brinjal into the building running the world you don't know what was going through here because if i need to compensate for that it will go first and we. will has the war in gaza really come to an end or how the battleground really shifted to the courts today will look at the grueling process palestinians face when they try to receive compensation from the israelis. it's tuesday december twenty seventh four pm in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching r.t. well despite an intense smear campaign braun paul is surging in the polls throughout the years his message has remained the same and now his consistency seems to finally be paying off let's take a look at some of the presidential candidates stances that make him fundamentally different from his rivals when it comes to foreign policy ron paul remains antiwar

he wants to bring the troops home close military bases abroad and stop being the world's policeman and when it comes to government he thinks it should be much smaller he wants to slash spending lower taxes and believes government interference should be at a bare minimum and when it comes to the war on drugs he wants to end it the doctor believes drug abuse is a medical not a criminal problem well that's the ideas i his supporters say show a candidate offering real change fresh ideas that differ from those of the failed establishment but instead of focusing on his policy the mainstream media is busy digging up dirt from his past controversial newsletters published under his name decades ago are resurfacing paula search that he never read them and he never approved of the racist statements in them but it's not stopping the mainstream media from attacking again and again. and you know it is it legitimate i mean is it

a legitimate question to ask that something went on and when you do you mean when you get the answers would you to move though you sort of take the answers i give you no one you know here is i didn't really write them i didn't read them at the time and i disavow them that is you know. when i was ron paul surges in the polls could he be the change that many americans long for and if so why is there a campaign to silence him want to talk more about this here with me now is the director of grassroots political consulting daniel for oggi welcome danielle so ron paul's message really seems to be resonating with more and more americans you know with the dire dire state of the economy the seemingly endless wars abroad. why is the mainstream media focusing on these newsletters that were written decades ago well i think there's a lot of it that is being fed to them by other campaigns and other candidates and so and it's sensational to discuss that point in and try to bring another scandal

to bear burden on another conservative in this race well as it's being fed to them i mean as the media shouldn't they be able to determine what is important what is relevant what they should be reporting on they should but you're right there is an all out very consistent attack being coordinated against him to make him look so for and of the french for wanting to draw down our troops not engage iran over aggressively militarily first option wise to tackle the fed to return us to the gold standard i mean there are many things that he brings to the table. a lot of the american electorate is looking for on both sides of the aisle and that is why he is subject to so many attacks and absolutely use the word friend and certainly in the mainstream media they are still trying to perpetrate him as this fringe candidate i want to take a listen to what former presidential candidate mike huckabee has to say about paul's chances. ron paul is not going to be elected president he's not his views on

foreign policy are so much an anathema to the republicans much less to democrats and and what i call middle of the road people that he has a very strong core of fanatical believers but they do not represent the mainstream of america. and the business tycoon that now seems to be attempting to make a career and politics today tweeted. a vote for ron paul is a totally wasted vote if you wins iowa it's bad for i was credibility so it's no matter what he does no matter what you know surge or numbers he gains they just twist it around to make it seem like there's something wrong with what the system going back to what mike huckabee said you know he used the word fanatical believers so it seems to he seems to be implying that if you are for ron paul if you are outside of the mainstream you are therefore crazy. is that how people people that

are against this you know the status quo or business of usual. they're being portrayed by the mainstream media that that there are you know fanatical it definitely is i think this there's a foundation to the whole problem here speaking of it was specifically there is a lackluster motivation for participation in these caucuses you can see it just by even the ad spending you look back to two thousand and eight which had a little bit better of a field than right now and the ads there was eleven million spent on ads five million on the ground in street money now there's over ten million spent on ads with still another week to go of flooding and who knows so much has been spent on the ground and this comprehensive consistent attack from the media and also established when republicans against anybody that is supporting run poll is meant to dismay those that are he clearly has the most motivated caucus goers at anybody

