on this edition for saturday, december 21st, american military aircraft come under fire in africa. in our signature segment, children exposed to sexual images and treated as sexual objects. how one country is trying to protect them. >> our children are not object of beauty. and not object of seduction. and, on broadway, making theater more accessible. next, on pbs "newshour weekend". it's made possible by louis b. and louise hirschfield.

and joyce v. hale, and the walic family. the sheryl and phillip milstein family. bernard and irene schwartz. rosalind p. walter. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america, designing customized and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support is provided by, and by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station, from viewers like you. thank you. from the tish wnet studios at lincoln center, new york, this is "pbs newshour weekend. good evening. u.s. military aircraft trying to rescue americans stranded in south sudan came under fire today and had to turn back and fly to uganda. officials say four americans were wounded, one seriously. thousands of citizens have fled in the wake of fighting between

government troops and rebels. this week president obama sent u.s. troops into south sudan to help protect the u.s. embassy. other western countries are also evacuating their personnel. china said today, it had what it called strong concerns about japan's decision to boost military spending. earlier this week, japan announced a 2.6% increase over five years. japan is using the money for early warning planes, aircraft that carry troops and beach assault vehicles. japan says it's only responding to a chinese military build-up. the two countries are involved in a dispute over islands in the east china sea that both claim. in pakistan, a medic has died after the latest attack on a polio vaccine center. according to the "associated press," pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where the polio virus is still endemic. islamic militants claim the vaccination programs are a cover

for western spy operations. back in this country, police in southern colorado say they foiled another possible school shooting. authorities in the town of trinidad arrested two students, one 15, the other 16. they said the pair planned to carry out the attack after winter break. the 15-year-old reportedly had been bullied and is said to have idolized the teenagers responsible for the mass shooting at columbine. in neighboring utah, marriage licenses have been issued to more than 100 gay couples. after a federal judge struck down that state's ban on same-sex marriage. yesterday's ruling said the law violated the constitutional rights of gay couples to due process and equal protection under the law. the state attorney general's office said it will seek to stay the judge's order while it appeals the court decision. 260 miles up in space today, two

american astronauts ventured out of the orbiting international space station to repair a faulty pump. nasa said the five and a half-hour mission went so well, that only one more space walk might be needed to finish the job. two more have been planned. since the pump broke ten days ago, the six astronauts on board have been living with all nonessential equipment turned off, severely slowing their scientific research. and today is the 25th anniversary of the bombing of pan am 103 over lockerbie, scotland, an act that resulted in the death of 270 people. a libyan intelligence agent was convicted of the crime. today, the victims, many of them college students, flying home for christmas, were remembered at arlington national cemetery and in lockerbie, where american jane schultz paid tribute to her late son. >> i wanted to come here, not only to honor thomas, but the other 269 victims and i wanted to stand in the place where my

son took his last breath. >> we turn now to a situation getting very little attention -- the dangers facing journalists around the world. just yesterday, a freelance syrian photographer working for "reuters" was killed covering the civil war there. for more about the dangers of conflict reporting, and the imprisonment of journalists, we are joined by robert mahoney, the deputy director of the committee to protect journalists. robert, thank you so much for joining us. every year you folks take a snapshot in the month of december, a picture of many things, including the number of journalists in prison at that moment. what does the picture tell you this year? >> well this year, it's the second worst year on record with more than 200 journalists in jail. so governments are continuing to use imprisonment as a way of censoring journalists and silencing critics. >> i remember the worst year was last year, correct? >> yes, a few journalists have been released, and that's due in part to the advocacy of groups like the committee to protect

journalists and other journalists putting pressure on governments, but the trend is still for a very high. >> any time there's a list, who is number one on the list, as imprisoning the most. and why do you think that is? >> well, the top journal of journalists is turkey. a lot of people are surprised by that, turkey is a democracy, member of nato, wants to join the european union. but turkey has a government which does not want to be criticized internally. and so it uses jailing of journalists to silence people. to intimidate them. >> i remember last year, china, i believe and iran were also in the top three. how do they fare this year? >> they're still up there. they're still in the top three and between them, those three countries account for nearly half of the total. so there's a clear pattern here of authority tearian countries that want to put journalists behind bars, rather than deal with the problems that the journalists are reporting on. >> especially in china, we hear a number of things these days. what type of reporting is the

