize the deepwater bryson was a symptom of a broader failure in industry and government, a systemic failure to ensure the advances in drilling safety canopy is increasingly risky operation. as a result, they have supported our efforts to strengthen oversight of voucher drilling and indeed have undertaken their own efforts to raise standards for drilling in workplace safety and spill response. there have been others who with surprising speed had seemed all too ready to shrug off deepwater horizons is a complete aberration. they point to the lack of a similar blowout in decades before explosion and suggest steps taken has been an overreaction and when necessary. needless to say, that is terribly disappointing and shortsighted. we need to do everything possible to keep the complacency from creeping back into my agent daemon to industry.

industry and government regulators alike must continue to resist the fierce pressures to return to business as these to be connected. because down that path lies another deepwater horizon. it has been a long year and had no expectation of a easier come in, not anytime soon. i didn't take this job because i thought it would be easy. i believe in the work we're doing. i believe that tangible results i've seen in meetings with industry, i am not sure bakes an interest in our work and academic institutions that this had over the years and separate petroleum engineering sector in environmental science recruitment tours. people are watching our work around the world. they are interested in investing in a 10 day, like we, know the stakes involved in whether we succeed. we can't afford to fail and we don't plan to fail. we are determined to succeed in creating a system that allows continued offshore development

while ensuring safety and environmental protection. that's the goal we will continue to pursue with single-minded determination. i want to thank you for your time and attention and i'm happy to take questions. [applause] >> thank you, michael. you have a reputation for being candid and comprehensive and you continue to set the bar very high. it's extremely useful and important we have this discussion. i want to stay with one quick question. you talk about the ability to increase capability both in january and today in the current fiscal regime when they got funding from a continuing resolution. how do you extend offers to potential candidate and in lieu of that, is there some may be trusted agent for nuking is a

certain retirees or contractors in the interim period to come to gap? >> that's a good question. the funding didn't land until last week. my fault. we didn't have the funding until last week. and so, the environmental science two weeks ago was a little living in a prayer and i told the students that. we had two placeholder posting on her website, but we told people if they applied it would then be on us to get back to them in the same is true with respect to the engineering and actions positions. so we're coming up with what we hope will be a balanced plan to hire new people where we need supplementation including not only inspections and environmental science, but also permitting. we hope to come up with the balancing operated plant and many for hiring additional people in all those areas. we are exploring all sorts of alternatives in terms of filling

short-term gaps. so for example, as i've anticipated a possible logjam in permit applications, which hasn't developed, but i'm still concerned may come my reach to various oil and gas companies and asked them to pull their pool of recently retired engineers that might be able to come on board and supplement the work were doing. we would obviously have lots of safeguards and conflict of interest checks in place so that somebody from shell, for example, would review a drilling application. we think there is out there among the recently retired engineers and industry, a potential pool of very talented personnel and are hoping to tap into their yearning for public service to come back and and up is the least on an interim basis. we are to have nominations from a number of companies that are going to the process right now

and maybe bring some on board quickly. he'll obviously be under supervision and control of our people. our people will make all the final decisions, but it is to feel a yawning gap right now in the number of available people we have to make certain important analyses on the process. >> okay, in terms of public questions. director bromwich has agreed to take questions. we have a couple simple rule since we have a large cloud. wait for a microphone indemnify yourselves if you can pose your question from the question that that would be greatly appreciated. so why do we start. melissa, will start in the center and work her way across. >> genesee delay with the "houston chronicle." director can imagine to react to that industry to the postal rules. of course one of the reaction of challenging the pace of permitting because some of the

permit of issue in that case had been issued at the point and i'm hoping you can give us an update on where that stands. >> that's a good question. litigation continues to be pursued and i will marginally violate the rules that i'm not supposed to, not litigation. and that's the enablers from the interior department so i'll talk for a minute. the litigation was designed to get courts intervention to process to issue permits rapidly. a troubling suggestion there be an incursion an executive with doherty when they are eligible to be awarded. but interestingly, the young ensco litigation and we were on a rig last week, and ensco rig

that will be drilling a well with the permit be granted was chernobyl, the first one on february 28. low and behold there were 78 and scope people board working. so the lawsuit claimed they haven't been able to get the work because we had a de facto moratorium or purgatory or whatever. the fact is left to her own devices, not compelled by the court we have issued permit and people including ensco people are that to work. so it is strange that the litigation continues to be pursued, it even though for some of the entities involved in the lawsuit refer be granted their permits. if so, the troubling part to me is that what remains in the lawsuit is a very troubling assault on our new safety regulations, that if the relief