to go out in the middle of the cold weather for a few hours in the night it's not like typical going out to a pool without that crop of a jeb bush or a poll ryan or anybody to be excited about you need to have a very very credible ground game with a lot of funds spent to keep people out there and ron paul seems to have the only group that consistently is believed in him for over twenty years. yes and the attacks are coming but you look at the alternative and caucus goers have to be scratching their heads on who is the most credible to beat the president at the same time who could be more consistent in their record then what congressman paul has to offer right now now do you think it's possible that the establishment the mainstream media are scared of him they're seeing that he's actually making this mark he's getting people's attention his message is coming through is it possible that some people are scared that he is gaining some leverage now in

a way i mean this is and it's perplexing though because this is an era look at even today we're going to go raise the debt ceiling another trillion and a half dollars after that was supposed to have been sold this is an arrow we're told the big things need to be done to turn this country around he is probably out of the field of candidates maybe speaker gingrich offering some as well but one of the ones offering the most bold sweeping change in direction from the thing that is taking this country to an insolvent state at this point in time and that is causing him both sides are scared of it because of that groundswell of support that's around those ideas that it crosses party lines and the threat that it could mean that members of congress and others are going to would have to get in line with some of this thinking now there are some of the international foreign policy things that of course are a little concerning at times and also i think his or lack of articulation

of the drug war decriminalizing and tying that to. not fighting the drug war is intensely i mean he needs to kind of separate the two points so there are some issues there but consistently there's a lot of big broad sweeping things that one of the public's kitchen on and you know there certainly are a lot of that on both sides a lot of republicans he's running as a as a republican candidate but a lot of conservatives that are be humanly. posed to him. you know but ron paul if you look at what he advocates things that you hear from him over and over again going back to the constitution freedoms civil liberties are these all words that conservatives love yes and you know the debt to the phenomenon of the tea party itself and the conservative groundswell in this country originated from him maybe twenty years ago i mean he's a purist libertarian very conservative member of congress but he has always been that way and very consistent in his answers sink in this point as well they know

thank you so much for weighing in on all of this that was director of grassroots political consulting daniel. well coming up are they leaving too far or sitting perfectly in the middle today will determine if the mainstream media is truly capable of giving the real headline without being biased . they're still believe the repetition of. what is testing nobody seems to know. that never a pepper sprayed the face but part of the argument that they're being overly dramatic.

welcome to the capitol in calgary i'm lauren lyster. you just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old don't you tell the truth. i have a confession i am a total get a princess i love grabbing hip hop music and for. that he

was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the world without years as place.

well they claim to be fair and balanced but are they really the media they're supposed to be the government watchdog reporting the facts exposing the truth but instead of keeping a watchful eye on government corruption is the fourth estate now beholden to it and has confidence in the mass media waning laurie harshness takes these questions to the streets of the big apple. are you sick of the media being biased this week let's talk about that do you feel like the media's biased sure they are just going to pick the right one that you want to listen to is the right one on one you know. you're going to listen to them all and make up your own wife when do you k.'s very political party is it government is in power but i can't. she sings on the media i absolutely do think it's important for the new citroën to be on by us but unfortunately everybody

brings their own slant to their reporting i don't think it's avoidable even though it's desirable obvious puzzle for anybody to be unbiased so why would we expect a news organization to be unbiased because of professionals who journalists this is a job but they're still human. well they have the best they can a lot of stuff you either read or the news is untrue and a lot of the television isn't that a shame that the news would be untrue. the thing is it sells papers and it sells news and people watch it people watch the channels that bother you no not at all just the way the world. believe what you want to believe do you think it would help people be more informed if news organizations admitted their bias. i think sober people wouldn't believe them and then they'd turn whoever was biased anyway because a lot of people that think the some channels are fair and balanced other channels

aren't leaning in any direction well i mean i think we all know that's not true right we all this into the news every single day and we all hear the ridiculousness on both sides yeah but i think fox particularly will report both sides in both views and they have people of opposing views on very frequently so you don't think they're biased that i think they themselves there may be a slant but i think it's a moniker that people have put on them. i know they're still good service they are they are but that's ok they should just admit it they do i think i think some of you know what their fair and balanced baseball orders and he's person to be these experts they come in every individual has his own personal bias you can't get away from that maybe instead of demanding our media be less biased we just start demanding they admit their bias and maybe that will at least be accountable for the opinion they report.