chinese government targeting? >> of chinese journalists, it's those journalists that are criticizing the government, criticizing the communist party, doing investigative reporting and your covering crux or bad government. those are the kinds of stories that many chinese officials don't want published. and the picture is very mixed. there are parts of china where there are some good journalists getting out good information. and there are other parts of china where things are very repressive. >> what about american reporters that are either missing or somehow being threatened overseas? >> well, the worst place to be a journalist at the moment is syria. that's been the case for the last couple of years because of the conflict. and there are a number of american journalists who have been taken hostage. some of them for the last year and a half. we have absolutely no news about them. we know that they're alive, or we think we know that they're alive. but this is a terribly distressing situation for their families and friends. >> robert mahoney, the committee to protect journalists, thanks so much for joining us.

thank you. and now to our signature segment -- if your children or grandchildren go online or watch music videos or certain television programs, they are routinely bombarded with explicit sexual images. images that might shock you. that's what's happened to one mother, a government official who set out to do something about it. now, her efforts are being criticized, by some of the very people she's trying to protect. and surprisingly, the story is playing out in a country widely known for its liberal attitudes about sex. france. newshour correspondent william brangham has our report from paris. >> reporter: in the public imagination, france is renowned for many things. its cuisine, its culture, as well as a very open embrace of female beauty. you can't walk a city block in paris without seeing the scantily-clad models showcasing

france's high fashion industry. this is the nation that gave us bridget bardot and welcomed former supermodel carla brunei as its first lady. after her many years modeling with very little or nothing at all on. given all that it's maybe a bit surprising that a controversy has erupted in france over what some argue is the hypersexualization of young girls. girls like nine-year-old anais, she regularly compete in what are called mini miss pageants. >> translator: this was her first pageant. she was six and a half years old. >> reporter: she lives with her family in a suburb of paris. her mom showed me photos of anais competing. >> translator: when anais comes out on stage, people stand up and applaud her. i mean of course there's this feeling this pride.

>> reporter: in the pageants, the girls wear formal dresses, no heavy makeup, no high heels. they walk on stage, say a few words, and a winner is picked for her overall poise and presentation. martine makes most of the dresses anais wears. >> translator: this one is for her next competition. >> reporter: she loves that the pageants bring her closer to her daughter and thinks the awards her daughter has won give her a sense of accomplishment. >> translator: usually we arrive and first we eat together. then we get dressed. after that, the pageant starts with the young girls going first. my favorite part is when i'm on stage. and when i put on my dress. >> reporter: but her favorite activity might be threatened because of ha happened with another young french girl. back in 2010, this photo spread appeared in french "vogue" magazine. the model here is ten years old. at first, no one in france paid much attention. but women's groups in the u.s.

were outraged. and they took their case public. >> when you see pictures like this, what do you think? >> i think that i'm seeing a very young girl being sexualized. >> when you saw those photographs, what was your reaction? >> you always think of art. so you think this is only creation, this is artistic. so you don't see the problem. >> chantal is a senator in the french legislature and a member of the center right party. she said the fashion industry gets a lot of leeway in france. but the american reaction in these photos made her and others take a second look. >> when you look at the photo, the pictures, you say yes, this is a problem. how can we use children just to sell products? how can we use children as sexualized people? >> the "vogue" controversy got so big in france that the minister for family affairs asked the senator to investigate whether there was a problem of

french children becoming hypersexualized. and if so, what do do about it. >> when our children are not with their parents what do they see? they see cartoons, they see tv show, which are all based on hypersexualization. >> she is a mother of three kids. and she was surprised to discover that millions of kids in france just like in the u.s., routinely see images that pbs typically wouldn't put on the air. images of young women portrayed in highly sexual ways. ♪ ♪ >> online, on tv, in music videos. she even found sexualized images infiltrating toys and cartoons. >> i was surprised by the things my own children could see. and i was surprised to understand why hypersexualization could be a problem for them.

