>> c-span has books on booktv. >> and explore history on c-span3. >> follow us on twitter. >> and join us on facebook. >> it's washington your way by c-span. >> created by cable and provided as a public service. >> this week on "q&a," the host of "the alyona show." >> what is "the alyona show? >> at this point, it's almost become an extension of myself where at first it was a project and it was, we'll make a tv

show. now it really has become the alyona show and embody mispassions, the things i feel deserve to be top news in the world, especially in the u.s. because we do focus on domestic politics, u.s. politics. so the primary goal is to offer an alternative to the mainstream media because there's so much garbage out there that you want somebody who has -- who is not going through the basic p.c. back and forth talk you have about who says what in terms of eric cantor and john boehner. there are larger stories out there, including the numerous wars our country is involved in and the economic situation. thing somebody -- people want somebody who is willing to talk about that in a big picture to connect the dots. and i'm hoping i'm providing that for people, especially for a younger audience. i think the alyona show is the new generation of what news is,

in the sense that it's not dry or dodgey, it's -- you're entertained and being informed and learning something. you're not being dumbed down the way that i think a lot of other news does. >> where can i see it? >> you can watch rt on cable in almost every single -- or every major city in the u.s., i know we're on in new york, chicago, los angeles, san francisco and i believe maybe north carolina or south carolina, something like 22 million households now within the u.s. can access rt on cable. around the world, we're on satellite, you can watch us online. "the alyona show" has its own youtube channel. we live stream everything. there are a lot of options out there >> how long have you been doing it? >> the show itself or working at rt? >> either one. >> i've been working at rt for

two and a half years. the show, we went live january 21 of last year. it's been about a year and a half. prior to that, we had a few months, about two and a half months where it was in an experimental phase, we were taping the show, it was 30 minutes, we did it twice a week and we started three times a week, then five days a week and then boom we started going live for an hour every day. >> we have some tape of you on that first show. let's just -- >> that's so embarrassing. >> let's watch. >> welcome to "the alyon show" a brand spanking new experience from washington, d.c. i'm not from here, i'm from california and came here to take a glance at beltwayle toicic -- politics and see how things work

around here and stir it up a little bit. i'm here to find that and give you something different. so if you're sick of the same old story and dancing around all the real issues, then "the aloyna show" is the place for you. >> in one of those blogs a couple of months ago, you wrote there. we'll get into some of your background. there are those who can't look past the name and funding of where i work and assume i'm a russian prop began dist who get misscripts straight if the kremlin, only after i finish our only ga tire morning session of worshiping a bare-chested picture of putin. how often do you get that? rt used to stand for russia today, so how does that work? >> when i was blog, there was guest blogging on the blog "the agitator" that was my introduction there where i decided to play wit and make fun

of the critiques we get. yes, rt stands for russia today. now we just go by rt, it's cleaner, it's more simple and you know, for me, part of that is -- i don't feel like it's a valid worry. i believe that people are afraid when they see somebody else and we've seen that from secretary of state hillary clinton who has mentioned r.t. and we've seen it from the broadcasting board of governors, they see it as a competition and saying we're losinged to the russians and they can't believe it's happening on their own turf here in the u.s. for me, i'm an american. any time i hear that criticism that i somehow am anti-american and i work for a propaganda machine that works against this government, i have to laugh at it because otherwise it gets my blood boiling because i am an american, i love this country and i feel it's my duty, i would even go so far as to say my

patriotic duty to report on what's happening here on the real issues that i feel like we are maintaining that everybody is close their eyes to and try to blind the eyes of the masses as well because i feel they have become this body that works for the government. they're a lap dog of the goth instead of a watchdog of the government these days. somebody has got to do it. it's embarrassing, i think, for u.s. media, rt is doing a much better job at exposing the hypocrisy and wrongdoing going on here. >> who owns rt? >> it is publicly funded. it's funded by the russian government. >> why do they do it? do you know? >> you would have to ask them. >> and how did you get involved in it? >> i was in moscow one summer, i have a lot of family that still lives in moscow, i had been working there and had been introduced to rt when i was still in college and thinking of

what i might do when i graduated and i decided to intern at the channel and just check it out. >> where were you in college at the time? >> i was going to u.c. santa cruz. has a very mellow, hippie vibe and made me realize i lived in another world growing they need

