palestinians need to recognize israel and their right to exist. i will just leave it at that. . . has the obama administration tacitly agreed with israel that any palestinian state would not be allowed to have a standing military? >> well, i will just say that any solution that we work out,

israel needs to have its security concerns taken very seriously and worked out. but i am not going to jump ahead and say what that package would entail specifically. this is something for the two parties to work out themselves. >> could you say whether secretary clinton communicated with any former bush administration officials to help clarify her own understanding of what commitments the united states may or may not have made to israel in relation to settlement activity? >> i do not have anything for you. >> the white house said nothing about settlements, after very clear statements from both the president and the secretary about this issue. there are some on the israeli right who suggest somehow the obama administration has backed itself into a corner. also the policy concern of

trying to reposition the u.s. as an honest broker, according to some analysts. where is the u.s. on settlements? >> it could not be clearer. the president had said it clearly, my boss, secretary clinton, has said it clearly, and that is that we oppose continued settlement activity. israel has an obligation under the roadmap to freeze all settlement activity. our position is that it has to stop. we know it is a difficult issue but we know it is one that has to be addressed. we are continuing to discuss this issue with the israeli government and we prefer not to conduct diplomacy from this podium. >> is the u.s. willing to push that point enough -- >> you are asking me to get into what we may or may not do. >> now you are sounding like the budget ministration. >> trying to get me fired?

>> it sounds like you are making the settlement issue one of the main issues. president obama and secretary clinton has talked about mr. spoken about settlements, that settlements are on helpful but for you to say from the podium that settlement should stop indicates this is one of the main points you are pushing. >> we are focused on the goal. and the goal is peace. the goal is two peoples living in their historic homeland, and there are a number of obstacles to this ultimate goal. i'm not saying that settlements are the main obstacle -- just one of the obstacles. >> on the today show he said

there is hope for a room for negotiation on natural growth. indicating there will be discussion on how to finesse that with a obama administration. is that your understanding? >> again, you are asking me to get into what is going to happen when we actually sit down and negotiate, but it has to be worked out first and foremost between the two parties themselves. we are a facilitator. >> as far as the settlement freeze and negotiations on natural growth, is there room for negotiation? >> our policy is clear, settlement activity must be frozen, an obligation under the road map. >> why not criticize prime minister netanyahu's speech, because he felt sure? -- he fell short? >> we want to focus on how we can get to this ultimate goal that the whole world wants.

we take it as a positive that he accepted this idea of two states living side by side. >> just had an election -- >> pretty much opposed -- >> much of the world. >> yemen. the bodies of the missing europeans have turned up. >> i did not know what you are referring to. >> can you give me a little bit more -- >> they were killed, germans, a brit, and a south korean. i will have to look into that. >> looking for a comment on that, wart increased security concerns. >> we will look into what. -- it.

thank you. >> the u.s. house meets for legislative work at 2:00 p.m. eastern. nearly 20 bills and resolutions will be considered, including giving the inspector general who oversees afghanistan more spending, authority to hire more inspectors. the building of the debate this afternoon, live coverage here on c-span. c-span3 is live at 1:30 p.m. eastern as the health of the world health organization's poll bill of revocation effort is in his speech on vaccines and disease prevention. he is expected to take questions on the h1n1 swine flu. >> the july 4 weekend, discover and unfamiliar side of our nation's first president as we are live from george washington crossing out vernon estate with

historian and author john ferling. join our three-hour conversation sunday, july 5, live on "in- depth." >> washington post publisher katherine weymouth recently talked about the future of newspapers and technology's influence in the publishing industry. she spoke at a conference on women and technology posted by the tech council of maryland. >> we are based here in the d.c. washington metro area. i think we have about 250 attendees. welcome to our in our growth event. i am honored to be the chairperson of the mid-atlantic women and technology conference and wanted to say thank you for coming and also that we are a proud sponsor, along with lockheed martin.

