inner city, how am i going to be able to compete with the guy with the laptop? >> i do not know if you can compete, telephone versus laptop, but i do see in practice, particularly around india and so on, people managing to be fully involved simply with texting. a. .

so i'm not blowing them off in that sense, but i do not want to end -- under estimate people. >> i run a organization called digital sisters -- assistors. i do have a question about the mobile application perspective. when we talk about texting, we forget simple, basic things like doing your resume, filling out an application. i called at the laptop jump out, because you had the good of the committee where you did not have access to the internet just so they can apply for employment here in washington d.c.. we are missing something about -- your comment about mobil is a

way to go, i would think that we would be talking about going to the communities instead of figuring out how to create some technology that will make it accessible to the people in those communities. i agreed to reverse our thinking on that. -- i think we need to reverse our thinking on that. >> i would like to hear more about it. now you have my e-mail address. i have acted on what you have talked about. i will be a little vague, but i am involved in kids' it center s, and hopefully these systems are being around now. >> we will talk more about that. >> i wanted to ask a question about the social community and mobile. you have more people accessing

greg's list through mobile devices. is there a change the ec and the discourse in a behavior of the community -- it the ec in the discourse of behavior in the community. >> i do believe that brevity is the soul of wit. shorter communication is more effective than longer communication. if someone here e-mail's me something, a response could be, can you see it -- can he said to be the briefer version of that? -- can you send me the brief version of that. i personally find short for more effective than long form. i have gotten more terse in my communications. this would be easy in

washington. people are passionate about having something to say, saying it briefly, and stopping. most parts of the country, people will go on and on. in washington, people say it and stop. that is admirable. >> is a weird thing to find someone coming to washington and say they find the culture admirable. >> you were very involved in the obama campaign, and early helps them develop ways to use social networking. are there one or two things that the obama campaign should have or could have done to use social media? do you have any suggestions for the 2012 campaign? >> regarding the past campaign, i just don't know. i am out of my depth there.

the use of the technology was pretty effective, it worked well. i would have liked to see more non partisan efforts, figuring out how to get the youth vote out more. for 2012, i do not know. in my dream life, what i am hoping to see -- i think at some point, social media will supplant the use of tv as means of getting the word out. i would like to see that tipping point. more precisely, where cheap media supplants expensive media. i am hoping that tipping point comes faster rather than later. and maybe it is our patriotic duty to make that happen.

if you get rid of the need for expensive media buys, maybe that gets rid of a lot of the role of money in politics. and that ain't bad. >> these will be r two last questions. >> thank you for bringing what you call the nerds or engineers mentality to the stage. i wonder if you have thoughts on how we can encourage more people and more of those activities to be unafraid to try and fail and try again. >> that is one i have never been posed with. i can only show silicon -- bring upon the traditional silicon valley tradition -- culture.

that is just part of the culture that i take for granted, so i have not thought about it. it is different than the high- tech culture and other parts of the country where failure is perceived in a negative way, and sometimes you try and try again. that culture has made its way into the white house where there will be efforts which may not succeed at first, but sometimes the need to be persistent. >> final question, sir. >> i am curious as to what you see the role of corporations in helping to provide access, privacy, and security to potential users under more repressive regimes around the world. -- under more oppressive regimes

around the world. >> i do not have a good answer for that. the deal is, sometimes we have to listen to what the people and another culture or other countries are telling us they really want and need. our ideas of free speech, censorship, and all that may not be the ideas or the values of cultures and other places. sometimes, try to listen to what people are telling you they want rather than what we think they want. just approach with a certain humility, and ask people what they really do want. ask people what is going to get them in trouble. i am a member of the arab-u.s. media alliance related to the aspen institute. i am listening to them tell me what makes sense rather than what i think makes sense.

i am hearing different sides of many stories that are surprising to me. but you know, listening is sometimes a good idea and sometimes difficult. i would prefer to respond to what people are telling me rather than telling them what they want. >> on that note, we can think a little bit about the lessons from greg -- craig's list. as a local of these issues about community involvement and open government, on behalf of everybody here, thank you for your time. >> i appreciate. i did not have enough chance to look at the twitter street. i was trying to read it all. it will get some mind share with me.

