geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. tonight on “pbs news weekend,” democrats keep control of the senate, while the house hangs in the balance. lisa desjardins breaks down the latest election results. then, the climate crisis takes center stage at a u.n. summit in egypt as world leaders turn their climate commitments into action. and, our weekend spotlight with media titan byron allen about how he forged a path for himself and broke barriers in the world of show business. byron: i own one of the largest privately held media companies in the world. 100%. why? because i'm black, and i could not find investors. that's a big problem for a lot of black entrepreneurs. geoff: all that and the day's headlines on tonight's "pbs news weekend."

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadsting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening. it's good to be with you. we start tonight with news that democrats will keep their majority in the u.s. senate. last night in nevada, incumbent senator catherine cortez-masto was declared the wner in her race against republican adam laxalt. and with 50 seats secured in the senate now, democrats still have a chance to add to their majority in georgia's runoff election next month. for more on what this will mean for congress and the biden agenda, we turn to our lisa desjardins. it is great to have u here. lisa, we've heard from president biden and from senate majority leader chuck schumer. what does retaining senate control mean for the party and their agenda? lisa: practically and means the next few months of lame-duck

will be a lot easier for everyone. democrats feel they do not have to rush through the rest of their agenda before possible change of power because they will stay in power. in addition, they believe this helps them in georgia. let's look at where that race stands. you can see raphael warnock winning by about 35,000 votes, but everyone knows it is going a runoff. democrats think not only does this help them for momentum for that runoff and is ever, but it takes away motivation for republicans. no longer can he say to voters in georgia that ey will change the senate because it will not. so democrats feel even better now about the race in georgia. geoff: speaking of, senate gop leaders are pushing forward with plans to hold leadership elections this coming week, even as a number of republicans are calling for a delay given their underwhelming rformance in the midterms. lisa: right now those republican

leadership elections are still scheduled for wednesday. so far there is no viable alternative to mitch mcconnell. we will keep watching this but i think this is classic finger-pointing. there will be a robust family discussion. i hear but i do not see a threat to mitch mcconnell right now. geoff: what's the latest wh the house count? as i understand it, democrats still have a slim path to the majority even though ballot countirends favor the republican party. lisa: these are races called by the ap. democrats have 204 seats, republicans have11. 20 seats are remaining and they are split right now in who is winning. as it stands right now, republicans would get about 221 seats. but these are mostly california races, very slow, and it has a lot of implications. kevin mccarthy, the top republicann the house right

now, has the votes to be speaker. it is close. we are still waiting to see exactly who will lead. geoff: lisa, as always, great to see you. turning now to the day's other headlines, turkish officials say six people are dead, and at least 80 more are injured, following a large explosion in the heart of istanbul. security footage captured the blast and its immeate aftermath. officials fear the death toll could rise. the cause of the explosion is unclear, but turkey's president has called the deadly incident an attack. and back here at home, officials in dallas confirm that a mid-air collision at an air show yesterday killed six people. both of the planes were world war ii-era, one, a massive four-engine bomber. the faa and the ntsb have launed investigations. still to come on "pbs news weekend," we check in on the united nation's annual climate summit. and our weekend spotlight with media mogul, byron allen.

>> this is "pbs news weekend," from weta studios in washington, home of the "pbs newshour," weeknights on pbs. geoff: leading up to the midterms, many news outlets projecr matehojowegathine s ecfs voters' top concern. but democrats, so far, have defied predictions. as votes continue to be tallied, control of congress still hangs in the balance, but at a closer-than-expected margin. so what did the media get right and wrong in the 2022 midterm coverage, and what are some best practices moving forward? fothat, i spoke with margaret sullivan a former media columnist for "the washington post" and author of "newsroom confidential." so if we do a media postmortem on the midterms, there was this focus on this red wave that did not materialize.