people and from there it all went the usual route. >> you were born in moscow? >> i was. >> you have a famous mother? >> i do have a famous mother. a three-time olympic gold medalist a pair skater, it's something that, you know, brings a lot of joy to my heart, of course, it's a thing i'm very proud of. but both of my parents are incredible people. my mother was a figure skater. she's now involved in politics in russia, she's in the duma. my father is an entrepreneur, he was a trained architect, but he's den everything from design to film production as well. all in all, they're both incredibly inspired people that have heavened me every step of the way to be who i am. >> she's part of the russian

legislature? >> she is. >> how did you get to the states? what year did you come here and why? >> we came in 1990. it's my mother at that point was not figure skating, she was coaching. we moved to lake arrowhead, a tiny town in the mountains, where they have an international training center where michelle kwan and people like that skated. it was a small little nook in southern california where you had an immense amount of talent. but i think that my father always wanted to move to the states so that was a decision i didn't have any part of, but i couldn't be happier that they made it. >> and how do you define your politics? you are an american citizen? >> yes. >> how do you define your politics? >> well, i guess, you know, i would call myself liberal. i have no problem saying that. and i am a registered democrat,

i voted democraticed in the last election, but the longer i've been here in washington the more disenchanted i am with the political system and with both parties. that's something we try to do on the show, too, is show that, because i feel there's an effort by politicians and the the media to convince people that we're so polarized and we can never see eye to eye but there's so much americans have in common with each other but they're being dispracted -- distracted by wedge issues, abortion and gay marriage which to me are incredible important issues. gay marriage and gay rights are like the civil rights fight of my generation, i think you could say. they are important issues. but i think that it's a way to divide people to try to distract them so they don't realize this

is becoming a corporate state that both parties no longer work for the people but both republicans and democrats are slaves to a military industrial complex and slaves to wall street and slaves to corporations that really control everything and have such a strong and very ex-pensive -- expensive trap. >> you can watch rt in the united states, your program every night at 6:00 and 10:00, one hour. >> yes. >> is it hard to do a one-hour television show every day? >> it's hard in the sense that you know, there are some days when i want to be on tv and there are some days when you don't feel like having to go on tv and put on a show for people. it's a lot of prep. no matter what happens, you come in that morning and you know that i have to fill an hour of tv and i have to start at 6:00 p.m. and there are no ways around it. that's what happens when you do a live program, you have to roll with the punches and see what

happens. but i really love what i do. i love the team that i work with. so we do come in excited every day, thinking of what we're going to but put together and put out there. always hoping that the people are going to notice because we're doing it better than the other stations out there. >> let's watch you and a little comment on sarah palin. >> let's do it. >> you know what i love about this? you'll see pundits, anchors on cable networks talk about how sarah palin is a distraction. but the real presidential candidates -- how unfair it is to the real can dats. the point is, it's the weakest and lamest excuse for analysis that i've ever seen. here's the idea, you don't have to cover her if you don't want to. then you can focus on the other supposed real candidates. i know, it's really ground

breaking logic i'm bestowing upon it. give it a little time to sink in. when you wake up from your sarah palin wet dream, let's remember there's an economic crisis in this country, a recession, high unemployment, a demolished housing market, how about the fact that we are out of money. >> money-grubbing media whore. >> you had to use that sound bite. >> would you hear that on american -- >> i don't think you'd hear that. i think you'd hear that from jon stewart and stephen colbert and i think those are the venues where people are flocking to because you want somebody who has an edge to them to talk about the news. especially if they're going to make fun of the news and how seriously they try to take themselves, then people are inclined to be a little crass. satire gos a long way. wit gos a long way.

i especially think that's what younger people want. it's no longer -- it's not just the katie courics that get the multimillion dollar contracts to host the evening news but nobody gathers around the tv every night with their families every night to watch the news. if they do, it's not my generation. it's a different world, we have d.v.r., people's lifes are busier and more hectic, the internet you can watch whenever it's convenient for you. but i think people are tired of it too. i do feel like there's a deliberate effort to dumb television down for the audiences. and i don't think that's what they want. i think that they want to be spoken to like they have a worthy audience, like they're on the same intellectual level as you. that's why wit and satire is funny because they feel like they're being challenged, as

well as entertained, as well as learning something, not just hearing this mind-boggling casey anthony going on and on and on. >> tool time. what is tool time? was that your name for it? >> tool time, i have to admit, i don't know if i'll get sued for this, but i definitely watched, what was the show with tim allen with the kids, i've forgot ven now but they had a fake show called "tool time," he and his partner and so that name just kind of rung a bell when we were trying to think of a segment we could brand that we could we could do every single day because there's going to be someone to make fun of because of a gaffe they made or a stance they took that's completely hypocritical. tool time has become a treasured favorite of "the alyona show." there's a lot of people out there that stick their foot in their mouths and thanks to the fact that everything is recorded

