captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> sreenivasan: good evening, i'm hari sreenivasan. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, paris attacks. a gunman opens fire on police just three days before the french elections. also ahead, exxon seeks a waiver to do business in russia. are the trump administration's business ties impacting their decisions? plus, news divisions-- how a politically divided nation gets its news. >> i guess there was an element of distrust. as citizens we don't know what we don't know. >> sreenivasan: plus, the turbulent business of the airline industry: record profits, expanding routes, and in some cases bad service. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: paris is on high alert again, after a gunman killed one policeman and wounded two more, before being killed himself. the attack came just three days before voting starts in france's presidential election. the sitting president francois hollande said all indications are that it was terror-related. authorities sealed off the area after the incident on the famed champs elysees. it happened near a subway station in an area popular with tourists. >> ( translated ): it was a terrorist. he came out with a kalashnikov and started shooting, but he could've shot us on the pavement

and killed more people with a spray of shots, but he targeted the policemen. >> sreenivasan: in washington, president trump called the killings "a terrible thing" and said it "looks like another terrorist attack." we get more, now, from special correspondent malcolm brabant, who's in paris. he spoke with us moments ago via skype. malcolm. what's the latest right now? >> the latest information we have the islamic state is now claiming responsibility for the attack in the champs-elyseées. they're claiming responsibility for a couple hours after this gunman opened fire with what we believe was a kalashnikov on police officers who were sitting in a van near the champs-elyseées, which is the main boulevard through paris. the latest information we have is one policemen have been killed, two have been wounded. the gunman himself was shot dead. he was known to the authorities. police have been carrying out a raid on his home to find out more information. the french president, francois

holland has called a meeting of his security chiefs to work out what the implications are for this attack, and it's of the utmost importance for this country because it's going in three days time and intentions are extremely high. >> sreenivasan: two important pieces of context, one, there was an attack a while ago. you were out with a candidate at a rally when that happened. >> there was a raid on a couple of men in marseille. the police were made aware that an attack was imminent, and they arrested two islamists who have proclaimed loyalty through the slowmic state. they seized a bunch of weapons, the whole of ammunition, and they may have been going into court, and the fear was that they were going to attack one of the candidates. at the time that these arrests were made, i was down in the city of dijon where the hard left candidate was speaking.

what he was trying to say to french people was that these people were criminals, that people should not be afraid, that there should be vigorous debate and that the freedom of the french people should not be impinged by this, but nevertheless, this particular shooting, and also those arrests in marseille have shown that the islamists are serious, that they perhaps want to disrupt this election process, and so that's going to be making people extremely nervous on sunday when they put their ballots in the boxes, but the police and the army are basically saying that there will be about 50,000 people out on the streets of paris alone to try to make sure that this goes off as smoothly as possible. >> sreenivasan: all right, malcolm brabant joining us live from paris tonight. thank you so much. in the day's other news, the president renewed his attack on iran, and the nuclear deal struck in 2015. at a white house news conference

with italy's prime minister, he called it a "terrible agreement" and sharply criticized tehran. >> they are not living up to the spirit of the agreement i can tell you that. and we're analyzing it very, very carefully. and we'll have something to say about it in the not too distant future. but iran has not lived up to the spirit of the agreement and they have to do that. >> sreenivasan: earlier this week, the administration told congress iran is complying, at least technically, with the terms of the deal. in russia, the supreme court today banned the jehovah's witnesses after the government labeled them an extremist group. russia is home to more than 170,000 jehovah's witnesses. they've been the target of a crackdown, but they say they'll appeal the court's decision. human rights watch calls it a blow to religious freedom in russia. general motors has halted operations in venezuela after its factory there was seized by the socialist government. it's the latest in a series of such incidents. in a statement, the auto maker said it "strongly rejects the arbitrary measures... and will vigorously take all legal actions... to defend its

rights." vice president pence today praised indonesia as a land of democracy and tolerance, in the latest stop on his asian tour. he held talks with president joko widodo in jakarta, and said the world's most populous muslim nation is an "inspiration to the world". >> as the second and third largest democracies in the world, our two countries share many common values-- including freedom, the rule of law, human rights, and religious diversity. the united states is proud to partner with indonesia to promote and protect these values, the birthright of all people. >> sreenivasan: the visit came a day after islamic conservatives in jakarta defeated the minority christian governor in his re- election bid. he's already on trial for blasphemy against the koran. back in this country, more than 21,000 drug convictions are being thrown out, in massachusetts. the state's highest court formally approved the move today, the largest single

dismissal in american history. a former state drug lab chemist had been accused of tampering with evidence and falsifying drug tests. president trump has ordered an investigation into whether imported steel from china and elsewhere is hurting national security. he signed the directive, with executives from u.s. steel makers looking on. the results of the probe could let him curb steel imports, under a 1960's trade law. and, on wall street, stocks rallied on upbeat earnings reports. the dow jones industrial average gained 174 points to close at 20,578. the nasdaq rose 53 points, and the s&p 500 added 17. still to come on the newshour: business ties between the trump administration and large corporations. the russia file: documents reveal russian plans to influence the u.s. election. news dvisions-- stark contrasts between where conservative and liberal americans get their news, and much more.

