yes. to. come. here with art see why from moscow this week's top stories the libyan capital has been blocked by nato's heaviest air strikes since the start of military operations bombarded bombings have reportedly claimed more than thirty lives and what's a growing anger at foreign intervention from moscow agrees to lift the ground on european festivals if the e.u. can guarantee you they are free from the deadly e. coli bacteria surance came from president inventin during the russian e.u. kongs leaders also discuss russia's exceptions in the world trade organization and

the situation in libya. also be you there is a new rescue package for bankruptcy restructuring amounts of protests against tougher cuts in the country there's outrage still in germany where critics say they're tired of paying for other people's thoughts calling on agrees to leave the euro zone. and people here in moscow and nationwide are celebrating russia day twenty years since the countries they should first free presidential elections in just one year after declaring independence from the soviet union. next we'll take a look behind the scenes at the u.s. news industry. the san antonio ways. to. keep the crowd.

young a top easier. to put in. 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 into the queue behind your radio dial. wherever you may be radio brought entertainment and sports and news of the world right into your own homes. just broadcasting retained feed it was hope. in the spirit our government made policies to make sure the media protects the public and simply airwaves records of the public property of the federal communications commission charged with the responsibility of protecting the people before the f.c.c.

decided broadcasters needed to be licensed to licenses for free of charge but there was a catch the t.v. and radio owners had to serve the public if they did not people could challenge their licenses and the f.c.c. could take them away. and the f.c.c. understood that radio and t.v. should be owned hopefully so they passed strict rules limiting the number of stations any one person could ellerey independent leader to say cuckold a six hour operation by n.b.c. . then came your. and radio became a lifeline. they couldn't get the information we were getting was vital only that it's a date which will live. in infamy important or national security important to our democracy our good at work moral authority from iraq and we learned this new media

could be used against us in general i doubt if they are afghans they ever get through to her yankee perth or during their her. or for her 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 in one nine hundred forty nine incorporated something called the fair to stop the fairness doctrine required radio and t.v. stations to provide coverage of the fight only important controversy on issues and truth by a reasonable opportunity for the presentation of contrast in points you ask 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 evening through the administrations of truman

eisenhower kennedy johnson nixon ford and carter more generally like. robert reich. and then a real media man came into power with what i will faithfully execute the ronald reagan was the king of deregulation of his f.c.c. deregulated t.v. and radio of so one person could own dozens of broadcast issues nationwide and said the free market would provide fairness in broadcasting so they got rid of their stock. anyway back then republicans and democrats passed a bill to reinstate the fairness doctrine newt gingrich and trent lott were co-sponsors. but ronald reagan peter it. the one thousand nine hundred six telecommunications act suddenly allowed big companies like clear channel to own quelled hundred stations nationwide hit them around program them with conservative talk radio was artists and in many instructing this was sold

to set the bars. and looking at the five largest operators where we found was a nine to one or ten to wanted fan which 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 truck as opposed to two hundred fifty hours of liberal or progressive talk this is an extraordinary balance but in places like houston texas for example. the fan looking at monday through friday concert commercial radio stations one hundred percent conservative talk no progressive no liberals represented 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 talk 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 on many formerly red states that heard ed and nova am 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 that could be great but here's the scary part since the democrats made gains in the two thousand and six election corporate radio took big daddy in every other progressive talker in the key swing state of ohio off the air first and. then come along and

replace 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 the air in the fall of zero five it was like a two point four frames can a strange to make it. to market if you can 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 political 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 distorting

effect of all that was causing a problem in our democracy it 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 the 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 news people say then check their facts turns out there's a lot of false and it also it which david brock used to perpetrate author david brock interest evidence about anita hill that has been since or by liberals time pattern of crime sexual harassment or political radicalism and most important are likely motivation for destroying your career. then he learned to keep them in my day i came to be aware that the people around clarence thomas who had

helped me write that account. didn't believe the account themselves same with rocks troopergate story that led to the paula jones lawsuit the judge dismissed that case because it had no merit. in other words it was a frivolous lawsuit and that whole thing led to president clinton's impeachment. i just couldn't do 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 their complaint is one of liberal bias i think i've looked 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 truly jane a crate and her husband steve wilson were an award winning investigative reporting teams or thing it w. t.v. news in tampa bay florida first then they uncovered a story about hormones being secretly don't just get into more milk supply w.t.v. ran this promotion for the investigation to cancer nobody else in the country covered this and then they get fired for trying to tell the story when b.t.h. manufacturer monsanto threatened to sue fox news t.v. she 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 untrue 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 did you t.v. to fire them were very courageous they file a whistleblower suit you know they go to trial atreus attorney john chambliss most serious insulators. this. all of the year and from there on him throughout the letter is made to talk to the scientists or to distort the story in a way that we will do that monsanto these folks refused to do in this wonderful steves wilson played his own case you know what this story cost. two careers. in the waters. there was only one way or wilson could win under judge roll steinberg instructed the jury but they'd have to prove w.t.v. t.v. station management had deliberately tried to discard a news proof of a violation requires that the plaintiffs establish that the be a t.v.

