captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: good evening. i'm jim lehrer. the 112th congress convened today with republicans in charge of the house. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, ray suarez reports on the day of ceremony as john boehner was elected speaker and new members were sworn in. plus, norman ornstein and michael beschloss preview the congressional battles ahead. >> lehrer: then, judy woodruff talks with "newshour" political editor david chalian about the shakeup of the white house staff. >> ifill: miles o'brien looks at how growing up in the digital age affects adolescent brains. >> we're going to be dependent on technology, let's be honest

here. it's definitely going to wire my brain differently than it, then how your brain was wired growing up. >> lehrer: we examine the political turmoil in pakistan after the assassination of an important provincial governor. >> ifill: and we profile minnesota photographer and storyteller alec soth. >> yeah, where there are 500,000 pictures of things uploaded on facebook. being a photographer in that environment. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> for three hours a week, i'm a coach, but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer, i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions, ielt lost. united healthcare offered a specially trained r.n., who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me, cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids, but my coach had hit that pitch before. >> turning data into useful answers.

we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. united healthcare. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations.

and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> lehrer: the new congress was seated today with the house was under new management. republicans returned to power after four years in the minority, and john boehner was elected speaker. ray suarez reports. >> reporter: the 61-year-old boehner ascended the steps to power today as he began his 21st year in congress, representing part of suburban cincinnati. he was handed the gavel by california democrat nancy pelosi, who four years ago became the first woman to elected to be speaker. >> i now pass this gavel and sacred trust with it to t new

speaker, god bless you speaker boehner. ( applause ) >> reporter: boehner addressed a house with 96 new members, nearly all of them republicans. and he said the mission of the 112th congress is clear. >> we gather here today at a time of great challenges. nearly in-- one in 10 of our neighbors is out of work. health care costs are still rising for american families. our spending has caught up with us, and our debt soon will eclipse the entire size of our national economy. hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th congress. no longer can we fall short. no longer can we kick the can down the road. the people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin to carry out their instructions. ( cheers and applause )

>> reporter: boehner said republicans intend to follow through on a pledge to run the house in a more transparent manner. >> our aim will be to give the in seeking this goal, we will part with some of the rituals that have come to characterize this institution under majorities both republican and democrat alike. we will dispense with the conventional wisdom that bigger bills are always better; that fast legislating is good legislating; allowing amendments and open debate makes the legislative process less efficient than our forefathers intended. these misconceptions have been the basis for the rituals of a modern washington. >> reporter: at the same time, the new speaker acknowledged it's not going to be easy to find a bipartisan way of doing business. >> there's a great deal of scar tissue that's been built up on both sides of the aisle. we can't ignore that, nor should we. my belief has always been that we can disagree without being disagreeable.

now, that's why it's critical that this institution operate in a manner that permits a free exchange of ideas and resolves our honest differences through a fair debate and vote. >> reporter: by tradition, michigan democrat john dingell, the dean of the house, then proceeded to administer the oath of office to boehner. >> "that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which i am about to enter-- so help me god." >> i do. ( applause ) >> reporter: and with that, the new speaker administered the oath to the other 241 republicans and 193 democrats who make up the new house. but partisanship was largely out of view on this opening day, as veterans on both sides offered

hopeful assessments of speaker boehner. >> he's a professional, been in i think there's reason to hope that he will understand his role as a leader is not just to play to his base, but to bring his base along to compromises that will be in the public interest. >> the openness he brings to the process will mean we can actually arrive at some consensus and then begin to move forward and do the work on behalf of the american people we were sent here to do. >> reporter: emboldened by their new majority in the house, republicans intend to waste little time making good on their campaign promises, like repealing the healthcare law passed last year. such moves will be largely symbolic though, as democrats still control the senate. leaders there have pledged to block republican efforts to roll back president obama's initiatives. today, though, the senate, too, was preoccupied with ceremony--

the swearing-in of new members and those who won reelection. republicans gained six seats, for a total of 47. democrats will control 53, including five-termer barbara mikulski, now the longest- serving woman in senate history. >> for me, it's all about service. fighting for a stronger economy, safer america. not about the past, it'about the future. >> reporter: the senate's first order of business was beginning a debate over rules that govern debate. majority leader harry reid and other democrats want to rein in repeated filibusters. >> no one can deny that the filibuster has been used for purely political reasons-- reasons far beyond those for which this protection was invented and intended. >> reporter: in turn, republican leader mitch mcconnell insisted the public wants more debate, not less.

