market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with a much stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars report. within twenty four hours a day this is all to hear most good top stories now in this hour at huff post the hour is exactly three months since the earthquake triggered a nuclear disaster and the japanese government under fire from people in the streets angry about the concealment of the true extent of the crisis. and threats and activists are struggling against a media blackout to run one of the world's most secretive and influential gatherings planning to shed much light on what the build a bug group is up to. a level playing field for all the southern russian city of

sochi undertakes major construction efforts to provide better access for people with disabilities ahead of the twenty fourteen. the next we take a look behind the scenes of the u.s. news industry and after that in about thirty minutes from now i'll be back with more news on r.t. . when just from. the san antonio ways and. her. feet the crowd.

our story begins during the great depression times were hard and broadcasting was brand new it seemed like a miracle. i'll see our friends get it into the queue behind your radio dial. wherever you may be to radio brought entertainment and sports and news of the world right into your own home most of. broadcasting retained faith it was hope. in that spirit our government made policies to make sure the media protects the public and simply airwaves are considered public property look up broken immigration coming from the struggle the responsibility of protecting the peoples of the f.c.c. decided broadcasters needed to be licensed to licenses were free of charge but there was a catch t.v. and radio owners had to serve the public if they did not people could challenge their sizes and the f.c.c. could take them away. and the f.c.c.

understood that radio and t.v. you should be own local lake so they passed strict rules limiting the number of stations any one person can tell a good offense to stay with only six hours. by n.b.c. . then came your. and radio became a lifeline. the president of. the information we were getting was vital and only that it's a date which will live. in infamy important to our national security important to our democracy our this is edward morrow reading from a and we learned this new media could be used against us i feel they were after video ok through her uniquely her or. her.

or her perforate for what they did of course of those fascist regimes was it just broadcast over and over again the information and the perspective the point of view and the propaganda that they wanted people to digest absorb and so the federal communications commission back and nine hundred forty nine incorporated something called the fairness doctrine the fairness doctrine the pirate radio and t.v. stations to provide coverage to fight only important controversy on issues and to provide a reasonable opportunity for the presentation of contrast and you point you asked to bring them on you have to give people the opportunity to express an alternative point of view now it was a code that served us well good even through the administrations of truman eisenhower kennedy johnson nixon ford and carter more generally like there is robert reich. and then a real media man came into power what i was basically execute ronald reagan was the

keen deregulation of his f.c.c. deregulated t.v. and radio of so one person could own dozens of broadcast asians nationwide and said the free market would provide fairness in broadcasting so they got rid of the fairness stop. any way back then republicans and democrats passed a bill to reinstate the fairness doctrine and newt gingrich and trent lott were co-sponsors. but ronald reagan vetoed it. the nine hundred ninety six telecommunications act suddenly allowed big companies like clear channel to own twelve hundred stations nationwide hit them brown program them with conservative talk radio was not as bad in many insults and that's why it's so nice to see that the bars. the looking at the five largest operators where we found was a nine to one or ten to wanted vantage of conservative talk show hosts self

declared conservative hosts versus folks who declare themselves liberal or progressive. advantage of roughly twenty five hundred hours of conservative talk as opposed to two hundred fifty hours of liberal or progressive talk this is an extraordinary talent but in places like houston texas for example. we fan looking at monday through friday can skirt show radio stations one hundred percent conservative talk no progressive no liberals represented in the two thousand and seven study by free press and the center for american progress shows ninety two percent of conservative stations don't air even a single minute of the other side you want to hear a radio talk or bash republicans good luck especially if you live in the midwest mainstream thought that breaks the inside the beltway mystique but you might hear it schultz ed does his nationally syndicated show out of fargo north dakota and his

ratings are good he's matching bill o'reilly's numbers. so let's see talkers magazine now is out the ed schultz show has got over three million listers progressive talk got its start in two thousand and four and it now seems to be having an effect many formerly red states that heard ed and noble and air america were highly competitive who were voted blue in two thousand and eight while those that heard only conservative talk went read. as usual you could say but here's the scary part since the democrats made gains in the two thousand and six election corporate radio took big getting into every other progressive talker in the key swing state of ohio off the air first and. then columbus and replaced them with shows they get half their exit while they're out there greasing the skids right now in the winter of those seven with a zero point six number. when

