i will introduce our extraordinary panel shortly. i am just common, the founder of andmedia watch group fair the center of the park group for independent media at ithaca college. each string at ithaca we give out an annual award for outstanding achievement. , the after izzy stone izzy award. in 12 days we will do so the izzy award on the fifth annual winner, the nonprofit news outlet mother jones. it rogues story after story last year, including the now , 47% of mitt romney american voters are moochers undercover video. [applause] some of you know, i spent years as a political pundit on mainstream television, cnn, fox, e. i was outnumbered, out shouted

and finally terminated. now i am free. since we are not constrained within the mainstream media, we can freely discuss the elephant in the room. the issue that explains why other countries can have free college education, universal health care, but our country can't afford it. the problem that may be bigger than all other problems in our country because it so exacerbates all those other problems. it is a problem that martin luther king focused on before he was assassinated 45 years ago this week. it has only gotten worse since. that was the height of the vietnam war. the problem ofut militarism and perpetual war. king called the united states the greatest purveyor of .iolence in the world today he said, a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military

defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. we are gathered here today to discuss the unmentionable. the elephant in the room. msnbc host scan yell at fox news host and vice versa, but when the obama administration expanded the hopeless war in afghanistan, the shouting heads on both channels went virtually silent. ,s his drone more expanded there was little shouting on either of those channels or cnn or cbs or abc or so-called public broadcasting, npr and pbs. we can have raging debates in the mainstream media on all sorts of issues like gun control, minimum wage, gay marriage. when the elite of both major parties agree on a military intervention as they so often do, then anyone in the mainstream media who goes out on

the limb to question or the knowledge that in the middle of the room there is an oversized of militarism or interventionism. they are likely to disappear faster than you can say phil donahue. with phil donahue. i know a little bit about journalists being silenced for questioning bipartisan military ventures. i was with him at msnbc in 2002- 2 thousand three when bush was revving up the invasion of iraq with the support of joe biden, john kerry, hillary clinton, harry reid. msnbc terminated us for the crime of jwi. that is journalism during wartime while independent. jw i may be a crime in mainstream media, but it is the kind of unauthorized, on embedded coverage that you get from the authors and journalists that we have

assembled on this panel. it is the kind of coverage you get from the jeremy scandals -- independentnd the media outlets that are so featured at this conference this weekend. many liberal journalists who were vocal about war and human rights and civil liberties during the bush area seem to have lost or muted their voices during the obama era. it says something about the lack of serious national debate about so-called national security, that last month, one of the loudest mainstream tv news questioners of the president's right to assassinate americans was sean hannity at fox. that is obscene. it says something about mainstream tv that the toughest and most consistent questioners are not on a news channel. they are on the comedy channel. a few weeks ago, i watched a

passionate john stuart taking on u.s. military spending. he said, we already spend more on defense than the next 12 countries combined, including china, including russia. we are like the lady on jerry springer who can stop getting breast implants. and of course, he put up a photo of the jerry springer guest. what our media obediently calls the war on terror is experienced in other countries as a u.s. war of terror. ,idnappings, night raids torture, drone strikes. the killing and maiming of innocent civilians that just creates more enemies for our country. in can get that reality some of the mainstream media of our allied countries in europe. you cannot get it in the mainstream media in our country. it is our country that is waging this global perpetual war. in a democracy, that should be the subject of a raging debate.

we have assembled this panel because all of our panelists have rigorously subjected u.s. war policies to questioning and debate, no matter who is in the white house. toy have worked hard describe the elephants of the room. i will introduce the now. each will make a short opening statement. then we will have some brief panel discussion here and open it up to the whole room, elephants included. you can send your questions or comments up on cards. those will be passed out shortly. many of youesenter, know her as the host and producer out of k ps k los angeles, the uprising radio show.

solidarityn doing work with afghan women since 2000, before the 9/11 attacks and the u.s. invasion and occupation. she has visited afghanistan and it led to a book called, " she has afghanistan," a masters of science degree from the university of hawaii. -- in astrophysics. she also has a two-month-old baby. let us welcome her. [applause] >> thank you. a two-month-old and a five-year- old. i want to address a few of the major issues that journalists struggle with when covering the afghanistan war. the first of the wars on terror

and the longest war that the u.s. has ever fought and the war i am most familiar with. much of the coverage of the afghanistan war is not totally unique. it is similar to the coverage that other u.s. wars have gotten. it does not question very much the government's rhetoric or motives. it does not pay much attention affected by our policies think and feel about the war. we are familiar with the case made initially for invading and occupying afghanistan in 2001. we were told it was a moral imperative to free them the tyranny of the taliban while exacting revenge for the 9/11 attack. at that time, mainstream media did a stellar job of echoing the bush administration's line about the invasion and occupation. i remember the jingoism was so thick at the time, an essay published by the university of texas possessor -- professor

critical of the war was met with such a mob of angry toponses, it threatened derail his academic career. his piece was quite the exception in the mainstream media. they weret media, criticizing the rush to war. , he wasainstream media one of the exceptions. then when telephone fell, they were quite -- rarely questioning what the u.s. did in afghanistan. if anyone question the wisdom of empowering these criminal warlords, they were countered with the notion of we want peace he for justice. a for justice. the "new york times" had a great piece about the northern alliance in quest for women's right and painted them as to thets compared

taliban. we know how feminist they are today. there was more coverage about the northern alliance, these men that the u.s. was proud to put into power. desperate appeals to not give them government positions. ,here was a statement put out by the oldest women's rights organization in afghanistan. they put out a statement saying, the people of afghanistan do not accept donation of northern alliance. he did not get quoted in the "new york times." the the end of the bush era, a lot of talk about increasing troops to afghanistan before we can decrease them. troop surge got a lot of news coverage. it was pretty well discussed in terms of the amount of coverage that it got. most of the coverage centered on things like how effective it

would be, whether there were enough troops in place. many examples, but one that comes to mind is the publishing of an article that made a moral argument i why there should be more troops. 40,000 extraat troops was not enough. the guardian newspaper in britain, the mainstream outlets of our allies had much more critical coverage. the guardian was there to publish the piece by the afghan women's rights activist who i have worked with, her op-ed titled a troop surge can only magnify the crime against afghan and. -- afghanistan. the u.s. government, significantly march the afghan war on the ground have been these deadly night raids.