>> and the response they're now getting from some on the other side, instead, is a proposal to change the senate rules so they can continue do exactly what they want with even fewer members than before. >> reporter: that momentary clash foreshadowed bigger fights to come from repeal of health care reform to spending cuts as the 112th congress gets down to work. >> lehrer: and for more on the launch of a new congress, here now are historian michael beschloss and norman ornstein of the american enterprise institute. >> what kind of opening day if boehner have? >> it was a terrific day for john boehner, and a day very didn't from, say, when nancy pelosi first came in four years ago, or when newt gingrich came in triumph antd in 1995. those were victory dances, historic change. this was low key, and speaker boehner appealing to something higher. how long that lasts, however,

beyond this first day is a different issue. >> how would you describe the expectation about him? >> i think as henry waxman suggested in the taped piece. boehner has a history in the legislature. he's somebody who was a key figure in forging a compromise in no child left behind, the education reform thafrs a top priority for george w. bush when he first came in in 2001. we worked with george miller, a liberal democrat and a close ally of the speaker. so i think there are some hopes. but what democrats and republicans ails know is that there's a contentious body here, and there's contentiousness even in the republican ranks. for speaker boehner, he faces a robust majority, and a third on new, and 87 have never served in office before, and they didn't come to march in lock step with their own party much less with anybody else. so there's some challenges there, and i think he knows

it, and democrats are ready to take him up on them. >> michael, is there a historic standard for judging speakers of the house? >> yes. one is getting re-elected. that means their party has done well, and they've done well with the people in the party. that doesn't always happen. in the case of a party that was out of office, the republican kicked out their majority leader, charlie halic in 1965 in favor of gerald ford. what's exciteding for me and historically i've read about all the cases where we've had houses of congress since world war ii there were given, and in a way we have three parties. democrats, established republicans and then tea party republicans and their allies. it's like the bo boweevils unde

ronald reagan, and early democrats who opposed civil rights acts in congress by john kennedy. paib the best is 1952 to 1954. dwight eisenhower figured he'd have a great congress, and in fact, a lot of the senators were isolationists and proposed the blicer amendment that would keep the president from negotiating treaties. eisenhower said of his own senate, william nolan, in his case there is no final answer. he doesn't have a happy time. but there is a history of it. >> i read somewhere that nicolas longworth, who was the house speaker in the 1920s was > john boehner's? he said he will use that model? >> he won't use that model for too long, because longworth was one of the richest and elite to serve. he came from a rich family.

>> that was the connection? >> the most exclusive club in harvard university. that wouldn't go over too much these days. he would simply say, he and i were both from cincinnati. >> normally the idea, term divided government is used. does it apply in this case when you have a democratic president and a democratic senate. is it still divideed in a way that fits the plan? >> it certainly does, jim, and while it's not as typical of a situation when you have one party controlling congress, and the other controlling the white house, we've seen that before. we had this, for example, during the reagan years when we had one chamber switch in the election, and want the other. but it complicates matters in almost every respect, for boehner and the republicans they have freud in passing anything they want through the house knowing that it's not going to make it through the senate. >> jim: but if it does, the president will veto it.

>> for mitch mcconnell, it means being minority leader is much more complicated, because he doesn't have the responsibility for governing in any fashion are for his party, but his party does in some ways and, and he has to carry along what happens in the house and explain to his own partisans and the 10 republicans who are up in 2012, to their primary constituents -- and remember, this is a primary who knocked out some conservative republicans, why they're not going along with some of the fire breathing policies passed by the house. >> jim: michael, saying divided government is a good thing, more gets accomplished when there's divided gftd than when everybody is in the same party. does the record support that? >> not much, and i think what james madison says is divided government is terrific, because you don't have government taking over the united states and becoming

dictatorial. history would suggest they have no percentage in going along with the established republicans. if they go along and say i got to washington and really found out some of the things i said in nigh campaign were way out, they're not likely to get re-elected. but the interesting thing is in cases like this, there have been opportunities for a president to actually make comments, and work with the establishment in the congress he doesn't v. >> case in point. dwight eisenhower, and lyndon johnson got a lot of things dpn in foreign policy that these republicans wouldn't do. same with ronald reagan. >> jim: and norm, if you have divided government, you have to have compromise and nothing gets done, and the public won't stand for that? >> it may work like that, jim, but it will be harder.

