brent: this is "dw news," live from berlin. tonight, the fight to keep the media free of censorship. on one press freedom day, dw asks journalists why honest and accurate reporting is so crucial . we take the pulse of the media around the globe. also coming up, a turnaround. president trump didn't know about a payment to -- did know about a payment to buy the silence of a porn star. we will have more on rudy

giuliani's revelation and what it could mean for the special counsel's investigation. germany's warm welcome to refugees reaches its limits. police sent into the cavalry to raid and asylum-seekers hospital after a crash prevented them from deporting one man. also coming up, show was sporting solidarity. teams from the two koreas stunned crowds at table tennis chairmanships rich with clinical symbolism. that political symbolism. -- rich with political symbolism. brent: i'm brent goff. it is good to have you with us. we begin in the world that is growing more hostile towards people who do the work like those right here at dw. reporters without borders says hostility towards the press is growing worldwide, often encouraged by political leaders

even in democratic countries. on this world press freedom day, we want to take a closer look. in its latest report, the watchdog classifies the situation in 70 out of 180 countries as bad or very bad. you see the colors behind there. china and iran remain among the world's worst countries for journals. in china, all media is subject to strict censorship, and foreign journalists can be closely monitored. it is estimated 15 journalists and around 40 bloggers in china are currently in police custody. iranian media are also strictly controlled by the state. journalists can face harsh come even violent reprisals if they dare to step out of line. out of 180 countries, iran ranks 164 on the press freedom list. and then there is turkey.

while the state there does not completely control all media, there are very few remaining independent outlets. some 35 journalists are reportedly jailed in turkey tonight. that is more than almost anywhere else in the world. on that index, the united states of america ranks 45th on the planet. joining me now from washington, d.c., is the advocacy director with the committee to protect journalists. good to have you on this show. we have been looking at the numbers and the rankings and the challenges facing journalists around the world. let's start with the united states, wrecking 45t -- ranking 45 th. how difficult, considering how the president at tax the mainstream media, is it for reporters to pursue the truth in

the world's richest country? >> luckily, journalists in the united states are not yet facing imprisonment and are not being murdered for their work. now the committee to protect journalists. we don't rank countries the way that some groups that work closely with reporters without borders. we went on the first ever press freedom mission to the united states this year. we found media are under pressure, journalists are under pressure, but many of the reasons they are under pressure started under previous administrations. the rise in the use of subpoenas to get journalists sources. the economic the kind in the media and the pressure that is putting on journalists. the inability to access public officials. what we found is that the antitrust rhetoric -- antitrust -- anti-press rhetoric from the trump administration has set the tinderbox on fire. it is greater pressure especially during protests and

political rallies. brent: we know that what happens in the united states has big influence around the world, what the u.s. president says matters. president donald trump uses the term "fake news" a lot. we heard other heads of state co-opted this term and use it to justify shutting out media outlets and opposition groups in their countries. how harmful has this been for journalists working in countries such as turkey? courtney: yeah, you have hit the nail on the head. we are seeing the impact of president trump's anti-press rhetoric being felt most strongly abroad, in countries where there are not robust protections for press freedom, such as turkey, leading with journalists in jail with 73 in prison according to the last census from within any of the country, a county the majority of journalists imprisoned last year. what we're seeing in terms of the fake news impact is that that is being used as an excuse

to clamp down on legitimate reporting and to just not pay attention to actual factual issues on the ground. we saw this in myanmar, where the rohingya crisis from which the human has turned a textbook case of ethnic cleansing -- u.n. as been termed a textbook case of ethnic cleansing of has been dismissed as fake news by myanmar officials. we saw in syria that president assad dismissed allegations of torture in prison as fake news. we saw cambodia uses the excuse of fake is to push out radio free asia. around the world, even countries like poland and hungary, at the best use of the democratic movement, they are using the same terminology to clamp down on reporting. brent: you bring us to europe with that. what is the situation now? we had a journalist in slovakia,

a journalist murdered because of their work. how dangerous has it become in europe to be a journalist? courtney: you know, we are deeply concerned about what is happening in europe. the fact that two journalists who were investigating corruption were murdered in member states of the european union, the fact that maltese authorities have not made good-faith efforts from as far as we are concerned, to truly figure out who the masterminds behind the murder of -- behind the murder of our the fact that the journalists and his colleague's motorman may not large. this is deeply disturbing, and it should not be acceptable that journalists are murdered for investigate corruption in eu member states. brent: advocacy director for the committee to protect journalists joining us from washington, d.c. courtney, we appreciate your insights tonight.