,raided afghan villages arrested and detained men and .oys and women there was a lot of coverage of the deadly shooting, mass shooting by staff sergeant robert bales that seemed to open the eyes of the mainstream media that these nitrates or even happening. aside from that one incident, no critical coverage of the majority of night raids in the protest against these on the ground. onee were exceptions like independent journalist who has been based in afghanistan who wrote extensively about the chilling effect of the night raids. he wrote that on dispatch.com. she has been one of the few independent journalists covering what the regular afghan reactions are to the war. and we have the drone strikes.

consequently, they were common in the border region between afghanistan and pakistan. today i becoming increasingly more upon inside afghanistan as we draw down troops. there has been coverage of the drone program, extensive has been most of it focused on how effective it is or whether it is legal or not. not whether it is moral or not or what the actual effect on those who have these bombs rained upon them has been. mainstreamon in media that i do want to call out, a writer for the associated press. she was one of the few mainstream journalists that has done good work on afghanistan. she has been covering it for decades and living there. she wrote a piece that was the exception, titled "afghan villagers flee homes, blaine u.s. drones."

just for a moment on when afghans are quoted, even when they do interview afghans, they do so with very little regard for who they are. i have had first-hand or into this myself. i get calls from journalists all the time requesting interviews about what is happening inside afghanistan. they often mistake me for being afghan. when i told him i am not, i am indian. sometimes the interview get canceled. they want authentic afghan voices, but any afghan will do. i had to correct broadcasters on live interviews when i have referred to me as afghan. they don't care who they interview. it does not matter if it is a u.s. educated afghan american who has worked in the karzai administration versus an afghan activist on the ground living in the community of and experiencing firsthand the .ffect of the u.s. policies

it does not matter. any afghan will do. that is similar to the u.s. approach to installing afghans in power. any will do. -- justthe manpower put them in power. no distinguishing between afghans of different economic classes, different perspectives. it leads to a lot of misunderstanding. it is a form of misunderstanding. if someone came cover the occupy grabbedeet movement and the first american they could find, it might be a very skewed view of what is happening. one of the most difficult questions i think they grapple with here is over what the consequences of the impending u.s. withdrawal and the. many familiar with the time ,agazine cover of august 2010

the woman whose nose had been cut off by the taliban. and the headline said, what happens if we leave afghan? should have said, what is happening while we are occupying afghanistan have t? it is true. the misogynists will be emboldened once the u.s. forces leave areas the context of that message is greatly over simple fight. it has not taken into account how the u.s. has empowered exogenous warlords as a deliberate war strategy on the ground. also a anti-fundamentalist activists would like to see and do in their own country. many of the women i work with would rather achieve women's rights on their own, knowing full well the destruction that western emancipation in afghanistan of women has been like. journalism, is deep

an investigation of who is supporting whom, what the effects of our policies are, we are not going to know what is happening in that can stand on what will happen in the future. there needs to be the -- those whog of want freedom for women, men, children, freedom of the press, freedom from foreign occupation and invasion. real democracy. those are two different the able. -- sets of people. that said, the challenge of facing afghan journalist inside afghanistan outweigh any concerns that american journalists face. it is difficult today to be a journalists inside afghanistan. doubly if you are a woman. afghan journalists who do distinguish between activists and those in power, they see reality -- firsthand to are the

perpetrators. they report on it. they face a dizzying array of degrees that make it difficult for them to do their work and are often imprisoned and tortured by the government or hunted down and murdered by the taliban. a woman who started radio peace in afghanistan was shot in bed in the middle of the night with her toddler a few years ago. it is not clear who assassinated her, because she was critical of the taliban and the u.s. backed government. if journalists can courageously is really happening with very real risk to their lives, then american journalist can do far better than what i have been doing so far. thank you. [applause] thank you. our next speaker is marjorie,

columnist, author, longtime criminal defense attorney. a professor at the thomas jefferson school of law in san diego. she testified before congress in 2008 about the bush administration's torture policy. she testified as an expert witness at military hearings about war, illegality, and the duty to disobey unlawful orders. her latest book is "the united states and torture." her upcoming book is about drones and targeted killings. marjorie cohen. [applause] thank you jeff and my fellow panelist's. i am delighted to be here with you today. with so many places to get information, all claiming to have the truth, there is no objective truth. during the vietnam war there were three networks. no cable, no internet. every city had a democratic newspaper and a republican

newspaper. even if they disagreed, there was a general court belief in perception. the media dutifully served the government's narrative of the war until the tet offensive in 1968. status is when the national liberation front attacked all the major cities and 44 venture capitals and took over control of two thirds of the country of vietnam. reported,r that was no serious person could believe that the war could be won. walter cronkite went to vietnam and said, this war is a stalemate. he was the most trusted man in news. the antiwar movement led to questioning of the entire society, culture, music, free love, drugs and distribution of power. wars in iraq and afghanistan have been monumental failures by any objective standard.

it took years to get a consensus against the iraq war. we have expanded coverage, we have diversified coverage, but so has the other side. with the proliferation of cable ft got more channels and so did the right. they have become corporate. news has become opinion. analysis analysis has become a cover for opinion. there are big rewards for pundits who are paid by the cable channels. ,ard reporting, journalism suffers because it is not as somatic as taking extreme positions. covering the war has a harder time creating is sosus because society polarized. there is such a diversity of opinions on public issues, there is no truth. the political polarization prevents a national consensus on issues of war and peace. we don't have a draft, which made a huge difference in

tu opinion against the vietnam war. the problem is reaching people -- don't go on left westside websites or tv or radio. we are preaching to the choir. many on the left don't like to hear criticism of obama, and that is another challenge that we face. [applause] lawrence o'donnell pointed out that all of the cable news stations combined are watched by only one percent of the viewers. the fraction of viewers watching fox, msnbc and cnn, it is a meaningless number in terms of the politics of the country. rachel maddow can't have the impact of a walter cronkite, because that is one third of one percent. msnbc being roughly one third. cronkite would raise issues and congress would hd

ths e and negative. pushing a story to get those who care about it and pick it up also galvanizes the opposition. resonates with millions of people who see it on the tv news. now it is gone unless it is covered by everyone. has somenative media effect on the corporate media. torture led to some hearings, but it never became central on the public agenda. .rones are becoming a big issue not because we are illegally killing people in other countries off the battlefield, but because a paper was leaked that indicates the government may kill u.s. citizens on u.s. soil. because the bush administration and now the obama administration, through the corporate media, has been so successful in terrorizing the american public about the so- called threat of terrorism, most people don't care about

foreigners being killed. much of the terrorism propaganda is fueled by racism. of the 366 u.s. drone attacks that have killed 3581 people in 316 weresince 2002, launched by the obama administration. less than two percent of those killed were high-profile taliban militants. most of them were civilians. since then 11, there have been no official figures on how many people have been killed by drone strikes and other kinds of targeted killing, because of the extreme secrecy. lindsey graham's figure is 4700 people killed by drone strikes. only four of whom were u.s. citizens. a long time, independent media and antiwar activists criticize the drone more. the bureau of investigative journalism documents million casualties.