tease station or news management acted intentionally and deliberately to falsify or distort plainness proposed a news report on the g. eight wilson lost a genie 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 moves report yes so a creep through news distortion and you wouldn't know it from the spin on the t.v. tease there fox thirteen representatives say the jury through its verdicts clearly stated at the station did not tell a korean wilson to falsify and distort the news through their b. g.h. story but we are completely vindicated on the finding of history that we do not to stewart news for lost wages eighty eight thousand seven hundred and twenty five dollars that does not have to do with the store share the news it is not true false for cation of the us for lost an incapacity one hundred twenty thousand seven

hundred and fifty dollars i think today is a wonderful day for searching for other damages two hundred fifteen thousand five hundred and twenty five dollars fox appealed the jury's decision which is indeed their attorneys argued that there is no law against distortion and yet found a stand. you haven't found a rule we haven't found a regulation what we're doing is importing into that seduce distortion false 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 law rule of regulation can distort what they're saying as the news really belongs to the corporation that that's putting it out and that it's not against the water why do the public. it's an f.c.c. rule but it's not against the war where does that leave us as people who are served by the broadcast airwaves hawksworth think our president is right if you're probably. completely gutted by the ruling and wilson ended up paying fox attorney

fees. the road to war in iraq took some strange turn stranger than a detour into the west african country of the sheer brute force which do hold government accountable like this can cost a lot of money from the the move people put looks into research and travel in 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 in the cold interview that means profits for shareholders cause and divert serious attention from real 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

digging up the story and saying ok america here's the facts you decide in maybe. that's. just the. media consolidation means fewer reporters and those who are mean 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 guy who will come out of it you. again 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 the real watchdogs and should have. that the chips fall where they may they defaulted totally and made good as they say and the run up to the war with so clear for two years we were going to war and nobody asked why but we now know that saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons high quality aluminum tubes which is what you have to have in order to go for nuclear weapons production they were no weapons of mass destruction the first the first thing to scare everyone we don't want the smoking gun that could come in the form of the mushroom cloud note. we do have solid evidence of the presence in iraq. al qaeda members there was a pattern the relationship the went back at least a decade iraq and al qaeda was a lot of obvious section at

a time when it was crucial for our country which was right after nine eleven itself that they had big 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 p. did the administration. have a conflict between iraqi diplomats were due to time and timing pictures saddam hussein quit his biological weapons laboratories in trucks little turned out to be true awesomely talk shows instead of providing clarity on the single most of mine an 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 city. early in the pentagon the newsweek poll showed forty one percent of americans thought saddam hussein was directly terrorist attacks and i don't think we ever should 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 you know that the mainstream media and the media as we most of us experience. was truth telling group fairness and accuracy in reporting the. study. 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 down around war only three were actually world leaders three of almost four hundred when half the population was opposed to the invasion that is no longer in mainstream media that's an extreme heat in the drums 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 than say them on the air no questions asked if a certain standard that is needed. talking points imagine an iraq ruled kaiser cowie the message yet needs to be oh yes in iraq unless you know any country talking point link iraq to iran i believe iran is now but never likely to make you into iraq that's bad enough but a lot of these pentagon pundits were making big money from defense contractors to the t.v. and the radio. evillest have ties to military contractors people could possibly be making money or most would consider that a potential problem 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 convinced that saddam hussein will acquire nuclear weapons fairly soon that was based on absolutely nothing it was as if it was pulled out of thin air there was absolutely no intelligence no evidence whatsoever for that assertion landi and more and struggle began writing about fourteen intelligence about how there was no link between iraq and al qaeda but failed policies that series of stories 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 sits. at three years. to chill with my 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. like that we wrote. there was no on the plane 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. shows white on the reasons why. they are being asked to go and risk life and limb and health and family and everything else. then we're doing our job and if that displeases the circuit area of defense if it just polices the vice president so be it. still he's a bit out with we trusted as we knew we followed his job with

a plan to stop him 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 last. the story really begins with ambassador 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 saddam hussein 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 that 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 did what mr harlow told me he asked me not to use your name did not say she was she was a cover employee and i still don't believe she was engaged in any covert activities former president bush was not a. used human intelligence spies. is very important. it's pretty hard to get it. if somebody working clandestine service. his name is going to appear i'm sure the poster and if place deputy defense secretary richard retires admitted

he was the first to leak the spies name and he apologized for it. but white house staffers karl rove in lewis libby also sprayed the covert agents name to reporters at the same time for sharing the president's own press secretary they had nothing to do with it they are good individuals there are important members of our white house team 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 like were you involved in the leaking of valerie plame the identity in any way 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 watched it live at various news

organization the knew that that was a flat out lied because they had talked to karl rove about ellery played in she was . eager for access to the white house they allow 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 upset about. our innocence was uncovered which is just ridiculous was she in fact a covert agent was never even proved there is no doubt that her relationship with the cia was profit if you give the identity of a classified person it doesn't mean diddly squat hoss to be

a covert agent and i still don't pull in she was impinge on 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 endanger national security by outing a covertly i offered her a lot of career sewers not a covert operative i said that she was for the record valerie plame wilson was a covert agent the cia put it in writing. twenty years ago jade its first president. in the midst of colossal change. setting a new direction for a new country. saluting the state on washington.

one stream cascading time on slopes the view is mismanaged. but this duty brings deaths and a speed of more than two hundred kilometers. stephanie dumbell launch on our journey. from. home.