thank you very much. courtney: my pleasure, thank you. brent: here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. a powerful dust storm has left more than 100 people dead in northern india. extreme winds and rains brought down trees and destroyed structures throughout the region, causing many of the deaths. officials have warned that the death toll could rise. hopes are growing in washington that north korea could imminently release three americans held as prisoners as a goodwill gesture. one was arrested in 2015 for allegedly spying for south korea. the other two men were detained last spring and accused of "hostile acts." the film director roman polanski has been expelled from the academy of motion picture arts and sciences more than 40 years after he admitted to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old

girl. the organization that towards the oscars also voted on posted to oust comedian bill cosby, convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault a week ago. a porn star, president him and his lawyer. there have been more twists in the stormy daniels scandal surrounding the u.s. president today. before we bring you the latest, let's take a look at what we know so far. the porn actress stephanie clifford -- her stage name is stormy daniels -- alleges she had sex with donald trump in 2006 a year after he married his wife, melania. in 2016 she was paid by trump's lawyer michael cohen. she says it was fresh money to keep her quiet about the alleged sexual encounter. the payment was made days before the 2016 election, raising questions about campaign financing violations. trump has denied having sex with

daniels and previously denied knowledge of the payment made to her. but trump's new lawyer, rudy giuliani, says the u.s. president did repay his personal attorney the $130,000 that was used to silence stormy daniels, something that president trump has now confirmed via twitter. this directly contradicts trump 's earlier statements about the allegations concerning a payment that he said he didn't know anything about. during an appearance on fox news last act, the former new york city mayor mr. giuliani said the money had been funneled through trump's personal attorney's law firm, and it did not come from election campaign funds. rudy giuliani: having something to do with paying some stormy daniels woman $130,000, which turned out to be perfectly legal. that money was not campaign money. sorry, i'm giving you a fact that you don't know. it is not campaign money.

no campaign finance violations. >> they fumbled it through a law firm. rudy giuliani: fumbled it through a law firm and the president repaid it. brent: trump himself has confirmed that he did reimburse michael cohen for the payment to stormy daniels, against his previous estimates of not having any knowledge. in his tweets today trump emphasize that the money do not come from campaign funds. he used the money to pay stormy daniels, who signed a nondisclosure agreement. this agreement, trump says can was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair. trump says it was a private agreement, and that money from the campaign played no role in this transaction. all it we will try to get our heads around this. let's go to washington and our correspondent is on the story for us.

all right, the latest in this story now is that u.s. federal investigators reportedly wiretapped the phone lines of trump's personal attorney, michael cohen. the move was part of an ongoing probe into russian meddling in the 2016 election. that is a lot to digest. and yet trump is still standing tall in the midst of all this. how do you explain this? reporter: it is very hard to explain, but it is a fact that approval ratings for donald trump have gone up over the last few months come in spite of all the scandals, in spite of all the controversy around him. yeah, clearly the hard core of his supporters stand by the president no matter what. brent: and we know that trump says the payment was made through a retainer, not through the campaign. but he initially denied there had been any payment at all until mr. giuliani said on television last night that he did know about it.