thank you for sponsor record this a novel event will provide us with an opportunity to connect -- thank you for sponsoring this event. this inaugural event is to study the true power of women in technology. before i introduce the keynote speaker, but take a brief look at the state of women and technology today. women face challenges and every industry. but i found that although women make up over half of the overall work force in the united states, our ranks are declining in information technology. from 40% in 1986 to only 24 percent today. i am concerned this decline may continue. there has been a 79% drop in the number of women majoring in computer science in the last eight years. studies suggest a number of factors, including long hours and travel, the glass ceiling, lack of mentors and role models,

and lack of parity in pay, especially in the lower ranks of our despite these challenges of the i.t. industry offers tremendous opportunities and women are in the top ranks of our business. consider xerox, a company that will engage in the first of a woman to woman ceo handoff and the fortune 500, and making it more spectacular is ursula burns will be the fortune 501st female african-american ceo in the fortune 500. women own more than 40 percent of the privately held businesses in the united states. this number may grow as unemployment climbs to over 9 percent of people are forced to dust off old business plans and ideas. during this economic crisis, many women may consider becoming entrepreneurs with business plans focus on technology. as a i.t. professionals, we

can't imagine and build solutions that make our lives easier, more convenient, more productive, and prosperous while using emerging technologies and cutting edge tools. in fact, we are already seeing women establishing green technology firms. others advise on optimal usage of the social networking and social media, and even more becoming independent consultants. women who succeed ian i.t. have clarity of purpose and a strong sense of self worth. i imagine many of you of his room share the same qualities. i know our two q of speakers do. as we began this conference, i encourage you to talk to other attendees about the work life balance issues and share your personal experiences, how you overcame challenges or how an inspiring mentor and courage you to follow your path. let us and engage in a dialogue of how we as women in technology can shape the information

technology industry with our approach to innovation. more importantly, we should work together to set the course by becoming role models and mentors, inspiration for future generations. by doing so, we will harness the true power of women in technology. now i would like to introduce this morning's keynote speaker, katherine weymouth, see all of washington post media and publisher of the post. she clearly has an appreciation for the importance of technology in our lives. in fact, she recently talked about how technology is changing the newspaper business at "the wall street journal" old thing digital conference and a panel discussion with the huffington post. catherine was fortunate to have a strong mentor, a grandmother, the late katharine graham, who led "washington post closed with more than two decades. she has been with open "the

washington post" since 2006, serving legal and management roles. she was named publisher and ceo into thousand eight. washington, d.c., resident, she is also mother to three young children. thank you for joining us. [applause] >> thank you, rebecca, for this great and interesting introduction. it is great to be here with such a great pope of women and i see a few select men snuck in. great to see you. i am also thrilled to be part of the first gathering of this group. as i was thinking about women and technology, i want to tell you a little story. i was driving my nine-year-old daughter to school. she was playing on my io -- iphone. i told a, you know, when i was growing up, we did not have

computers, e-mail, iphone, you name it. she said, wow, mama, it must have been hard growing up in the olden days. [laughter] we are living in this incredible time when the pace of change seems to be speeding up. new devices are being developed in -- at an astonishing pace. five years ago, youtube and twitter did not exist, they spoke existed but was hardly the behemoth, and no one was using e-readers. i do not think it would suppress any of us to imagine that our people out there now developing new technologies we can barely imagine. technology but enhances our lives, and at the same time infiltrates our lives it in ways we may not have anticipated. it frees you to work everywhere but d.c. prisoners and others. parents for years have battled with kids of atomic and spent on

computers and video games into day students are sometimes fighting a parents to get them off their blackberry. "the wall street journal" have a great article a couple of years ago on a subject, describing one family and texas -- and this woman is 7 year old talks about the blackberry -- i feel annoyed, -- always focusing on that blasted thing. learning the were blasted from the pirates of the caribbean. the girl seems to recognize and france, comfort, not unlike a pacifier or security blanket. recently seen her mom slump on the couch after work, she fished the blackberry from a mother's purse and brought it to her. mommy, she asked, will this make you feel better? the same article described another female executive in new jersey whose children have banned the use of the device between dinner and a time. the journal wrote -- to get around their dictates, the mother heights of the gadget and

a bathroom where she makes frequent trips before, during, and after dinner. she said, the kids think i have a small the latter. technology is changing life of women around the world as well. we published a story in "washington post" a few years ago of household phones have changed lives of women in saudi arabia. the article describes saudi arabia as "one of the most conservative and religious district decided in the world, where social contact between men and women not related is forbidden." as of the time is article was published come in late 2006, the number of self on users and saudi every bit had grown to almost half of the entire population. our journalist wrote about how bluetooth technology, which allows high-speed transfer of photos, videos, and text messages with and a range of about 15 yards and was allowing men to communicate with and cell phone rings for the first time with him and they did not know. our journalist explains that