granted is given by the court would tear away much of the fabric of the new safety rules we put in place. i think that would be tragic for the country, for the industry and for our agency and i hope that doesn't succeed. >> thank you. john the end of the energy daily. one year after the macondo blowout, it seems there is no official wild vp vop failed that day. i am wondering, are you confident your investigators will have the confidence and technical knowledge to determine the drilling come to me is vop plans are adequate? >> the forensic examination of the b.o.p. has been a long-term

project we've hired an outside private investigator to project. we issue publicly in late march. it was then subject to a set of hearings in the louisiana recent knee and asked some very meaningful and good question about that analysis. clearly these are very technical issues and we have trained our people recently to do the kinds of more searching examinations of b.o.p. and we have before, to monitor new categories of testing required under our rules. but this will be a long-term process and project like everything else. clearly, b.o.p. will develop. clearly, the training of our inspectors and regulatory personnel needs to advance with the enhanced midst of b.o.p., so there needs to be a continuing

and dynamic process moving forward. >> i also think that dr. williams on the next panel will discuss that in industry-standard. >> tal gripper with csis. could you comment on discussions you're having with offshore drilling not in the west, but if the cooperation may be possible in a part of the world. the mac and not having any discussions with the russians. secretary salazar mentioned yesterday they are is a sort of an art tick meeting in the near future, but is much more directly involved in those and i am. clearly this goes back to one of the themes i highlight in the speech. just as the gulf of mexico as a shared body of water involving us in mexico and cuba, the

arctic is as well a shared resource with a number of companies and countries having jurisdiction to permit or not offshore drilling. so i think there is clearly a very pressing need and urgency to increase the volume and the pace of collaborations between governments and that's one of the reasons we were so gratified to see representatives of the russian federation ataturk international spill containment forum last week. they were participants and not just enthusiastic participants, once i welcome further meetings at the ministerial level. i think the dialogue has begun not only in containment forum, but other forms as well and will continue and that's a very hopeful sign. >> tichy 20 is also you didn't? >> ,.

>> hi, i'm billed per year, retired service officer. you mentioned that you had 500 applicants for engineering i believe in 600 environmental sciences. how do you find the quality and level of education of educational achievement of these two groups of people? in the united states okay in terms of our education process? >> in outcome is a good question. on the evidence, clearly the interest is there and the truth is that the schools they went to have outstanding reputations, the ones in october and november for engineering and the once a couple weeks ago in environmental science. we obviously won't know until we go through the process for sifting through applications and try to bring people on board. it's less of a problem with environmental scientist and and a huge problem with petroleum engineers paying them enough to

attract them and then to bring them on board. in fact we've already encountered some problems with them of the people we recruit when they actually get into the process and find out what we pay, they're not interested. so we have done our best to try to remedy that by applying to the office of personnel management for the ability to pay rates that are different than the normal gs scale. most of my counterparts in the national community do that. they pulled the salary you are paying petroleum engineers out of the recognition with the industry, which can afford to pay far more. so far, opm is taken we have not supplied enough evidence to justify differential. that is one of those things i would hope anyone could take notice of, just simply by starting salaries elsewhere. will continue to work with opm

and other agencies to prove but a hope it's obvious, that there is a huge gap and we need to do what we can to bridge it. we are never going to equalize salaries at any level. an important moment of the people that were trying to attract is one of public service and secondarily one of different lifestyle and people who work for some major companies have to stay on facilities for weeks at a time. we don't require people to do that. unless people are interested in public service, unless they're interested in serving the country in this very important area, they're probably not going to want to work for us, but i think there's many judging by the applications we received to our enemy to do what we can to make things less difficult. >> you made out an ambitious and necessary set of rule-making subprograms.