and to follow up on michael point, one much the ironclad pledges of boehner and the republicans in their pledge for america is that they were going to cut $100 billion out of discretionary spending when they got there. already they're saying it may be closer to 50 or maybe less, and of course, right after the election, boehner told incoming members, we're going to have to be grown-ups here with the debt ceiling reached. and most of them say no way are we going to do that. so we've got interesting dynamics ahead. >> the other pointeds that the incoming republicans have said is that they want to undo a lot of what the democratic congress and the democratic president have enacted. what does the record show them dog? >> it doesn't happen often. dwight eisenhower said, elect me, and we'll talk about getting rid of social security, opposing the soviets in europe, not with

containment, but rolling back militarily. all of those things really went out the window because a, it was campaign rhetoric, and b, once they got to power, they saw how difficult these things really are. >> jim: and with the makeup of the senate and the president tl, it's hard, is it not? >> those things are not going to happen. they can bolox up the works, but a new hope in the house, he said he wants open rules, and let the minority play more of a role. so the first thing they're going to do is a straight up and down vote with noiment wells allowed and a limited debate on repeal of the health care plan. it's what happened when speaker pelosi came in and started with those six big things in '06, and those we have to do to get through. you start off on that foot t doesn't make it easy, even within the house to, have some sort of agreement. >> jim: welcome to the new congress, gentleman. >> it's fascinating.

>> still to come. >> ifill: still to come on the "newshour": a staff shakeup at the white house; constantly connected teenaged brains; pakistan's political crisis and photographer alec soth. but first, with the other news of the day. here's kwame holman. >> holman: the obama administration will drop a reference to end-of-life counseling as a covered service under medicare. the "new york times" reported the policy shift today. a white house spokesman said it's because the proposal was not made sufficiently available for public comment. a similar provision was dropped from the health care reform bill when it came under fire from republicans. in economic news, the payroll firm a.d.p. reported private employers added nearly 300,000 jobs last month. that's three times what was expected. the news gave wall street a small boost. the dow jones industrial average gained more than 31 points to close near 11,723. the nasdaq rose almost 21 points to close at 2,702.

>> a presidential commission concluded the main cause of the gulf oil spill. the president reported on an excerpt of the commission's finding. the group found workers from bp, halliburton and transocean focused more on saving time and money than on risk. the commission warned it could all happen again without substantial reform. the flood disaster in queensland, australia appeared to peak today, as damage estimates topped $5 billion. the city of rockhampton remained cut off. but the flood tide there was holding below its predicted crest. we have a report from steve scott of independent television news who is in rockhampton. >> reporter: in the heart of rockhampton's flood zone, there's a silence that belies the scale of this disaster. a deep water maze feeds you through house after house abandoned left for the flood to inflict its misery, while most have left some have decided to sit it out.

>> hi, how are you? >> reporter: but these days life for the robb family consists of daily trips to the supermarket and not much else the school holidays are not usually like this. >> it's okay, we are learning to manage. >> reporter: today, we joined the water police out on patrol. their main task to discourage looting and identify. they are also monitoring those living on their own. mary young is nearly 91, but she won't be letting nature's powers defeat her. >> how you getting on mary? >> i'm getting on all right. thanks. >> reporter: we flew over acre after acre crops are ruined and livestock still clinging on just factories deserted swamped by

swell. businesses are facing ruin. >> we won't know extent of damage for several weeks. >> reporter: the river may finally have peeked. some have taken that to move back home. for others, it will be a long time before they can smile about new year 2011. >> holman: the flooding also has forced nearly all of queensland's coal mines to be closed. in afghanistan, three nato troops were killed by roadside bombs today-- two in the east and one in the south. six have died in fighting since the start of the new year. and afghan intelligence agencies announced they foiled plans for

two major attacks in kabul on the presidential palace and the home of the first vice president. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: the first in a series of expected high profile personnel changes at the white house began to take shape today. judy woodruff has that story. >> woodruff: white house press secretary robert gibbs announced today he's stepping down in early february. he plans to become an outside political adviser to president obama and his re-election campaign. his successor has yet to be named. meeting with reporters, gibbs said it's been an honor and a privilege to work for the president, as he spoke publicly about his decision for the first time. >> what i'm going to do next is step back a little bit, recharge some. we've been going at this pace for at least four years. i will have an opportunity, i hope, to give some speeches.