bluetooth technology -- and i found is fascinated -- was named for a 10th century dangerous king who united warring gains, swedes, and norwegians. bluetooth, he night -- he wrote, now uniting saudi men and women, separate by walls and tradition. users can choose to make themselves visible to other bluetoothers when the region within range. the story describes one young men sitting at a cafe with his friends and hoping to find a young woman who would agree to meet him through his cell phone in by third one young woman centum what he thought was an opening when she sent a textbook image of a smiling face and quickly respond with a text he tried some and * successfully -- i would be happy if you would be my girlfriend, and his name and number. according to our store, she sent back a digital photo -- a total of madonna holding up her middle finger. not easily deterred, the young

man told our reporter, patience is essentials. now, let me turn to how technology is reshaping the newspaper industry. people sometimes ask me why i took on this job at the time that i did, at the helm of an industry in complete flux and at the time people seem to be tripping over themselves predicting our demise. one such prediction came from michael kinsley, editor of the online magazine "slate" and former newspaper reporter and self. he wrote in 2006 -- the trouble even an established customer will take to obtain a newspaper continues to shrink. once, i would drive across town if necessary. today, and open the front door and the paper isn't within about 10 feet, i retreat to my computer and read it online. only six months ago, that figure was 20 feet. extrapolating, they will have to bring it to me in bed by the end of this year and we did to me out loud by the second quarter of 2007.

since about two years ago, i guess he is still waiting in bed. michael kinsley is one of many voices of doom. on the days i am feeling particularly challenged i turn to a pillow i have from my grandmother -- it reads, a woman is just like a tea bag, you never know how strong she is until she is in hot water. michael kinsley, as i said, not the only one predicting the death of newspapers. well, i have news for these people. we are not dead yet. we may be in hot water, we are not dead. 75 percent of all the men, women, and children in the washington metro area reed "the post." over a million people for our daily edition and more than 2 million people read the sunday washington post each week, but as more people than watched any redskin game this year, or, for that matter, the super bowl. there is also a lot of hype about how young people don't read newspapers and more. in fact, more washingtonians

ages 18-34 -- the washington post printed newspaper then watched american idol. any single daily issue of the post reaches more people than the total weekly audience of any cable tv network, reaches more than 50 radio spots morning drive time and reaches more than 30 to 11 spots would on the four major networks. that is just one issue of "washington post." while leadership is still strong in france, with our online site, we have a larger audience than ever. people who were never able to buy a printed edition of ""the washington post" can and do read our content on maundered in the month of may we had 10 million unique visitors to washington. washingtoncom 260 million pages of views and 90 percent of our traffic is outside of the area. people come to us because we are a trusted source of news and information focused on washington, which matters both to local community and the world.

but our commitment has been and will remain to our local community. that is why our daily newspapers still have higher penetration among readers in the local area than any other major metropolitan newspaper and our web site is the no. 1 news site for the d.c. area. in short, our leadership is still strong overall and growing online. so, what's the problem? the problem is the economic model that has supported our business for many years. as far as the newspaper business goes, well, i was quoted last year using a technical term you often hear in our industry, that is, the numbers sucked. partly because of a shift going on in our industry and partly because of the economic meltdown we have all experienced. newspaper revenue across the united states have declined sharply and classified advertising has taken the biggest hit. "the washington post closed with is no different, we have always been an advertising driven model. only about 20 percent of all revenues come from subscription

fees. the only 80 percent comes from advertising -- display and classified. but the advent of the internet within our share of class a $5 a year rose sharply. take craigslist, for example, i often wonder what if someone on my staff had come to me with a plan to build craigslist before it existed? i imagine they say, ok, captain, i have a great idea. let's build a site where people can come and advertise everything they advertise in the paper now for free. i would have been like, i don't think so. i'm pretty confident my answer would in no way. so, with the advent of craigslist, auto trader, ebay, you name it, those sites each took in a share and exerted a of downward pricing pressure that it had a sick of it negative impact. we have not sat still, by any means. we have invested early in building strong classified verticals on my review and do all the things you've always

done -- by a car, house, find a job at washingtonpost.com, the number one online jobs site in the washington area. but nevertheless they affect us into significantly erode our shares of dollars. what we doing? i tell my folks, we have two choices. we inspect our heads in the sand and look goes away or we can move and do something about it. and we are moving. here is what we're doing. in the last year i put together a new senior management team to guide us through one of the most difficult times our industry has faced. we are aggressively cutting costs above rigid across-the- board while trying to ensure we cannot cut and a ways to alienate readers and advertising. integrating print and online into one building and a structure that we think will allow us to be more nimble and efficient. we are redesigning the newspaper and our website and restructuring our news and business operations to ensure that we can deliver news and information on the platforms are