>> sreenivasan: now, how behind- the-scenes moves by a pair of corporate giants are raising red flags about the trump administration. companies routinely advocate and lobby every day on behalf of their business and shareholders. sometimes those matters are not important only about corporate profits, but to the economic livelihoods of workers and communities. but moves by exxon-mobil and dow chemical are fueling scrutiny about corporate influence within the trump administration. april 2012: rex tillerson, then c.e.o. of exxon-mobil, visits moscow, wrapping up a deal with the russian state oil company rosneft. it calls for investing up to $500 billion to hunt for oil in the arctic ocean and black sea. >> i'd like to thank you for the warm welcome and it is a historic day for exxon mobil and rosneft.

>> sreenivasan: but two years later, the drilling venture was blocked when the u.s. imposed sanctions on russia, over its annexation of crimea from ukraine. now, exxon-mobil is asking the trump administration to let the black sea part of the project go forward. tillerson, in his new role as secretary of state, says he'll do just as he promised during his confirmation hearing. >> as to any issues involving exxon-mobil that might come before me if confirmed as secretary of state, i would excuse myself from those issues. >> sreenivasan: but his past ties to exxon-mobil mean the request is certain to draw extra scrutiny. moreover, russia's meddling in the 2016 election remains a hot issue in washington. republican senator john mccain of arizona, for one, voiced disbelief about the news yesterday. in a tweet, he asked, "are they crazy?" at the same time, dow chemical is asking the new administration not to impose new curbs on three widely used insecticides. they are: diazinon, malathion and chlorpyrifos.

the associated press reports dow wants the government to set aside federal studies that found the chemicals may be harmful to about 1,800 threatened or endangered species. the companies argue the studies are fundamentally flawed. environmental advocates say there's no such thing as "perfect" lab conditions. >> you can't just take an endangered fish, an endangered salmon out of the wild, take it to the lab and then expose it to enough pesticides until it dies to get that sort of data you need. it's wrong morally, it's illegal. >> sreenivasan: the environmental protection agency says only that it's "reviewing petitions as they come in, giving careful consideration to sound science and good policymaking." as with exxon, dow's influence will be an issue. the company contributed a million dollars to president trump's inaugural activities. and in february, when mr. trump signed an executive order on rolling back regulations, dow's c.e.o. was at his side.

let's look into some of the questions being raised about each of these examples. jay solomon broke the news about exxon-mobil in the "wall street journal." and norman eisen is a former special counsel to president obama. his expertise is government ethics. jay, let me start with you. what effects? >> the arctic and the black sea are the most sought after, pioneer spots for oil exploration, and, you know, for the future earnings for the growth of the business, this is seen as kind of one of the last great places to explore. >> sreenivasan: how much money are we talking about here? how significant is this potential? >> i mean, president putin, when they announced the deal in 2012, said it could be as much as $500 billion in investment and huge amounts of oil and gas is in that region. >> sreenivasan: is it typical for these types of exceptions to be asked for on humanitarian grounds and other reasons? >> there are if you look in iran or burma as the obama administration was kind of

pursuing their policies, there were exemptions grantedded for humanitarian or technology reasons, but an issue like this that is politically charged with this much money with a country like russia, it's pretty unusual you'd see a waiver granted. >> rex tillerson, a former head of exxon has recused himself for two years. >> yes, he has. ultimately the decision on the waiver is made by an office in the treasury department, but because of the national security and foreign policy implications, the state department, probably some of the intelligence agencies, it's a broader issue, but obviously when tillerson got this job, the question was immediately asked, you know, how will your previous job impact the issue of exxon, and it's tricky, and already you see republicans and democrats saying, not just because of tillerson, but because of the concerns about russia's hacking of the election and the other investigations that this is not going to get political support.

>> sreenivasan: norman eisen, what about the idea that rex tillerson says he will recuse himself. isn't that the kind of safeguard we have in place to make sure nothing untoward happens? >> well, i think it's important that mr. tillerson recuse himself and he is to be applauded for doing that and for making a complete break with exxon, but that doesn't solve all the problems here. exxon gave 500,000 dollars to mr. trump's inaugural. there's an enormous cloud around russia, not just the violations of national borders and sovereignty that led to these sanctions, but also the violations of our democratic norms. there can be no doubt that they interfered in the election. the only question now is whether mr. trump or those around him knew of it or were involved in it. so granting sanctions waiver here just is not called for.