what can you do internally? >> we can do a lot of what we need to do internally and administratively. we need several things that would be helpful, legislatively. one is to get organic legislation that supports in broad terms the reorganization that were doing. right now we're still proceeding pursuant to various secretarial orders. second, there is some legislative proposals to share time they get with exploration plans for 30. some proposals extended to 60. some would extend to 90. we need the extra time because when we have a large number of exploration plans and we still have a number of limited personnel, we can't get them done in dirty days. so the bad choice or people face is either the clock to run past 30 days in which case they are violating the law or to return the exploration plans to

operators for what i think are not good and sufficient reasons and simply to restart. and so, the box we are in right now as we have two bad choices. what i have encouraged our people to do is not affirmatively violate the law, but to take the time necessary to review the applications, to do with all delivering, but so we have a measure of how long it actually takes to properly review this exploration plans. it is 35 days or 45 days, let's accumulate data and evidence as further support for getting legislative expansion we need. we need others things besides the fine level for example for violations of our rules. $35,000 per day per and demint is laughable given the amount of money at stake in the polls and given the amount it takes to find a rig on a single day. i think needs to be changed

legislatively. there are a variety of things we need. i mention the ocean energy safety institute, which is an internal matter carry-on work under guidance and supervision of the advisory committee. so that is just a short menu of the things we need. it's not a long list, but an important one. >> i promised mike would get them back to his real job. >> thanks, renée from a client mcclatchy newspaper. could you speak a little bit about given the well-known circumstances, how the containment -- how you could be confident that containment would work up there. >> this is a situation where we embrace in principle the idea that drilling in the is possible, but the proof in the pudding will be in the

beginning. this means a review of a specific application that's made and determining whether containment capabilities and the response capabilities are sufficient given the special conditions of the arctic. i think you know, shall have a program or planning to drill a single while in the beaufort sea this summer for reasons unrelated to our review has problems with nec a permit. they pull that off the table and announced their plans to drill in the art date, both in the beaufort and chukchi city. we had a wait and see and evaluate approach. you're quite right very special challenges, lack of infrastructure and not the same kind of coast guard presence we have in the gulf of mexico. on the other side of the ledger is shallower water that exists in the gulf of mexico. there is no doubt there are special and unique challenges and shall another companies including conoco phillips to detroit earlier take in the

summer of 2012. they have to have comprehensive full body applications that satisfy us, they've done all that needs to be done and they have convene a capabilities. >> michael, it's been a pleasure. i think they'll bring you back here on a quarterly basis. thank you so much for your website. [applause] >> in a few moments come and look at implementing day-year-old financial regulations for

>> i think were all ready for democrats and republicans to get the country on the right track. >> debates ahead of us is more

than spending levels about world government itself. >> deputy treasury secretary, neal wolin on implementing-year-old regulation five. from the po of charitable trust in washington, this is about 45 minutes. mr. wolin will begin after a short introduction. >> welcome, everybody. i am tableside out, government relations here at pew charitable trust, your host. and for those of you that know

or don't know, pew is now an organization that is off of here and of here and in its hometown of philadelphia. it is proud to work on public policy both in the form of research, analysis and the public. our founding father, joseph pew created the one foundation and is not grant making public charity. trust the people. we are here to get updated on the truth and we're hoping to trust the people. the work consists of analysis of research, but also in certain areas to advocate for public policy change and we work on a number of significant issues that include what charles taylor

will tell us about how we've brought about our special guest. the belief we have set the trust of the truth of the people that we can create bipartisan collaboration and achieve public policy for the public good. so thank you for being here. we have a wonderful audience and a lot of interest and i'd like to introduce, charles miller who will than it turned introduce a very special guest. >> thank you, tamara. i am the director of the financial policy of reform group at pew and we have been work in the past two years, bringing together a nonprofit task force that developed implementations for fall, then abdicating passage of legislation and now supporting the implementation of

dodd-frank. we are delighted to have neal wolin, deputy secretary of the treasury here to talk to us about dodd-frank nine months after it has been passed into law. neil is a former president and chief operate in officer at hartford produced general counsel counsel of the u.s. treasury in the early inclination. he isn't alone of pickering. i don't really think any to say say anything else. the opposition in your prominence were delighted to have the deputy secretary here to speak to us today. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. tamarac on the thank you to you and to pew for hosting me this morning. it's great to be here at pew,

where is charles of the summer serious work has been done and of course many other topics of public policy. why some of the president into the a comprehensive set of reforms to the financial system. as the important work of implementation perceives, critics have engaged in a broad set of attacks against law and implementation. today i will respond to those criticisms. but first let's take a step back. although our economy and financial markets have made important progress on the path towards recovery, we cannot forget why we enacted legislation. in the fall of 2008, we witnessed a scale and servility not seen in decades. the crisis was brought about by fundamental failures in our financial system. the failures were many and they were very. firms took on risk they did not fully understand and use legislative loopholes to operate some businesses without