generals like mcchrystal, former diplomats, foreign policy at -- experts are talking about blowback from drones. the in advisability, the political fallout. the leak of the white paper and rand paul's filibuster focused attention on the killing of u.s. citizens. not on the killing of other people. the house judiciary committee held hearings, but again, just focused on u.s. citizens. although targeted killings, not just drones. a gallup poll released about two weeks ago showed that 65% of americans think we should use drone strikes in other countries against suspected terrorist. that was done to 41% of people who favor tags in other countries against u.s. citizens 25%ng abroad and down to who favor strikes against suspected terrorists living in the united states.

only 13% of the people surveyed believe that we should use drone strikes against u.s. citizens in the united states. of u.s.ricans think citizens, they think of white people. we all know about the hype of weapons of mass destruction. many of us were covering up the time -- covering it at the time. to war,d not rush there is no reason to. we are seeing a similar kind of hype with the chemical weapons narrative by the syrian government. this may well lead to an attack on syria when we saw obama in israel recently, his big signature victory was getting israel to apologize to turkey for the killing of nine turks in the flotilla.

i am wrapping up. in conclusion to pieces of advice for independent journalists, keep your head down and don't believe what government officials kelly. thank you. [laughter] [applause] that is also the advice we got from the late the stone. our next panel is is is the award winner and host and executive producer of democracy now. she has built up one of the most important daily newscast in the history of our country. few other sources cover issues of war and peace, human rights, civil liberties, as doggedly as democracy now. she also has a weekly syndicated column. her fifth and latest book, this one with dennis monahan, is "the silent majority or coach will be signing books after this panel

out in the exhibit hall. [applause] amy goodman. thank you. it isn't on moment the wherewithal to colleagues -- it is an honor to be here with all of my colleagues. -- 45 yearsrs ago martin luther king was gunned down. the year to the day before he was killed, april 4, 1967, he spoke at riverside church in new york city. he uttered those words about the country he loved, about the

and i'm its, that it is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. he was speaking out against the vietnam war. his closesten inner circle warned him against. he said, you have got the voting rights, the most powerful person on earth on your side, the civil rights act. you got him to agree with you. why would you alienate him now? web, histhis was all a concern about human rights at home and abroad. next year, he was increasingly outspoken about ward. response of the media come up from the "new york times" to "time" magazine. calling it propaganda and that

him is doing a disservice to his people. to his cause. i think we have to look back 45 years ago and assess where we are today. where is the media today afte? when the iraq war began, march 19, 2003, a few weeks before, the organization that just cohen founded, fair, did a study. : howe two weeks around will giving his push for the war at the un, february 5 2003. a speech that general powell would later call a stain on his that speech was the

final nail in the coffin for so many. he had been hesitant about the war. he had a great deal of credibility. he said yes, the evidence was in, there were weapons of mass destruction. fair did a study of the two weeks around that address and list of the four major nightly newscasts. in that two-week time, six weeks before the invasion, these were the agenda setters. this was extremely significant. this was the time when americans are making up their minds about half the population was for the war, have opposed. -- half opposed. there were 393 interviews done about more. guess how many were with the antiwar leaders cap th?

maybe 200, 150. three. three of almost 400. that is no longer a mainstream media. that is an extreme media eating the drums for war -- beating the drums for war. i really do think that those who are deeply concerned about war, those concerned about the growing inequality in this country, those concerned about climate change, the fate of the fringe are not a minority. not even a silent majority. the silenced majority, silenced by the corporate media. we have to take it back. the democracy now team and my colleagues are here filming and interviewing people. it is wonderful to be part of a , and mypeople colleagues in the broader pacifica family.

we came into denver a few days ago. we came in to the airport. were some soldiers there from buckley kicking up a general. i thought they were waiting at the general behind me. i came back and they were in uniform and said to them, you know democracy now? yes ma'am, they said. they watch every day. i said why. they said, it is objective. you are talking about war. it is not whether you are for or against the war. it is that we cover war. it is on the front pages of democracy now, even though it broadcast.and tv buchanan read it as well. serious no more decision a country can make them go to war. whether you agree with it or not, we must cover this everyday. everyday.

yesterday, a great heroine was in our mid-steer. carlotta, the youngest of the little rock nine. september 25, 19 57 it was that she and eight other young students, she was 14 years old, stood out to an angry mob of 1000 people she walked into totral high in little rock get an education, surrounded by national guard. when she was here speaking yesterday, she said she was inspired then. what were the lessons she learned. she was inspired by the story of emmett till. a young boy who had died two years before she did this. the summer of 1955, his mother to get out of the

city for the summer. he went to mississippi and was living in his aunt and uncle's house. he was ripped out of bed by a white mob in state tortured and beat him and he ended up at the bottom of the river. his mother was not an activist at that time. but she understood something very deep. she said she wanted the casket of emmett (awake in the funeral. she wanted the world to see the ravages of racism. thousands went by his casket and saw. black publications, the kind , the sametta publications that she said were , sheing her issues

described a group of black journalists dared to cover the little rock nine. being beaten, one of them almost to death. he was a former marine. a black reporter. here was mainly tell, not a reporter reporter, but she understood how important it was the world to see the images. magazineagazine -- jet published the images and the overseer did the history and the consciousness. she had something very important to teach all of us today. to teach the press today. show the pictures. show the images. could you imagine if for just one week we saw the images of war? the top of every report we did, the corporate media did, the independent media, every top of every radio and television newscasts,

everyone's facebook wall, every story was about a soldier dead or dying, a woman with her legs blown off. by a bomb or a drone attack, the top story above the fold of every surviving newspaper in this country. it showed a baby dead on the ground with an actual story naming her home and telling us the story of her family. , if every e-week mail told when the stories, americans are a compassionate people. they would say no. war is not the answer to conflict in the 21st century. democracy now. [applause] >> thank you so much, amy.