>> sreenivasan: norm eisen, a lot of times it's the proximity and ajaci si of facts that leads up to different conclusions. until there is a smoking gun or a trail of evidence, are we prejudging? >> i think it's very important not to prejudge, but at the same time, it's clear now there's a consensus, an intelligence community consensus, we've just seen documents from a government think-tank in russia demonstrating an interference in our elections. what we can describe as an act of gray war by doing this. it's an extraordinary hostility against the united states, and there's substantial indications that there have been contacts by those who were in and around mr. trump. there's very substantial evidence that raises serious questions here, and that goes to the political climate for this sanctions waiver. i don't think it's going to be granted.

>> sreenivasan: jay solomon, you mentioned the political climate here. what kind of support or lack of support is there when you have senator mccain tweeting, "are you crazy" in the case of exxon? >> i think it's tough. i think exxon's argument is, you know, we have to basically start drilling by the end of this year or we're going to lose this concession, and if we don't get it, the european companies that are already starting to mobilize in this area, they've been granted some waivers from the european union to pursue this, so, you know, if we don't get, this it's going to be developed, you know, anyway, and american jobs and money is going to be hurt. that's what they're going to argue, but i also agree, it's going to be very difficult to gin up political support in an environment where russia, whether it's the hacking or the act situations of collusion or ukraine, it's just... they have not given president trump anything to work with either, the russians, so i agree, i think it would be very difficult for the trump administration to get political support.

>> sreenivasan: norm eisen, do you have different concerns about the issues with dow? >> well, mercifully, dow is not accused of any improper assault on our democracy, but we do have an even larger political contribution to the trump inauguration, $1 million from dow. you have the dow c.e.o., who is seen at mr. trump's side. he has extraordinary access in the white house, chairs a group that advises mr. trump, was there when mr. trump signed his executive order relating to cutting back regulation, and now you have dow's request to set aside the science, the u.s. government has made scientific findings about these organo phosphates and the harms they cause to, set aside that science and relieve regulation.

it doesn't smell right. >> sreenivasan: norm eisen, how different is this from the revolving door that people so hate about washington, that people come right out of government, go right into the private sector, and then oftentimes right back in if the administration changes? >> the problem with the trump white house is that they removed the revolving door and just threw it open and it's being flooded with corporate executives who are coming in with lobbyists. they removed the lobbying ban that president obama had in his executive order, and everybody believes that business has to have a seat at the table, has to be on a level table, though. the problem is it appears that the table is tilted to disproportionatery favor business as a special interest, beyond the public interest, and so that is worrying. it's in a way worse than the revolving door. >> sreenivasan: norm eisen and jay solomon from the "wall

street journal," thank you both. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: there is news in the russia file new documents reveal plans for russia to influence the u.s. presidential election. william brangham has that report. >> brangham: reuters reported today that a think tank controlled by the russian government wrote up detailed plans how to swing the 2016 u.s. election toward donald trump. in two different papers, the think tank urged the use of social media and russian backed media to also undermine americas faith in its electoral system. for more on these developments, i'm joined now by ned parker, he's one of the reporters who broke the story. and john sipher, he served 28 years in the c.i.a.'s clandestine service, including time in russia and eastern europe. he's now with a consulting firm called crosslead. welcome to you both. ned parker, i'd like the start with you. can you tell us a little bit more? what is it you found?

what did you report today. >> right. well, we found there are two documents drafted by an in-house policy shop for the kremlin that reports back to president vladimir putin, and this organization is also headed by a former foreign intelligence service officers. this organization called the russian institute for strategic studies drafted two reports last year, one in june, and one in october. the first in june talked about how do you influence the u.s. electorate through media and social media campaign, to overturn the policies of then-president obama and promote, persuade the u.s. public to choose a new u.s. administration that would promote policies beneficial to both russia and the united states. >> and, ned, staying with you for a second, is this evidence, is this in line with what u.s. intelligence agencies believe the russians did, in fact, do during the election? >> right. i think that's the significance of these documents.

