>> down under, the prime minister of australia says his country could be completely reopened by july. australia only has about 7,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and fewer than >> reporter:er surf's up again in the land down under. as australians return to a socially distanced temperature checked sanitized version of normality, the country of around 25 million has lost fewer than 100 lives to the new virus, and the number of new cases slowed to a trickle weeks ago. it could be partly down to the climate. the virus arrived in the southern hemisphere's summer, but australia has been praised for its decisive action. the country closed its doors to nearly all foreigners in mid-march with returning residents staying in hotels paid for by the government. they wrapped up testing early

and now there is a smartphone app to trace. it's raised privacy concerns, bu oillioneople downlo it.eing with prime cott mori son, that by refusing to, they put themselves at risk. >> it's like not putting on sun screen to go out into the blazing sun. in spite of the fact australians like to think of themselves as being rebels who don't like authority, actually when it comes to the crunch, we do it. >> reporter: walid aly is works for viacom cbs. >> the result has been incredible flattening, almost a crushing of the curve here in australia. we're very proud of it. >> reporter: four months ago, prime minister morrison was heckled on the street for his response to devastating bushfires. >> you're an idiot.

>> reporter: now after setting up a bipartisan cabinet to fight the virus, his approval ratings are up 30% since jan.>>is the b australian politics has worked for, well, forever really. >> reporter: forever? >> i i re seeg australian politics work as well as this. >> reporter: in some countries the new virus has pushed people further apart. but as australia opens up, its people seem to have been bound closer together.

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donald trump has spent more time on twitter than any previous president, but he's not the first to harness the media of his age to communicate with the american public. our senior contributor ted koppel has this overnight news history lesson. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: imagine the world a century ago. there was film, of course, but the news was delivered almost exclusively in print. tens of millions have been killed in the first world war. tens of millions more died in a global influenza pandemic. after the war, in france, the american president woodrow wilson mustered his wartime allies behind the so-called league of nations. but he couldn't sell the plan here at home. wilson crisscrossed the country by rail, delivering one speech after another, the effort almost

killed him. >> it's easy to think, okay, presidents are always barn storming, going around the country talking to the people. >> reporter: she is professor of american history at harvard university. >> to campaign on your own behalf was considered undignified well through the 19th century. so even just going around the country was a novelty. >> reporter: in effect, wilson was going door to door, but he had none of the tools that would amplify the campaigns of future presidents. not that warren harding recognized radio's potential. as for calvin coolage, they didn't call him silent cal for nothing. herbert hoover? no, he never got the hang of radio either. that was left for franklin roosevelt and those famous fire side chats. >> this bank holiday, while resulting in many cases in great inconvenience, is affording us the opportunity to supply the

currency necessary to meet the situation. >> and he's explaining to the american people he's about to shutdown the banking system. there is an incredible intimacy to his voice, but it has a quality of compassion to it. >> it is your problem, my friends, your problem no less than it is mine. together we cannot fail. >> reporter: this, remember, was at a time when radio announcers wore tuxedos to work. >> quiet, please. >> reporter: when their delivery was incredibly stylized. >> romanov and his violin. >> reporter: and what did f.d.r. do? >> the task that we americans now face -- >> reporter: he memorized those talks so that his delivery was much more relaxed. >> never before have we had so little time in which to do so much. >> he understood that radio was a performative medium. that it wasn't like other kinds

of performances. f.d.r. kind of took that philosophy to the citizenry itself. he would try to enlist their support by what would appear to of ye ike,e,ik ike ♪tion asere ♪ >> reporter: by the time dwight isenhour decided to run in 1952, his republican backers convinced ike to try his new hand at this new medium television. >> he agreed to participate in a campaign, isenhour answers america. and they're completely staged, but he went into a studio and off of cue cards he read these answers to americans' questions. >> what party put prices up? >> and days later the advertising agency picked up people who were waiting in line for tickets at radio city music hall, brought them in and had them read t swers are cut toget.

>> general, the democrats are telling me i never had it so good. >> can that be true when america is billions in debts, when prices are double and break our backs? >> isenhour says, no, it's time foray change. >> it's time for a change. >> reporter: crude, but effective. he won. >> i do solemnly swear -- >> reporter: and would become the first president to hold a televised press conference. >> we're trying a new experiment this morning. i hope it doesn't prove to be a disturbing influence. i have no announcements, we'll go directly to questions. >> good evening. >> reporter: the first televised presidential debate, meanwhile, showed richard nixon slightly ill at ease with a glistening upper lip. television viewers and ultimately the voters watched and picked john f. kennedy. he was the first president to master that medium.