i did not know how responsive we can be because some issues are tough, but i will be listening. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> saturday, starting at 11:00 a.m. eastern, and throughout the day. and a look at the graphic adaptation of the studs terkel's "working. later, stanley greenberg on advising bill clinton. he is interviewed by mary

matalin. live sunday, and death with bill a years, university of illinois professor and former underground member. his latest, "race course against white supremacy." for a complete schedule of this weekend's programs and times, go online to "book t v.org." >> calyces been funded it? >> from public television? the >> donations. >> federally? >> contributions from donors. >> 30 years ago, america's cable companies treated c-span as a public service. no government mandate, no government money. >> topics that today's state department briefing include the trial of two u.s. journalists in

north korea. the assistant secretary for public affairs speaks with reporters for about 25 minutes. >> i thought that that red sox signed was permanently banished. >> absolutely not. we have some outstanding coverage. it is a fine tradition. taking over robert to as from the evil empire of which we will not talk about. good morning, and welcome to the department of state. secretary clinton has returned from south america and the

cairo. this afternoon, she will have a series of bilateral discussions with portuguese foreign withamato. -- foreign minister amato. they'll be talking about important contributions to the international mission in afghanistan, the middle east, and the upcoming 2010 nato summit in portugal. they will talk about instances of ratification for our bilateral legal assistance and expedition trees. i think we have a separate statement explaining that agreement. later on this afternoon, the secretary met with foreign minister ahmet of turkey. she is looking forward to hosting the foreign minister in his first visit to washington as foreign minister. they'll discuss the jiechi to

partnership between our two countries -- the strategic partnership between our two countries. this will include counter- terrorism cooperation, turkey's yeu bid, and developments in the middle east, around, and north korea -- iran and north korea. she will meet with a member of the republic of korea, an important ally of the united states. they'll be discussing the upcoming summit between president of the united states and the president of the republic of korea. it will clearly talk about the current situation in north korea and the u.s.-korea alignment -- alliance. as the president mentioned this morning, george mitchell will be departing for the region on sunday. he starts with a stop in norway and will travel to the region

for talks with israeli, palestinian, jordanian, and egyptian officials. you will ask me, what about syria? that is a possibility. the arrangements are still being worked on. i know you were on that trip, but finally, you will probably ask about the current situation with the trial of the two journalists. we have no further information to provide as far as we know. the trial is continuing. we have had no further access through the suit -- 3 the swedish embassy, but we remain in regular contact with the families.

now i will stop, the floor is yours. >> i was on a trip, but did they get their visas? >> they do. >> does he have any plans to meet with anyone related to hamas? >> no. >> you say that the trial in north korea is continuing. how do you know that? >> is started yesterday. >> we did not even know of the trial has occurred. >> we were told this trial started yesterday. as far as we know, is continuing, but i did not of the status. >> a think the north koreans announced the trial is starting. >> de and know that that is the truth? >> i do not know. >> you have not been able to

independently confirmed that it has started? >> i will take the question of what our understanding is about the status of the trial. >> de know what the charges are -- do you know what the charges are? >> i will take that question as well. >> you have any more informational whether these girls have a defense lawyer. >> they do have defense lawyers. >> are they providing any kind of read out to the swedish embassy? >> as you know, there has been some communication from the two journalists back to their families. >> one last thing on speculation concerning a visit -- >> i have no information on that. >> i wanted to follow up if you could say anything more about their welfare?

>> when the swedish ambassador met with them on monday, they found them to be, under the circumstances, reasonably good. >> when the secretary visited lemon on it -- let in on, she said she would visit in june. [unintelligible] >> the lebanese have an election coming up. >> one of the people on the trip -- >> he is on his way back to washington. >> i am wondering if there is any thought as a reporter in the south korean media to propose with some sort of bda.

>> bda? battle damage assessment? [laughter] >> the bank money was frozen, and when the north koreans started to make some moves in the right direction, they try to unfreeze this money. it turned out the sanctions were working better than he thought, they were very difficult to unravel. their reports that similar sanctions are being considered now. >> let me use that as a segue. some will last, we have discussions are ongoing in new york. first and foremost, we have had a very strong commitment to resolution. we're deliberately working through the process to determine what should be in that resolution.

i would not rule out both steps to strengthen the existing sanctions that have been placed on north korea. obviously, stuart levy's presence on this team will help us look at other ways that we can bilaterally put pressure on north korea to return to the negotiating process. i have nothing to announce, but you're quite right. some of the steps we have taken in the past have been successful in getting north korea's attention. >> you are considering the imposition of unilateral sanctions? >> we're looking at what steps that we can take in terms of collaboration with others in the sixth party process to establish whether it -- whatever leverage that we can.