they came in after the election. the second document, which is from october, talked about how hillary clinton was likely to win the election, so it made sense for change of tact in terms of propaganda, and rather than work for her defeat and a new administration under donald trump, intend they should push for a weak clinton administration and to bring questions about the integrity of the u.s. electoral process through different media and social media information packets. now, getting these two documents after the election, it sort of crystallized what the u.s. already knew about motive and intent, including the hacking, for instance, which there was forensics all over the place linking the hacking of the dnc and the clint campaign to russia's military intelligence. >> sreenivasan: john sipher, you worked against and for the

russians, does this conform to how they operate? >> certainly it does. this institute was an internal part of the former k.g.b. >> sreenivasan: this is not a separate think-tank? >> no, it was an internal analytical unit which then separated and tied itself to the presidential administration headed by long-time serving k.g.b. officers. in fact, the head of it now was the head of the s.v.r., their external intelligence service. >> sreenivasan: is this the kind of evidence that gave u.s. intelligence agencies the confidence to say, we think russia did medal in the elections? >> i think this is another piece in that puzzle certainly. i don't think it's a big surprise. president putin hardly needed this group to tell him by june of 2016 that he should start trying to influence the election or to, you know, find candidate that was pro-russian when we already by that time all of us sort of knew that. however, i think... i do think this is part and parcel of a longer effort that we see now in

europe. the russians are now trying to influence elections in germany and russia and bulgaria and the man who ran this institute is tied to possible efforts to assassinate the montenegrin prime minister in montenegro, which may be why he lost his job in january. >> sreenivasan: ned parker, in these two documents, as you've discovered them, was there any mention of wikileaks or the computer hacking that intelligence agencies also believe the russians were involved in? >> no, there is no mention of wikileaks or the hacking, but i think you have to see these as they were described to myself and my colleagues, john wolcott and john landday. they were described as part and parcel of a campaign some the kremlin is a very top-down, authoritarian culture, so when these documents passed around, they only reinforced what everyone knew to do. so when you actually started to see the wikileaks dump happening, the russian

affiliated media outlets, like u.s.... like russia today and sputnik and the troll factories outside of st. petersburg that pump news out on twitter and other outlets on the internet, they were able to amplify the voice and the reach of the hacked, stolen materials from the clint campaign and the dnc. so they reinforced each other. >> sreenivasan: john sipher, is it really that easy for the russian government to say, you three news agencies start pumping out stories that are anti-clint or protrump. is that... is it that obvious? >> it's funny because in my time in government, especially in the last year, we often talked about an all of government approach, if we're going into afghanistan, all of our agencies have to work together. we've never been as good at it as the russians because that's a centralized state. so, yes, they do a very good job

of a coordinated approach the use diplomatic intelligence, military and political power at once. i'm not surprised at all by this. >> sreenivasan: ned, you heard john mention earlier that the concern obviously is that the russians did it to us back in 2016. we have elections coming up in france and elsewhere in europe. did the intelligence officials that you talked with for this reporting, did they give you any sense that they believe that the russians are going to be involved in those elections, as well? >> i think that's sort of an open secret. you look at france, and marine le pen makes no secret of her affection for russia. so i think that's seen as part and parcel for the course. >> sreenivasan: john sipher, one last question before you go. i understanding there is also reporting about a mole hunt going on within the c.i.a. right now. from your time in the c.i.a., what can you tell us about that in. >> that's unfortunate. any organization or enterprise has to worry about the insider threat, and this includes the

c.i.a. in my time in government, we've caught spies. almost always in that case, it is an intelligence source of ours that lead us to find out who that person is. so i wish them the best of luck in figuring this out, and hopefully they can find out who it is before too long certainly. >> sreenivasan: all right. john sipher, ned parker of reuters, thank you both very much for being here. >> thanks. >> sreenivasan: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: making sense of the airline industry's turbulent business. a new title from the newshour bookshelf-- "locking up our own: crime and punishment in black america." and a brief but spectacular take on discovering yourself. but first, the ouster of bill o'reilly from the fox news channel is an earthquake inside the conservative news media machine that many say over the years, has contributed to the

polarization of america. tonight, we look at one aspect of the 'two americas'-- what we're calling "news divisions." we return to white house correspondent john yang, who went to arizona recently to examine how people get their news, and the impact that has on how they see the world. >> yang: marcus huey, ken block and delia salvatierra all live in the phoenix area and call themselves news junkies. but that's where the similarity ends. their sources of news are as different as their politics. salvatierra is a democrat who voted for hillary clinton. >> the "new york times," the "washington post," cnn and the "new yorker" are sort of the foundational things that i surround myself with. >> yang: huey is a republican who voted for president trump. >> i would say anything that comes out of fox, i pretty much take to the bank. if something comes from laura ingraham, i pretty much take

that to the bank. >> yang: and block, an independent, voted for libertarian candidate gary johnson. >> i kind of bounce all over the board. i have twitter and a news feed on my phone so you know, i take a little bit of everything. >> yang: none of that surprises thom reilly, director of the non-partisan morrison institute for public policy at arizona state university. he's one of the authors of new a study examining where voters get both news and commentary. >> voters today basically have this cafeteria type format where they can choose from personalized news sources that not only serve to inform them but reinforces their world view. we want to hear stuff we believe in particularly in a very polarized world. so i do think we're seeing this, people hurrying back to where they feel safe. >> yang: the researchers found that the proliferation of news