our final panelist is norman solomon, the co-author of a dozen books, including a memoir. in the landmark book "war made easy." is the founder and director of the institute for public accuracy, he led three peace seeking trips to iraq before the and a couple of fact-finding missions to iran and afghanistan. for 17 years, he wrote a nationally syndicated column of media criticism. he now writes a weekly column focused on politics for websites such as common dreams and truth out. we cofounded the online roots -- group

rootsaction.org. we are urging they give this year's peace prize to the military whistleblower bradley manning. [applause] >> we are gathering here in a political context that includes one major political party has given faith a bad name and the other major political party has given hope a bad name. the reality is that we can't get very far or move very far forward if we don't have faith, a secular faith at least, in democracy. we can't get very far without hope that the human capacity to care for each other and work together is going to create a better world. in democracy and

hope and the possibilities of creating a better world need to them in themselves and incubate andgrow in journalism journalists and their institutions. war thrives on abstraction and propaganda. stone said that sometimes it is so exciting to work on a story you can forget that the house is burning. thaton brown reminded us there are lives in the balance, there are people, not only under fire but are suffering and living and dying and the consequences of the failures of journalism to serve the interest of the public rather than serving the interest of the state and corporate power.

we look at the context we're living in today, it has got to be be acknowledged and confronted that we live in a new war that contrary to the assertions of claims of aspirations, -- of our current president in his second and i girl address, -- inaugural address, that commitment and belief and agile war is central to what the u.s. government is of thatd acceptance perpetual war is central to what the mainline media of this country are about. the near virtual consensus that crosses the aisle on capitol hill for the so-called war on terror neighbors and is mirrored , thee mass media purportedly public media that you will hear on all things

considered and morning edition and the pbs news hour. has so-called war on terror become the wallpaper of the echo chamber for almost one dozen years. we have lived through one war after another for decades in this country, aided and abetted by what passes for journalism. if we don't look at what were -- we go andsh war look at what war thrives on, the basis of this warfare state that recognizes no boundaries or war as an distraction is based on two tiers ofgrief -- i

grief. theirs and ours. an emotional valuation of human beings that grinds the lens through which tinted red white and blue we are encouraged to see the world every day through our mass media. that isa reality combined with the propaganda aspect or what george orwell described as hubble think -- doublethink. what would we think of it was done to us? if another country exercised impunity to send drones, aerial vehicles, across our borders to strike at will? late senator wayne morris believed in international law, is among the few in congress during the build up to the vietnam war who challenged that

kind of impunity. by thes been normalized warfare state and the state of journalism and mass media of our country. toir relationship is central the plowing of huge quantities of resources. financial, industrial, and human into workfare. -- warfare. ,eanwhile, our cities are dying the bombs in vietnam exploded home. the missiles fired in pakistan. exploding in our own country where we don't provide health care, housing, helping children, helping the elderly. president isded now slashing against the core of the social contract with social

security and medicare. part of the warfare state. they antidote to those poisons .s independent journalism we are here at this conference and people around the country are working every day very hard to sustain the possibilities, to make them more real and more vibrant, so that we can serve and createte thething that is worthy of term journalism. if you use the metaphor of the toy politic, what happens the human body without circulation? you have blockage. ies. aries -- coronar we are suffering grievously from the blockages and failure of circulation of ideas and information.

with the imperative ,o challenge the compulsion the compulsive disorder, the spin cycle for war. now it is hard to keep track of the various phases that we are in. you can't withdraw from afghanistan "too fast." that is one part of the spin cycle. another is the slow burn of building the agenda for war or attack on iran. thater is the doublethink tries to justify the scenario of a possible attack on north korea. wereou imagine if wargames undertaken along the borders of the united states of america, including simulating a nuclear attack? what our reaction would in this

country? yet the paranoia of the north korean regime is being fed and fueled by the double standard that are inherent in u.s. media coverage. whether it is iran or north korea thomas ratified, amplified thise mainline media in country, do as we say not as we do. probably encountered. that is not very convincing. i met evil in afghanistan or in afghanistan are ironic, do as we say, not as we do. pay attention not to the rhetoric, but the reality. let me close on this note. the challenge of journalism, of holds aagement, special responsibility to scrutinize the actions of our own government and the

consequences. it is not only that we should cover those actions and consequences, but we have a special responsibility to make sure that we cover those actions and consequences. we can build tension to independent journalism that says, as american journalist's , we will not accept the double standard. we will watch dog and her dog -- and dog and scrutinize challenge our own government. as we contemplate this war often as we in, try to track off an overwhelming news, it can yield or a disoriented. like maybe we are losing our bearings. .osing our sense of core

,uite often, we might feel what is the through line? what keeps us going? i believe that human rights has to be a single standard. ,hat helps us not to get lost not have the abstractions of off course.w us there is an expression among some musicians. you may feel like you're getting lost, but you won't if you know the blues. we may feel we are getting lost. but we won't if we have a singles entered of human rights. if we remember that when martin luther king jr. denounced the madness of militarism, what his book of was not just about what , but whatng in 1967

is occurring right now. right now, the u.s. government totinues with impunity assert its prerogative with its military might to wage war cross not as people who tune into the news but people who create it for the better. thank you. [applause] >> thank you norman. i want to ask a quick question. a bunch of us have touched on it already and that's journalist putting partisanship

over principle. that's if you have a president you prefer over the other guy and that president is in power you mute your voice. any final comment than. >> i remember when michael moore wrote an open let tore president obama about the escalation of the afghan war. it was a surprise. and i'm greatly respect michael's work and everything he does. but i think many on the left were caught off guard by obama's escalation of the afghan war which he campaigned on it. that was the central aspect of his foreign policy platform when he ran for office was escalating the afghan war while drawing down the iraq war which we shouldn't have been in any way surprised, saddened,

disappointed when he did exactly that. he broke many promises but he tcheapt one promise that he made. i also want to mention when i was talking about the folks who did do very good coverage of the afghanistan war when it was first unfolding and still unfolding, amy interviewed members and myself and my co-author and independent journalist who did the coverage and have continued to do it under obama. >> anyone else want to make a final comment? >> i know jeremy as soon as obama was elected at the bottom of his articles he would write jeremy pledges to be the same journalist he was under president clinton and bush's presidency. he talks about how he got the ost vicious hate mail than

during all the years he was exposing bush's torture. >> i think everyone here has been critical of the democrats but the question from the floor as active citizens, what do we encourage people here to do to build independent media, what are specific things we call on ur active people here to do? >> to do your job. to dig deep. it is not about who is president, whether the president is a republican, democrat, maybe some day in the future an independent or a green, who knows. it's about going beyond the words and so much of politics

today is debating what is meant by particular words. it is our job to evaluate the actions and also most importantly not just to give voice to those in power, but to be there at the target end especially here in the united states as american journalist of u.s. foreign policy. the week of the 10th an ver si of the iraq war we did special programming all week. i didn't think that would be have an lutionary to iraqi woman feminist activist deeply concerned about what is happening in her country. for iraqis the war isn't over right now. i didn't think that was a big

deal. but when you look at the rest of the media in this country, to hear an iraqi voice was highly ununusual. but that is our job to go to where the silence is. what is their assessment of their country right now ten years later? we just have to get back to basic principles of good journalism. let people speak for themselves. and the forum for

