at least full countries claim the full american marine who's been charged in moscow with espionage is that that's as media speculation claims the man's being used as a bargaining chip by russia he faces up to twenty years plenty of time to be swapped with the. tally ation was revenge in some way by the russians the french government's hardened stunts against the l.a.v.'s may have meant claiming it's trying to bring about some kid that comes as president micron's popularity rating hits. with a national emergency because of the security of our country absolutely you know we can do it i haven't done it i may do it i may do it but we could call

a national emergency and build it very quickly. another round of talks to end the almost two week u.s. government shutdown shows no sign of progress with president trump saying he made a national emergency to build support a war without congressional approval. you can read more about top stories a. new episode of the big picture coming up next. on this week's show people have been hurt by the government shutdown but so has planet earth and we'll learn just how. all the political noise is simply the soundtrack of one outspoken journalist calls the trump circus has the mainstream media failed in its mission i'm holland cook in washington this is the big picture on our t. america.

people who do what i do for a living t.v. and radio broadcasters usually don't get to do their last show management fears what they might say in one nine hundred seventy seven the movie network won for academy awards and was nominated for six others and more recently was revived on broadway starring bryan cranston from breaking bad low rated network t.v. news anchor howard beale railed i'm mad as hell and i'm not going to take it anymore and that anger the corporate media gods there is no america there is no democracy there appears only i.b.m. and dupont and. only the primary force is needed shar. to live. our own.

my getting through so used to be. i'm sure on television. but when management saw the public reaction the same sort of rolling mri's sentiment that propelled candidate donald trump to the presidency they left beale on television for the ratings today william arkin concludes his three decades with n.b.c. news where he has worked as a military analyst reporter and consultant he covered the cold war and nine eleven and lots in between and his two thousand plus word public farewell has the news industry buzzing and taking a tough look in the mirror he finds the world and the state of journalism in tandem crisis and he feels that his expertise though seeming to be all the more central to the challenges and dangers we face also seems to be less valued at the moment he

says i find myself completely out of sync with the network being neither a day to day reporter nor interested in the trump circus. by taking the bait of daily distractions served up on twitter has the mainstream media failed its mission let's ask chris chambers media studies professor at georgetown university welcome back thank you good to be back as the government shutdown dragged on and do a second week of arm wrestling over the border while president trump put out a looming movie type poster that warned the wall is coming chris t.v. loves pictures but with all the important matters at hand boss media take the bait well i mean there are a lot of people. as you know that if they can sell to them if they've got a little piece slice of the audience they can sell to yeah i mean it's all part of the the business model holland i mean you know circus sells analysis doesn't well

for the media it's the perfect storm the story itself is harder to cover now as he said the reporting landscape has changed with legacy media now competing with social media and the sensational circus stuff that howard beale railed about and trump serves up gets ratings and clicks where do we go from here well you have to also understand the legitimate criticism of the meat mainstream media i mean that is important but you also have to read between the lines of what howard beale was saying it was like we have seen the enemy of the enemy might just be us because we're taken in by all of this were seduced by all of this we want to see more blood we want to see more circus so there is some responsibility looking in the mirror however you know that doesn't necessarily let them be off the hook your job is to end analyze and educate people and bring them along not pander to their base or

needs and they have failed in that they said the word educate your students came of age post walter cronkite post printed newspapers how do you get them to think about information quality country. role in the age of twitter well we we actually do look at those old models and we actually do we did learn also that people didn't like walter cronkite because he wasn't strident enough while they fixed that in the eighty's after he retired and corporate media congealed under you know and the needs of the stockholders and and feeding sensationalistic news as a product became paramount but we're look at the old school style of just being fair being right you can have a point of view but you have to be fair you have to try to be right and that's where the failure is going on because there's no utility there's no profit in profit in having a point of view there's no profit being right and that's the problem what do your students speier to do they come to school figuring they'll do what when they