these days, you can always find a good clip of it. >> how long do you make that the that? >> how long is the segment? it varies, between 2 and a half to -- 2 1/2 to tour minute -- four minutes anyway. >> here's a minute of one. >> for all of 2010, members of the house were only in session for 121 days. the senate, 159 days. that's less than half the year. so far this year and by the way, this year will be half over by tomorrow, the house has worked 75 days and the senate only 76. where can i sign up for this job? you make around $170,000 a year, you only have to come to the office half the time. the senate was scheduled to be out of session next week and go on recess for an entire month starting august 6. the house of representatives has been off eight weeks already this year including this week. did you get eight weeks of vacation this year? i sure didn't.

how is washington supposed to solve any problems when nobody works? that's why they haven't passed a budget in so long. that's why we're giving the 112th congress the tool time award for being absolutely useless. >> some would say that we're better off as a country if they're not in session. >> and they would say that, why? because they're just engaged in too much politics? >> or spending too much money. >> spending money is their job. i'm definitely in agreement that congress spends too much money. but as long as they're here, sleast do something. the way they're really spending a lot of money is when they sit around and don't pass any legislation because it's all about grand standing and refusing to compromise and pretending like you have some serious principles and then you go through and have back door meetings and make some deals here and there but you go back out to the public and pretend you're still standing your

ground whereas really you're making a deal that completely goes against what those principles are. it's so much back and forth. nothing is getting done in this country and again, i feel like a lot of that is an act. and that's when it becomes a waste of money, it becomes completely unfair to americans, because we voted these people into office. we voted for you to represent our interests and they're not doing that, a, they're not working all that long, whenever they are home maybe they meet with a few constituents but it's what they do here in washington that really matters. this is where the deals are made. this is where the legislation is written, where it's signed and voted on. this is the creventer of power and if they're just sitting around behind closed doors collecting money from lobbyists and making backhanded deals and coming out and giving a lovely speech to the public pretending they're still on their side, you have to call them out for it. >> you said early in our discussions that this show is really for younger people.

or at least -- can i guess you're in your 20's? >> i'll even let you in on more of a secret, i'm 25. >> are you the youngest person to do a national television show, then? >> you know, i don't know. i've actually never looked into it. have you? >> no, but i was just thinking, trying to think of others. may i approach el ma dow son-in-law in her 30's, but i don't know of anybody that's your age. and you do give your opinions on purpose. that's all part of the plan. >> that's all part of the plan. i don't pretend our show is a straight hour of news by any means. it's called "the alyona show," it's a personality-centered show. while i do feel we're reporting on stories, what i offer is analysis. it's my opinion interjected in there. >> go back to where you learned what you think. where did it start for you? when did you -- >> where i learned what i think.

i think it's something that the develops your whole life. >> when do you think it started for you? >> in terms of being politically engamed? >> politically aware and who influenced you. >> i have to say that i traveled all my life, thanks to my family, i have seen a lot of the world. and since a very early age. >> give us an idea. >> i've maybe visited 20 or so countries and when i was younger, we were going all over europe, aye been to japan, brazil, argentina. >> because your mom was a skate her >> both traveling with my mother and traveling with my father, who loved to travel and was always trying to open my eyes to the world. so that i think affected me. i studied abroad and lived in barcelona for four months, i lived in florence for four months.

that really starts to hit you when you see a different world out there you start talking to people in other countries and realize their perceptions matter. you start to think of a way that they see your country and the way they start to see america and the way they see politics in general. the entire dynamic os they have world. that wakes you up and makes you start to be curious about it. also, you know, for my generation, i was 14 years old on 9/11. i was in boarding school and that was an odd moment for me. even though i hadn't been sheltered or naive, i didn't know what terrorism was. i had had no idea. i didn't know what al qaeda or the taliban were and suddenly we're fighting wars on what have of this country because of this giant threat. so i've grown up in this society where we're always at war. there's always this supposed