part of that, i think, had to do with a misunderstanding of what polls can and can't do and what they should and should not do. but how should journalists think about the work that we do in an election year, capturing the mood of the electorate through inteiews and field reporting, analyzing quality polling data without leaving the audience with false presumptions. margaret: one thing i'm pretty sure we should stop doing is trying to predict the future, because we're so bad at it. and the polls, particularly individual polls, are often wrong or skewed. so i think that the field reporting is more important, and i think more than anything, getting across to our audiences and to citizens what the stakes of the elections are is the most important thing, to focus on the issues more and the horse race less. geoff: on the other hand, despite the best efforts by some on the right to sow distrust about the midterm elections, the integrity of the midterm elections, what we saw was an election that was peaceful. there was high turnout and there

were very few problems. a lot of that has to do with the fact that the mainstream press has gotten better about calling out election lies and conspiracy theories when they pop up. margaret: no question. and i think one of the things that the members of the news media did doell this time around is to prepare news consumers for the idea that there may not be a decision on election night. and that doesn't mean that the election was rigged. it just means it takes time. and so that message is getting through, but i do think it could be done with a little more oomph. geoff: let's talk more about that, because there were hundreds of election deniers who were elected. we expect the former president, donald trump, to announce a reelectionid this coming week. how should we think about covering people who say and do things that are objectively anti-democratic? margaret: we have to keep lling people what these newly elected officials stand for and that they are election deniers.

we need to tell people that they are lying about elections and whether they're talking about that issue right now, this is who they are. so we need to be very clear with people about not allowing that lie -- and it is a lie -- to be magnified and to be spread. but to counter it all the time. and that's hard to . it gives the sense that we're on somebody's side, and that's not really what's going on here. we're on the side of truth. geoff: do the old school journalism tenants still apply these days, do you think? margaret: i think they apply when they're about approaching a ory with the public's interest at heart and with impartiality and with fairness and accuracy. i don't think they stand up very well if we take everything down the middle and equate things that are true with things that are true or equate anti-democratic candidates with those who accept democratic norms. it's that kind of false neutrality or false equivalence

that we need to get rid of. up to the job of covering 2024? margaret: i'm not prepared to say that the press is not up to the job. i think that they should give a lot of thought to what has to happen now, and that leadership has to come from the top of news organizations and it has to be very directed. so i do see some positive signs, and i think we couldo a lot better. and i say we because i'm a member of the media too, we could all do a lot better. geoff: margaret sullivan is a former media columnist for "the washington post" and she's author of the new book "newsroom confidential." thanks so much for your time. margaret: thanks very much. geoff: for almost three decades, the united nations has held annual gatherings to discuss how to combat climate change. the major goal of stopping global temperature rise has remained elusive. and this year, there are other critical items are on the agenda.

this is all happening against the backdrop of host country egypt's record of human rights abuses. ali rogin has more. ali: the 27th u.n. climate summit, cop 27 is entering its final week in sharm el-sheikh, egypt. at the top of the agenda, figuring out who pays for the effects of climate change. developing nations want major industrialized countries to foot the bill as they bear the brunt of manmade climate change. this year's conference is also being held in the shadow of the host country's controversial human rights record. egypt has restricted protests during the conference, and human rights groups have criticized president abdel-fattah el-sisi for his continued imprisonment of activist allah abdel fatt. abdel fattah was a leader of the country's 2011 revolution, and he has been on a months-long hunger strike. joining us now from egypt is sarah kaplan, climate reporter for "the washington post." i want to pick up on that last point about human rights. what is the status right now of

all abdel fatah, who's in prison, and what can you tell us about the wider presence of protesters at this summit? sarah: yeah. he had been on a hunger strike. and at the start of the cop conference, he actually stopped drinking water. he believed that cop 27 and the eyes of the world was on egypt, was his best shot at getting release. and he has said that he wants freedom either through getting out of jail or through death. on thursday, the egyptian government medically intervened with his strike. so, it's forcibly providing him fluids. and it's definitely cast a pall over the whole climate conference. egypt has such tight restrictions on public demonstrations and public gatherings. there can be small protests inside the official conference venue, but there's none of the mass gatherings and mass demonstrations outside that we're used to seeing at a cop conference. ali: what were the expectations going into this year's cop and how have thosexpectations borne out during the first week of it?

sarah: at last year's cop in glasgow, nations agreed to take another crack at their climate pledges and try to irease their ambition. and coming into this year's conference, most countries have not done that. but then there was a sort of interesting development right at the very beginning of this cop, when a coalition of developing nations successfully pushed to have a new item added to the agenda on what's known as loss and damage. so, that's the irreversible harms of climate change that are disproportionately affecting developing nations. and they want to fund a dedicated fund that will be money from industrialized countries, wealthy countries that are responsible for the bulk of historical emissions. and it would help pay for some of the cost of natural disasters and sea level rise and prolonged droughts that lead to famine and these other escalating crises th we are seeing.