what does that mean? reporter: it's a good question. clearly donald trump when asked about this just a few weeks ago -- after the story broke and was widely discussed, he was asked by a journalist on board air force one if he knew anything about those payments, and he said flat out, no. that does not seem to be corrected now. another thing that is interesting is that, yes, giuliani and trump said this was no campaign money, but giuliani himself in another tv appearance this morning said of course this was connected to the election because the presidential debates were going on and mr. cohen apparently was concerned that this could damage mr. trump's chances. he did pay the porn actress stormy daniels and did his job by this, mr. giuliani said. even though it is campaign money, it could still be a violation of campaign

regulations. brent: our correspondent on the story with us tonight from washington with a story with more twists and turns today. thank you. police in southern germany have rated an asylum seeker's hostile to detain a togolese man for deportation. authorities want to return him to italy, the first european country he entered and the one in which he should have applied for asylum. fellow refugees prevented a previous attempt to detain the man, so the police came back in force. the operation has highlighted germany's struggles with the high number of recent arrivals. reporter: the town, never before have there been scenes like these in a refugee center in germany. hundreds of police special forces were on hand to arrest the 23-year-old man from togo. an attempt to pick him up on monday was met with violent resistance, infuriating the german interior minister.

"what happened there was a slap in the face of law-abiding people. it is a slap in the face of law-abiding people because our hospitality must not be abused." monday's attempt to arrest them and failed to massive resistance by asylum-seekers. the of us are in charge described how the situation -- the officer in charge to scrap have the situation escalated. "four officers and two patrol cars were supposed to take a 22-year-old togolese back to italy in the early hours of the morning. they were supposed to pick him up here, but they were severely impeded, violently prevented doing so by 200 african refugees who live here." the togolese man has now been

arrested, and other refugees have been led away in handcuffs. a few asylum-seekers were injured after jumping out of window. charges have been made against 12 people for trespassing, drug offenses, and that. authorities say they will take a tougher approach in the future. "we will carry out deportations and do what is necessary to achieve this. we will not allow legal vacuums to arise, as has emerged here. bulwark against this sort of behavior in the strongest right we can -- we will work against the sort of behavior in the strongest weight we can." a firm approach like that has the support of most german politicians. brent: let's pull in our political correspondent for he is on the story for us tonight. it is interesting looking at these events, politicians they support this deployment, for these events show us how tense the situation is in many of these refugee shelters in germany, doesn't it?

trump authorities have to -- reporter: authorities have tried to describe this situation is unprecedented, more an exception than the rule, saying other deportations had been carried out without violent incidents, but this particular incident, rent, does reveal the debate going on in germany about the situation that many asylum-seekers place on the fact that these conditions that in many cases are very difficult, the fact that not many opportunities are given to them, could be a cause for these increased detentions and what authorities can and maybe should do to prevent these conditions from turning into a situation that we saw, for example. brent: we know that the interior has floated the idea of establishing what are called anchor centers which would be used to streamline the asylum application process. with that help to avoid these types of clashes and maybe

improve the situation in refugee shelters? : these anchor centers, as they are being described, would be large-scale facilities where the asylum-seekers would be from day one, from the day he arrives for mental today is asylum status is resolved. although those who are in favor of the centers say it would be more efficient, more organized the way germany deals with asylum-seekers, there are also a lot of critics of that. there is a lot of skepticism in particular because of issues we are talking about. people say that having these people in these large centers could not only make integration more difficult, but it could also create these tensions like the ones we saw in this particular case. brent: our correspondent on the story for us tonight in berlin. as always, thank you very much. let's take things over to helena . charges are being filed in the dirty diesel scandal in the u.s.

helena: charges at the highest level. this just in, the former vw ceo has been charged by u.s. prosecutors in the dieselgate settle for conspiring to mislead regulators and violate the u.s. clean air act. you ar may remember he steps down days after the scandal came to light in december 2015, the company admitting to fitting 11 million diesel cars with devices to pass emissions tests. the company later admitting to using false statements to import cars into the united states. winter corn is the highest-ranking person to be charged in the case, and questions remain as to who knew what, when, as well as when regulators were actually informed. meanwhile, talk about timely -- today the new vw bus -- this man used his first general assembly to call for more honest, open, truthful, and ethical company culture.