oversight, transparency or restate. rothfuss and compensation were all too often tied to short-term gains without proper consideration of long-term consequences. across the country, many took on more debt they can afford and many firms encourage them to do just that. in washington, regulators did not make full use of the authority they had to protect consumers and limited excessive risk. policymakers were too slow to fix the broken system. the crisis raise trillions of dollars of wealth. to put americans out of work across the country and shut the financial and country and our entire economy. the crisis expose the fundamental flaws in our financial system. in the aftermath, the president was determined to reform the system. there was no alternative to reform. not only our economy, but also lives and livelihoods of tens of

millions of american families were devastated by the crisis. it was manifestly clear that the financial system limits to the edge of the abyss was broken and needed to be fixed. the system we had favored short-term gains for individual firms over stability and growth of the economy as a whole. the system we had was weak and susceptible to crisis and the system we have left taxpayers to save it in times of trouble. we had no choice but to build a better, stronger system. that is why we proposed congress passed and president signed into law a sweeping set of reforms to do just that. the dodd-frank act creates a comprehensive and robust regulatory framework. the statute creates structure for government to monitor and respond to systemic risk. it makes clear no firm will be considered too big to fail.

it requires regulators to impose heightened credential standards a large, interconnected financial firms. it provides for the comprehensive regulation of the derivatives markets for the first time in the statute establishes a single agent he dedicated to protect and consumers. for the past nine months, regulators have been hard at work implementing these and many other critical reforms contained in dodd-frank. even as millions of americans are still recovering from the crisis, some on wall street, k street in capitol hill seek to slow down, roll back or even repeal these crucial reforms. some complain about the case of reform. some say there is a lack of coronation by the regulators. some argue the transparency will harm the quiddity or that barge

will require this will unnecessarily tie of capital. some complain that our reforms will unfairly disadvantage u.s. firms as they compete globally. some say the new consumer agency will insightful consumer choice and immigration interfered with existing regulators or is not accountable to anyone. some even say we can't afford to pay for reform. i want to address these criticisms one by one. first, the pace of reform. after the dodd-frank act was signed into us last summer, many in washington and financial service industry said the legislation liked details and the uncertainty of the shape of final regulations made it difficult for businesses to plan for the future. they called for clarity and they wanted it fast. we said the regulators would move quickly but carefully to implement legislation. we said we would seek public

input to my site is critical to get the details right. recently, some of these very same critics, those who previously demanded clarity as quickly as possible are saying we are moving too quickly. they now suggest that too many details are coming too fast. they say regulators are setting aside sufficient time to study issues and make right decisions and businesses won't have time to adjust to new regulations. our response remains the same. regulators have been and are moving quickly, but carefully to implement the legislation. we continue to seek public input and of course it remains critical to get the details right. although there may be reasonable debate about the substance of dodd-frank implementation work, there is no question regulators have been implementing the statute in a careful, considerate and serious manner.

the second criticism is implementation of the law is uncoordinated. our financial regulatory system is built on independence of regulators and given the importance of dodd-frank implementation come independent regulators will have different views on complicated issues, look into differences is an important part in the substance. at the same time, dodd-frank versus regulators more than ever before to work together to close caps in regulation and prevent brake downs in court nation. this is a central change right about by the law. beyond joint rules and consultation requirement specific rulemaking, we have been and will continue to work together where issues cut across multiple agencies to make the pieces of reform fit together in a sensible, coherent way. the financial stability oversight council, which is a

key component of dodd-frank has a mandate to coordinate across agencies and still joint accountability for the strength of the financial system. already we have word through the fsoc for implementation to coordinate an unprecedented exigency proposal and risk retention to develop unanimous support for recommendations on implementing the volcker rule. as chair, treasury will continue to make it a top priority of the work of the regulators as well coordinated. third, critics claim the refund to derivatives markets will harm the quiddity and inhibit effective allocation of capital. regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market is a critical element of the dodd-frank act. the financial crisis demonstrated without adequate transparency and capital reserves to allow hidden risks to build and lead counterparties without sufficient buskers.