i will continue to provide advice and counsel to this building and to this president. i look forward to continuing to do that. >> for more on the changes afoot at the white house, we turn to newshour editor david chalian. thanks for talking with us. robert gibbs, there's new aides as close to the president as he is. he's been with him over six years. give us background. >> well, he joined up with president obama when he was the seventh candidate in 2004. so you're right about that. it was a unique relationship. it is probably the closest press secretary president relationship we've seen in some time. one of his closest confidantes, and that's not going away. although robert gibbs is leaving the white house he's going to be providing advice to president obama, and the president wouldn'tment that to change.

>> and gibbs said there's a bubble in the white house, and the president needs fresh voices. >> no doubted. he will need fresh voices on the inside. the president has acknowledged that inside. but the voices on the outside, david axelrod and other close adviser is leaving to get started olt re-elect campaign in chicago. rob emanuel has left, we've seen advisers leave, and still provide advice. >> one of the names is bill daly, former commerce secretary. he was seen at the white house today for a meeting. what would he bring if he were to come in as chief of staff? >> he may be the rob emanuel replacement. you have bill daly. pete row, the interim chief of staff right now who may also be asked to stay on if bill daly doesn't get the job offer. but he was at the white house today all signs pointed to a

bill daly chief of staff. and this is saying to the president, these next two years are drnts than the first two years. the first two years were getting legislation through the hill. now it's about the implementation of those policies and a better selling and communicating of them to the american people. that's the one area where the president has said he's fallen down a bit on the job. >> so are these people who are seen as better communicaters or how is that? >> bill daly was in the clinton administration, and al gore's campaign chairman in 2000, and he does have the ability to communicate the message on television, and he takes a strong signal, judy. as you know, the obama presidency and white house has had a rocky relationship at times with the business community. this is a signal with his work at j.p. morgan chase, that bill daly is coming in with a new found relationship with the business community in the white house. >> and the term robert gibbs used is a major retool something

>> no doubt that's what's going on, and robert admit thad straight up. you'll see a new chief of staff, new senior advisers. and we're going to hear about a new economic chief at the national economic advisers for the president. we're seeing major positions in the white house get all changed around, new blood coming in, this is going to be a big point for the president, and we'll hear more about that in the upcoming state of the union address. david chalian, thank you. >> lehrer: now, what happens to teenage brains in a multi- tasking, digital age? "newshour" science correspondent miles o'brien has our look. >> reporter: it's a school night and the 16-year-old jain twins rakhee and anika have a heavy load of homework ahead of them. so where to begin? how 20th century of me to think that way. the correct answer is: do everything all at once.

>> well, right now, i am working on my physics lab and my hamlet essay. i am also on gmail doing chat and on facebook chat. >> reporter: actually, everything and then some. >> well, i am doing my math homework. i am editing an article for the newspaper and then i'll worry about that later. >> reporter: so you've got the facebook, a couple of you have some chats going? >> yeah. >> reporter: and then you've got three kinds of homework that you are working on at the same time? >> yeah. >> reporter: the jains are like most kids these days. it is second nature for them to be online, on the air, typing, texting, posting, perusing, constantly connected. well informed? yes, but perpetually tempted and, well, to my eyes, distracted. it's kind of addictive. >> it is yeah. like i know it's bad, i know i shouldn't be chatting with people but i do it anyway because it's there, you know that utilize your resources. >> reporter: and all of this is likely affecting the jains

brains at a crucial phase their development. but how? neuroscientist jay giedd hopes to have an answer before too long. >> the internet and ipods and facebook and all of these video games and these changes are so recent in terms of the human history that it is going to be very interesting to see how the brain adapts to doing all these different things and often many of them at the same time. >> reporter: the jains are part of a 20 year study dr. giedd is conducting at the national institute of mental health to better understand how the adolescent brain develops. the participants come in every two years for a gauntlet of tests including some time in a magnetic resonance imaging machine which captures the development of their brains in vivid detail. >> so we were quite surprised to find that by age six the brain is already over 90% of adult size. so the size of the brain gets surprisingly young but what happens after that is the brain