it's always met resistance from wealthy countries and the u.s. in particular, because there's this fear that loss and damage could lead to high emitters being held legally liable for the trillions of dollars of damage that climate change is expected to cause. and i think in part because climate disasters have just been so catastrophic this year, it's kind of pushed the issue to the point where wealthy countries just can't ignore it. ali: president biden just recently said he's announcing millions of dollars in initiatives related to loss and damages. and earlier this week, the u.s. climate envoy john kerry announced a program in which private companies and foundations are going to support developing nations through carbon offsets. how have those efforts been received? sarah: i think that the voluntary carbon market that secretary kerry announced earlier this week in particular has raised some eyebrows. i spoke with munir akram, who's the lead pakistani negotiator, and one thing he pointed out is

that this whole market is about providing carbon offsets to companies to help developing nations switch from coal fired power plants to renewable energy. and akram pointed out that a lot of these hard-hit developing nations don't have a huge power sector to begin with, so they're not going to be able to access that program because they don't have coal fired power plants to switch over. ali: sarah kaplan, climate reporter for "the washington post," joining us from sharm el-sheikh, egypt, at cop 27. thank you so much for your time. sarah: thanks. geoff: time now for our weekend spotlight with media mogul byron allen. chairman and ceo of entertainment studios, one of the largest privately held media companies in the world. byron allen has been a familiar face for decades. >> welcome to comics unleashed. geoff: as a standup comic, tv

host, and celebrity interviewer. >> we get personal with the biggest talent in the business. geoff: as he was building his entertainment career, he was also building an entertainment business. >> it is a category four hurricane. geoff: he now owns the weather channel, 36 local tv stations, and more than a dozen cable and streaming networks. >> you ready to do this? geoff: he also produces and distributes more than 60 syndicated tv shows. >> sometimes we do some talk shows. geoff: entertainment studios's is now a $1 billion business. we sat down for a conversation at his los angeles studio on the set of his comedgame show, funny you should ask. let's start at the beginning. born in detroit, raised in l.a. your mother was a publicist for nbc and would bring you to work. i imagine that was an incredible education, a show business education. byron: i had one of e best

childhoods ever. my mother got pregnant with me whenhe was 16 years old. and she had me 17 days after her 17th birthday. nobody is betting on a little black teenage girl and a little black baby and thinking much is going to come of that story, but i'm really fortunate. my mother is very smart, she is very beautiful. when they murdered martin luther king in april of 1968 they lit up detroit. lights were all across the country. my mother and i ended up coming to l.a. in the summer of 1968 for a two weeks vacation and we ended up not going back. geoff: he says when his mother started working at nbc she could not afford childcare, so his daily routine involved hanging out at the network studios, running from the gate -- the greatest comedy stars of the day. byron: i'm watching johnny carson tape the tonight show. i'm 13, 14 years old. mid-1974.

then i would watch red foxx tape sanford and son, then watch flip wilson, then watch jack albertson and freddy prince. i would watch bob hope tape his specials, george burns do his specials, dean martin. and i watched some unknown newscasters. i watched an unknown sportscaster doing the local sports. it was brian gumbel. and an unknown weatherman, pat sajak. i'm watching all of this, watching them do soap operas, the news, make television. i thought, what a wonderful way to go through life. making people laugh, making them laugh and making television. geoff: bhis early teens, allen wanted to give comedy a try himself, performing stand up at legendary comedy store. his jokes were good enough to get him scouted by jimmy jj

walker of good times" fame. at 14, his mother dropped him off at walker's house where he sat down with two promising comics. jay leno and david letterman. >> make him feel welcome, would you? byron allen. byron: -- geoff: by 18 he landed a spot on the tonight show, the youngest, to ever take that stage. byron: i remember standing behind the curtain joking with the crew. i had my back to the crew and all of a sudden they stopped laughing. then they said, they cleared their throats like, turn around. turned around and it was johnny carson. he had gotten up from behind his desk and he said, hey kid, don't worry, you're going to be great. and they said, we have been pulling thcurtain for him for years. and they said he has never gott up fr behind the desk

