captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, january 1st: terror in turkey. the new year's party that became a scene of a horrific massacre; and north korea says it's ready to test a missile capable of reaching the united states. next on "pbs newshour weekend." >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust-- supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. 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 has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thank you for joining us. a massive manhunt is underway in turkey for what government officials say is the lone gunman who shot his way into a popular, upscale istanbul nightclub and opened fire on hundreds of people celebrating the new year. by the time the indiscriminate shooting was over inside the reina nightclub the attacker had escaped, and at least 39 party- goers, security officers, and club employees were dead. turkey's interior minister said nearly two-thirds of the victims were foreign nationals, including citizens of saudi arabia, lebanon, jordan, morocco, libya, and israel. the minister also said early reports that the attacker wore a santa claus costume were untrue.

>> ( translated ): information our friends at the security forces have given us is that the assailant was alone, instead of there being multiple assailants. he entered with a jacket and trousers on, raking gunfire on his way in. and there is information that he tried to leave with a different set of clothes. >> sreenivasan: turkey's prime minister visited a hospital where some of the 70 people wounded by the gunman were being treated. some survivors ran out of the club and jumped into the nearby bosporus, the body of water that separates europe and asia. >> ( translated ): there were people on me, i pushed them. on my left, right, everyone was crying. the smell of gunpowder was everywhere. >> sreenivasan: there was no immediate claim of responsibility, but only days ago, a group linked to isis called online for supporters to attack "celebrations, gatherings and clubs." in a written statement, turkish president erdogan said terror

erdogan continued, "we will still on vacation in hawaii, president barack obama offered his condolences and instructed u.s. officials to render all possible assistance to turkey, a key nato ally in the coalition fighting isis militants in syria and iraq. the u.s. consulate in istanbul has cautioned all americans in the area to keep their movements to a, "absolute minimum." the nightclub massacre follows a string of attacks by islamic state or kurdish militants in turkey. back in june, an attack on the istanbul airport killed 45 people. in the past month a bombing outside an istanbul soccer stadium killed more than 40 people, a car bombing at a military station in central turkey killed a dozen soldiers and an assassin who shouted about syria killed russia's ambassador to turkey in a gallery in turkey's capital, ankara. at the vatican today, pope francis took a moment to address the nightclub attack and urged world leaders to work together

to fight what he called "the plague of terrorism." >> ( translated ): unfortunately, violence has stricken even in this night of good wishes and hope. pained, i express my closeness to the turkish people. i pray for the many victims and for the wounded and for the entire nation in mourning. >> sreenivasan: a ferry packed with indonesians celebrating the new year caught fire today, resulting in the deaths of at least 23 people, with some still reported missing. government officials said around 250 people were on board when the boat burst into flames shortly after leaving the capital of jakarta, bound for resort islands north of the city. the burned-out vessel was towed back to jakarta, where the bodies were removed, and more than 30 people were treated at hospitals. police said the fire may have been sparked by a short circuit on a power generator. north korea's dictator says his country is close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching the united states. kim jong un announced the possible missile test in his new year's address on state-run

television. he said north korea will continue to develop nuclear weapons unless and until the u.s. halts its annual military exercises in south korea, a longtime demand. >> ( translated ): we have to put an end to the invasion and interference of the u.s. and foreign countries for conquering the asia-pacific through south korea. >> sreenivasan: north korea has never successfully tested such a long-range missile, but it conducted two nuclear weapons tests last year. its fourth and fifth in the past decade. due to the repressive communist regime in north korea, thousands of north koreans risk their lives every year trying to defect. increasingly, as we reported in december, this happens with encouragement from media secretly smuggled into the country, including western tv and movies and other videos depicting a better life elsewhere. many north korean defectors now live in democratic south korea, which has a free market economy, and where some defectors support themselves with a niche business

that's gained traction in the u.s. and around the world: food trucks. "newshour weekend" special correspondent karla murthy has the story, from seoul. >> reporter: 26-year-old park young ho runs this food truck at a horse racetrack just outside seoul, the capital of south korea. with race fans streaming in all day, he's well positioned to sell his sandwiches. >> ( translated ): i sold about 200 sandwiches on friday, 300 on saturday, 500 on sunday. >> reporter: despite the ups and downs of the food business, park enjoys the work, and is optimistic about the future. but 15 years ago, his life was very different. park spent his childhood across the border in north korea, where a repressive totalitarian regime deprives its people of freedom and food. >> ( translated ): we left the north korea, because we didn't have enough food. i didn't have any food eat for a week and i got really sick. my brother saw that and convinced me and my dad that we would all die unless we left the country.