becomes more specialized. and it does this through a process called pruning, it comes from the gardening metaphor, where we're eliminating extra connections. >> reporter: the prime time for pruning is adolescence. connections that are used are strengthened. those that aren't are disconnected. this is the time when humans learn how to survive independently in their environment. 10,000 years ago, teens would have been focused on how best to stay warm; what berries to eat or how to hunt. today, they are learning how to drink from a technological fire hose. what do we end up with at the >> and in fact, in there adult jobs they maybe doing a lot of multitasking. but the other side of that coin is will they become less good at focusing on a one task, of being able to do one thing really well. >> reporter: this is something i think a lot about when i am not distracted by my own multitasking, because of these tech savvy characters with voracious appetites for the online smorgashbord. that's my 18-year-old son murrough.

>> oh, suck it, dude, i have 16 kills. >> reporter: answering the call of duty with his pal dylan. >> murrough wins! >> reporter: on the other side of the apartment is 16-year-old connery who presides over a non- stop virtual salon. she and her coterie connect via text, instant messages, facebook posts and video chats. are you doing homework, connery? >> no, no. >> reporter: not even close. >> no. >> reporter: what are you doing? >> i am looking at funny pictures on facebook. >> reporter: watch what happens when i try to interview her. do you think that ichat it helps. what were you just doing? >> i was checking my texts. >> reporter: you couldn't even do the interview without doing a quick check right? >> sorry, it was just a reflex. >> reporter: that's an addiction. what have we wrought? well, try this term on for size: digital natives.

>> digital natives are essentially young people who grow up with the technology, 24/7. their brains are wired to use it well, use it effectively. >> reporter: gary small is a psychiatry professor at ucla and co-author of "ibrain: surviving the technological alteration of the modern mind." he says we are creating a generation of technology addicts. for real. you see, every time we do something new and fun, our brain rewards us with a jolt of a chemical called dopamine-- the drug our brain secretes when we do something pleasurable or addictive. >> what the technology really does, it accelerates anything that is human, anything that we like. we can get addicted to being connected with other people through texting, through social networking, all kinds of programs that are very seductive to our brains. >> reporter: it is seductive no matter what the age, but is it efficient? can we really multitask? well, yes, but...

>> we can do it but of tremendous cost. you can't do two tasks as well as you could do each one separately. >> reporter: neuroscientist marcel just is doing some groundbreaking research on the human brain at carnegie mellon university. >> reporter: so we pay a big penalty for doing more, two things at once. >> that's right. there's only so much brain capability at any one time throughput and you can divide it down as much as you want to. >> reporter: like driving and talking on the phone. a few years ago, just did a study on this. his conclusion: even an idle conversation takes a 40% bite out of your brain power. you might as well be drunk! so multitasking is not a myth but efficient multitasking might be? >> yes. multitasking with no cost is a myth. i think there's no free lunch.

>> reporter: but some people are better multi-taskers than others and it is harder for us non digital native, which is what brought me to dr. justs lab for a multitasking challenge. with headphones on, i listened to a series of questions like these. there was a lot on the line here. i consider myself a good multi- tasker. you really should be if you are going to fly airplanes, as i do. so if i flunked this test, i would never hear the end of it. but only 40% of the students in the initial study passed. >> you got a 93. >> reporter: phew-- enough to save multitasking face and get me into the functional m.r.i., which images blood flow in the brain to show which areas are in use.

and here are the results: this is my brain listening to just one question and here i am trying to answer two at once. >> whenever you perform any thinking is a network function. now, if you ask your brain to do two thinking test simultaneously, the two networks have to work at the same time, they have to communicate over the same channels. >> reporter: so can we train our brains to do better? daphne bavier thinks so. she is a professor in the brain and cognitive sciences department at the university of rochester. she has done a lot of research on video game players. and parents: the news is a little bit counter-intuitive. >> we can show that, they have better vision, the kind of skills that are not typically corrected by training but corrected by your glasses which is not something that you would

think playing videogames actually changes. and it's not only the case for vision but its also the case for attention, for different aspects of cognition like multitasking, visual short term memory. >> reporter: and bavalier says the games that are most beneficial are the not the ones you might suspect. no disagreement from the halo legend known as flamesword, a.k.a. michael chaves. he's a professional video gamer. yes, kids, you can get paid t do this! even though i hesitate to mention it. >> i think faster. i have more outcomes in my head because in the game you are trying to complete a task and there many ways to accomplish this task. and if i could do it in the game, i feel i could do it in person, too. i am always thinking of different ideas. >> reporter: so is it possible we are collectively building better brains? probably. they almost certainly different. >> i mean, we are growing up wired to the computer.