failures if you look at what we have suffered in our life times we have seen difference to those in power. and this segways back to the previous question, it's very difficult sometimes to watch fox news. it's also difficult sometimes to watch msnbc for the same reasons. because in both cases those networks are dominated by journalists and commentators who general flesket toward the leaders of one major political party and villainize the leaders of the other. that's not journalism or any sense of debate. the other answer to that question is we need to build

and sustain our independent media outlets, tv, radio , online web sites, independent producers of documentaries. that requires support from individuals, foundations, all sorts of configurations so that we have the capacity to build our own independent media while we confront and challenge the main line media. >> i just want to add one example sort of to broaden out what you are saying, the example of the keystone pipeline. if you think that doesn't relate to war, it does. because what is the keystone pipeline about? it's bringing this very dirty oil from canada down to the gulf. why? well, it's about the tremendous hunger for fossil fuels and think about why we wage wars.

the joke of the little kid talking about iraq turning to his dad and saying what is our oil doing under their sand. but if you look just go back a few weeks agos there was the largest environmental protest in history in washington, d.c. i tuned in to msnbc that night to look at the coverage. they cover what is happening in the world and especially on that day each day digesting the news. i did not see -- i didn't watch it non-stop all night but i watched a lot of it, a tronchese this environmental protest because it was protesting the obama administration. right now president obama is in the midst of deciding whether to allow the keystone excel pipeline to be built. and there is this exxon moible oil spill in arkansas.

i tuned in to msnbc to see how they were covering it. they talked about the oil spill outside of little rock that has drown a subdivision in arkansas. but they are talking about this is happening in the midst of president obama making this decision about the larger keystone pipeline. if you tune to fox they would cover the environmental protest, they would just slam it. but at least you know it happened. ou can read between the lines. >> i just want to pick up on what amy was talking about, two things during her talk and also in the q & a about the impact of showing images of people for example in iraq being killed and telling the stories, showing the targets of these policies and also letting them

tell their stories and telling their stories. during the civil rights movement david writes about the power of television when people, when black people were being hosed down by fire hoses and that image and the images these very, very peaceful children integrating the high school. and how that really turned public opinion in favor of the civil rights movement. during vietnam one of the things in addition to the draft and the g.i. movement which was central to that movement, what really affected people were seing the body bags coming back. of course we haven't seen body bags coming back from the afghan and iraq wars. when i was a freshman i was a

cheerleader and all of that, the beginning of my freshman year i went to the student union and saw this grainy black and white film and it was that image of that young girl naked running from the na pam aftered the been dropped by an american bomb. the decision i made to get involved in the anti-war movement was not an intellect you'll one. just struck me oh my god is this what we're doing. it's important to tell those stories and show those images but not shun away from stories that might not be popular to everyone on the left such as what israel is doing to the palestinians. [applause] >> that was indeed a couple of

comments on these cards is coverage of israel and palestinians. while we're on the subject of images let's remember what pushed martin luther king over the edge where he had to speak out against the vietnam war and he was the most single powerful individual voice against the vietnam war, he saw the images of young kids victims in vietnam and he saw those images in a radical magazine. he talked about it at length about he couldn't stay sile president nt anymore. when it comes to what people can do out here -- >> for the exact quote responding to that speech he gave time magazine called the speech slander king i did minute shd his useful tons his cause, his country, his people. >> one of the action that is people can take out here that

are interested in an organized challenge of main stream media bias whether it's afghanistan palestinian is to join the activist list at fair.org. they go after the media outlets that can be moved. how many of you are on the list of fair.org? >> if you are interested in activism you should be on that list. >> we send daily headlines. check it out. and that's for everyone here. it's very important as you talk about building media, jeff, is we take ipped pent -- it shouldn't be the alternative. as i said, the corporate media is the extreme media. i do think independent media represent it is main stream in this country today.

we must protect independent media because that is the really the hope of the future. >> how do we get more balanced coverage of israel palestinian issues? for your information it is trongly tilted in favor of israel? >> it's all about a single standard of human rights. if you insist on a single standard, the reflexive devaluation of palestinian lives that has for so long dominated u.s. mass media will be challenged directly. it's one thing for a president to talk about seeing things through somebody else's eyes. another thing to on a day in day out basis, not through

platitudes but through coverage and public discourse to say we have a single standard of human rights and of grief that the suffering of a palestinian is just as important as the suffering of an israelly. turning. the tide is public opinion has probably shifted pretty significantly in terms of how palestinians are viewed. there have been some incredible successes recently on college campuses recently. even if the main stream media is not covering it, the public is getting it through social media. the challenge is getting our politicians to change the way they vote and convincing them that there is not necessarily a political price for standing up to israel. but i think public opinion on

that one issue is seeing some slow change that hasn't really happened in a long time. especially after israel's recent incursions and various invasions in the past few years of lebanon and palestinian territories. >> a few of us have talked about it, it led to a question, do we think the main stream network news contributed to ending the vietnam war? if , so what has changed in these intervening decades? >> one of the myths of the united states led the way to ending the vietnam war. the reality is that the mass media of the united states had to be dragged kicking and screaming by the anti-war movement to do coverage of the vietnam war just as has been proliferated wars.t decade for

the myth soling something that we need to challenge because it mind if nto a frame of we can get the mass media to operate properly our job is done. we must insist they do their job properly. >> i think amy is reading the quotes of how the main stream reacted when martin luther king came out against the vietnam war. there was no anti-war voices until 1968 or later that were allowed into the serious main stream. >> i think of danny glover who joked but i think it's serious, he wonders if dr. martin luther king would be invited to any of the celebrations of his life on the federal holiday that people

fought so hard for for so many years. >> think about how they reacted th to the military whistle blower who brings forward these documents. if you've seen the movie, the documentary, it almost amounted to civil disobedience. when one main stream media was stopped another picked it up. when they were stopped another picked it up. now look how they've reacted to the whistle blower named bradley manning. this 25-year-old who is facing life in prison. the iraq war logs, the afghan war logs, the u.s. state department and the role they play in atrosstiss or covering up prosecutions in europe against c.i.a. officers who

have engaged in torture or kidnapping. it's like night and day. >> i think it's very important to talk about bradley manning. this about this: this is a young man who was in the army in iraq who has said he did download these documents. he has been held for three years without trial, three years. when it was last time you heard his voice? if you tune into democracy now had you to strug toll hear it but that's because we got a secret recording of him speaking in the courtroom. why is he forbidden of speaking? why can't you hear what it is he has to say? why is it so radical to bring you his voice.