sources on cable tv and the internet has upended the relationship between news outlets and their audiences: instead of voters being shaped by news, reilly says news is being shaped for voters. >> what we're seeing is that particularly with a lot of internet sources, they're appealing to a base, and they're attracting a wide audience and it's growing. and they're responding to what voters want instead of vice versa. >> yang: it used to be that politicians and candidates would appeal to a base but now you're saying that news outlets are appealing to their base? >> and they're shaping it, yeah, yeah. >> yang: democrat salvatierra grew up in a conservative, republican household and found her own brand of politics in college at the university of california, berkeley. she now runs her own immigration and criminal law practice. >> i think the press has become increasingly important and i think once the new administration attacked certain

organizations as fake news, it only empowered me to listen to those news organizations even more. and whereas before i could flip back and forth between maybe fox news and cnn, i don't trust fox news because it is so overwhelmingly endorsed by the administration. >> yang: but you're deliberately seeking out opinions, commentary that reinforce your views? >> i do that naturally. i wish that i could tolerate watching fox news a little bit more but i can't because it's usually the same time that i'm watching anderson cooper or don lemon and they're asking legitimate questions, they're pushing the envelope and they're asking the questions that are aligned with my views. >> yang: huey, the republican in our mix, is a retired small business owner.

he and his wife lorri view the world through a very different news prism. >> i try to get up a little before 7:00. i'm in the breakfast room and i have fox news on. i have the "wall street journal" down in front of me and i have my iphone next to me. and if there's no breaking urgent news on the tv, then the first thing i do is i'll go check my phone, look through my facebook wall to see if there's anything i might have missed through the night. >> yang: you said whatever you hear from laura ingraham and fox you feel confident in? >> i have a track record and history with them and i feel they haven't really let me down that often. breitbart, i feel good about it but if it's some kind of startling headline, i might hold back and look for other opinions. cnn and msnbc, i feel it might not be fake news but, i feel

that those organizations unfortunately they would like to see trump be a one term president so they may be >> yang: block, an uber and lyft driver, says he voted libertarian last year as a default. >> the thing i'm most pleased with is the fact that hillary clinton didn't get into the white house. that was my concern. i couldn't vote for trump at the time, no, and i don't know if i could now. >> yang: a self-described cynic, block grew up in a democratic household and became the "black sheep" republican. with what he calls "the "recent political circus", he declared himself an independent. while he drives, he prefers a right-leaning talk radio station, and at home cnn and nbc news both in the morning. and back at dinner time. his smartphone, with his twitter account, is never far away. he is an equal-opportunity

critic when it comes to some of the news sources most frequently mentioned by voters in the arizona state/morrison institute study: who do you distrust the most? >> wolf blitzer. >> yang: why? >> he has just become more of a grandstander than anything else. everything is breaking news, every day, every moment, everything can't be breaking news. it's not possible. >> yang: do you watch fox? >> not so much anymore. i felt that was one-sided more so than the combination of all the other outlets. i guess there was an element of distrust. as citizens we don't know what we don't know. we're only given so much information. >> yang: how do these three voters, with their selected sources for news, view one current big story? do you believe that the russians tried to interfere with the election? >> does suspicion around this

issue remain? absolutely. >> do i believe they tried to influence the election for donald trump? that seems like a stretch. you have the clintons who have received tens of millions of dollars personally or through their foundation from the russians. so in my mind, i would think that if putin has somebody to be cheering for, it would be hillary clinton. >> i believe that they did. i don't know if it's to the extent they are being accused of, but i believe that they did. >> yang: the a.s.u./morrison institute study found that independents like block can help bridge' the "alternative realities" of polarized partisans. >> if you talk to different people, you're open to different ideas that perhaps on a larger national scale can lead to more compromise. >> yang: as he drives his customers, block says sometimes

the best way to ¡get along' is simply to ¡switch the channel.' >> a lot of time my customers have just gotten off a plane and they'll hear something that just happened and say oh, turn it up, turn it up. or conversely, they'll say, ¡i have been listening to that all day, can you please turn that off. can we have some music?' >> yang: if they can agree on that... for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in phoenix. >> sreenivasan: the airline industry and its business model have been in the crosshairs of late, particularly since the united airlines story captured worldwide attention. many travelers have been asking: just how do airlines make money and do those profits come at the expense of passenger comfort and convenience? our economics correspondent, paul solman, has been exploring the turbulent business of aviation.