we're going to be dependent on technology. we are dependent on technology. let's be honest. here it is definitely going to wire my brain differently than how your brain was wired growing up. so, what do you think-- what is your generation going to be like as adults? should we be worried about you in the growing world or... >> you can't be worried. we got this. >> reporter: i suppose cavemen parents worried about their kids playing with that newfangled fire. >> ifill: next tonight, more violence and political turmoil for troublbled u.s. ally, pakistan. flags across pakistan were at half mast today-- honoring salmaan taseer, the governor of punjab province, shot dead tuesday in islamabad. the funeral, held in lahore, attracted more than 6,000 mourners and government officials, including interior minister ahmed qureshi.

>> he liked to be surrounded by people all his life and this is the same in his martyrdom. i think the nation will have to make a conscious decision to oppose those elements who have narrow vision and kill for petty reasons and stop freedom of expression. it is an alarming situation for the future of the country. >> ifill: the accused assassin was one of taseer's bodyguards, mumtaz qadri. he said he did it because the governor criticized the country's blasphemy law, which calls for the death of anyone who insults islam. upon his arrival in court today, qadri was mobbed by supporters chanting "you did the right thing" and "god is great." in peshawar, students rallied to praise the suspect and condemn the victim. >> the governor said the blasphemy law was a black law, that's why mumtaz killed him. he did a tremendous job. we are proud of him. >> ifill: and a group of 500 muslim clerics issued a statement defending the killing.

>> mumtaz husain qadri murdered him amid overwhelmed sentiments. what was the reason behind his act? it's because a responsible official, being governor, he ridiculed the laws of the quran and the sunna-- the ways of prophet mohammad. and he did it not one time, but repeatedly. >> ifill: the governor's murder added fuel to an already heated debate over the blasphemy law. it's been building since november, when a christian woman was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the prophet muhammad. her family said she's innocent last week, governor taseer called for the woman to be granted a pardon. in a posting on his twitter page last friday, he said: "i was under huge pressure to cow down before rightist pressure on blasphemy. refused. even if i'm the last man standing." amid the religious turmoil, pakistan's national government teetered on the brink of collapse. on monday, the second largest party in the ruling coalition, said it would no longer support the ruling people's party, over

economic concerns. >> nothing over the past three years has been done by the people's party to improve the economy of the country. there's rampant corruption, there is mismanagement all around, there's misgovernance you might say. >> ifill: and yesterday, the leader of another large opposition party gave the government three days to accept a list of demands, or face a possible no-confidence vote. for u.s. policymakers, it's all bound to resurrect concerns about pakistan's reliability as an ally in the war in afghanistan. and, it underscores fears of a nuclear nation falling apart. for more on the upheaval in pakistan, we turn to moeed yusuf, who manages the pakistan program at the united states institute of peace. and robert grenier, a career cia officer, who was station chief in islamabad from 1999 to 2002. he's now chairman of e.r.g.

partners, a financial consulting company. >> significant was the afmeg? >> very significant. not just for the political ramifics, but brings out the extent to which intolerance and extremism is pervasive in the pakistani society. a person getting up and taking law into his own hands and then praised by hundreds is unheard of in a count reeve which has traditionally been fairly moderate in terms of the muslim world. >> most aren't familiar with him. tell us about him? >> a buoyant outspoken liberal. started in the 70s as a student, and clearly took a position against the blasphemy law, objects as much against the law, but the fact it was misused and thus needed correction, which is what many

others in the civil society once also said. but his image as aib liberal who spoke out against the ultra nationalist and the right wingers really cost him his life. but it's a very sad day for the pakistani society. >> and also someone who had ties to the last significant pakistani assassination. >> and that was against bhutto and her father. is that what can get you targeted? >> it underscores what happens to those who are standing up against religious rights. they take their life into their handleds and while benazir bhutto stood up, the right was responsible for her murder. and this is a message passed to others