someone bravely in the courtroom secretly recording his statement to the judge about why he did what he did. bradley manning and julian who in the up right now ecuador embassy in sweden. he's not as concerned about going to sweden than the possibility of being extradited to the united states. why would he be concerned? does the words bradley manning ring a bell? this is a serious situation when you think of these documents in a country we are seeing a crack down on information like we haven't seen before. the number of whistle blowers who are being prosecuted under the obama administration, more being prosecuted today than in all past administrations combined. the story of bradley manning is more than the story of this one

young man. it is a message to all whistle blowers understand particularly young people in the military who have went and come back and seen atrocities terrified to speak out because they are afraid could they face the same fate. it is our job at journalist to bring you this information. and so for all the bloggers and jirnlist who are listening and watching and will see this on c-span and other global and national outlets. we have a responsibility. it is extremely serious. [applause] >> you know the efforts to silence bradley manning for the good of quote national security, are metaphorically both not allowing as much as possible as the government

would have it his voice to be heard, but also of course his crime quote unquote was to inform the american public and the world about information that is supposed to be available to the consent of the governed. we're supposed to know what our government is doing in our names with our tax dollars. when it comes to media coverage it is very dismissive in main line media towards bradley manning. i want to mention about ten days ago there was a petition asking the nor wiegen no bell committee to award the no bell peace prize to bradley manning. and we got coverage on that on pacific co-radio in this country. national public radio wouldn't touch it. overseas media contacted us and we have 40,000 people who have

to sign ootsaction.org that petition to the no bell committee. bradley manning epitomizes the meaning of the no bell peace prize just as martin luther king did. [applause] >> i want to touch on what you were saying in terms of what has changed with media landscape between then and now. certainly as our main stream media has gotten more consolidated, the views have become narrower. 40 years ago we couldn't communicate with one another in the same way that we can now. believe it or not journalist like myself will trol our facebook pages to see what is trending and what fellow activists are seeing as important or reporting. and the nature of juremlism has

changed. everyone of you is capable of spreading a story, sparking a light to get that story heard. i have on my facebook page not just my fellow activists but moms and dads from my kid's schools. and often times things i post people who don't consider themselves activists pick them up and pass it on. all of us have an ability to do that. rootsaction.org is a website. these are web based strategies that are blurring the lines between advocacy and journalism if there was a line to begin with. that is something we should not forget. despite how dismal the landscape of media seems, what is considered journalism today is more exciting than ever. which is why we have to keep

the internet open and free and not let the cable companies and the telecoms write the legislation that would privatize this global resource that allows us to communicate with each other all over the world. and i want to point out why it's helpful to be here in denver colorado. it's not a figurement of our optimistic imagination that there is independent media. this say hot bed of independent media. you have the wonderful radio station kngu. you have colorado public television and denver open media which is pioneering ways of putting together internet and public access. have you community stations.

today i'll be going to a fundraiser for a new radio station that is just about to be established kffr. you can go to kffr.org. we will be there during the dinner break. new ones being established, free speech tv is right here in denver. and link tv is in lax. tv. ll of this community media, rocky mountain 150-year-old media that dies. it becomes a one paper town. then the colorado independent pops up. i think this isn't unique. all over the country we have to open our eyes and work together and join these independent media spaces. >> while we're talking about

colorado independent media let's not forget alternative radio . [applause] >> i want to make announcement that the freedom of press foundation is having an event press ey manning and freedom at 1:00 in this building. and i think amy said something so important, it's one of the centerpieces of this whole conference had is the need to fight for net neutrality so these four companies which bring us our internet which is a, the and t, comcast and time warner need to have legislation passed so they cannot have a two tiered system so the web sites they own are in the fast lane and democracy now is

pushed lane. when he was campaigning for president candidate president obama said i take a backseat to no one on the issue of net neutrality. we've had five years and his f.c.c. commission chair has basically punted on the issue. it's one of the most important issues we have if we care about building up independent media. [applause] >> let's do a round of a few quick questions. one was what the is latest reports regarding the quan tan mow hunger strike which is a central place in the war on terror. the u.s. denying press access to the prison for at least a month. anyone want to comment on that? david reams is one of our

co-attorneys. he's assisting us with the trial of the century. henls et al. versus obama et al.? >> that is frightening folks. that has not been in our mass media. it has been covered on the front page in the u.k. and guardian and our papers have not covered this vital trial. some of the best juremmists are plaintiffs in this suit. but a member of parliament from iceland who protected julian a judge ruling in our favor and guess what last may happened, the judge

was removed from the courtroom by navy sales protecting her and from the courthouse. our plaintiffs have had all kind of threats and we are holding firm. and what must we do as journalists and people who are activist we must support as david does in gaun on the month very effectively and he is saying that it is increasing and that the starvation protest is increasing and he feels that coverage is coveragehe feels te increasing also. please hang in there. , 166 men heldy at guantanamo. a majority of them have been cleared for release.

in number of them held for more than a decade. more than hundred are on hunger strike and have been for many weeks now. this is our responsibility to cover. what message does it send to countries, repressive regimes around the world, that the united states is holding scores of prisoners without charge to have been cleared by the u.s. for release and you are being held indefinitely? check out democracynow.org for the latest. experienceemarkable of interviewing and person women went to delhi -- when we went to doha. he was the only analyst held their -- the onyl journalists held there. he was never charged. he was interrogated more than thosemes, msost of

times as he was held. he was a cameraman going from pakistan to afghanistan. most of the time, he was questioned about the leadership of al jazeera. anyone who works for any news organization, the big ones, how much do you know about your leaders? but the fact that this is happened over and over again, it's our job to cover it. the hunger strikers at guantanamo are being forced fed. they take it to -- they take a tube, stick it in their nose. very painful. you could see the blood in the bile from the prior prisoner going into your own nose. force-feeding a person who understood the consequences of refusing food amounts to torture. this is going on right now under

the obama administration. norman is going to get the floor and we will take final statements all the way up the panel. thank you so much for coming out to this session. what we've just heard about the last few minutes is part of a hugely important yet relatively small part of what has been called now for almost a dozen years the war on terror. whether it is civil liberties or human rights, counterinsurgency or whether it is called national security, this has to do with profound decisions that are being made through omission or commission. they have to do with the world that will be existing for the next generation. i want to announce here clams for a tribunal on the war on 2013, under the

