market trying to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with much stronger a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into this report. as obama's donation stack up for two thousand and twelve what about those failed promises. the united states will not torture and speaking of those broken promises if i house is beating around the bush look human rights watch torture scream be heard elsewhere. even people who have right here to go with you. and spaniards don't seem to care now either at least not with the fiscal crisis at home so why haven't americans made that connection yet. there is very little journalism being done. a lot of spin you create some dangerous circumstances for citizenry for

democracy itself and how the media field seems to be changing up which team will win out in the end journalism or public relations and what does this mean for the future of the media. good evening it's wednesday july thirteenth i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. and you're watching our t.v. now the country is in tough economic times if you don't know first hand you can see it as witnessed by the unemployment rate and the national debt to name a few examples under obama's watch it's gotten worse if you take bigger such as unemployment those were seven point six percent when he took office now it stands at nine point two percent now he argues the economy would have been much worse without the actions he's taken but that's difficult to prove who's to say so given all of this why is the president getting. so rich or at least his war chest

a more exact interpretation is way beyond expectations look at this obama's reelection campaign raised eighty six million dollars in the last three months that is twenty six million dollars more than has campaign was aiming for at this point and if you want to compare it to his republican contenders it's more than all of them put together they've raised in anywhere from around four million dollars each to just avoid eighteen million bucks in the case of mitt romney has raised the most of far now chipping in an average of sixty nine bucks each obama's donors have broken records according to the president's camp. five hundred fifty two thousand four hundred sixty two people needed donations of this campaign in the first three months were grassroots support of this point in the process and in the campaign in political history those people made more than six hundred thousand donations demonstrating the strength of their commitment i mean history on the two thousand and eight campaign with a historic number of small dollar every day people making donations of whatever

they could afford if you look at the comparative points four years ago you'll see that this movement is even stronger so what has obama done to get this kind of support has he delivered on campaign promise isn't achieved what people hoped let's talk about the war on terror as an example he has called a lot of troops out of iraq and that the war he promised to end but ten thousand troops are scheduled and believed to remain in the white house is offering them to continue next year afghanistan continues though he's announced a drawdown and it's worth noting you promise to end the mindset that leads to war yet he went to war in libya guantanamo bay that's something that remains open and there's still reports of secret prisons however obama did and some bush era torture practices such as waterboarding but he hasn't ever ordered a criminal investigation into allegations of abuse of detainees against george w. bush and other senior administration bush officials this is something human rights

watch is asking him to do so is laura pitter counterterrorism adviser from human watch disappointed in obama well she was in our new york studio earlier and i asked her that but first i asked her you know bush haven't been in office for a while it's been over two years so what does human rights watch done recently aside from issue this latest report to promote the point of view that obama should investigate him. it calls on the criminal inquiry and investigation into the use of torture by senior level bush administration officials specifically george bush vice president dick cheney secretary of defense don rumsfeld and george tenet head of the cia and it documents a lot of the evidence that wasn't involved a lot of the things that the bush administration did in relation to its cia detention program and the rendition of suspects to other countries along with what happened to the detainees during the time that they were in both cia and military

custody and human that this is one hundred seventy pages and it's very comprehensive it's also been too and a half years i'm curious why is this coming out so late. well as i said if we actually had been reporting on it we've been documenting evidence for an investigation for many years. and we released this report now because we feel as though it's just important to make sure the message doesn't get lost that just a few weeks ago for example the obama administration announced that there would be a closure to the durham inquiry which was the real only investigation that the obama administration has done into these past abuses and that inquiry just looked at cia abuses and only against one hundred or so detainees and also it only looked at what these officers did that went beyond what was authorized and the problem is is that what was authorized is what was illegal and so looking at just what went

beyond the authorization was never sufficient it was always to too narrow an inquiry it must be remembered that hundreds of other key cheney's not just one hundred cia custody were subject to these abuses and you mentioned them were also detained for many years oh i see and i and you mentioned that you have called for investigations in the past have you called on the obama administration to investigate george w. bush and senior administration officials in the past well i guess what's different about this report is we specifically named four individuals for which there was overwhelming amount of evidence. regarding their roles in the use of torture so it had more evidences come out since our last report and we added that to our previous reporting as well as including the public admissions on the part of bush in his memoirs as well as from the start i do seriously think that the obama administration will launch a criminal investigation with this latest report and with these calls. well we hope