>> the religious right thaw refer to, do they have positions in government? do they have political power? or is it power that's exerciseed in moments like this to cause mayhem? >> i think we have to be careful when we talk about the religious right in pakistan. i think the distinction between extremists and relative moderates in pakistan isn't in accord with our notions of extremism and moderation. i think what we're seeing is relative moderates, 500 clerks who are mentioned, they adhere to a rode to the moderate movement in pakistan -- delay consider themselves to be somewhat moderate and clearly make a distinction between themselves and those currently using violence and terrorism to pursue their own agenda. >> but they applauded this assassination? >> indeed they did. i think this just shows the extent to which the default position, if you will, in

pakistan has moved sharply to the right and toward intolerance. >> the president wasn't at the funeral heechb though he was a close ally with this man. what does that mean about the current government. is the current government in peril because of political reasons or because of social concerns like this one? >> i think he wasn't at the funeral, frankly, because of security concerns. there was a tremendous amount of security concern around his presence, and other major leaders. but as far as the political government is concerned, they are very challenged. their credibility is extremely low with the coalition breaking apart in a minority, and technically the opposition can oust the prime minister. i don't think that will happen, but again, for the wrong reason, which is the opposition doesn't want to take control of the government at this point and face what is going to inevitably be a very tough 2011 for pakistan. >> is this a tipping poinltd of any kind, this

assassination? or for other people who want power >> i think it pults them under additional strain, and it makes it that much more difficult for them to speak out on critical issues for the country. pakistan is very much at warp with itself. it's a country that was founded as a refuge for muslims, and they've never been able to develop a national consensus on what does that actually mean. what is the proper role of islam in society. there are many different currents in the country, but there are certain currents clearly intimidateed and that's not going to change. >> and -- >> absolutely. i think pakistan's silent majority is the moderate, but there's ultra right wingers that have come out and vocal ones and createding mayhem, and their nuisance value is much more than it should be. i still have hope for the society, because i think the majority is still moderate.

but the more these kinds of events take place, the tougher it gets for that moderate part of the society to come out and speak against it. >> well, the tougher it gets for outside interests, like the united states, to get things changed. we have been weighing in on issues, on this blasphemy law, and also on taxation issues. do you think that will go off the table, or outside influence in trying to break that change and push it off the table? >> l we're talking about the blasphemy laws and cultural norms in pakistan. those are something we as outsiders have mgts influence over and shouldn't try to influence. obviously, we're going to continue to be a voice for relative moderation. but at the end much the day, these are things that need to be sorted out in pakistan society. when we talk about other aspects of government policy, whether it's government policy or foreign follows, vis-a-vis afghanistan, there we have a great deal more influence. >> ask how much is our

influence compromised when these sorts of things, which are unremented and which we may not have a role in when they happen? >> it is to a large extent. thu.s. is a scape gox+*et when happens. any time it happens it's a bit of a shock, but i completely agree that we shouldn't involve ourselves in any domestic issue which has to deal with cultural norms or religion. foreign policy, yes. economic aid, yes. but not issues which are so sensitive that even our visibility or attachment to it poisons it itself. >> we have heard talk of internal political turmoil as well, and that's the no confidence vote which may or may not be happening. where does that stand tonight? >> well, right now the government is essentially under threat. i personally don't think that the opposition parties are going to move forward

afwresively with a no confidence vote. i don't think they want to remove this government from power. they just want to see this government remain weak so they can maximize their own influence over policy. >> if the government remains weak, what kind of an ally does it become or say for the u.s. >> an unpredictable one. i think this political crisis, they may weather this one, but there's another one down the road, because the government is weak. governance is weak, and credibility is low. so it becomes toufrp for the government and the threat to deliver on its commitment and on its promises and actually do what it right for their own country. >> moeed yusuf, and thank you both very much. >> lehrer: finally tonight, the work of minnesota photographer alec soth. our story is part of our series "newshour connect" showcasing public media reporting around the country. this profile is a combination of