fear of terrorism. i don't think it's right. i think that young people need to be shaken out of that. it's not normal to be in constant war. that is not a way to conduct your affairs. that's not a way to try to be a world leader. i think there are a lot of people my age that haven't really known it to be any different. so you need to start realizing that these things can change. you need to stand up and speak out against it and go out and protest and write your congressmens and do whatever it takes. this can stop. america doesn't have to be on a constant spiral where we're using our counterterrorism policies and strategies worldwide. >> russia today, rt, is seen around the world. is your program? >> yes, it is. >> when you do your program at 6:00, live, the network runs it? >> my program runs live from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. and repeats

ats 10:00 p.m. it's the 10:00 p.m. repeat that goes live. i know it's on at 7:00 in the morning in moscow because that's where i have family members. >> do they translate? >> it's in english. it's meant for the entire world to see, it's in english, the way the bbc is in english because that's the dominant language. >> where does rt have stewedes in the world? >> we have one here in washington in new york, miami, los angeles, we have our studio in moscow, there are two small bureaus in georgia, london we have a reporter as well, and in ukraine, i know we have a reporter and in india. there might be a few i'm missing because there is rt spanish and rt arabic. >> how much reaction do you get from doing this show? >> from who? >> just around the world.

how do you know anybody is watching? >> that's a very good question. sometimes you start to wonder, you're wondering, how many people are really watching. first of all, we get a lot of reaction from people online. a lot of our audience comes from youtube because of the fact that it's broadcast worldwide and it's much more convenient. a lot of people do indeed watch online. facebook, i get a million messages from people all the time that are from all over the world. and that makes me feel good. one day aisle get a message from somebody in india and somebody in australia and somebody in london, people contact us on twitter all the time so now we have a dialogue going constantly and so we know there are other people that are plugged in to -- let's face it, these days you have to constantly be plugged in and following the news every second and you always have to be watching. our audience is too because

they're always responding to it. >> what about reaction from people that watch it just say in the washington area? if you're on cable here on get it over the air but most people get it on cable, you're on there with nine other international networks, channel 280 up to -- no it's 271. >> we're 274 so somewhere in that area. >> do you get reaction here in town? >> yes. a lot of reaction here in town. >> anybody complain about your positions on things? >> can you complain? do they? >> yeah. >> sure. it depends on who it is. some people the whole point is i bring them on my show so they can complain about my position on things and have a good, honest debate about it and see if smib wins here. i think the fact that people want to come on our show is a testament to the fact that they're paying attention, that they're interested, that we have members of congress like dennis

kucinich, representative keith ellison was on the show the other darke ron paul is on often. that tells me people in washington are starting to pay attention. hillary clinton has mentioned it, the broadcasting board of governors has mentioned it. enge we're on the radar here. >> and you have a fellow on there named tom hartman. >> he does a program, yes. >> american, used to be in oregon, i guess he's paced here, does he do the show here? >> he does a raide show which amazes me how he fits that in one day, but a radio show every day and a one-hour tv show. >> and peter labelle. >> he's in moscow. he's an american, i've never met him. i don't know too much about him. >> what is the rest of the day? what kind of things can people see? >> it depends. where our bureau is here in washington, we are rt america system of we focus on u.s.

politics on domestic politics. and in moscow, that's rt international. and so they switch off because moscow is running 24 hours a day and our newscast doesn't start here until 4:00 p.m. and then runs until 8:30 p.m., and after that, my show and thom hartman's show repeats. you can watch us in the evening but at any other time you'll see rt international on. >> you're 25 years old. >> don't keep repeating it. >> but the reason i do is, how did they know, had you done television before this? >> no. >> how did they know you could do this? how did they test you? >> um, that's a good question. i'm very thankful that they decided to tist me by miving -- giving me a show and putting so much responsibility in my hands and taking a chance on me. prior to hosting the show, i have been a correspondent for the channel for a couple of

months. i was already doing live hits, traveling and doing stories, but you know, people saw i had more to offer than just going out and reporting straight stories. i love the human interaction. i love interviewing people. i also obviously love to speak my mind and get deeper into those issues. i think my boss and superiors at my channel saw something in me and thought maybe people would like me and i guess i could carry it. >> who runs the whole shebang out of moscow? >> who runs it? we have a chief, she runs the entire operation, here, we also have my boss who run ours editorial side in washington, d.c., but i can't say i have a whole lot of contact. >> a lot of women. >> you see a lot of women. >> a lot of younger people.