i was on there in the fall of zero five it was like a two point four brain scan a strange to me you did. mark it if you're going to have a problem it isn't just ohio since two thousand and six doesn't so well performing liberal programs have been taken off the air across the country fresno new haven san diego austin and many more i think it's wonderful and i don't think there's any doubt you can look at the numbers this business is owned by conservatives it's managed by conservatives and it is programmed by conservatives the distorting effect of all that was causing a problem in our democracy was causing people to act based on false information to make decisions about public policy to make decisions in the voting booth based on simply information that was wrong and that there had to be

a corrective to that and so in may of two thousand and four i launched a media matters media matters is a research website which tracks conservative misinformation in the news it's a simple concept record with talk show hosts and people say then check their facts turns out there's a lot of false would also it was david brock and used to perpetrate author david brock uncovered evidence about a new deal but has been since. the right time pattern of crime sexual harassment or political radicalism most important or likely motivation for destroying the career . then he learned he'd been lied to subscribe i came to be aware that the people around clarence thomas who had helped me write that account. didn't believe the account themselves seen with rocks troopergate story that led to the paula jones lawsuit the judge dismissed that case because it had no merit. in other

words that was a frivolous lawsuit and that whole thing led to president clinton's impeachment. i just couldn't. what i was doing anymore once i realized what it was he'd been working for a newspaper magnate richard mellon scaife who paid the american spectator magazine two million dollars to dig up dirt on the clintons the information didn't need to be true just damaging the conservative movement also had a hidden media agenda well they claim that the complaint is one of liberal bias i think and i look pretty carefully at the sun i've looked at many of the studies that claim this at the end of the day the real goal is to disable journalism from being able to do its job independently and troy jane a cree and her husband steve wilson threw an award winning investigative reporting teams working at w.t.v. t.v.

news in tampa bay florida first then they uncovered a story about hormones being secretly into our milk supply t.v. team grande this promotion for the investigation just hours after cancer nobody else in the country covered this and then they get fired for trying to tell the story when d.t.h. manufacturer monsanto threatened to sue fox news w t v t pulled the report then tried to get the investigators to change their story. but the reporters wouldn't back down they can ask you to put things on the air broadcast to the public over the public airwaves that are untrue that are unsubstantiated or flat out on true and that's also what they were asking us to do they crossed that line and that's an important distinction to make so a korean wilson threatened to report the news distortion to the f.c.c. that's when the bt fired them were very courageous they file a whistleblower suit you know they go to trial a korea turny john chambliss musser socialist this. all of the year and from there

on him through a mouth than ever is need to talk to scientists or to distort the story in a way that we looked at monsanto these folks refused to do it in this wonderful steves wilson played his own case you know what the story cost. two careers. in the office. and there was only one way or wilson could win under judge roll steinberg instructed the jury for they'd have to prove w t v t.v. station management had deliberately tried to distort the news the proof of a violation requires that the planners established that there be a t.v. tease station or news management acted intentionally and deliberately to falsify or distort plainness proposed news report on the g. eight wilson lost the janie cre won her case because she threatened to disclose to

the federal communications commission on your oath the broadcast of a false distorted or slanted news report yes so a creep proved news distortion and you wouldn't know it from the spin on that he t.v. tease there thirteen representatives say the jury through its verdicts clearly stated that the station did not tell a korean wilson to falsify and distort the news through their b.t.h. story but we are indicated on the finding of this theory that we do not to stuart is for lost wages eighty eight thousand seven hundred and twenty five dollars let us not have to do with the store show the news it is not the true false vacation of the us for last an incapacity one hundred twenty thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars i think today is a wonderful day for parts or two for other damages two hundred fifteen thousand five hundred and twenty five dollars thoughts and killed the jury's decision which is indeed their attorneys argued there is no law against distortion you have found