exit well i think luckily what we're trying and call kate is that and when we say we seem to be succeeding is that they have a very legacy media mindset in terms of getting it right is just that they want to use different platforms to do it so they do look at the old models of how people did things you know the old newspaper even the old opinion columns that were very strident that often very partisan but they tried to get it right and so we are trying to get that kind of thoroughness almost footnoting you know if you're going to put your beliefs out there foot no to make sure you speak with authority does what they're trying to do the only difference that i'm seeing is that they're using different platforms for it you know with i mean i think they study people like him to sure and it is a sad commentary even from their point of view that he is being devalued his

expertise is being devalued to feed this this this circus and the circus you know it and again you notice he wasn't. defending the president or attacking him. what he was attacking was the circus around this you know to the point where you know you look at n.b.c. and their their parent company i mean you know they've almost invented this problem you know it becomes it's not it's not a it's not a confrontation it's a dance of the president on one hand sure the media and the other it's not the fighting it's a dance it's almost the theater you know the japanese theater everybody's where different masks but everybody's the same underneath i'm really encouraged to hear you say that they are curious about the legacy media and i'm concerned and you and i have talked about this before about the newspapers business model imploding and that is in return rate you know interest through radio and there's going to be on as a there there and you know and that's that's what they're looking for

a platform right that's what they're really looking for they understand they've got to get it right they're looking for a platform on which to do it and now there's they're empowered with do it yourself media so you know that's what they're going to have to content themselves for the time being thank you georgetown media studies professor chris chambers appreciate your time now let's bring in media analyst lionel same question i asked chris with competition for attention now so amped up does the media dare get serious and stop taking the bait. first this conversation is five years minimum old it's dated we've this is over with this is a post-mortem and i says one comment you got that right yeah oh no no but it's all over weight where we think about the grave or a cemetery right now number one number two you bring up one of my heroes howard beale the great paddy chayefsky line the real model today i suspect is ted baxter because ted baxter keep in mind that i'm being dead serious about this ted baxter

augured the future of the empty suit kind of a ron burgundy well before anybody remember ted walter cronkite had. and the years to go when ted baxter came out the next thing is not not to claim not to be priggish about this but the problem is not with the mainstream media it's of the mainstream media nudes the news planted for me feel media is is not the issue the next point is that's not the mainstream media this is the mainstream media this is the mainstream media we're talking about something that is already dead this is a post-mortem we're doing this is there is no changing the course now what are can did which is interesting was he basically spoke the truth the problem is his story was again is outdated as kahlan if you and i during the days in the seventy's where we said this hip hop rap is not going to make it because there's no

beat we think it's over with so what happens is people are meant here's what's interesting new spoken word information fact opinion whatever you want to call it that is never going away people become married how into this idea of walter cronkite about that is that's fine that was a modahl of the talk radio my change somewhat but spoken word always continues whether mr bastable has satellite so the good news is news information opinion ok you and i could sit around and we could say like a bunch of you know old timers while it's not really commentary versus the news and there should be a better firewall oh ok millennialism jen's ears are they going to say look that's nice but the worst part remember i'm saying this when you hear people say i don't care that's when you were correct i don't care how you care about it adult

care how you get it as long as you are talking about something it may be war on shore but as long as you understand that these are issues that affect. life that unhappy lionel in his word farewell can said i feel like i've failed to convey this larger truth about the hopelessness of our way of doing things especially disheartened to watch n.b.c. and so much of the rest of the news media somehow become a defender of washington and the system like many americans i was wary of the iraq invasion and in particular how network news correspondents got embedded action status armored up alongside the troops validating their mission by their very presence i got about thirty seconds so i need the short version did having that access does able the important skepticism that is fundamental to reporting absolutely holland you cannot expect me to to speak ill or speak negatively about

somebody who is saving my life every day it's like be arguing with the pilot of a plane i'll talk about it when we land but not while he's negotiating my safety in my future i know what he is talking about was this post mortem he gave this obituary again is five years old but news and information will always go on how well i appreciate of the plan i appreciate you using the word lament which is maybe glass half empty glass half full is transparency it's better than knowledge that lattice know the glass is too big who thank you lionel media analyst lionel media for martino york. coming up new year new laws some you'll applaud others who might risk unintentionally breaking this is the big picture on our t.v. america.