>> the entire channel has a lot of younger people on it. i think they're smart in doing that. i think they've brought in a lot of people with fresh ideas that, like i said, i know my audience isn't all young people, i'm not only directing my show toward a younger audience. i know there's an older audience out there, and i know you said you watched it. the point is, we're willing to step outside the box and try something different to figure out how to make tv news exciting and entertaining and informative again, rather than, i'm sorry, but like i said the garbage that it has dwindled down to be. >> here's more of your show. >> welcome to tonight's fireside fridays with your host alyona

mikovski. >> while president obama is meeting with world leaders in portugal, the u.s. military is depliing a company of m-1 abe rams tajs. let's get one thing clear first. these aren't just any tanks. these things are monstrosities. they each weigh 68 tons. they're propeled by a jet engine. and they're equiped with 30-year-old precision firepower system of why in a mountainous, dusty country would you try to have big tanks rolling around? military officials will say it's simple, awe, shock, and firepower. it's to show how they've been beefing up military operations. not the unconventional security type. but conventional war, bomb and kill, shock and awe. >> you call it fireside fridays, what's that about? >> fireside fridays is my chance

every friday, i'll pick something that, something we may have been reporting throughout the week, maybe i want to wrap up on it or just something where i want to take out a personal moment just between myself and the audience without a guest where i want to highlight an issue that i feel really passionately about and it's supposed to be a little bit more of the warm, fuzzy setting, we realize it's cheesy, we have a fake fireplace, but we have fun with it. it's something i think a lot about every week. i take my time writing it because it's something i feel passionately about. the war in afghanistan if you watch the program, you'll notice it's something we cover cons tabtly. >> let's do another clip on afghanistan. you refer to the soviet yets -- to the soviets not there also. >> how long will the war last? obama says he'll start troop

reduction next year. will we be able to fulfill that promise? we're going to launch our offensive this summer, more than 100,000 troops in the country, the largest am the soviets had and we know they didn't win. and now mcchrystal is calling the offensive at kandahar a process rather than an operation, which rightly recognizes it's not a quick in and out. don't you think we should have realized that a long time ago in terms of this war as a whole? my question iscism. do we have a plan for winning in afghan star or getting out safely? or maybe it's time for the white house and pentagon to realize this is a lost war and we need to bring all the troops home. >> how much of this is dictated to you from moscow? >> none of it. >> how much of this is something that you don't want to say you're told to say from here. >> none of it. >> so what is -- what is the purpose from what you know of rt

being around the world, what does the country of russia want to get out of this? >> i can't necessarily answer that on behalf of the entire country of russia but i do think that there's a vested interest for any country to be able to show that there isn't this -- there doesn't need to be a hegemony when it comes to looking at the world and there's not only a western viewpoint or an eastern viewpoint. >> is it like voice of america? >> you could compare it to voice of america or bbc or al-jazeera english or channels like that. >> can the voice of america be seen in russia? >> i think so. i'm pretty sure it can. i haven't watched it there. >> how many folks do you need in washington to do the job you're doing? your show and the whole bureau. >> my show, we have about seven

people that are full-time staff in terms of we come in every morning, have our editorial meet, we decide on our show that nobody dictates to us, it's an organic process, we come in, talk about what we saw on the news what stories we saw online, we all check our favorite blogs and then we decide what we think is going to be good and what we think will round out the show that day. we have great technical crew that starts beefing up the numbers. overall, i think there are about 65 to 70 people that work out of the bureau in d.c. now, which is a big change because when i first started working at rt, there were seven of us total. >> in russia, under what umbrella is it? i've seen -- is novotzky the overall umbrella it fits in?

>> i'm not good with the details of what we're under in moscow. they have a bigger operation than we have here, they're probably 10 times bigger than we are in d.c. >> you said there's a station in english and everybody snick >> -- and arabic. >> english, arabic, spanish. i speak english and russian. i used to speak spanish but with lack of practice, it's getting bad. i think i need to practice again. >> where did you learn your russian? >> i learned my russian not in school, i never studied it. i moved here when i was 4, so just conversationally speaking with my family. >> how much time do you spend in

russia or have you spent over the years? and your mother live there is full time? >> my mother, brother and grandmother live there. i used to go back probably once or twice a year when i was in school. when we had a break. it's easier when you have vacations like that now i haven't been in almost two years, unfortunately, because i would love to see my brother and my niece and my mother and grandmother but it -- i find it harder and harder to do that working full time. >> did your brother grow up here? >> my brother was 11 years old when we moved to the states, seven years older than me. me live -- he lived in new york for about 10 years then moved back. >> what got your mother interested in being part of the legislature, the duma? >> you'll have to ask her that herself. i knew my mother as an athlete and figure skater all my life and one day she told me, i'm going into pl ticks? >> what area does she represent?