a stash. you haven't found a rule we haven't found regulations what we're doing is importing you to death for news distortion faults and it went to the second district court of appeals in florida and they bought the fox argument that yes the policy of the f.c.c. but it's not technically against any wall rule of regulation to distort the numbers what they're saying is the news really belongs to the corporation that that's putting it out and that it's not a cancel water while the public. it's an f.c.c. rule but it's not against the law where does that leave us as people who are served by the broadcast airwaves her think bush president. bush said it if i don't really create and wilson ended up paying fox attorney fees but the road to war in iraq took some strange turn stranger than a do you torture the west african country of these your reports which do hold government accountable like this can constitute

a lot of money from the team of people that looks into research and travel and production just to air one eight minute story to build a nuclear bomb explain they've largely been replaced with coverage like this the costs very little anna nicole smith slashed interview that means her profits for shareholders and divert your attention from real things you know whatever happened to investigative reporting and i think part of what happened is corporatization of the media it's the bottom line so the first thing you do is you fire a quarter of the newsroom or half the newsroom so you don't even have the reporters that go out there and to get the story it's you know how can you get it quick and i can tell you it's a lot cheaper to have two people arguing on t.v. from you know you know polarized point of views than actual reporters out there going at the story and saying ok america here's the facts you cited and maybe it's . just the. media consolidation means he were reporters and those who remain too often feel pressured to play nice with

government it's a nasty little game called access that is one of the biggest media manipulations is you want our guy you want our woman well you better play the game you better play by our rules if you want that we call that in our field gets interviewed some real headline maker everybody wants to get on there you want that person that's a valuable commodity you. the top newsmakers in the bush administration were great and they were all over the airwaves as they made their case for war in iraq and where were the hard questions. i think the press dropped the ball i think when they should have been there. and should have. let the chips fall where they may they do politics totally did they say in the run up to the war it was so clear for two years we were going to war and nobody asked why

but we know now. that saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons high quality aluminum tubes which is what you have to have in order to build a bomb suitable for nuclear weapons production there were no weapons of mass destruction with the person that the first thing to scare everyone we don't want the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud. and we do have solid evidence of the presence in iraq. al qaeda members there was a pattern relationship that went back at least a decade in iraq and al qaeda was a lot of obvious deception at a time when it was crucial for our country which was right after nine eleven they felt that they had be to be super patriots and support the government no matter what they gave up their one weapon which was skepticism out of the news shows

through peter the administration will. have a. direct order to time and time again saddam hussein quote is i a logical weapons laboratories in trucks little turned out to be true possibly truth instead of providing clarity on the single most fine issue of our generation the press only created confusion it is smoking gun is an interesting phrase six years after the attacks on new york's. early in the pentagon a newsweek poll showed forty one percent of americans saddam hussein was directly terrorist attacks and i don't think we are sure i know i didn't say that there was a direct connection between september eleventh and saddam hussein nobody's ever suggested that the attacks of september the eleventh were ordered by iraq and no wonder the news media has lost the public trust they want to make policy choices

based on truth and what i heard is that people didn't really quite feel that the mainstream media in the media as we most of us experience. was truth telling the group fairness and accuracy reporting did a. study of the two weeks around february fifth two thousand and three right before the invasion the four major nightly newscasts n.b.c. a.b.c. c.b.s. and the p.b.s. news hour with jim lehrer there were three hundred ninety three interviews done around war only three were there actually were meters three or more most four hundred when half the population was opposed to the invasion that is no longer in the main stream media that's an extreme and even the grounds for war a recent new york times report says the media got right in bed with the pentagon to promote the war former military officers would get talking points directly from the pentagon and say them on the air no questions asked if

a simple. yes talking point imagine an iraq ruled by you guessed it yeah nice to meet in iraq imagine iraq and the country talking point link iraq to iran i believe that iran is now never again cracking baker in iraq that's bad enough but a lot of these pentagon pundits are making big money from defense contracts to the t.v. and the we'll vote. terry battle us have ties to military contractors people who could possibly be making money or most would consider that a potential conflict of interest maybe not even potential at the same time reporters who did ask hard questions were punished by the white house luckily the managers stood by the reporter jonathan landay covered speech dick cheney gave in august two thousand and two to the veterans of foreign wars many of us are. saying our nuclear weapons. that was based on absolutely nothing. it was pulled out of