they do but obviously there has been resistance to it and probably will be resistance to it but you know human rights watch reports on abuses world ride wherever there are abuses we call me governments to investigate and there's no reason why we wouldn't do the same here in the u.s. if the united states has not investigated in the past though and you hope that they will but they haven't reacted in any way showing that they will launch a serious investigation does this mean that they don't take what you're calling for seriously. well i think that they we hope that they will take it seriously the problem and the reason why it's so important is because it undermines u.s. credibility when they are trying to promote rule of law and human rights issues in other countries if the u.s. doesn't prosecute them and investigate their own abuses at home so we feel it's a really important message and one that we will not start making if the united

states doesn't investigate then does that discredit your organization what is the point of what you're calling for if the u.s. doesn't act on it well we we call on investigations in many countries and sometimes they don't investigate it doesn't mean that we're not going to stop calling for investigations. she also said that she is disappointed that the obama administration has not launched its investigation even though he ran and when he campaigned he said that the bush administration's practices were torture that was ordered pair counterterrorism advisor for human rights watch now though the united states continues its over budget role fighting libyan leader moammar gadhafi without too much resistance at home that's even though the country is scrambling to pay its bills at scrambling for cash but yet this war in libya continues unabated but this is not the same case for other countries that are taking part in a nato campaign in spain for example they say they were dragged into the war under pressure from washington

a war which is costing the country money it doesn't have and my our colleague our team correspondent sara firth found out why in madrid there are so mad about this. we appreciate spain's contributions to enforcing the no fly zone and the arms embargo the nato led mission is on track a pat on the back for staying there not everyone feels quite simply it was going to involvement in libya least of all the spanish people. spanish government support. with spanish troops because they're not. ordinary that. recent polls have shown a large majority of the population and now against the military campaign displaying continues to swear in the abyss of economic crisis political inflict on rest. it's been carried out in the conditions of

a tough economic crisis and conditions when the government had to sacrifice a lot and introduce huge reduction of costs and the social sphere with thinking some further when there is a program of material aid reduction but disputes in a conflict which will be damaging to the country's economy. yet the u.s. defense secretary has still couldn't spain among others to play a more active role in the nato mission and despite the collapse of the housing market and with unemployment a critical level changes in death in the extended its mandate for involvement in libya i don't think it's a human need to. resort to go to media now because we didn't care about human rights year ago when we were. leaving. the weedman libyan people have right here. in spain in recent years he was even awarded the keys to the city on an official visit to madrid the ten year is that of many

western countries until recently he could take it that they can tolerate is his regime. we think the operation against libya is an action performed so. the strategic interests of the major powers such an example of double standards of morals cannot be justified by the international community and the team members and so those have taken very different views about the action being taken in libya less than half the country's even taking part the pressure on participants like spain to increase their involvement a commitment they simply can't afford right now. evidence of the internal struggles the country is facing it's not hard to find here on the outskirts of madrid you can see signs everywhere the pre-crisis construction boom much about works now starts and most of those apartments. now those here in spain who oppose nato military intervention in libya favor of course they don't support the dictatorship but they

also don't support their country being dragged into a war while they themselves are still fighting such tough economic conditions there are madrid to help me figure out why there is this reaction in spain but not the united states earlier i spoke with campaigner for progressive organization roots action david swanson i asked him given all the economic hardships in the u.s. right now the debt ceiling would be a great example you can't escape the debate on that i asked why the public isn't more outraged about this spending on the war in libya as a response. the short answer is u.s. corporate media is lousy but you know because interest is feeling some pressure against money for the war in libya and if we can work together with the people in spain to push both our governments not to pay for it that may be effective but you know what's unique about the u.s. budget is not the health care in the social security and the debt it's the war and

the military we just saw the house of representatives passed a military budget bigger than ever before we almost doubled it in a week more than doubled in the past ten years not counting homeland security in energy and state and all the other departments we have i think twenty five percent of americans you know pull this year think the united states should spend three times the next competing nation on military expenses each year the united states spends about seven times what china spends not counting all those other departments and nobody wants that if you put a bill in congress that said the united states can't spend more than three times the next computing nation on its military everybody in the public which would favor it but it would get nowhere with this congress and it's it's not part of the discussion but let's talk about the discussion among american people because you see a different connection being made in spain i've seen on the streets and portugal where people were protesting nato saying our country needs money we don't want that money

going to nato we don't want it going to the military here in the united states you don't see that connection as off and being made even though the u.s. spends half of its discretionary spending on defense my favorite clip as one a c.n.n. anchor was you know very strongly correcting her gas saying hey whoa whoa whoa we had debts and deficits in the u.s. there can run gas but libya that's a totally separate thing why isn't there more of a connection well i the by the masses and here in the us will one answer is that they never hear about it on the radio or the t.v. i mean you have a discussion that includes the right wingers who want to. about health care and social security but sort of centrist think tankers who want to talk about the recession and the lack of revenue from the recession and the progressive think tank there's an economists want to talk about the bush tax cuts that we still call the bush tax cuts that are now the bush obama tax cuts of course which is right that's a problem but you don't have any professional institution you don't have any