>> an area in siberia, but she lives in moscow. >> we've been talking about your mother, we have a clip of you interviewing her. >> oh, in vancouver. >> what are the circumstances of this interview? >> the circumstances were that the olympics were going on, my mother was there, and we thought it would be a great opportunity and fun opportunity and we were granted to be able to fly me out there so i could interview my mom on the show. >> what's her name? >>; irena. >> i am an american citizen, but i was born in russia, i can tell you the olympic games hold a special place in my heart because of the person i'm now joined with sitting next to me, three-time olympic figure skating champion, and also i'm very, very proud to say, she's my mother. so thank you for being here. first i want to get your impression of the winter games here in vancouver so far.

>> of course everybody is waiting, it's now very good. i think it's the worst olympic games for russia. >> did you ever know your mother to be political? >> not really. she's always been an opinionated woman, she doesn't hold back when she's got something to say but i never really thought of her as anybody who was political but i think she's doing a great job. from the stories that i hear from the programs she developed that will be new teams for children or new sports programs for orphans, i think she's doing a great job. >> i asked you earlier, where do you think you got your own

views, how much did her views impact you growing up? >> i can't say that my mother and i spoke a lot about politics growing up. they will tell you statistically that often your political views and ideology will resemble that of your parents. i can't necessarily say that's true for me, with either my mother or my father. my father is more conservative than i am, and sometimes we get in our own heated debates. i think it was my education, it was the people i was surrounded with, you know, living in coach, i think there is a certain mentality to living in that state and i think that that really did influence me. >> u.c. santa cruz is not exactly conservative. >> it's not conservative by any means. >> what's the happy hour segment on the show? >> it's fairly new, i think we've been doing it a couple of months now, we decided it would be fun to round out the show

with, you know, there's certain stories that don't necessarily, they're not worthry of -- worthy of an entire interview or discussion, and they may be a little more playful and more fun, and there are some people that you just love talking about that kind of stuff with. you think of the stories that at the end of the day they'll go home, they might leave work and go to the bar and happy hour, what do they want to share with their friends? what do they want to discuss that has some political implications and that's where happy hour was born from. and it's a little fun, it's a little bit of unwinding for me at the enof the show. i don't know, people always tell me that maybe i'm a little more serious in the beginning because it'll be a topic, something about the war in afghanistan and the new strategy, what the president said that day, i get so wrapped up in. it's nice to let loose at the end of the hour and have a little fun and laugh about it. >> here's a clip where you're talking about, a little bit

about glenn beck. >> time for happy hour tonight, joining me is our producer and a senior strategist. you have your own olives, keep your hands out. today is the end of an era and i couldn't be more excited. but let me show you what i'm talking about. >> hello, america. i'm tv and radio's glenn beck. there's a strages alliance between the left and the islamists that we're seeing. i think it's part of the coming insurrection. the progressives want to do in the first place crps the -- collapse the system and start all over again. do you know how much money rupert murdochering he's got all

these things going on. do you think he's going to let a guy at act say a bunch of stuff? put this together, it's completely wrong and stay on the network? >> yeah, that's exactly what i think. he's going to let you say a bunch of things that are completely wrong and stay on the network. he started playing this back in the nickson days. are you as happy to see glenn beck go as i am? are you satisfied? >> glenn beck. >> glenn beck. holds a special place in my heart. >> why is that? >> glenn beck has provided our show with a lot of material and the funny thing is i don't talk about him anymore, not only is his program ended but i feel his influence has faded. for a while there, though, glenn beck was booming, his ratings were high and any time i watched this man, this is what is wrong

to me, this is one fact or of -- factor of what's wrong with u.s. media, there's the fox nude news model and the everybody else model. the fox news model, they've managed to whip people up into into a frenzy. they work on fear and paranoia and you have a man like glenn beck and i do think people are confused and probably think he's telling you news when he's acting like this weird televangelist but he's telling you that at all time there's a conspiracy to take this world down, whether it be the liberals working with the communists working with the muslim call fat and he goes on and on anden of. it's such nonsense and i think he really scares people. he influenced people for a while. americans believed in it. i was here when we had his restoring honor rally on the mall. i had this overwhelming feeling where i was -- it almost brought tears to my eyes. there were so many people coming