we want them to live up to its international obligations and to meet its commitments on our concerns for its nuclear program. we recall the resolutions have the binding force of law. that is one of the reasons why we're taking our time in new york. we want to make sure what those steps mean in practical terms and how to implement them affectively once there is a resolution. >> there is a report that he is setting in the south korean press that the consideration to apply sanctions to multiple north korean banks -- is that correct your considering -- >> i did not have any other details other than to say, to the extent that we can find ways to influence north korea, the steps we have taken in the past in the banking sector certainly

did get north korea's attention recently. if we find ways we can do that, we will do so. >> recollection was not that north korea took steps in the right direction, my recollection is that the imposition of the sanctions got their attention, but you got no where whatsoever until you remove the sanctions, because it was unable to get any other banking world to do so. they enlisted the federal reserve -- >> let's say -- >> if you're trying to get their attention and set -- and referencing the old matter, why you think that that will not blow up in your face and put them in the wrong direction given how very difficult it was to move forward when you did it on just one bank.

>> let's continue to focus where the attention is. we want to get north korea back into the negotiating process. we want to get them to stop doing things that are destabilizing in the region. we want them to focus on what they have to do in the future. if you look at north korea's economy, 30 years ago, it was one of the wealthier countries in the region. it is now one of the poorest countries on earth. certainly, its neighbors have advanced significantly from an economic standpoint. these facts are known in north korea. to the extent that we can find financial numbers to put pressure on north korea, that is not an of itself --. what we eventually want is a

denuclearized north korea. we want a country that is acting constructively and beginning to integrate itself constructively in the larger community, and to act responsibly with respect to its neighbors. we will continue to use whatever steps we see favorable we want to make a promise on the commitments that north korea has made. >> why don't you think it will be counterproductive? >> there is no guarantee of success here. if north korea has largely isolated itself through its nuclear tests and provocative missile firings and its overheated rhetoric, if they choose to remain isolated, that is their choice. we will make sure that as the secretary has said, there will be consequences for their actions. there has been strong in a

density within the united nations that there will be -- it anonymity within the united nations that there will be a resolution. progress has been made it on the negotiations we have been making in new york. it will get north korea's attention, but if they choose to remain isolated, we will deal with that fact down the road. one of the purposes of deputy secretary steinberg's trip to the region, they not only talking now high-level about what is going in new york, but what can you do after we see a resolution in new york? what we do from that point forward? had we make sure that north korea has not destabilize the region. they remain united with our partners in the six party process.

>> i would ask about what ambassador bonds worth had said. they said he had confidence that the north korean's may come back to the talks. >> you have had a pattern here over a number of years. we want to get the attention of the international community. they think they are not being paid attention to. we are not going to reward bad behavior, but we really want to make sure that the north -- that north korea returns to the process. at various times, there has been progress. we did reach a broad base agreement in september 2005 that put north korea on a path to denuclearization. we like to get back to that path.

ultimately, i do not think north korea has that much of a choice. when you look at the -- when you look at the disparity between the conditions that exist in north korea, the conditions that exist elsewhere in the region, north korea has been a stalinist state in the past. there was a time or you could control information or maintain your thumb on a population. it is becoming more difficult for autocratic states to do that at some point in time, you're seeing that the disparity between the standard of living in north korea, the standard of living in south korea is known. we believe that north korea is going to have to come back to a process. whether that is successful, we will have to wait and see. we have had successful negotiations with north korea. we have had difficulty with

getting north korea actually falling -- following through and implementing what it has agreed to. if you look at the roller coaster we have been on with north korea in recent years, there have been times they have played a constructively, and right now they're obviously acting in a way that is not constructive. >> are the north korean people aware of the disparity? >> i am not going to get into a debate on the modern media, but there are realities that are fairly well known. the elites of north korea do travel. >> i am not suggesting -- right now, there is no reason to think that things are not stable, but i would think that over time, the gap between north korea and the rest of the region is growing larger eventually, --

this is what is tragic about the situation. northridge is spending billions of dollars to conduct nuclear tests, and they're not able to feed their people. >> you mentioned gore. >> he did not want to talk about al gore. is the department receptive to the former vice president ? >> i am not here to predict anything. in the past, you have had people that will resolve situations like that. >> is the taliban expanding its influence?