communication system to talk against the war machine you just are for peace movement when nobody funds it but what people and i can tell you as someone who's worked in the peace movement for many years nobody funds it if i had a dime for everybody who's emailed me complaining about all the money i get from george soros i'd be rich i could actually talk to george soros you know but no but nobody does and there's no corporate media in the united states that got it that isn't complicit but isn't making money off the war machine and that goes for rupert murdoch too i mean this is a major crime boss being threatened with parking tickets here this is a guy who pushed who openly confesses to having pushed these wars that's criminal. campaigner for various action david swanson and a lot of foreign dignitaries always visit washington but today we are taking special note a special visitor mind you did talk about war in libya russian foreign minister

sergey lavrov is in town and while you toured our studios yesterday today he met with u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton now among the hot issues they talked about behind closed doors the anti-missile defense shield and the middle east crisis now in a press conference that followed the meeting live rough and clinton said visa issues and adoption were also discussed and here's what the foreign minister had to say about america's checkered past and what it will take to build better trust for future adoption relations. we will we will go with the words she was that she sort of implementing this it remains and this will help us get rid of that era's tense that you have seen emerging quite rightfully in the public opinion connected to the existence of russian children who were adopted and then there are . now earlier in the day lavrov met u.s. president obama behind closed doors prior to the meeting obama's administration confirmed that the key topic of the negotiations with the u.s.

is projected anti-missile shield in europe now despite lavrov acknowledging russian american relations have been reset he said the missile defense is still a stumbling block between the two countries that moscow needs her legal binding documents to confirm that the shield is not aimed at russia and athens action not words. now speaking of the media we've spoken about it a little bit in today's show but we want to know where it's all heading and united kingdom rupert murdoch papers are shutting down for a no holds barred tactics of hacking and the us you could argue the alternative to media struggling for money is cutting costs and becoming increasingly reliant on publicists for their information and correspondent christine for southbound at press are leaving the ranks in the hordes to join those publicists. the first of those who see the flow of this into the local. newspapers like the seattle post intelligencer the rocky mountain news and hundreds more has now become relics

from the past. slashing budgets have stopped the presses newsrooms nationwide. and mass layoffs media have meant for fewer journalists to investigate policy and procedure who are losing their sense of accountability in government and business in all our. life lives if we lose journalists who are now asking questions about what's going on and the numbers particularly dramatic with newspapers where revenue has been cut nearly in half while the journalism industry is shrinking the public relations industry is expanding at one time a one to one ratio between p.r. employees and journalists today that ratio is four to one with p.r. revenues jumping from three point five billion to eight point seven billion dollars journalists are simply overwhelmed by folks who are trying to spin and are trying

to create their own story you have the public relations folks inductors if you will driving in the circle and john nichols along with robert mcchesney wrote a book about it the death and life of american journalism in a sense we are becoming one of the most propagandized countries in the world short staffed news stations often use company video news releases via an arse like this one your answers are the first. two five p. are described as news the new treatment is called mimics press releases also often read on the air or posted on the web before any fact checking is done with the focus often on getting it first rather than getting it right good evening everybody breaking news tonight we are cutting into our program with the breaking news where corporate and government p.r. departments are filled with former journalists who know how to sell their message they understood our media works what. reporters saw those

story as opposed to hype which ward works for nearly twenty years as a journalist with the philadelphia inquirer but after layoffs he left to work for health insurer independent blue cross before returning to work as a journalist that revolving door between the press and he are. and government is causing real concern about what the long term effects could be if the influx of spin doctors take over the message machine completely so there is very little journalism be done. you create some dangerous circumstances for citizenry for democracy and so i'll go straight to questions white house spokesman jay carney works for twenty years as a journalist for time magazine now he's president obama's spokes person former broadcaster and columnist tony snow went on to serve as a spokesperson for president bush and jamie rubin went from the state department

under president clinton to executive editor of the burglars so common so it's a common practice and no one else no one is questioning or anymore it's time went back and flack are all things going in the same and the spin machine works overtime to. hold the question becomes a meaningful force a seat of the civil. war christine r.t. . and here to talk with me more about this is documentary filmmaker jay and berman he's also a guerilla journalist the gate then we're kind of trying to figure out where media is headed in the united states that the million dollar question we just saw story of where journalists are going and rose q.p.r. in the u.k. we have tabloids getting busted for hacking here in the united states you have yellow journalism and you have journal of them that is that yellow but that is