here, and i couldn't believe so many people are inspired by this man that just wants to pedal gold -- peddle good to them and peddle food shortage kits to them. he's an actor. and people believed in what it is he's trying to sell. it's ludicrous to me and that's why i think people like glenn beck need to be criticized. >> speaking of actors, let's watch a -- watch a little bit of you. >> people, we are in trouble. we are in trouble because a big red beach known as china, it's creeping, it's inching toward us. i can feel it in my bones and i can tell you, it doesn't feel right. it doesn't feel right that america's power, our sovereignty is being threatened by the east. by that dragon that is just waiting to breathe fire on the world as we know it. they say they're the people's republic. a people's republic? i think you and i both know that

that means they're communist. >> what are you doing there? >> that was last halloween and we decided, it's halloween, why not dress up and do the entire show as somebody else. for a second, i think sarah palin may have come to mind and then we decided, no, no, no, it's got to be glenn beck. that was probably the most exhausting hour of my life. i was telling your staff before we began. it's one thing to go on tv and be myself every day for an hour. it's another thing to go on tv and act like somebody else. that took a lot of energy, i've got to admit. but it was fun. it was fun to do. i didn't bother revisiting that for the end of glenn beck's reign, at fox news. i already felt his influence had died down and good. >> here's a little bit more of you doing this. >> he's holding a rally in

washington, d.c. i'm here to stand up and tell you, my viewers, the truth about it. this rally is nothing but a serious ploy to get voters who are too stupid to think for themselves to follow through with a sacrifice on tuesday. he wants voters to go to the booth. they're following a man who is nothing more than a political cartoon. i want to end this by saying, benjamin franklin, who had the very first political cartoon, would be weeping if he saw the atrocities on the mall this weekend. >> why do you think he was so successful? >> glenn beck? >> uh-huh. >> i think that there is a void right now that needs to be filled when it comes to television news and when it comes to media and information. i think people are still hungry

for it but there are obviously a lot of fears that are easy to play upon in american society right now, be it xenophobea, we deal with immigration or of course xenophobea when it comes to islamaphobia as well because of 9/11 and all the uncertainty with the economy and i do think that people want somebody that they can relate to and listen to and like i said, i think he pulled the right strings and learned how to play upon those fears. that's one model that is successful. whereas the rest of the media, you see that they're struggling. cnn is changing their lineup and trying new shows left and right and none of that is working for them. like i said, you have the other networks that are hiring people like katie couric and paying them millions to fill that evening time slot, firing other people because of it and that's failing for them. that's because there's either a void in the sense that regular mainstream news isn't news anymore, you don't learn anything from it. if you want to learn something,

go online and read all the facts. you can read all the details. be it on a national newspaper website or some type of blog. other than that, it's just boring because it's mindless. so then you have fox news which knows how to whip people up and play on their emotions. i think that's where my show is trying to really find a new nearby for people and that same nearby, like i said that jon stewart and stephen colbert managed to fill for us. people want a logical argument, they don't need to be scared all the time. they know what's going on. think want it to be funny and sarcastic and talk to them about issues that matter to people these days. the cold war is long over. for my generation that doesn't matter. we're not afraid of communism anymore. quite the opposite, we're afraid of the fact that we have this massive security state and intelligence state that's growing that we're constantly

under surveillance. privacy is something that i think is incredibly important for my generation, for any generation, as long as we carry on into the future. technology plays such a large role in our lives and i think that's why it's so interesting to watch the developments and monitor things like the protect i.p. act and go to blogs and speak with people like julie sanchez from the cato institute because these are people that are specializing in this type of privacy and security information that is affecting all of us and we have no idea. i think honestly, some of our legislators don't know what they're writing laws about. i think it's too complex for them to understand which is even scarier. >> you've been very strong about saying you're an american. and -- but you work for a russian network and your mom is in the duma. did your mom americanize when

she came here? >> she did not. >> you know the publicity mr. putin gets, that the country is less open than it used to be. how do you track all this? are you, first and mother post -- foremost an american through and through, a believer in american democracy or do you wish we did some of the things they did in russia? >> i'm an american through and through, of course i believe in american democracy. this is the country where is educated and grew up. this is what i know. which is why i take such a vested interest in talking about the problems and bringing them up so we can address them and make the country better. what i do on my show, i don't criticize the politics of other countries and what might be going on there. i focus on america. russia to me is a place i have an emotional connection with. that's where i was born, that's where i still have family. but politically minded, i look