reader will like to get them on, whether that means on paper, cellphone, laptop, or desktop, kindle or pondcast. at the same time, as my grandmother once said, in order to do good, we must do well. that is as true today as it was not made the bend. in order to support the infrastructure that produces the quality news we delivered to readers, we must continue to be a viable and healthy business. our challenge is clear. how will we provide news and information to our readers in a sustainable business model? we must shrink the cost structure but continue to invest and build for a future in which digital will clearly be a huge part. and as we shrink our cost structure, we must be careful not to alienate our core. just to tell you a quick story about that. i spent an inordinate amount of time at starbucks and i was having a meeting there, and a slightly older gentleman came up

to me, academic looking, smiled, held out his hand, i stood up -- he said i think we met a birthday party. i said, nice to see you. i anticipated would say something about the paper because people have vocal views. he said you are doing a terrible disservice to your readers. you are besmirching your uncle's reputation by taking book world out of the newspaper. i was like, -- for those of you, we took up the book world section and put the content and the rest of the paper. it was cost-saving -- trying to preserve the content. but people really care about their products. it was a consumer product -- it is a consumer product at the end

of the day. i was on one of the people movers from dulles airport after the democratic convention, and i love this, we got off its plan and there was a woman with her mother there, and the first thing she did when she got the plane was spend $1.50 to buy a copy of open "the washington post." i said, love that. i figured i would watch her. they are rifling through the sec since frantically looking for something, and i watched for a little while, and they started to get frustrated. she said, i know is there, always the second section. i said, can i help you find something? she said, i am looking for the metro section, always the second section. i did not understand. i said sometimes they deliver the paper in science a different pieces -- one that looked for the back? we found the metro's section. then i stepped back. she was looking for page b-3, the car wash coupons. she spent $1.50 to give the car

wash coupons this is a story our journalists he to hear. -- hate to hear. people care about the product. we can change it but we have to be careful about how we change it. the that we are making is that there is an appetite for quality news, not of what the platform, and there will always be an appetite for quality news. we also know we have two audiences with distinctly different desires. first, the local community. readers who come to us for our coverage of everything from local school system to what the obama administration is doing and how it might affect local businesses. second, we have a large and growing national audience but comes to us for coverage of washington -- the of the redskins or the u.s. government. as i said, 90 percent of the page views on the web are from outside the market and we never spent a market the dollar marketing ourselves outside the market.

our job is to serve the audience is and what on multiple platforms. at the same time that would cut costs and explore new ways to make money on digital platforms. it is a tall order, but that is what we are doing. we will one of the first major papers to invest heavily in building a website. today our reporters are at face book and twitter. it may surprise you to know our newspaper won an emmy for travis fox the deal covers. our reporters are carrying video cameras and learning to use new media to enhance what they have always done, good storytelling. in fact, we just formed a new unit in the news room that will do exactly that -- multimedia storytelling. people often ask whether i believe we will have printed newspapers in the future. the answer is, i don't know. but i think they will be around for many years to come, and they do believe that good storytelling will be around for as long as humans are on earth. as i said earlier, we also believe there will always be an appetite for quality journalism

and fact, accurate, insightful news and opinion. we can debate whether open "the washington post" will always be printed on newsprint but no debate that it will always stand for excellence in journalism a matter of a platform. there are two reasons i believe this -- first, i really believe and what we do, which is to publish first class journalism that sheds light on the world crown does and sometimes just helps us live on lives and entertains us. second, i firmly believe that we at "the washington post" are uniquely positioned not only to weather the storm also take advantage of the storm and ordered to evolve our business for the future. technology will certainly be a critical part of our future, but so will great content and great strategy. technology alone is not enough. and short, we never work cut out for a spirit of the world is changing fast, and we faced tough competition. we are making a bet that our readers care about quality journalism and by focusing on washington and delivering news and information to our readers

on multiple platforms, we will not only survive, but thrive. as readers and advertisers change habits and spending respectively, we will meet them where they are. and as long as we have engaged readers, there will be advertisers who want to reach the readers. i firmly believe the best days of "the washington post" are still ahead of us. thank you for having me. >> thank you, katherine. i will like to open this up for questions you may have appeared just simply raise your hands and i will come over and stick the microphone to your mouth. >> thank you, that was wonderful. as you look at technology allowing journalists to have their own platforms through twitter and other types of blocking technology, how would you address maintaining the talents within the community when people are going to start developing on anc