>> at the end of her investigation, she issued this report. it argued that the level of sexualized unrealistic body images was so perfects vasive in french society, that it amounted to a quote form of violence against kids, one that not only objectifies girls, but causes them to judge themselves harshly. for example, according to the world health organization, 27% of 11-year-old european girls think they're too fat that percentage rises to 40% for 15-year-olds b. a quarter of those girls say they're now dieting. so her report comes out and it contains 12 different recommendations for how to protect kids. it would prohibit companies from using children as their spokes models. it would create a website that would name and shame companies that don't go along. and it would create an educational program for parents and it proposed banning those childhood beauty pageants, saying they offer quote a

degraded or tarnished image of girls. the senator, who is not only a senator, but a 12-time karate champion and a former national minister for sports says she's not against competitions for kids. she just objects to ones that put a premium on their looks. >> this was just one recommendation, to ban beauty pageants, so that the society will give a very clear message to medias, to companies, that our children are not object of beauty. and are not object of seduction. and that we agree on any other kind of competitions, based on talents as singing, as dancing. >> but not only based on your physical appearance. >> 9-year-old anais was not happy when she heard about the proposed ban. she thinks the senator confusing the pageants she does, with the kind that happen in the u.s.

like those seen in tlc's hit show "toddlers in tiaras." >> i'm so proud of her, she's so beautiful. >> translator: there is this woman, i'm not sure what her name is. but she wants to forbid the mini miss pageants, because she believes it's just like in the u.s. we put on makeup and show our butts and show our mouth and our teeth and our breasts. >> her mom, martine, agrees that kids are often exposed to too much, too soon. she says she and her husband philippe work very hard to protect their kids from the outside world. but she doesn't think pajtss are part of the problem, and she's furious at the senator's suggestion that by letting anais compete she's somehow harming her daughter. >> translator: i was angry for sure. because essentially what she's saying is, we're dumb and we can't take care of our kids. we don't let our kids wear

anything indecent. she can come and have a look. i want her to come and see. our daughters are not barbies. >> the parents who support the pageants argue it's not nearly as extreme as what we see in the united states. it's not so much makeup, high heels. they think of it as a harmless simple competition. >> if the aim of the competition is still the same, with or without makeup the only way you can tell whether this is the winner or this is not the winner, is to make a comparison between young girls and between their physical appearance. it's the same issue in it. there is no difference with makeup or no makeup. >> socialist michelle studies development. he says yes, sexualization is real and it can rob kids of their childhood.

but he's not convinced that pageants, at least as practiced in france, are that harmful. he thinks they're simply young girls showing pride in their femininity. >> translator: for some people like juanot, the moment this femininity is exaggerated, it's a sign that we're returning to male domination over females in society. with women as object in society. but little girls don't see themselves as objects. they don't see themselves as unequal to boys. they are just proud to be feminine. >> but juanot argues that pageants are just the beginning of a process, where young girls are objectified by society and often turn that objectification inwards. you're talking about something that is so broad in the culture, affecting everything from parents to education to the media to our values -- do you think that going after pageants is the best approach to dealing with this enormous issue? >> no. the ban of beauty pageants was

only one recommendation among 12 recommendations. and that's a shame that the only recommendation which has been adopted today is a ban of beauty pageants. >> anais is continuing to compete in pageants, she just did another one last week. the senator's proposed ban on pageants will likely be voted on early next year. anais obviously hopes the measure fails. >> translator: it's our passion, so if she takes it away, we're going to be really sad. time now for broadway and a production that focuses more on the audience than what's happening on the stage. the goal, to help those with autism enjoy the show.

newshour correspondent yvette feliciano reports. >> reporter: this might look like a typical saturday matinee on broadway, but the fact that amber scotty is here with her son, nick, tells you it's anything but. and tickets for this particular performance weren't available to the general public, they were only sold to families like hers. why? because this performance of spider-man: turn off the dark, was especially tailored for people with autism. people like 10-year-old nick scotty, who often has a very difficult time going to any kind of a show. when you're on the spectrum, some kids flap their hands or scream. them impulses. when you go to places, i always feel like i'm on guard, i have to be like, my son has autism, i'm sorry if he does something to bother you or upset you. but i want him to be able to enjoy this as well.