so i can imagine i might have been dead by now if we didn't come here. >> reporter: when park was 11, he fled with his 19-year-old brother through china into thailand and finally, south korea. they resettled in seoul, where their lives changed dramatically. >> ( translated ): when i first got here, it struck me the various, wide kinds of food that i had not seen in the north. so many kinds. >> reporter: but park had a hard time adjusting to his new life. because he didn't know how to read or write at first, he was teased in school. he caught up and graduated high school. now, he's in college majoring in business and running his food truck on the weekends. >> ( translated ): hopefully, it will become then ten trucks, then 100 trucks. i would like to try all different types of food trucks. also i would like to continue working with my friends, young people. >> reporter: park got help starting his food truck business from a south korean government program that aids defectors. grants from its corporate partners covered the startup costs of his truck. >> reporter: the food truck

phenomenon has only come to south korea in the last couple of years, after the government lifted a ban due to safety and sanitation concerns. now there are over 100 food trucks like these operating in the country, and these two are owned by north korean defectors. kim kyong bin sells meat kebabs and snacks in this food truck. despite the freedom and better quality of life, she says adjusting to south korea was a challenge. >> ( translated ): when you say you are from the north, people treat you differently, like an outsider. also they might look down on you a bit. that was difficult- trying to be like a south korean, so that you can be treated fairly. >> reporter: kim and her husband are among the estimated 30- thousand north korean defectors living in south korea today, according to the south korean government. after defectors arrive, the government trains them in social customs and job skills, and gives resettlement payments to assist with housing and education costs. park hopes one day north koreans

like him will be able to enjoy the liberties he has found in south korea. >> ( translated ): in the north you're not even allowed to visit neighboring villages freely, even if you have money. you have to ask for permits from the government and you're allowed to travel only on certain dates. we are the generation to prepare for the unification of the koreas. >> sreenivasan: american public opinion of the news media reached a low point last september, when only a third of americans surveyed told the gallup poll they had a great amount or fair amount of trust in the media. that was 8% lower than 2015. for some insight into what the news media can do to restore and improve public confidence, "newshour weekend"'s christopher booker spoke with james geary from harvard university's nieman foundation.

for nearly 08 years this 19th soant ree farm house just outside of harvard university's famed cambridge, massachusetts campus has quietly housed up with of the most well respected journalism foundations in the world. established in 1938, the foundation was designed in the words of its founder agnes neeman to promote and elevate journalism, since then it functioned as one muchs mo ple imvent-- preeminent bases to study the med yavmentd in 2015 the media eck system that surrounded the election offered a new chapter for journalism. >> the moment goes beyond just this election and this carn dat-- candidate and this president-elect. i think it's about something really essential about journalism and about society as a whole. >> james geary is the editor of the foundation's neimann magazine. his take on the media sounds like a seasoned sports broadcaster, analyzing how the game was played and what the

industry must do if it hopes to improve. >> like many others, geary finds fault in the media's emphasis o on the constant ebbs and flows of the contest, the horse race, and the industry's unwillingness or reluctance to report beyond the bubble of the campaign. >> the horse race aspect of the election,s who a up, who is down at any given moment in the campaign is you know, just like with the stock market. whether the stock market is up or down at any given moment on if i given day doesn't really tell you alot about the underlying trends. and i think for a lot of the media, we have mistook the poles for the actual trends and the actual trends requires reporting, requires talking to people, getting outside of the newsroom, getting outside of the office and interacting with voters. >> last month they published their fourth and final magazine of 2015, a collection of essays, part of an ongoing series

examining what went write and what went wrong during the 2016 campaign coverage and what journalists should do next. >> is there a responsibility amongst the consumers and if so where does that responsibility lie? >> yes, i think news consumers, voters have stopped seeking out alternative points of view. and are increasingly just focusing on what they already know and what they already agree with. of course technologies and platforms like twitter and facebook make that very easy to do. and i think one of the things that we as an industry can do is to become involved in news literacy programs to visit local high schools or local colleges, community colleges, vf-w lodges and have those conversations and try and impart some of the professional skills that we as journalists have developed to