it's part of his weekly reporting on making sense of economic news. >> reporter: the whole world was watching-- watching united airlines last week, as its skies proved a lot less friendly than advertised. but a flight we took recently had a much happier ending: no passenger was bloodied and dragged from the plane, which took off from tiny windsor locks, connecticut and landed barely five hours later in dublin, ireland, for an affordable $549 round trip, including four-day hotel stay for some of the passengers. there's a larger theme of our story, however: that an industry notorious for losing money has been making it, hand over fist, at the expense of often helpless consumers. but that competition may be on the verge of rescuing us at long last. >> the president was kind enough to put knots in this twine. >> reporter: aer lingus c.e.o. stephen kavanagh keeps an old

globe gifted to his predecessor in the 1960s by the president of ireland. >> the first knot being based in ireland and the second knot was the technical range at the time. and his ambition was that ireland would become a gateway point. and 50 years later, we believe we're delivering on that ambition. >> reporter: now, aer lingus wasn't exactly a cash cow as a government service. aer lingus was owned by the irish government up until when? >> 2006. >> reporter: and it lost money in all that time, right? >> yes. well most, most of the time, yes. >> reporter: when i told sophisticated business people that i was doing this story, they said, oh airlines, an industry that always in the end loses money. so are you just in a up phase of what eventually is going to be a down industry? >> there's no doubt that the business is cyclical. and there's no doubt that that industry over many years has had

difficulty in returning its cost of capital to shareholders. >> reporter: by difficulty, you mean it hasn't. >> it hasn't. >> reporter: but smaller, fuel- efficient planes can now reach well beyond the knot on that¡ 60s string. indeed, these are boom times for airlines, and not just aer lingus. what explains the turnaround? the answer demands a bit of ancient history, and ancient footage as well. for decades, governments, including the u.s., strictly regulated fares and routes, if they didn't own the carriers outright. fares worldwide were high; routes, plentiful; planes, often half-empty. but profits were rare to nonexistent. then, in 1977, president jimmy carter anointed cornell economist alfred kahn to deregulate. >> it's the greatest thing i ever did in my life, other than have children. >> reporter: kahn thought market forces would bring air travel to all. he didn't worry much about profits. when i visited him in ithaca,

new york in 2003, he was proud of his legacy. >> what i did has been extraordinarily beneficial to millions and millions and millions of people every year who couldn't afford to travel, who now can visit their grandparents, which now strikes home to me, go home for vacation from college, who caavel and indeed be tourists. >> reporter: but a key part of kahn's plan never materialized: antitrust enforcement. thus deregulation spurred a wave of mergers, speeded up when business was walloped by 9/11 and then the crash of '08. bankruptcies abounded. today, the u.s. fleet has shrunk to just four main carriers, which control 80% plus of the u.s. market. no wonder passengers are at the mercy of the major airlines: flights, jam-packed; routes, slashed; service to smaller airports, dumped.

yes, fares have dipped, but costs have dipped more, thanks to new planes, cheap fuel, do-it ourselves software, union work outsourced to contract workers. meanwhile, fees have so metastasized here in the u.s., one low-cost airline now differentiates itself by mocking them. >> on southwest airlines, we don't charge fees on stuff that should be free. >> reporter: u.s. airlines alone made an estimated $20 billion last year. fees accounted for an estimated $3.8 billion, itinerary change charges, another $3 billion. selling miles to credit card companies has been estimated to bring in upwards of $10 billion more. hey, even southwest is now under pressure to impose fees to increase profits. in justifying the profits of aer lingus, which itself has merged with british airways and iberia, c.e.o. kavanagh might as well be speaking for the industry as a

whole: it has achieved "greater efficiency." so your story is we finally figured out how to do it right. is that true? >> we have figured out what you need to manage. >> airlines are extremely profitable at this juncture. >> reporter: kevin dillon runs connecticut'rport authority. with only four carriers dominating the domestic market, he has to pay to bring new business to his underserved airport. >> our passengers out of this catchment area for many, many years have driven down to new york or driven up to logan. >> reporter: connecticut offered $13 million dollars in cash and guarantees. but they still had to bribe you to get you to do this. >> well if what you're referring to is that we're getting support from the airport and from connecticut, yeah, it's, it's helpful. as it was we put a lot of commercial risk into launching a route. the fact that they would share some of the risk we think is totally fair. >> reporter: spokesman declan

kearney stressed that aer lingus too is making an investment: $50 million dollars in equipment; crew and fuel costs; promotion. but the bottom line is that the profits from overbooked flights, infuriating fees and cheaper costs are luring competitors once more. no-frills norwegian airlines began flying to the balmy isle of guadeloupe from new york and boston for $69. norwegian is about to start flying to scotland from connecticut. as we flew affordably to dublin. as we enjoy a brief pub interlude, remember the advantages of competition, on flights to dublin or anywhere else: low fares, no fees, comfy planes from which no one is in danger of forcible removal. because of the profits that beckon. and one last time, why the profits?