tethers financial survival guide i don't buy a i'm on a future. thing it's not the most the friday i saw some of my ex from the future so crocker kaiser. hello my name's peter and i've been living in bushnell for about seven years and this is a film about just some of the crazy things i've got in the time. when you're going to get. a let me go this is punished or did you cry because if i had said the guy. i still did not shift to see if it. was.

true. if you traveled over the holidays the ts. say officers who checked you in at the airport essential personnel in government speak were working not knowing when they'd be paid after previous government shutdowns furloughed workers were made whole retroactively by congress also working without pay throughout the shutdown the united states coast guard and the army corps of engineers who had their hands

full working around the clock this past week in kentucky after a towboat pushing fifteen barges hit a bridge for those barges sank spilling some a teen hundred tons of coal into the ohio river three of those barges got stuck on a dam causing the water level to drop a foot which complicated the cleanup here in washington the litter strewn national mall will eventually get cleaned up but when people get paid how will our place have suffered let's ask dr resultor and eco stressed physiologist specializing in earth's life support systems is the author of among a stack of other books love nature reese thank you for being here. appy to hear all of you to pal what's the consequence of all that coal in the river . well obviously our mother nature is cop did once again on the

chin by the way speaking of lamenting earlier on the e.p.a. is continuing to relax almost every regulation for our water for our air or for our soils and. i don't buy into a little bit of poison is ok there's no notion poison is poison and eight thousand eight hundred tons a minimum we think is now in the ohio river which means all the river life and likely people living next to the ohio river will be exposed to poisons. you know it's easy for us to shrug off things like the closing of national parks let the humans come back another time but what about their critters there and the land itself with these parks closed. yeah well this is also a problem i mean there's poaching for firewood there's poaching for animals there

are yahoos in there big rigs driving all over everywhere and there's also a lot of trash and human deficit that's everywhere and it's piling up and you know i also wanted to pivot to south right along the texas mexico border the santa ana national refuge wildlife refuge hole and this is in the exquisite piece of heaven on earth as a matter of fact it has half of the butterfly population some three hundred species of butterflies pollinators that are very close to this proposed wall now we're in the midst of the sixth mass extinction it's man driven and it's accelerating when we drop this wall in there i just want the viewers to understand

how important nature is so when we put this wall in there not only are half of the butterflies in the united states the species in dire. situation because they're going to lose their habitat so the flowers but the follow this so they can't pollinate the flowers so the the flowers don't exist the little. ground mammals that depend upon the seeds well they're not going to have food they're not going to be there also the threatened texas tortoise that needs the flowers for food no food and then there are the cats the osa and the gulf coast jacaranda that they there's no small mammals so they lose this is a classic example of why. we need to protect nature everywhere because when we do one thing in it the ramifications are all the way down the track

and these nature knows no state or county or international borders we need nature hall and because it's the sustenance it's the church for all of us to stay well and healthy and the animals our brothers and sisters i'm so glad you connected the dots on that because when you say butterflies and we've talked about the bees in the past it's not just pretty to look at this is the food chain this is pollination you're interrupting our food supply right yeah absolutely and you know what we do to the pollinators and the animals we ultimately do to ourselves because this is how nature operates and by the way it's only had one point one billion years time tested. and it's a big tapestry so when we start to pull all the threads and the tapestry unwinds

it's not only nature that is is devastated my colleagues know call it hideous biological annihilation it's us right it's the air it's the water that sustains all of us princes or poppers so we're all in this together we are all making new year's resolutions many of us to lose weight and i have quoted your tip that you've offered on the show to go vegan one day a week now beyond the health benefits i got about a minute so boil this down for our viewers how does that help our planet. it does good call animal agriculture is a major contributor to these greenhouse damaging climate gases it's greater than global transportation in terms of the heat that goes up into the atmosphere from the farms from the runoff it also animal agriculture is responsible as well as

human waste for creating five hundred twenty dead zones expanding around the oceans so these are lifeless is own safe had the oxygen sucked out of them because of all the nutrients running off on the land we've also run out of land to feed the animals to feed the people and it's cruel animals feel pain they're our brothers and sisters so go to a plant based diet try it once one day a week and graduate to two days you'll feel better and our planet our home will we'll think you. thirty seconds tell me about your new book love nature well love nature think you it's a collection of seventy eight short stories. no just the raw wonder of how things work and i encourage all people young and old to to get back to nature and the way to do that is to grab one of these stories and