by requiring standardized contracts to be traded on open and transparent markets, we will harm the quiddity. this position ignores the history and basic structure of our financial system. the equities market, where stocks are traded publicly and price information is readily available is one of the most liquid markets in the world. because of, not in spite of transparent the period increased transparency in the derivatives markets will tighten spreads, reduce cost and increase understanding of risks and market participants. they transparent structure like this may not improve the bottom line of certain market participants, but it promotes efficient arcades, capital formation and growth in the broader economy while reducing risk and potential cost of another destabilizing financial

crisis. critics also argue that marginal requirements for derivatives tab i. miss a fairly unnecessarily, diverting away from investments that promote economic growth. requiring the largest participants and dealers into root as markets hold capital and margin is critically to improving resilience of the financial system. the marginal requirements for financial entities are then like the roots themselves a risk management tool, serving as an important bulwark against losses affecting the system and contributing to another crisis. commercial end-users who are simply hedging operating risk, however, pose a very different level of risk than financial end-users and the largest participants in the markets. in particular because of the interconnect list of the users of slavs. but the statute and recently proposed rules recognize the use of commercial end-users, such as airlines and manufacturers post

far less risk. the statute does not allow capital requirement to be imposed on commercial end-users have derivatives and recently regulators have further clarified in the proposed rules that wendy's end-users operate with an established risk limits, they will not have to post margin on the contracts, leaving not capital free for job creation and investment. fourth, critics say unless we achieve harmonized policies across borders, we should hold off for go slow on moving forward with dodd-frank, lest they be in a level playing field internationally. he also argue up our reforms are too strong or different, u.s. firms will not be able to compete on a global scale. i disagree. we have already enacted comprehensive legislation and others are now putting their legal and regulatory frameworks in place. we are working hard at the

international level to make sure others put in place similar frameworks on the key issues for international consistency is essential, such as otc derivatives, liquidity, leverage and of course capital. it is true that the duffel lies in the details and when different jurisdictions implement commonly agreed to principles, problems and disagreements may arise. that is why in addition to her work in international were like the g20 and financial stability of board, work everyday with foreign counterparts, especially through our financial markets and regulatory dialogue. as a work in the international sphere to promote a playing field, we must not fail -- we must not fail to implement reforms at home. ultimately if we fail to do what is necessary to reform and protect your system, we put at risk its fundamental strength and resilience. critics don't want to hear any

of this. they say simply, if our financial system is different from our partners in the u.s. firms will be able to compete. it is not a credible argument because our systems have never been identical and they never will be. a great deal of criticism is focused on enhanced capital. more and higher capital, especially at the biggest and most interconnected financial institutions is essential to providing better buffers against shock. indeed as the international community is recognized from the lack of such buffers was a core problem in the crisis we've just experienced. implementation of dodd-frank and work of the basel committee are critical to ensuring that firms are better insulated from stress. we believe of course that is important to strike the right balance. we need a capital regime that strengthens terms to withstand stress, but also one that allows u.s. firms to come you it effectively in the global basis.

detailed rules about capital performance and other aspects of financial regulations will always vary among sovereign nations. but it's important, what we have made good progress on and what we are committed to disclosing regulatory gaps, ending opportunities for geographic arbitrage and preventing a global race to the bottom. fifth, critics suggest that the consumer financial protection euro will stifle consumer choice and innovation or interfere with the role of existing regulators and they also claim the agency isn't accountable. rather than limiting choice, the csp people be central to creating real choice for consumers. the system we had before allowed people to hide the real cost of financial products in hidden fees and interest rate changes. consumers often didn't get the information they needed to understand the loud they were taken out of the credit card agreement they were singing.

that is not choice. real choices have an information to make the right decisions. the cfpb job is to hope consumers get information they need. with the information, consumers will have no choice. they will be able to understand what products and services are best for them and to make fully informed financial decisions. as consumers begin to make more informed financial decisions, it will raise the bar for the products and services offered to them. more empowered consumers will motivate financial sector to offer new and better options, rather than stifling innovation, the cfpb will catalyze it. i want to emphasize the cfpb's mission, helping consumers get good information and cracking down on deceptive and abusive practices in no way interferes

with the role of provincial regulators. what we had before, a patchwork system were to many agencies were responsible for consumer protection but none of them actually focused on it, that system simply didn't work. the existence of the cfpb a less provincial regulators to focus on their core task, making sure banks have capital, liquidity and risk management tools to ensure safety and soundness in the financial system. it allows the cfpb to focus on its own single task, to make sure consumer financial products are offered in a fair, transparent and competitive way. the agency will be accountable and executing that task. ..