two stories produced by twin cities public television told by the artist himself. >> no matter who you are, everyone's going to say one sentence about you. this, my 8x10 camera. "he's the guy that photographs weimaraners." "she was a student of so and so." for better of worse, this camera sort of became my trademark. and you can't really create that sentence, but you can sort of help determine what it's not. my favorite thing about it is actually looking through it. there's just something really beautiful about the way it renders space. >> alec soth is an artist who uses photography to really tell stories, but he's doing this in a way that is not the traditional type of storytelling with photography. his idea of finding the beauty in the unexpected, looking in out-of-the-way places for subjects and scenes that somehow evoked an america or a place

that people would not really anticipate. >> i've always had a real problem with the medium of photography. i was a painfully shy person, so it's really strange that i've made a life out of approaching strangers. and photography is an incredibly limiting medium. being frozen in time means you can't really tell stories. you know? it's very fragmentary. in a world, yeah, where there 500,000 pictures a second being uploaded onto facebook, you know, what does it mean to be a photographer in that environment? >> in 2004, alec was chosen as one of the artists in the whitney biennial, which is a showcase nationally of american artists. it's a show meant to take the pulse of what's happening in american art, and it includes a spectrum of artists from emerging to well-known, and for a virtual unknown as he was at

that time, it was a huge launching pad. >> i'm preparing for an exhibition at the walker art center. it's a big survey show, work from all over america. what i wanted to do with the show at the walker is not have it be a retrospective because i don't think i'm old enough for a retrospective, and i wanted to give it some sort of shape. to be a local artist, it's really hard to make it at the local institution. you sort of have to make it out there before you can make it here. this show at the walker, for me it's a really big deal. this is the first room that you see when you walk into the exhibition, and this room is all work from my project "sleeping by the mississippi," which is

really the first significant body of work that i did and sort of how i made my name and all that kind of stuff. so in here then is my second body of work that followed up on "sleeping by the mississippi." it's entitled "niagra." with this work, i really wanted even more scale. i wanted the viewer to have this real physical reaction to the work. on the flip side, i also did portraits, sometimes of newlyweds and honeymooners and that sort of thing. this is maybe my favorite picture from "niagara." her name is melissa. what i love about it is the way that the dress, this billowing dress, it kind of mimics the mist of the falls in a way. my interest in the falls has to do with this weird relationship between it being a place to get married d a ace to commit suicide. why do people choose this incredibly forceful, frightening, powerful waterfall

as a metaphor for new love? this one is called "33 movie theaters and a funeral home." all of them were made in texas. there's a map showing my journey around texas to photograph these movie theaters. so i thought of this whole exhibition as being this kind of geographical journey, and i wanted to include one room that was home, and so all these pictures are made in minnesota. every year at fall, i'm like, i'm going to finally do the minnesota winter project that i've been dreaming of, and then it gets really cold, i'm like, this sucks, and i don't do it. but some year, i aim to do it. so this is my exhibition within an exhibition called "broken manual," and what it is is exploration on the idea of wanting to run away, wanting to disappear. in the end-- and i saw this over and over again with the people i

met-- you need other people, and there's always some connection to society. over here is the real fantasy of where i would run away to, if i were to run away. it's called "lost boy mountain." up here is a tree house with a bed, and down below, you go down the steps, and then there's a ladder inside that takes you down into a cave. i have this really strong memory of being in high school when i first got interested in art, and i came to the walker and there was an exhibition by the artist jonathan borofsky, and that exhibition, it felt so alive to me, and the thought that i'm now having an exhibition like that, and potentially there's going to be some teenager who's going to draw from it. that's really fantastic. >> lehrer: alec soth's exhibit at the walker art center closed a few days ago, but there are plans for a traveling exhibition later this year.

>> ifill: again, the major developments of the day: the 112th congress convened with republicans running the house and white house press secretary robert gibbs announced he will step down-- one of a series of high-level changes in the president's staff. and we go to kwame holman for what's on the "newshour" online. kwame? >> holman: on our science page, miles talks to his own teenagers about multi-tasking, playing video games and interacting with digital technology. watch all of speaker john boehner's remarks and read our political team's take on the first day of the new congress. plus, margaret warner filed her first blog post from south korea, find that on the rundown. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on thursday, we'll have a newsmaker interview with secretary of defense robert gates. i'm gwen ifill. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh aess.wgbh.o

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