>> could you tell us generally your feelings about your press conferences today and your feelings about how they're conducted? lahter ytedaw and oeris town. >> reporter: ronald reagan with years of hollywood experience under his belt was, if anything, an even more polished performer. >> i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. [ laughter ] >> reporter: and the other presidents simply provided variations on a theme. the carter, that reminded folks of his humble origins as a peanutll tin ton's nibble of th lower lip, that slightly voice.

>> these allegations are false. >> reporter: these are techniques familiar to an adaptive medium. it wasn't until donald trump that we witnessed the end of and correspondents who once served as gate keepers between politicians and their public were simply brushed aside. he and i spoke on the day he was nominated. >> between facebook and twitter i have over 20 million people. that's a big audience. and it's also you and the media and everybody's watching that allows me to get a point across quickly in seconds. there was never anything like that. and that gives me a big, big base in terms of a campaign. in terms of a presidency, i don't think i'd use it very much at all. >> reporter: clearly he changed his mind never have presidential thumbs communicated so much to so many

intervention of the media giants. the tweets generate so much interest and attention -- >> president trump retweeting last night an attack on dr. anthony fauci. >> reporter: -- that the networks, cable channels, newspapers are all but powerless to dismiss them or him. and the dirty little secret is that while donald j. trump has done everything he can to wreck the profession of journalism -- >> they are truly an enemy of the people. the fake news, enemy of the people. they really are. they are so bad. >> reporter: -- he's been very, very good for the business. more than any predecessor, president trump sets the agenda for what we read, what we hear. >> trump doesn't bash anybody until they hit him. and if they or anyone hits him, then look epr: wt w wat poste0 r

on sunday alone. >> reporter: ou may

if there's a bright spot in this coronavirus pandemic, it's that the environment is getting cleaner, and that includes italy's show place city of venice. chris lifesay is there. >> reporter: venice, perhaps more than any other city under lock down, has gone from one extreme to the other. the rialto bridge, the grand canal, even saint mark's square deserted. streets and canals usually awash with tourists now so still nature is filling the void. says ecologist michael. there it is under the ropes. >> they're babies. >> reporter: nearby, an octopus beneath a dock. schools of fish and under water life. and jellyfish like the one we spotted. hardly any boats to scare them

away or to churn up cloudy sediment. the transformation so dramatic, the european space agency snapped these satellite images taken one year apart. conspicuously absent? cruise ships. last year more than 600 passed through. their titanic size crashing on these fragile foundations says environmental scientist. what are going on with these steps? they look like they're about to fall in the water. >> they probably are about to fall in the water. >> reporter: once last year the damage was not so gradual. four people were injured when this cruise liner slammed into a venician dock. but today -- >> it's more like a lake. and i just imagine that all the buildings in venice are kind of singing to each other, and they must be so relieved not to be so bashed around. >> reporter: without the ships

billowing, there is a marked improvement in air quality, though not without a cost. empty bridges, empty canals, but also empty pockets. without tourists, covid-19 has left the economy here gasping for air. this fish monger says he'll go bankrupt selling to venicians alone. there's only 50,000 of them compared to 30 million tourists who used to come every year. something you can see clearly at night when the few lights on are of the few people who live here. the many homes with lights off of the many tourists now gone. how bad? the mayor is desperate for them to come back. we're not dying of coronavirus, he tells business leaders a this demonstration. we're dying of hunger. ands thaelicate balanceetweene economy that's g determine the future of venice. for now it seems like there's a tension between public health and public wealth here and around the world. chris lifesay, cbs news, venice. >> and that's the overnight news for this thursday. reporting from the nation's

capitol, i'm kris van cleave. ♪ ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs >> brennan: breaking with his advisers: the president accuses the country's top infectious disease expert of playing all sides. what the president just said about dr. anthony fauci and why he says schools should reopen in the fall despite concerns from his own coronavirus task force. the urgent new warning about that mysterious illness killing children: with more cases reported nationwide, parents are on edge. >> this is truly disturbing. >> brennan: what we're learning tonight about its connection to coronavirus, and the new alert for doctors that the c.d.c. is getting ready to send. unprecedented fatalities: the dire new prediction from the former head of the agency lead