at the u.s. and how we interact with the rest of the world. >> i heard you the other night say the "washington post," oh, how that mighty newspaper has fallen. why did you say that? >> because it has fallen. for a start, the "washington post" and "new york times," you can say are considered by many to be the premier journalistic organizations in this country but we've seen not only massive layoffs and a massive shrinking especially with the times but we've seep "the washington post" being employed in a scandal a money making scheme. and yorp what it was on the cover of "the new york times," i think it was michelle obama's burger she ate and how many calories it had. you've got to be kidding me. you've got to be kidding me that that's the top news of the day. i feel like if you're going to present to be the mighty

newspaper of the nation, you better cover -- i'm happy that these newspapers work with wikileaks, now one has turned against julian assange but they keep publishing stories based on wikileaks, and they say they'll withhold information if the president asks them to. you have to start questioning, who are they working for? government watchdog or government lap dog. >> you can watch everything you do on rt? >> yes. >> meaning the internet in case people can't see it. but you can also -- rt has an aggressive pitch they make they want people in the media to use their stuff, their clips and all. do you find people using it in our media around the country? >> yes, i don't know how aggressive their pitch is when it comes to -- >> i picked it up, they

encourage you to go to the website and use the material. >> why not, right? why not have as many people put their eyes on it and actually see it and hear it and feel it as possible? >> let me show an rt network promo, it's only 26 seconds, what they tell their audience every day. >> we have an apartheid regime here in america. >> i think barack obama is beatable in 2012. >> when the government says they're going to keep you safe, get ready because you're going to lose your freedoms.

>> we never censor your opinions. that's what it said. >> i've never censored an opinion on the show. i've brought a guest on that i know i'm going to debate and told them to cut the crap. but i don't censor their opinions. >> i love that spelling, alyona. >> yeah. >> how would that be pronounced in russia? >> english speakers can't pronounce it and it makes my ears hurt when they try to do it that way, so i just changed it when i was a kid. >> how do you feel about being a

tv personality? >> now that i feel i've grown into it, i love it, i feel confident, i feel i have something to offer. i think if there's a reason people want to watch the show, but at first, believe me, i was scared. it's a hard thing, especially when you're 23 years old to figure out what your personality is that you're going to be putting on tv every day. >> here's your promo. ♪ >> how long did it take you to do that? >> that was, we had a crew come in from moscow with their

special fancy web cam they had and really only had a couple of hours, i believe, because i was also working on the show that day so it didn't take a whole lot of time. but that promo, that promo is funny. ask anybody i work with, they know i complain about it all the time. while it's aesthetically pleasing and beautiful, it makes it look like i just walk in and say, let's do the show, like i don't work all day. but that's a personal thing. >> where do you think you'll be in 10 years? >> i don't know. i'm going to see where life takes me, see where i think this career will take me. i wasn't sure if this was something i wanted to do or not. i never wanted to be on tv. journalism had interested me when i was younger but i wanted to write, i wanted to travel, i wanted to write about what i saw and who i spoke to when i traveled because i never watched tv either. i never watched tv news. and suddenly, when i was thrown into it, i used to think that tv

news was so cheesy but now i feel there is this void we're trying to feel and people can start enjoying tv again, if you just have something better to offer than what's out there. >> alyona, we're out of time. thank you very much. >> thank you so much for having me on. >> for a d.v.d. copy of this program, call 1-877-662-7726. for free transcripts or give us your comments about the program, visit us at q&a.org. -- at q-and-a.org. podcasts are available on our website. [captioning performed by

national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> next, the norwegian parliament memorial service for the victims of the july 22 shooting spree. then rich lowry at the conservative student conference. then "newsmakers" with christopher smith on the situations in sudan and somalia. tomorrow on "washington journal," financial times u.s. economic senator robin harding looks at the impact of the credit rating downgrade on asian and european markets and how wall street will react. human events editor jason mattera discusses the 2012 presidential race and offers a perspective on the debt ceiling. robin wright talks about her latest book, "rock the casbah: rage and rebellion across the islamic world," and we begin a week of talks with jane oates who talks about work force

training and government initialtive programs. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> i'm not for changing the system just so we can feel good by having voter turnout which may ultimately approximate what they have in australia, which is about 97%. the fact is, voter turnout per se doesn't mean much in terms of the health of the democracy. some of the most vicious dictatorships in the world get voter turnout of 95% to 99% when they hold elections. >> voting is a responsible act and if for whatever reason i'm uninformed or haven't had the time, i shouldn't be forced to make a decision that is life and death for many people. >> monday and tuesday on c-span, ralph nader and the center for the study of responsive law host a series of debates. monday, the pros and cons of