greenpeace activists protest outside dw's annual general meeting. they calling for climate friendly vehicles. "clean up," reads this manner, and they mean to corporate culture as well. inside, high-performance models are on show. the dieselgate crisis is not completely out of sight, and some shareholders remain skeptical. "the company needs its loyal customers. if they go, you mays will get about the business altogether." >> we have to go can definitely yes. >> if sales are good, the dividend will be as well. when it comes to decision-making at the company, the porsche, is have the same. they all have high hopes about the new boss. he wants to change the corporate culture. "volkswagen must become more

honest, more open -- in a word, more truthful, so we don't make ourselves more vulnerable again ." he is putting his foot on the gas when it comes to restructuring and electric vehicles. "he has brought the brand forward, which is predecessors didn't do. he is a breath of fresh air. he is not from the old vw school, so hopefully you will not be tainted by the diesel issue." and that is a view most small investors seem to share. the newly appointed vw boss starts his job with a vote of confidence. helena: four more we can speak to our financial correspondent jens korte on wall street. i have to ask you about the breaking news, the charges against the former ceo of vw. what further details doing we know at this stage about his --

do we know at this stage about his charge in the united states? jens: what u.s. authorities probably did is what they usually do, that they are working the ranks of. the past couple of months we had two feet of the managers sentenced to prison terms, and they might have helped with some information to know if i'll chuck -- to now file charges against margin, and i would not suggest he plants his next summer vacation in florida. we have to wait and see what it means for them i would guess it is rather unlikely that the german government will extradite martin winterkorn, but to a certain degree it is not surprising that this happens because that is usually the way -- start with lower ranks and work your way up, and actually, u.s. authorities have reached the top. helena: to stay with us, jens. we will be coming back to you in a moment. we all know conference calls can

sometimes be a little bit awkward, but when sometimes they go disastrously wrong -- here's a cautionary tale. american carmaker tesla continues to burn through more cash than it is running, ceo elon musk has done little to ease investors' fear. instead, during a call with shareholders and he refused to answer analysts' questions, calling them "so dry and so not cool." the tesla share price plunge, the company losing $2 billion in market capitalization in just one phone call. the episode shouldn't put a dent in sales. there are over 450,000 people waiting for a tesla. back over to jens. did you on must -- did elon musk's brash manner backfire on the company? jens: it's it -- it certainly backfired on the stock price. the tesla share lost a good 5%. a lot of analysts said they have

never experienced anything like that come and it is probably not a wise idea to ignore wall street, to ignore analysts, especially when they are asking questions that a lot of people are having -- what is happening with the cash flow in the near future, and even elon musk is hoping things will turn around in the second half of the year. so far, one quarter after another, one record loss after another. the company depends on foreign money, and it is not a good idea to anger investors on wall street or anywhere else. helena: no. our financial correspondent jens korte in new york, thank you for that. it is that over to brent now. from wargames to another kind of game altogether. brent: part of this diplomatic thawing between the koreas happening at the speed of sound. a remarkable demonstration of how rapidly relations between

north and south korea are changing as a result of the saw and hostility between the countries. teams from both nations were due to face off at the world tennis table -- table tennis chairmanships in sweden. what transpired was something special. reporter: they walked out as two separate korean teams, each vying for a place in the world temperature semifinals. this is a special time for north-south relations, and after the push for peace from their leaders last week, it was time for politics to meet ping-pong. then a i have a -- >> i have a very big announcement to make, the republic of korea, known as south korea, and the democratic republic of korea, known as north korea, have decided not to compete against each other. instead of compete against each other, we will be in the finals for the first time see not north

korea, south korea, but unified korea! reporter: an historic moment and perhaps a first and the history of international sport, tournaments merger. -- mid-tournaments merger. >> i wondered if we could make a joined the team and i could join the team. now it has happened and i feel really proud. >> it is a great honor that i can be part of the joint team which will become part of history. reporter: tournament organizers heralded the move can even if it wasn't quite in keeping with the roll block. this rule book. -- quite in keeping with a robot. >> we informed all the teams and they agreed. we feel happy that we have a small sign in the process for the reunion of korean teams -- of korea, fourth countries. reporter: two fingers for peace, or perhaps a v for victory.

1991, unified korea played in this tournament from the start, and they won it, shocking china in the final. history is on their side. brent: hope it stays that way. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. see you then. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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