two main reasons, claims c.e.o. kavanagh. >> one, there has been some level of consolidation in north america where it's possible for airlines as businesses to generate sustainable levels of profitability. and the other is capital is more disciplined. >> reporter: investors are more disciplined in that they now demand immediate profits or simply sell their airline stocks, he means. but maybe the discipline in north america is just consolidation, right? i mean it may be that if there were more vigorous pursuit of antitrust in america, you would have more competitors competing on price and then airlines wouldn't be making any money again. and thus kavanagh's answer to this question may be the moral of this story. >> that is undeniably true. if you have full freedom of access to a market, where

capital is cheap, where there isn't a discipline of a return, then that isn't a stable market. and in airlines, no business in that type of environment is capable of generating sustainable return. >> reporter: which would suggest that once competition hits full throttle, we consumers may again be flying high; the airline industry, coming back down to earth. for the pbs newshour, paul solman, reporting from dublin, ireland, and 15 miles north of hartford, connecticut. >> sreenivasan: now, race, crime and imprisonment. that's the focus of the newest addition to the newshour bookshelf. jeffrey brown has that. >> brown: mass incarceration and its devastating effect on black americans and neighborhoods. it's a subject that's attracted much attention in books and policy circles in the last decade. a new take on the issue comes in

the book "locking up our own; crime and punishment in black america" based in part on the experience of author james foreman, jr. as a public defender in washington, d.c. foreman is now a professor at yale law school and joins me now, welcome to you. >> thank you. >> brown: let me pick up on that experience of being a public defender, what did you see there that made you rethink the story of mass incarceration? >> well, i went into the job because i viewed this as the civil rights issue of my generation. one in three black men under criminal justice supervision. and when i got to local courts of washington, d.c. what i saw was case after case with african-american judges, prosecutors, bailiffs-- d.c. has a significant african-american representation in operation of this criminal justice system and that system was very harsh. i had one case where a judge before locking up my clients lectured him on martin luther king. he said, "martin luther king fought and died for your generation to be free and you're

out here messing it up, carrying a gun, getting high, disrespecting your family and the neighborhood." so that's the thing that really told me there was a story here. >> brown: you know a number of books and thinkers have looked as this over the last number of years, mass incarceration through the lens on institutional racism, right? even a continuation of the history of slavery in this country. are you challenging the story? filling it in? what do you see yourself doing here? >> no, i think that story is correct and powerful and urgent. so what i see what i'm doing is adding to it, because there's a part of the story that we haven't focused on yet. and it's the part of the story of this generation of african- american decision makers that came in at the end of the civil rights movement and took office, became police chiefs, became prosecutors, became judges, what were they doing during these-- >> brown: became the attorney general, you talk about eric holder. >> absolutely, who was-- >> brown: give us, give us an example, though, i mean, of what, of- of, a specific example like holder. >> well, okay, so somebody like eric holder comes in as the u.s.

attorney for the district of columbia in the early 1990's and he gives a big speech where he says "crime and violence are destroying our communities." he says, "the black people of d.c. are no more free than the black people of selma, alabama were in 1955. but what's keeping us down, what's keeping us locked inside is crime and violence and criminal gangs." so in response to that he promoted a program called operation ceasefire where police would stop cars on any pretext, of a minor traffic violation, speeding, tinted windows, you name it, because they wanted to search those cars for guns. >> brown: so with good intentions, best intentions, of protecting the black community, but you're suggesting all of that helped foment what's come in the mass incarcerations. >> exactly. i mean, the story, my story is a tragedy, right, because it is a story of best intentions in many cases. you have people, often they

don't-- part of-- part of the story that people didn't know what was going to happen next. so in the 1970's, they chose not to decriminalize marijuana. that was a big debate in d.c. at the time, and when they didn't do it and they said, "well, it's not that big of a deal if we don't decriminalize marijuana because nobody's really going to prison, no one's losing their job for a marijuana conviction"" but then later in the '80's and in the '90's we passed laws that said you can't get a student loan, you can't get public housing, you can't get a job if you have a marijuana conviction. so a decision they made at time a, later turns out to have these devastating effects. >> brown: so, when and why did these attitudes change? or- or have they shifted sufficiently? >> well they've shifted in part. so i think the big thing that's happened in the last few years, the black lives matter movement, is a part of this, important writers like michelle alexander and bryan stevenson and ta- nahesi coates have really promoted this issue.