and joining me now to dig deeper into all of this is george town journalism professor christopher chambers welcome christopher into well as a media kind of watchdog want to ask you where you turn to for the news these days well i try to vary my diet because that's probably the only thing you can do you have to still look at newspapers and print magazines or their online component because a lot of the primary source material comes from that i mean a lot of that stuff gets you know put on facebook but also t.v. . and you know twitter and other you know and newer social media outlets but for t.v. i watch i turn to watch r t of course and i'm going to say yes and other kind of alternatives to cable giants and the networks so it could be you know upstart like current or something like that because. the newer kind of t.v. upstarts you know tend to dig deeper and cover what's not covered so i you have to vary it because if you know very then you'll end up pretty much stupid as.

unfortunately a lot of too many news consumers and the people who prevail that the mainstream cable networks are banking on and you know speaking of more mainstream the former c.e.o. new york times janet robinson she is leaving the company and the times under her leadership wasn't doing so well nonetheless she gets. fifteen million dollar exit package how was she able to get such a generous reward meantime the paper that she was ahead of was eighty percent decline in stocks during her ten ten or ten year there seems to be a disconnect there well it's a metaphor for the corporate media because this is what happens in say the sister companies of these media corporations i mean a long time ago you would have seen these humongous salaries and you would have seen these humongous golden parachutes either because but this is a hallmark of what's going on in corporate america across the board where people

come in slash and burn and if things don't work out they kick him out the door with a kick him out the door with this this wonderful parachute that we could only dream of we're getting fired you know supports a severance package it's really a golden parachute well that matching what's going on in corporate america because the because the media has been corporate since the one nine hundred eighty so this is something that's shouldn't surprise anybody because this goes on in any other company in this country sounds a little there reminiscent of the big bailouts of the wall street basically exactly a you know country and they went down under and then they got millions and millions exactly and this and this so this is a metaphor for what's wrong because she you know she did she did what the the ship was sinking it's stable now it's stable now it's still the gray lady is still the source of primary source of a lot of news that gets retreated or sent out another with social media platforms but she really you know i mean for to be colloquial about it messed up and she's

going to be rewarded for it but again that's a hallmark across our economy and it shouldn't surprise people i think people just think once the media want you know well the media's been corporate ties for thirty years now so shouldn't shock anyone well perhaps people are taking notice of that because print revenues they're going down viewership among the cable networks are also going down so do you think that this signals a shift and where people are turning to fragmenting as things so i think i mean. it's a weird kind of a thing i mean on the one hand we know we scream almost like spoiled children and you know what the mainstream media is and serving my needs well it's kind of a chicken and egg thing because they really are because while they're doing their dive we're taking a dive with them so even though we scream for better content more coverage of different issues we still want our prejudices and our entertainment. tastes and our lusts and our hatreds pandered to and we also have to realize that because it's

been corporate ties they're going to dumb it down to the least common denominator and of course it will be almost like entertainment so you know they're to blame definitely because you know this is what these pretty producers are thinking about you know giving shoveling us the bread and circuses the engine room but we're demanding it to it but then again we turn around on the other side and say well it's not what we want you know or it's too biased and one where the other or it's too stupid one way or other well they're giving us what we want in a certain level so perhaps what is being shown as a reflection. that that they say they want to see justin bieber what you know your stories and justin bieber on the today show which get rebroadcast on m.s.n. b.c. you know because all of these properties are all related so you know but i think that people have to realize however that yes the social media penetration in terms of media choice has been just absolutely amazing but a lot of that is taking place in

a younger demographic especially in this country where you're talking about people maybe thirty five forty and older there's still the that's a really great area and say fifty five and older i mean there is no penetration it's still primarily t.v. and radio so drive time radio which would make talk that important so among younger people there's definitely a revolution going on but the older has a part of the demographics out there the target demos it's still t.v. . to some extent the internet but you know the battleground is in the middle right there and as these younger people start to get more mature then we'll see what happens ok and lastly i want to ask you because clearly we are seeing a shift and where people are getting their sources where they're turning to for the news talk about the future where this is heading well i think the future obviously is in the social media platforms the key is these people who are taking over for the janet robinson's out there and hopefully taking over for the rupert murdoch's.