y. >> she says her family has walked out of performances, wasted hundreds of dollars, because of disapproving stares and comments from other audience members. >> nick wanted to see spider-man in the worst way, and that, i got to tell you is one play i was not going to go take him to. >> that's where the theater development fund stepped in. >> this is a way of insuring a warm, welcoming environment, judgment free so that families can come and relax and have a good time and not worry about how the person on the spectrum is going to behave or what other people might think. >> lisa carling is director of accessibility programs at the theater development fund. the nonprofit organization coordinates autism-friendly performances on broadway like these, four times a year. pbs mission is to make live theater more accessible to diverse audiences. >> we hope to raise awareness about autism and help people become more accepting and more

inclusive. >> here are some of the things you'll see at an autism-friendly show that you wouldn't see on broadway otherwise. ushers have about 30 extra helpers on hand. they hand out colorful stress relievers and kush balls called manipulative, to help autistic audience members relax. producers and directors work with autism specialists to make the autism-friendly shows as close to the regular shows as possible. but this audience is especially sensitive to jarring lights and sounds. so audio levels are reduced by about 20%, and strobe lights are completely eliminated. yet, organizers say it's what's happening off-stage that truly makes this broadway performance unique. >> we have children and adults with autism at the show. so if they need a break, they have a space that they can come to. >> the usually empty lobbies are transformed into activity spaces. with bean bags and toys, for families who need a break from the sensory overload.

and if anyone needs a bigger break, some sections are designated to be completely silent. >> i've been working with kids with autism for ten years and i've never seen so many of them openly able to enjoy something that we really take for granted on a daily basis. >> for weeks before this special performance, the theater development fund was already helping nick scotty ease into the new experience. by making customizable social stories available on its website. >> here's the lobby. so we walk or do we run, what do we do? >> walk. >> we're going to walk, right. >> even with the changes to the show, nick had a hard time getting through the first act. but he was allowed to leave the theater as much as he needed to. >> is it different than other times? >> it's definitely different. if you were in a regular play, you would be kicked out by now. so everyone here is great. all the volunteers have been

great with my kids, soy couldn't ask for a better day. >> this is "pbs newshour weekend saturday." finally tonight, you might be looking ahead to the nfl playoffs or the winter olympics. but much of the rest of the world is already focusing on next summer's world cup in brazil. getting all the stadiums ready for play requires a massive effort. and it has not gone smoothly. nina nana of itv news reports. >> it was already a scene of frantic activity, hundreds of construction workers reportedly doing 20-hour days to get the stadium finished in time. the 22-year-old worker who died fell more than 100 feet from the roof after a cable broke. he died in hospital. the 42,000-seat stadium in the amazon jungle is weeks behind schedule. it's here in six months where england wi mail their opening match of the world cup and the

latest death will increase safety fears as brazil races to complete the world cup venues. just last month a crane collapsed killing two people at the stadium where the opening ceremony will be held. shortly after the death, the president of football's world governing body gave assurances that brazil would be ready in time. >> concerning the damage which has been made there, it will be reconstructed, renovated and the stadium will be ready. >> but in the face of huge public anger over the cost there are still a number of stadiu that are not ready. five people have died over the past two years as brazil prepares to welcome the world, delays, protest and tragedy continue to dominate the run-up to football's greatest showpiece. itv news.

♪ ♪ join us tomorrow on air and online. a special feature, flying coach -- sometimes the most powerful stories are sitting right next to you. >> my grand father saw that such a powerful moment in history. he wanted to have his family carry a name that referred to a new dawn. and so the first born in the family received the name ormandi. >> that's it for this edition of pbs "newshour weekend." i'm john larsen. thanks for watching. ♪ ♪ ♪ -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ♪ ♪

pbs newshour weekend is made possible by louis b. and louise hirschfield komen. judy and josh weston. joyce v. hale, the walic family. the sheryl and phillip milstein family. bernard and irene schwartz. rossland p. walter. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america, designing customized, individual and group retirement products, that's why we're your retirement company. additional support is provided by -- and by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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