thin air there was absolutely no intelligence no evidence whatsoever for that assertion so randy and more and struggle began writing about fourteen teligent about how there was no link between iraq and al-qaeda about failed policies that series of stories in one station of people in the pentagon trying to shut me out of travel with the secretary of defense i was not allowed to have not been allowed in or invited to a trip pentagon trip since. that three years. the chill white house correspondent. he had been trying to get on the vice president's plane in early two thousand and four there were some things that. did like that we wrote. there was no. it's my belief that a lot of journalists did not ask hard questions of this administration's policies

particularly in the run up to the war in iraq because they were afraid of losing access and having happened to them what happened to me and has happened to others an example of why media ownership matters to democracy before reporting. sheds light on the reasons why they are being asked to go and risk wife and limb and health and family and everything else. then we're doing our job and if that displeases the circuitry of defensive interest wheezes the vice president so be it . still is a bit out what we trusted as we were told is to do with. the south and it's the biggest scandal of the bush administration is the story of reporters who protected their access to top officials first and put their responsibility to the public's laughs. the story really begins with him vassar joseph wilson wilson was the

acting ambassador to iraq before the first gulf war when saddam hussein took more than one hundred americans as hostages joe wilson stared him down saddam hussein backed off and released the americans for that president george herbert walker bush proclaimed wilson a national hero. then that hero heard president george w. bush make this statement in the two thousand and three state of the union address the british government has learned should the same recently sought significant quantities of uranium from africa a year earlier the cia had sent wilson to investigate the uranium claim and he knew it wasn't true their level of corruption it is demonstrated from the top down is staggering to the american people so he wrote about it in the new york times that touched off a firestorm at the white house coolness robert novak tried to discredit wilson by writing a story that wilson's wife valerie plame who worked at the cia sent him on the trip

trouble was she worked as a spy for the cia nobody was supposed to know she worked there the cia even told no that not to publish that information but know that they had what mr harlow told me he asked me not to use your name did not say she was a she was a cover employee. activities former president bush was not a. human intelligence spies. is very important. pretty hard to get it. or somebody working clandestine service faces names to appear and i'm sure that those initial a still deputy defense secretary richard admitted he was the first to leak the spies name and he apologized for it. but white house staffers karl rove in the libby also spraying the covert agents name to reporters at the same time assuring

the president's own press secretary they had nothing to do with it they are good individuals they're important members of our white house and that's why i spoke with them so that i could come back to you and say that they were not involved i went to both those individuals asked them point blank were you involved in the leaking of valerie plame identity and anyway both them told me unequivocally no but scott mcclellan now says in his new book rove and libby lied to him and it turns out a lot of reporters knew it but said nothing and scott mcclellan the white house spokesperson gets up and he says karl rove is absolutely. well there were at least three probably four people if not in that room that watch still alive and various news organization the knew that there was a flat out lied because they had talked to karl rove about ellery played and who she was because we were so eager for access to the white house they allowed themselves to be used for political gain using the reporters in effect to carry out

their political mission and that's different from cultivating a source to get information that's of value to you as a journalist here you are being used by the tolerant official to carry out their political work instead of clarifying the facts in this national security breach the media just had a free for all i think that while i always you know if that's the. our innocence wasn't correct which is just ridiculous was she in fact a covert agent was never even proved there's no doubt that her relationship with the cia was part of a fraud if you give the identity of a classified person it doesn't mean diddly squat to be a covert agent and i still don't believe she was engaged in any covert activities he knew whether she was covert or not from day one and she isn't she's never been proven to be covert to endangering national security by outing a covertly i offered him as a lot of course she was not a cover it up were the i.a.e.a.

says that she was for the record valerie plame wilson was a covert agent the cia put it in writing. wealthy british sign off i think it's time to think. of the. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy cause a report on our.