report factually, report responsibilitiably and share some tips for how news consumers can spot fake news. and also make it clear why fake news is so damaging. >> but there's also a question of just who is doing the reporting. >> i think a lot of the tension around diversity has been race based and having more journalists of color in the newsroom and that's absolutely vital and that's nowhere near where it needs to be. and that work needs to continuement but i think we also need to understand diversity more broadly. that diversity is also sewsio and economic diversity, most newsrooms in addition to being mostly white and mostly male are mostly college educated. and i think what we've seen is people without a college education who feel most alienated by the media, and most turned off by journalism. >> in so many ways the landscape is like a giant buffet table.

on one side we've got the high fructose corn syrup and on the other side you've got your vegetables. so how can we again convince the public to really beat this metaphor to death, the diet needs to be balted. >> what i think we do need to grapple with is that really great and really important journalism did not reach a significant portion of the population. here at m.i.t. right down the road there is a research project and they monitor twitter to see how political issues play out in a twittersphere. twitter is not at all a representative slice of the population but is a very representative slice of the med yavmentd and what they found in their research was that republican-leaning people on twitter stayed within those circles very, very clearly and the same for democratic leaning users of twitter. and there was very little overlap. and i think if all the information we received is

completely tail erred to our preconceptions and our biases, then i think we as a society, as an electorate have some serious problems. >> but i think there are things that can be done to address that. and part of it could be a technological solution. part of it could be more openness among journalistic outlets to collaborate. if samantha bee and glenn beck can sit down together for a civil discussion wearing festive holiday sweaters as they most-- as they recently did, then i think there's hope for the rest of us. that news outlets could collaborate and cooperate to do the kind of work that they need to do and hopefully reach a wider audience. >> to learn about the african-american women who are

pioneers at nasa visit pbs.org/newshour. pioneers at nasa visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: for decades, the renowned conceptual artist christo has been changing perceptions of our surroundings by wrapping structures in bright fabric or creating massive installations on public land. his most recent spectacle occurred last summer in italy where he transformed a lake so visitors could walk on water. in tonight's signature segment, we revisit the story reported by newshour special correspondent christopher livesay, who took us to christo's floating piers. >> reporter: something extraordinary has drawn thousands of tourists from around the world to this normally peaceful lake in northern italy-- lake iseo, 60 miles east of milan. it's called the floating piers, nearly two miles of saffron- colored, floating walkways connecting the mainland to two islands usually accessible only by boat.

the piers undulate with the waves and the feet of some 65,000 visitors a day. these college students are from utah. >> it exceeds expectations. it was a long journey out here, but it's definitely worth it. >> reporter: what's it feel like walking barefoot on this artwork? >> it feels surreal. unreal. >> the way it moves it feels like you're floating. >> you are floating, i guess! >> reporter: the installation appeals to both young and old. a chance for photos and just chilling out. >> it's cool! >> reporter: chiji is from california. a lot of people wouldn't consider this art. >> i think this is definitely art. for someone to think of what it takes to make this come to life, it definitely takes creativity and imagination. >> reporter: this is the latest creation by christo, the bulgarian-born conceptual artist famous for giant outdoor

installations. he wrapped islands in miami's biscayne bay in pink fabric. paris' oldest bridge, the pont neuf, in ivory fabric and berlin's parliament, the reichstag, in silver. his last major project-- the gates-- more than 7,000 of them, dotted new york city's central park, back in 2005. a few days before the floating piers were finished, i set off to meet the artist. christo! i'm chris. before we started discussing the project, christo was eager to stir things up to show his piers were safe even with waves. >> see the waves! >> reporter: i had to ask the obvious question. >> no! there is no banister. >> reporter: no bannisters? yes. >> it's the greatest achievement of the permitting process. >> reporter: a process that usually takes years or even decades. miraculously, the piers came together in 22 months. >> now we walk. the project is about walking, you know.

>> reporter: a bundle of energy at 81-years-old, christo refused to sit for our interview. the piers are 53-feet wide and about a foot high and made from more than 200,000 interlocking plastic cubes. christo insists his structure is only part of the art. >> everything here. the work of art is not the piers. the work of art is also the mountains, the water, the houses, all the waves. all that together is the work of art. >> reporter: the whole thing. >> yes, exactly. >> reporter: while they may look simple, christo's projects are complex, in this case involving engineers, helicopters and even scuba divers. the process starts with photographs of the location by wolfgang volz, who has worked with him for 46 years. christo sketches the design over the photos to make a kind of blueprint. >> now it's this fantastic moment when the project is finished and realized and you look at it and you say, "well, it looks just like the drawings however a little bit better."