sponsorship of an organization i am part of, the institute for public accuracy. i want to ask everybody in this room and everybody not in this room who is hearing this for him to consider helping us launch this tribunal on the war on terror. .org to go to accuracy see what we do at the institute and contact us that way. also we have some flyers. huge tribunala and washington, dc, with documentary testimony on every aspect of the war on terror and let us use our own capacity to research, organize, and publicize and challenge these policies. >> thank you norman solomon. amy goodman. >> i'm going to be on c-span tomorrow from noon eastern to 3:00. it will include a lot of e-mail and you can call in. i hope you do. it's a grave for him around the country for different forces -- it's a great forum around the

country for different voices. during the time of the iraqi war, you had general colin powell helping to lead that were and michael powell, head of a war on- fcc leading diversity of voices here at home, pushing for deregulation of the media. the current chair -- th e response then was unbelievable. millions writing in. suddenly people became aware. when people learn about what is happening, they respond. they understand that having newspaper, radio, tv and one town owned by the same media mogul is a threat to our democracy. right now, the current head of the fcc has announced he's going to be leaving. another of the five commissioners has announced he leaving leaving. there are only five commissioners. whateads this agency in

direction president obama gives them to makes an enormous difference for the media landscape in this country. i see the media as a huge kitchen table that stretches across the globe doubly also also the down and debate in the -- debate and discuss the most important issues of the day. anything less than that is a disservice to the servicemen and women of this country. they can't have the debate on military bases. they rely on us to have the discussions that lead to the decisions about whether they lived or died. whether they are sent to kill or be killed. anything less than that is a disservice to a democratic society. >> thank you amy goodman. now marjorie collins. >> bradley manning was tortured for nine months when he was in the military break at quantico, virginia, held in solitary confinement. experts have called that torture which can lead to hallucinations and suicide. it was after it was a great

public outcry and a letter to the obama administration from many people from civil society that he was moved out of quantico and into fort leavenworth where he is in the general population now. revealed classified information but not top-secret information. dan ellsberg revealed top-secret information and dan has said that bradley manning had access to stop secret -- to top-secret information but refrained from the bolting it. now they're going after wikileaks. they are not going after the new york times in the guardian who also picked up the story. only wikileaks. as amy said, the secrecy and the obama administration is unprecedented. james madison said that sunshine is the best antidote to tear any and it's up to us -- to tyranny and up to us to shed light on what the government is

doing in our name. [applause] cohn.ank you, marjorie and now sonali. >> i want to call attention to the fact that because today we to hearthe ability stories directly by those people who are affected through their you cans on websites, peoplesee what those who are affected by the afghanistan war are saying, thinking, and feeling. go to these websites, see the statements they put out. see a photograph that they used to document the war. do it yourself. when the war was at its peak about five or six years ago, there was such a clear correlation in my book. my co-author and i did a brief study of how media coverage of

the afghanistan war correlated so strongly with attention paid to groups lik, even if those sts weren't covering both people directly. people found the website of these organizations and these women and thereby supported them, heard their stories. when the media does not cover them, the attention that these groups and activist get really falls. as he be given -- as we begin our withdrawal of troops, it does not mean the war is ending her that we should forget about people whose lives our tax dollars have directly affected. in addition to supporting thependent media, support people on the ground themselves making change jury find out what they are doing and going through. share their documents and interviews on your social networks and keep the word out dealing withy are

the very real effects of our drone attacks and is very destructive policies that have affected ordinary men, women, and children. we may never get to know their faces and their names and their families but those who do represent them, some of them are out there and they are reaching out to us via the internet. as long as the internet is free, you and i do have access to that the please explore that. like thank you. [applause] that is sonali. i'm jeff cohen with the park center as it got ithaca college. the freelike to thank press for organizing this conference on media reform. [applause]

> >> in his weekly address, president obama talked about the economy and the middle class. then maryland congressman andy harris gave the republican address on repealing the affordable care act. >> hi, everybody. over the past few months i have laid out a series of common sense ideas to reignite the true engine of our ech -- our rising, thriving middle class. the way i see it, there are three areas where we need to look as -- one, making america a magnet for good jobs, too,-- two, making sure our workers have the education and skills they need to do those jobs, and three, making sure your hard work leads to a decent living. i've also been visiting cities across the country doing some interesting and creative things along these lines. on friday i stopped by a factory in baltimore creating good jobs here at home by exporting dredging equipment abroad.

i read with young kids at a pre- k program where kids are getting the skills they need to succeed i stopped by a program folksg fox -- helping get the training and guidance they need to find work and support their families. that's why i like getting out of the washington chamber whenever i can because too often our politics are not focused on the same things you are -- working hard, supporting her family, and supporting your community. making sure your kids have every chance in life. more than anything, the american people make me optimistic about where we are headed as a nation, especially after all we have been through during the past several years. that should encourage us all to work even harder on the issues that matter to you. our businesses have created more than 6.5 million new jobs in three years and while unemployment is still too high, it is the lowest since 2008. we need to create even more good middle-class jobs and we have to do it faster.

corporate profits have skyrocketed to an all-time high. but now we need to get middle- class wages and incomes rising, too. our housing market is healing but we need to do a lot more to help families stay in their homes, more to help them refinance to take advantage of low rates. our deficits are shrinking at the fastest rate in decades but now we have a budget -- have to budget and a smarter way that does not hurt middle-class amides or harm critical investment in our future. the american auto industry is thriving, energy is booming and american ingenuity in our high- tech sector has the potential to change the way we do almost everything. in the coming weeks, i will visit more cities like boston and austin, texas, places where americans are coming together to strengthen their own committees and economies in the process making this country better for all of us.

and i'm going to keep trying to work with both parties in washington to make progress on your priorities because i know that if we come together around creating more jobs, educating more of our kids and building new ladders of opportunity for everyone willing to climb them, we will all prosper. together. thanks and have a great weekend. >> hi, i'm congressman andy harris and this is the red tape power. it encompasses all the regulations already associated with president obama's health care law. the red tape, taxes, the mandates, the fine print. it is all here. just think about the fact that the irs will be responsible for forcing many of these relations. if we have learned anything this week, the irs need less power, not more. the officials who oversaw the operation for targeting conservatives is now in charge of the irs' obamacare office.

you can't make this stuff up. as a physician for nearly 30 years, i have always believed the power and our healthcare system should belong to patients and their families, not politicians and certainly not the tax man. americans should be able to choose the coverage they need at a cost they can afford. the president health care law turns the equation and in many ways our lives upside down. it requires america to buy government approved plans that cover all kinds of services you may not need. instead of keeping your coverage like president obama promised, millions will be forced off the plan they like. instead of the lower cost you were promised, you could pay a lot more. according to new data from the nations insurers, under obamacare, premiums and individual market will skyrocket by by an average of double what we pay now with some rates rising by more than 400%.