and said anything to anybody. and at that moment i said, wow, this guy is one of my heroes. and i said, what i do in the next five minutes will change my life and my mother's life, the trajectory of our lives, forever. so i'm going to go out there, i'm going to have fun, and i'm just going to light it up. geoff: how did you make that transition from performing to performing and producing? why was that important for you? byron: i realized quickly that it is not ow business, it is business show. geoff: in the early 1990's he built be foundation of his business from his dining room table,alling hundreds of tv stations and pitching his first syndicated show, entertainers with byron allen. byron: started smiling and dialing, dialing and smiling. i'm in l.a., so i would start at 5:30 in the morning, 5:00 in the morning trying to get some general managers, get to their

desk early at 8:00 on the east coast before they had a secretary hanging up on me. i called all 1300 television stations from sun up to sun do wn. i literally wore holes in my dining room chairs sitting there all day. i probably got about 50,000 nos to get to 150 yeses. they were hanging up on me and telling me the receptionist do not ever put him through again. i would get around the receptionist. i had so many ways. i was coming up with ways to get around the receptionist. geoff: eventually, allen got about 150 tv stations to say yes, covering every major market. he offered entertainers for free, but with a 50-50 split of the built-in commercial time. that success led to the purchase of the weather channel for more than $300 million in 2018. byron: we made history with the weather channel.

it is the very first mainstream news operation own divine african-american. geoff: d.l. chill -- he also purchased a news network focus on efrin americans, and earlier this year bought and rebounded -- rebranded the black news channel. byron: i really wanted to help the a part of that conversation, especially for black america. now the grio is one of the busiest news sites f black america. geoff: this past summer, all entered the world of professional sports, but on -- ultimately lost his bid to buy the nfl broncos, which would have made him the nfl's first blk owner. but he says he is reportedly bearing -- preparing a bid for the washington commanders. you are in the market to purchase an nfl team. why is that so important for you? byron: i want young ack kids to not only see us play the game, but only game. i am a kid from detroit, born to a teenageirl. it is not a bad day at the office when you are losing to

the richest family in the world, the walmart family. and i think that this is something that is long overdue. i think it is a goal that will be achieved. i think that over the next, i think we will legally have two to four teams of first and the next 12 to 36 months and i will aggressively pursue getting one of those teams. geoff: so it is a matter of when, not if? byron: we are on it. we are goingo chase it like a lion chases a gazelle. geoff: i heard you say it was not your intention to have entertainment studios, to have you be the ceo and the sole shareholder, that that was a consequence of other people choosing not to invest, is that correct? byron: i hold one of the largest privately held media companies in the world. 100%. why? because i'm black, and i could not find investors. no one would invest in may. that's a big problem for a lot oflack entrepreneurs.

the miracle about this company that is about to celebrate its 30th year is that the first 15 years of this company, i could not get a bank loan. i watched my white counterparts constantly raise money like it was nothing. and that turned out to be a blessing and a lot of people would have looked at it as a curse. the way i look at it is two guys to to the gym. onguy has to bench press 50 pounds every day and the other guy has to bench press 500 pounds every day. which guy is going to be bigger and stronger and unstoppable? the guide bench pressing 500 pounds a day. so they made me bench press 500 pounds a day. and that just made me bigger and stronger and unstoppable. geoff:ou think back to the early 1990's when you were at e kitchen table, dining room tae, 15, 16 hours a day dialing and smiling, did you know that this would ultimately

come to fruition one day? byron: yeah, this is what i envisioned, day one. biggest media company in the world, no close second. we have not even begun. the first 20, 30 years was the hardest. that was laying down the foundation. now we have laid down the foundation and watch the skyscraper go up. geoff: and that is our program for tonight. i am geoff bennett. for all of us here at "pbs news weekend," thanks for spending part of your sunday with us. have a great week. >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been providedy. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and 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 performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> you're watching pbs.

two-time wnba champion and atlanta dream co-owner, renee montgomery. - there's little girls right now that say they want to grow up and play in the nba. and i'm like, but why? my whole life, we played like for the honor, we weren't making very much money. we still aren't making a lot of money, compared to the men's side. so we play for the growth of the league. and then if you have little girls coming up saying they don't even want to play in the league, it's like, baby, we building this for you. - absolutely. - like, this is for you! - renee montgomery coming up right now. - love and respect with killer mike is made possible by: cadillac. monster energy. ledger. and by, the ressler gertz family foundation. together we are proud to bring more love and respect into our collective conversation. ♪♪