and attitudes in the black community have started to change as people more and more see mass incarceration as a racial justice issue. but, one thing that hasn't changed is we still don't really talk about people who have committed violent crimes. when we say we're going to try to reduce mass incarceration, our whole focus so far has been on non-violent drug offenders. and i argue in the book, that's not going far enough. >> brown: why is it important to recognize the role of african- americans in bringing about mass incarceration. you know? why- why is it important to fill in or tell the story, take the story further the way you have? >> well part of it honestly is, you know, i'm just that kind of person who, if i go to a movie and there's no black characters, somebody asks me at the end of the movie, "what did you think about it?" i say, "well, it was okay but there were, there were no- where were the black characters?" i mean, i think that black people have been central to every part of american history, and so i don't want to watch a movie, i don't want to read a

book, i don't want to study history that doesn't show the role that african-americans were playing. so that to me is really at a basic level the number one reason, but it's also because, factually, we were there, right? in d.c. in atlanta. in memphis. in los angeles. in chicago. in new york. you have substantial african- american representation and i just don't think we can write us out of the picture. >> brown: let me ask you finally, i mean we started with a personal story, you as a public defender talking about the unfinished work of the civil rights movement. you're also the son of a very prominent civil rights leader, james foreman. connect the dots for me, the kind of work as a public defender but, more importantly the mass incarceration problem now to the civil rights movement. how do you see it? >> well, they have this similarity. both of them, that is to say jim crow and mass incarceration, both have led to a whole part of the population being locked out

of opportunity by being defined by a certain status, either your race or the fact that you have a criminal conviction. and that means you can't get a job, you can't get public housing, you can't get student loans, you can't live freely as an american citizen. and so i think really what the civil rights movement was about was finding the most acute thing that was harming black people which at the time as jim crow and responding. and i see the movement to fight mass incarceration in much the same way today. >> brown: all right, the new book is "locking up our own; crime and punishment in black america" james foreman, jr. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: next, another installment of brief but spectacular, where we ask interesting people to describe their passions. tonight, we hear from illustrator catia chien on what it means to create from the inside out. her latest picture book is

"things to do." >> when i was growing up i didn't actually have bedtime stories or anything like that. i grew up in a pretty dysfunctional family. there was a lot of emotional upheaval. what i did grow up with was comics. comic books really gave me a way out of that loneliness. so there's this comic book character named monica. it was a constant that i had in my life that i could read stories about monica and her friends. and you know, i thought that if i grew up and i could do that for another child, like that would be worthwhile. i definitely feel that i didn't, i wasn't seen when i was a child and even coming here as a, as an english was, you know, it was difficult for me to speak, and ah, that was when i really connected with the value of art and expression. there is a sense of wanting to find belonging when you have experiences of being an outsider and wanting to create something that feels really true to yourself because you're

constantly comparing yourself to something else and it doesn't quite match. the process of creating from the inside out is really a process of mattering, you know, of when i teach a lot of students ask me what do you use, what is your tool, and stuff like that. it goes much deeper than that. it goes into: who are you? what do you actually want to say? what matters to you? and then from that place there's, everything is possible. you will find a way to get it out. one of the best things that i things that i do with the kids is that i say, let's all close our eyes and all pretend, you know, to be an illustrator. i guide them through a series of, you know, visual things that they're experiencing through their imagination, right? so when i did a boy and a jaguar, i had them experience the jungle, they jump into a lake and then they look in the lake and then what's reflected back to them is the face of a jaguar. there was this kid in the back, in the back of the room that was really loud and rowdy, didn't want anything to do with me, i had the kids raise their hand and tell me what they felt. and he raised his hand and he said, 'i didn't know that i could go there.'

that's the meaning of empathy, the act of creating a story, a story that's not your own that you can step inside of, that's empathy. my family in terms of how they've responded to my work, it's so, it's so practical, you know, it has to do with like is that paying you? i have long ago understood that that's not, that's really not where the gold is. you know, you'll chase that forever and then at the end of your life you think, like what have i done. the feeling of actually belonging, it's self-created. like you actually can create so for me, like being an outsider and arriving at the process of creating something from the inside out, it's really just a validation of existing. and it matters that we add to the conversation so it's not just one voice that's being told in picture books, it matters. my name is catia chien, and this is my brief but spectacular take on creating from the inside out. >> sreenivasan: find more of our brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that's the newshour for

and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in iraq and afghanistan. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here, in silence, is one more. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm hari sreenivasan. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening for an exclusive interview with the secretary general of the united nations and a preview of the french elections. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

boom! hello, i'm julia child. welcome to my house. what fun we're going to have baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads right here in my own kitchen. esther mcmanus, the talented french patissiere who runs lebus bakeries in philadelphia shows us how to make croissants-- you know those wonderful buttery french crescent rolls.