you know people protect what they love and in order to love something you've got to know it and it's our mother nature who doesn't love nature hallie planet earth we're not going to bug out on mars this is where we live right race our only home baby thank you dr reece halter happy new year i always appreciate you coming to visit us here in the big picture. thank you very much with the new year some new laws take effect among them federal law and now requires hospitals to put the prices of everything on line and alimony will no longer be a tax deduction for payers or taxable income for recipients a number of states are raising the minimum wage where i live rhode island it goes up to ten fifty an hour if you're ordering to go in new york city it won't keep coming in a styrofoam container a civil court judge dismissed a challenge to this law by the restaurant and plastic industries because foam

doesn't recycle well and if you're a new yorker you can now change the gender on your birth certificate including two x. new york state's paid family leave law is now more generous to twenty eighteen law gave certain parents eight weeks to be off with their new kids and fifty percent of their average wage now it's ten weeks and fifty five percent illinois now requires schools to conduct active shooter drills in the first ninety days of the school year if you're a nursing mother you're exempt from jury duty and illinois state laws against stalking now include posts on social media beginning in march ohio will outlaw so-called revenge porn the transmission of certain photos of a person without that person's consent in tennessee you can now buy booze on sunday but not on easter thanksgiving or christmas arizona is mandating to recess

periods for school kids in fifth and sixth grade and in hawaii you can get fined up to five hundred dollars for misrepresenting your pet as a service animal which has become a problem with vests and i.d.'s for sale online and california you need to be twenty one to purchase a right. full or shotgun and there's a lifetime gun ban for anyone convicted of serious domestic assault or anyone hospitalized more than once a year for mental health problems and you'll need to take a gun safety training to get a concealed carry permit there will be no more secrets settlements for sexual assault or harassment at work and after the f.c.c. rollback net neutrality rules california is among states that reimposed bans on blocking throttling or paid fast lanes and pet stores in california can only

sell rescue or shelter animals and now its official california state sport is surfing. and remember ignorance of the law is no excuse and that is the big picture thanks for watching if you see a somewhere else you can also now watch r t america live at youtube dot com slash r t we're also live a directv three two one and on the pluto team one three two and on dish two eight zero and all our shows are available anytime anywhere on any device at youtube dot com slash the big picture r t m holland cook in washington and at holland cook on twitter where if you follow me i'll follow you question more.

to emerge in the decades after the war a nazi don't it was still active and rich in the nineteen seventies cretonne had as the cheer of its bowed a man convicted of messman and slavery at the german. company grown until it develops a little mite a drug that was promoted as completely safe even during pregnancy and it turned out to have terrible side effects what has happened to my baby is anything but all you know she said is just cut short arms minix a little mind victims i have to this day received no compensation they never apologized for the suffering that i not only want the money i want the revenge.

seemed wrong. but also just don't call. me. yet to shape out this day to come as a kid and engagement equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. one more turn. the work of those in the shadows who are bringing in the pieces together is often ignored and officials take the credit but not today i talk to a french businessman who takes no glory in saving lives and in conflict. here

expert in peril diplomacy chairman of brazzaville foundation today. with international mediation politicians and career diplomats feel to it conflicts forces come into play working quietly as private citizens of the spotlight growing mistrust and blood feuds patiently bringing warring parties to the table why does parallel citizen diplomacy work will. do the people willing to work. with the promise of nobel peace prizes or t.v. and they get the job done. thank you very much for being with us today thank you for. you to be in such an interesting profession i want to know all about it so you are a noted negotiator lots of success stories in africa i know that you're now trying to get sites in libya to sit down and talk i mean in a way you're more successful than united nations at least you're getting these guys

to sit down and talk. as you would need united nations but also somewhere somehow i needed those or it's a combination of two forces which. so you are right now talking about putting down the barriers of mistrust in libya but those barriers are were actually put up way before you and for the reasons that are beyond you what makes you think that an outsider can bring them down. this comes the. knowledge of the country and i goes across. my first trip to libya was and then sixty nine. and. his spectacles are cloudy shouldn and is always a completely leaves.