because employers can't afford obamacare, they are not hiring new workers. many are actually cuttin hours for their workers, making it harder for small businesses to higher in the last thing we need during one of the slowest economic recoveries and american history. it's no wonder one of the laws in the senate said "i see a huge train wreck.? the train wreck is already here. obamacare is mocking americans-- s offocking american the ladder and the sooner we can start fixing health care for working families. the house of representatives voted to do just that as part of a republican plan for atlantic for economic growth and jobs. it focuses on patient centered reforms. by concentrating on disease prevention research, we will improve care and bring down the cost of strain amides of small businesses. there are powerful interests who will do all they can to prop up obamacare.

we learned last week that the secretary of health and human services has been pushing private companies, businesses she herself regulates, to help late -- help pay for the limitation of obamacare. right now we need more accountability in washington and the government that works for you, not the other way around. that senator is right. this law is a train wreck. this week is the third time in three years the people's house has listened to the people and list -- and voted for full repeal of the health care law. together we can fix our healthcare challenges to building new generation of prosperity and opportunity for ourselves and our children. thank you for listening.>> wednesday, representative elect mark sanford of south carolina was sworn in as a member of the 113th congress.

he takes the seat left vacant by tim scott, appointed to the senate. mr. sanford previously was south carolina's governor. shortly after his swearing in, the congress then spoke briefly on the house floor. -- the congressman spoke briefly on the house floor. before the house of communication. >> i haven't honor to submit the certificate of election received from mark hammond, secretary of the state of south carolina, indicating that the special election held may 7, 2013, the honorable mark sanford was elected representatives in congress for the first congressional district state of south carolina.

>> the house will be in order. representative elect sanford and members of the south carolina delegation, please present yourselves in the well of the house. will members rise. in the representative elect raise his right hand. mr. sanford. do you sound leaf where you will support and the

constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that he will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, but you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter him a so help you god? congratulations. we are now a member of the 113th congress. -- you are now a member of the 113th congress. without objection, the gentleman from south carolina is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, south carolina is very fortunate. due to the quality of life, tens of thousands are moving to the palmetto state from the midwest and northeast and around the world. south carolina has gained a new seating congress to include the communities of myrtle beach and florence, now held by tom reiss.

this new seventh district creates a new -- a unique district. the first district of south carolinas 10iles wide along the atlantic coast. from cheltenham county to the island in beaufort county. it is a special district at tom born in.f were boroth the district is a composite of america. in the first election, tim scott was elected as only the second african-american from south carolina elected to congress in 100 years. we are grateful governor nikki haley appointed calmest men tim scott to serve in the u.s. senate. [applause] this created a replaced that with 60 participants the largest number ever and a congressional primary. we are here today to recognize

the survivor of the primary, the runoff, and general election, cut within mark sanford. i yield to congressman david price of north carolina. but i think the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in place of the dean of the south carolina ,elegation, comment jim clyburn a way to become family medical leave and asked me to read the statement. day is always about new beginnings. in that spirit, i want to extend the hand of collegiality mark sanford who begins a new chapter of service, the people south carolina and this country and the u.s. house of representatives. though our differences have been widely chronicled emily bring different sets of experiences to the public square, i will always work to find common ground as we fulfill our duties and responsibilities to the people who sent us here." mr. speaker, mark sanford's colleagues in the carolinas

delegations joined mr. clyburn and wishing mark well and wish to welcome him back to the house. i don't back. -- i yield back. [applause] within markto come sanford of the first district of south carolina mr. speaker, ladies and gentlemen, i look forward to working with each one of you. republican and democrat, different perspectives we may hold, but at the end of the day, we are here to represent the people of south carolina. i look forward to going about that business with you. i see friends who were so kind to call me in the wake of the events of 2009. i see a host of republicans, among friends, it is indeed an honor to be back with each one of you. to working with

you on a host of issues. obviously latest among them for me will be efforts to get our financial house back in order here in washington but above all else, i am humbled to be here to read each one of our allies involve different journeys but one ofjourney, -- each our lives involve different journeys but on the journey, we can be taken to places where we developed levels of appreciation we never had before. i stand here before one of you more appreciative than i ever could have been for the honor of working with each one of you here in the united states congress, the congress of the nation most blessed of all nations here on this earth. i stand before you most appreciative of the people of the first congressional district of south carolina, a people who have taught me a lot about love and humility, about wisdom and grace.

i stand before you with a new of secondon for a god chances. and how and the events of our vep or down, how every one of us can be refined as human beings in that process. i stand before you as a human being most appreciative and whole new ways for the significance of family and friends. in that regard, i see my sister, see a long mom, i list of different friends. [applause] i would thank them for their presence here. i would think it long list of friends, whether that's a chase

or somebody like joe taylor. each one of them are emissaries, representatives 2002 were so kind to hold me up for the last couple years and to be instrumental in the selection. i am humbled to be here and then look forward to working with each i yield back the balance of my time. [applause] >> next, the and he will be dedication ceremony for journalists who died while on the job. then a discussion about media coverage of war. a look at the irs tax-exempt unit in the targeting of onservative groups.

newsmaker, chris van hollen, writing member of the budget to midi talks about the congressional strategy for dealing with the debt, different budget plans and the house and senate and future budget cuts related to sequestration. newsmakers, sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> she was an educated woman and as a believer and woman's rights, express frustration of the traditional roles of mother 'sd wife during james garfield run for president, she reluctantly played the role of hostess for her has been. when the fascinated -- when he was assassinated, she returned to ohio and made their home into an early version of a presidential library.

join our conversation about the lives of first ladies live monday night and then a club eastern on c-span, c-span3, c- span radio and c-span.org. >> nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel was the featured speaker at the newseum. the annual senate murdering ceremony. he talks about his abduction arrested when he was reporting from syria last year. this is about 35 minutes.

>> good morning. i am the ceo of the museum. welcome for our rededication of the journalist memorial. since its open in 2008, 3 million visitors have seen this memorial that paid tribute to 2444 journalists who have died covering the news. around the world, journalists placed themselves in danger every day. some are deliberately targeted. others get too close to danger. while some may be in the wrong place at the wrong time, most are professionals taking calculated risk.

they pay with their lives for doing their jobs. the memorial bears the names of reporters, photographers, editors, and others who have died in the line of duty. each year this dedication renews the newseum's commitment to make sure these brave journalists are remembered. this year we have the regrettable task of adding 88 new names to the memorial. 82 were killed in 2012. an additional 6 died in previous years and they are also being added to the memorial this morning. we welcome families, friends and colleagues to have traveled thousands of miles to join us this morning for the remembrance of their loved ones.