i know. when i was if i need to come to the scene of that it would be for some really well how's the war in gaza really come to an end or has the battle ground merely shifted to the courts so they will look at the grueling process palestinians face when they try to receive compensation from the israelis. it's tuesday december twenty seventh seven pm in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching r.t. . well despite an intense smear campaign ron paul is serving 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 well 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 criminal problem well it's these ideas that his supporters show a candidate offering real change fresh ideas that differ from those of the failed establishment but instead of focusing on his foreign policy the mainstream media is busy digging up dirt from his past controversial newsletters published under his name decades ago are resurfacing take a look at some of the coverage of a ron paul today. no ron paul is not going to get the republican nomination is not just a guy who has a libertarian philosophy but also is really on the fringe if the weather is bad and it's real tough to get out ron paul where you don't really often meet undecided

voters in iowa who are considering ron paul ron ron paul is not going to the nomination not to win the nomination and is not the president ron paul is going to go the way of many other primary candidates which is he looks good from a four but when you take a look at him up close here and so attractive anymore. well it appears the mainstream media is no fan of paul but as he surges in the polls could he be the change that americans longed for and if so why is there a campaign to silence him well tell me answer just that i spoke to director of grass roots political consulting danielle for oggi as ron paul continues to resonate with voters across the country asked daniel just why the mainstream media is choosing to focus on those old newsletters rather than his message there's a state. well i think there's a lot of it that is being fed to them by other campaigns and other candidates and so and that sensational to discuss that point in and try to bring another scandal

to bear burden on another conservative in this race is it is 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 them to make him look so for and of the fringe 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 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 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 you know fanatical it definitely is i think this so 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 was still another week to go of flooding and who knows how much has been spent on the ground and this comprehensive consistent attack from the media and also established republicans against anybody that is supporting ron poll is meant to dismay those that are he clearly has the most motivated caucus goer said 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 old turn of 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 and 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 surround 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 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 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 it yes and you know that 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 answer to this point as well they know thank

you so much for weighing in on all of this that was director of grassroots political consulting danielle. well coming up are they leaning too far or is sitting perfectly in the middle so they will determine if the mainstream media is truly capable of giving the real have lines without bias. do you believe in. what the test nobody seems to know. but never a pepper sprayed the face of the argument that they're being overly dramatic.

welcome to the capital account i'm lauren mr. you just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old like that you know the truth. i'm a contestant i'm a total get of friends that i love driving hip hop music and for. that he was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the all the belgians you

just played.

into it on your military mechanisms to do the work to bring justice or accountability. i have a right to know what my government should do if you want to know why i pay taxes. i would characterize obama as a charismatic version of american exceptionalism. 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 the government corruption is the fourth estate now beholden to it and has confidence in the mass media waning laurie harkness takes these questions to the story 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 are wrong i know. you're going to listen to the ball and make up your own mind when do you case very political party government is in power but i can't. see things on the media i absolutely do think it's important for the news the try to be on bias but unfortunately everybody brings their own slant to their reporting i don't think it's avoidable even though it's desirable obvious possible for anybody to be unbiased so why would we expect a news organization to be unbiased because they're professionals usually journalists job but they're still human. well they have a lot of stuff you either read or the news is untrue and a lot of it to a lot of it isn't that a shame that the news would be untrue. but the thing is it sells papers and it sells news and people watch it people watch the channels that bother you. just the

way they were. believe what you want to believe do you think it would help people be more informed if news organizations admitted their bias. i think so but people wouldn't believe them and then they'd turn whoever was biased anyway there's 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 might be a slant but i think it's a moniker that people have put on them. they're so conservative fact they are they are but that's ok they should just admit it all they do i think and i think some of

you know they're fair and balanced they say orders and each person particularly these experts say community or individuals 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 the at least be accountable for the opinion they report. well to dig deeper into all this i spoke to georgetown journalism professor chris chambers i start off by asking him where he's getting his news take a look. 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 re tweeted and 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 tend to watch r t of course. and other kind of alternatives to cable giants in the networks so that could be you know like current or something like that because the archie newer kind of t.v. upstarts you know tend to dig deeper and cover what's not covered so i have to vary it because if you don't vary it you'll end up pretty much stupid as. fortunately a lot of the news consumers and the people who prevail in the mainstream cable networks are pretty much 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 a 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 tenure ten or tenure there seems to be

a disconnect there. 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 wonderful parachute we could only dream of getting fired you know so. it's a severance package it's really a golden parachute well look at that's matching what's going on in corporate america because the because the media has been corporate eyes since the one nine hundred eighty s. 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 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 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 place 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 with the media want you know the media's been corporate ties for thirty years now so it shouldn't shock anyone well perhaps people are taking notice of that because print revenues they're going down. 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 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 some perhaps what is being shown as a reflection. that. they want to see justin bieber what you know your story is on

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 in which makes talk that important so among younger people there's definitely a revolution going on but the older has 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 murdock'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 was something like twitter but we also have to understand that you know we also have to back away from

the 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 of kin to banks so they're going to shovel the least common denominator crap down their throats and so that cycle will continue so i'm hopeful a little bit of the future not really that hopeful in 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 press i thank you so much for weighing in on this that was georgetown journalism professor christopher chambers. also had an article i will take a lock at the next battle facing the palestinians having their voices heard in israeli courts as they seek compensation. the damage to their homes and leaving for family members who lost their lives back in a moment. at

first just burns your eyes right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual pepper it's a food product essentially was this much stronger than anything in the bio i was a lose lose thousands of times was stronger than any kind of ever put you know. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so silly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything. you

don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through it's already been made who can you trust no one. is you deal with a global missionary zeal where we had a state controlled capitalism is called fascism when nobody dares to ask we do our t. question more.

all palestinians in gaza 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 and tiger family is a war wiped out for some the battle still rages on only now it's in the court room

party's policy lawyer explains. a judge is unusual not because he laid a claim against the israelis but because he won victory though is bittersweet. i'm a broken man the israelis say their army has no 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 for all to five were civilians at the same time hundreds of rockets fell on southern israel killing three israeli civilians and the government over the couldn't get to my home for sixteen days because the israeli soldiers were firing all the time as soon as they left i went there and 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. so later took his case to the palestinian center for human rights

in a person sitting moved they secured an out of court settlement with the israeli military it took so let's see 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 since you know and they feel justified with the way so solid received just under one hundred fifty thousand dollars compensation. if someone. is up or risk killing or injuring all the money in the world in iraq. it was worth fighting for here is a financial company that it will offer 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. i'm told him it was early morning there was showing in

the apartment above was on fire i want out so i want my hands up and here the soldiers told me to pull off my shirt and trousers i did with a suit but they find a rock i would behind me my mother had been blown apart i recognized her by the ear of my two year old daughter my father my aunt my cousin my entire family was killed at that moment but convincing israeli authorities that compensation is due can be a major obstacle before. the military operation according to the israeli case flow. for. the state will be exempt from the ability with 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. r.t. . well that does it for now for more on the stories we covered head to r.t. dot com slash r.t.

america you can also check argue two pages you tube dot com slash r t america r t america you can also follow me on twitter as well we'll see you right back here and a half hour. wealthy british study done. time to. go. to. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kinds a report on our.