out there have to understand that they're going to have to integrate these primary news collection sources with new social media platforms they haven't figured out how to do that yet i mean for better or for worse we still need a new york times we still need a c.n.n. or a c.b.s. because they have the infrastructure to be able to go out there and get and get the news to engage people around the world and get the news the people at the top need to understand is that they have to feed that integrate that with something like twitter but we also have to understand that you know we also have to back away from that entertainment model and it's very hard for them to do that when they're they have a corporate structure where they're asking for rates of return akin to banks so they're going to shovel the least common denominator crap down our throats and so that cycle will continue so i'm hopeful a little bit of the future not really that hopeful on the other side we'll see what happens with the presidential campaign we'll see how much of

a circus that is and then i'll come back to you next year and will reflect on whether they learned anything well certainly it is a good thing that we have more alternative yes that is the key is the christopher i thank you so much for weighing in on this that was georgetown journalism professor christopher chambers. well still ahead on art he will take a look at the next battle facing the palestinians having their voices heard in israeli court and as they seek compensation for the damage to their homes and meaning for family members who lost their lives we'll be right back in a moment. but first break let's just burn gerard's right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual pepper it's a food product essentially. this is what stronger than anything you'd buy off. the arms were stronger than any going to. put you know.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so silly you think you understand it and then you give them something else here's some other part of it and realized everything you saw. i'm sorry. well palestinians and dogs are marking three years since israel sent tanks and fighter jets to attack them the operation lasted twenty two days and cost almost fifteen hundred lives entire families were wiped out for some the battle still rages on only now in the courtroom artie's policy clear explains.

a judge is unusual not because he laid a claim against the israelis but because he won victory though is bittersweet it was the year on a broken man the israelis say their army has morals what morals are they talking about it. it was december two thousand and eight for three weeks israeli soldiers bombed the gaza strip killing nearly one and a half thousand palestinians four out of five were civilians at the same time hundreds of rockets fell on southern israel killing three israeli civilians the government i work with i couldn't get to my home for sixteen days because the israeli soldiers were firing all the time so as they left i went down inside on the walls the soldiers had written you'll find the bodies fifty meters away i found the body of my brother buried in the sand and the body of my sister much to cover with some bricks. took his case to the palestinian center for human rights in a precedent setting move they secured an out of court settlement with the israeli

military it took seligson weeks to achieve the bodies of his mother and sister because of continue fighting in the area these women military said this made the case simpson and they feel justified with the weights and sell a received just under one hundred fifty thousand dollars compensation. if someone with his leg or his head is up or risk eld or injury and all the money in the world in the arm. but it was worth fighting for here is a financial company that it will offer someone from. the palestinian center for human rights has more than two hundred cases on its books but the heavy paperwork iraq received and expenses discourages many others from coming forward. this man however is a rare exception he filed a claim three years ago and is still awaiting a response today. from sources in the it was early morning there was showing in the apartment above was on fire i want to go my hands up in the soldiers told me to

pull off my shirt and trousers i did with a suit but they find a rock i would behind my mother. i recognized her by the ear of my two year old daughter my father my aunts my cousin my entire family was killed at that moment but convincing israeli authorities that compensation is due can be a major obstacle before usually military operation for a. flow. for. the state will be exempt from the. judges case will help other palestinians is not yet clear these really army is also said it's opened an investigation into what happened but so far no indictment against any israeli soldier has been filed police here on t.v. . well that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to r.t. dot com slash usa you can also check out our you tube paid to see to dot com slash

artsy america and you can also follow me on twitter at liz wahl the capital account lauren lesser is up next see you back here in a half hour. wealthy british scientists are. sometimes right on. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report. on

. more news today violence is once again fled up the film these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations or the day.

all right good afternoon and welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. and we are on vacation this week for the holidays but we still have exciting shows for you all week we've been on the air for a little more than two months now but we've had so many great interviews with amazing unique guests and for our smart engaged but not financial expert viewer as we've broken down so many financial terms from the depths to the historic to the slaying now is your chance to catch up on some of the best of all of it so far plus we have a chance to respond to more of your feedback the comments and questions that you've had for the show.