>> reporter: christo's team identifies suitable materials, and almost everything is manufactured from scratch. on lake iseo, his team took five months to set the cubes in place, filling those near the edges with water to create the piers' sloping effect. we watched the finishing touches: 3.5 million cubic feet of made-to-order fabric being laid over the piers and the streets leading to the water's edge. the budget for all of this-- $19.5 million dollars-- is paid for entirely by christo from the sale of his art. like his previous monumental works, the floating piers are temporary. they will be open only 16 days and then dismantled-- the materials, recycled. and that's part of the point. >> people come to be present for something that exists once in a lifetime and never again. >> reporter: is it art or is it spectacle? >> no, it's the physical art. first thing- put in mind all our projects gave unique image

from the concept to today is a work of art. we put together enormous intelligence of people, engineers. to discover myself how the project will look is incredible joy. >> reporter: tempering that jo-- this is the first major project christo has completed without his wife, jeanne claude, who died in 2009. photographer wolfgang volz says she is missed. >> if we have a big problem we always say: ¡what would jeanne claude have done to fix it, if it were catastrophe or something like that? ( laughs ) you deal with permanent danger of catastrophe. >> reporter: while there haven't been any "catastrophes," the floating piers have posed some unexpected challenges. rain and wind force parts of the piers to close at times. monitors like this woman, instructed to keep baby strollers off the outer pier, because of the wind, face arguments from upset moms. wear and tear from the much- larger-than-expected crowds also

cause the piers to occasionally close at night for maintenance and repairs. but, all in all, as christo passed by on his boat, visitors have cheered the floating piers as a success. and christo isow looking ahead to two more large scale projects- a pyramid-like structure in the united arab emirates and a curtain of fabric over the arkansas river in the u.s., which has been his home since the 1960s. you just turned 81-years-old. >> yes, yes. >> reporter: when i asked if he would ever slow down, christo quoted something his wife used to say. >> the artist does not retire. they simply die. ( laughs ) and this is why art is not a business; it's the existence. >> reporter: does it ever make you sad to see the project taken down? >> no, no. >> reporter: you like to move on? >> to move on. like our life. >> reporter: a life spent creating art that is fleeting, meant to be savored in the moment.

>> sreenivasan: german police say they prevented a repeat of last year's new year's eve mayhem in the city of cologne by screening hundreds of men from north african countries last night. police say 650 men underwent identity checks at the cologne train station. last new year's eve, men who appeared to be of north african and arab descent allegedly robbed, groped, and sexually assaulted hundreds of women at the holiday celebration around the cologne cathedral. the incident helped fuel the rise of geany's anti- immigration party challenging chancellor angela merkel's in this year's election. in her new year's address to the nation yesterday, merkel said islamic terrorism is the biggest test facing germany. in france, the new year brings many workers greater rights to unplug. they'll now be able to ignore work emails outside normal

office hours when they're at home or on vacation. the "right to disconnect" law requires employers with 50 or more workers to negotiate and define when staff should not send or reply to emails. officials in france's socialist- led government say the idea is to help prevent worker stress and burnout. france limited the standard workweek to 35 hours back in 2000. here in the united states, four- and-a-half million low-income workers stand to get a raise today. the minimum wage is going up in 20 states according to "the wall street journal." it'll be ten-dollars-an-hour or higher in california, massachusetts, arizona, connecticut, vermont, washington and in washington d-c. arizona has the biggest jump: a dollar-95 an hour, which affects one in every nine workers. there's no change yet in the federal minimum wage, that's still 7$.25 an hour, where it's been since 2009 with no adjustments for inflation.

finally, portugal's antonio guterres has taken over as the new secretary general of the united nations. the 67-year-old guterres is a former prime minister of portugal and u.n. high commissioner for refugees. he succeeds ban ki moon of south korea. guterres promised today to be "" bridge builder" and "to put peace first." that's all for this edition of" p.b.s. newshour weekend." i'm hari sreenivasan. good night and happy new year. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

family trust-- supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. 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 has been 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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