struggling to make money they're cutting costs they don't have time to investigate they are increasingly more reliant on their p.r. machine on publicist for their information do you think that you represent kind of a new wave of journalism and that is looking for the truth but isn't a holdin q-tip. really it's. i still think it was less than a. look at your home correspondent and we are changed. as still on the problem is that the traditional media has really been exposed as nothing more than what is a public relations so what is it with relations i think you need to go back to their turn comes from because the man who's the father is the. author of propaganda in this book because it is

a book about you know you can know that he exposes the fact that the people that are actually holding the strings are largely and for people that we've never heard of and this is just being exposed more and more as being lied to by our government and the media we have so many confirmed he says over the past decade the government in all. journalism cases like. armstrong williams was. to promote no child left behind the bush administration all the way doesn't exist in a my we are that you can find were basically i might journalists all i'm hearing in spanish speaking ok i want to ok i want to get in here for a moment i do i look right out there that are to correspondent. adam versus the man went to the show that's broadcast on r.t. but we do you know look at i want to ask because you live and john right that

you're talking about journalism is largely a product of the internet the internet super important and you're going about it a different way you're not relying on a p.r. she'll you're looking for different answers from different sources but what about resources do you have the time do you have the resources to check your story. but absolutely enlarge her what we do is. the mainstream media and go to the source this they are reporting to you. the same people you call will find will say it's going to get them on the record more and more you're seeing it's all like then. oh my oh he ate in to eat right there all these people you see in the mainstream media the difference is now one click away is not only your home on your own it literally on your telephone to new stories so people want that it's

a nation so it's going to move towards where anyway the difference is that you don't have advertisers that are creating millions and sometimes billions of dollars in contracts to promote a certain view or that's what public relations stand really is and you can see more and more of it whether it's fox news and this and you see c.n.n. they all have their little sponsors they were all part of that huge corporate government bailout that took place in two thousand and nine when these newspapers were about to go under really the government openly owns these organizations i guess i want to ask you because if you're carrying the flag for media and interaction it's going in the u.s. how do you prove your credible because i would say that the number one criticism launched against people doing things like yourself is that these are not credible sources these are not credible story. just look at my last film visible in. my every single thing i put in that i don't is either very well i buy the c.d.'s.

or a washington post article or a government document on the military sign or a government site i don't just spout johnny nonsense out of the public expect you to believe that i'm already actually the source is actually government documents and i challenge anybody to find out anything i lied about and i'm going to get my perspective one hundred percent right well you know i'm a human being nobody can however the media doesn't even seem what it was and lies on purpose for its own benefit we're seeing more and more of you know i want to ask you because we are thing as go on in a u.k. with u.k. tabloids and papers getting shut down because they are being found out that there is hacking going on at the murdoch papers are allegations of that what those kind of papers are very thick that fall and the u.k.

and it's a much more no holds barred reporting and journalism which that would argue is immoral it sound what are you i think all some would say illegal but it's been very thick that's well and it's been a money maker and it's been influential and there alike and then in politics as well i'm curious if you think that model is coming here or is here. i think it's really already here in this land. and we can talk about that ninety percent of that is just garbage based on the next hollywood movie star and next. we're going to trumping up the sex scandal with all its politics almost none of it as you will against the war dearly and. you know our future you know we hold our jobs with our home security with our national security that's not what it's really about it is about getting angry. and most people in this. uk or an american idol culture don't really care about substance so these news organizations really don't have to

provide to the public journalism it used to be the horse used to be a chicks. that are going to be no longer have them and i would like to see a return to back when you know the gardener openly saying you know you'd like to get julian assigned to wiki leaks because your soul is stuck a journalist should have no allegiance but you the truth and when you're getting government documents and simply publishing communiques for the world to see you should know you should be prosecuted but he got you all and then until you think that you're going to see more serious journalism going in a direction of the u.k. cowboys because of those stories are political and you employ the politics and think that your are going people should care about so do you think that that model is going to increasingly again be used for serious story in the united states. well i mean i really don't see much of a difference particularly near the sun and excuse it is own they all land this

same interchange slash political scandal it's late journalism they hardly ever go in and get story you know usually don't see any interest in it you know by so i think we're already there you know we're going to see more and more of it of course we are we've seen television expander will ask for everybody having about twenty four thirty channels in their house to two hundred pounds so course you're going to take you're going to have to go to alternative sources of information you're going to have to do a little getting a little reading i know what you think is not popular anymore but you know you might want to check on your sources don't check them and then you scored here thinking to get the decision on what you believe or what you think might be going on maybe critical thinking of that fourth date and i think that was documentary filmmaker and barbara thanks so much and after i get right now from want to stories we cover got our t. dot com slash usa check out our u.k. page it feeds.