our senior media correspondent brian stelter is here, he's got that exclusive information. what did they say, brian? >> it's -- i'm sort of bothered by it because it's a victory lap but these guys. it's exactly what people in hollywood like george clooney are warning should not be happening. that these hackers should not be able to win. what they are saying is if this film is kept offline, kept out of theaters, they will stop attacking sony. they will stop leaking new information that they've found from the company's servers. i think we can put it up on screen and raid it. you'll see it's in the same broken english we've seen the prior messages from. i says "i am the boss of gop" gop is guardians of peace, the group they've been calling themselves. "it's very wise that you have made a decision to cancel the release of the interview. it will be very useful for you." then it goes on to say "we believe you will never be engaged in something dangerous like that. now we want you never let the movie released, distributed or leaked in any form of for instance dvd or piracy. request

brian stelter, thank you for being here.re coming undone. >> in society. >> i don't mean just you and i. >> that's it for us at this hour. i'm michaela pereira. >> and i'm john berman. ashleigh banfield and "legal view" starts right now. >>> hello, everyone. i'm ashleigh banfield. welcome to "legal view." fury over the new york choke hold case has extended far beyond new york. protesters in california are getting violent. protesters in berkeley were met with tear gas for a second night. people threw rocks and bottles at them and nearby in oakland, even explosives. it's not clear at this point what kind of expose slosives but

brian stelter, thank you. i want to move on to other breaking news for you. on this tuesday, on this whole sony story. the white house is releasing a statement on sony's decision to run "the interview," this film and some of the more independent movie houses. let me go to the white house to our correspondent there michelle kosinski who isn't at the white house, lucky her. she's in hawaii. traveling with the president. so, michelle, what is the white house saying in response to this? >> reporter: yeah, well this was a big deal to them. the president's strong statement about maybe what could have been done regarding sony saying he wished sony called him first, which sparked this back and forth between him and the company. well, now today, at this latest announcement, the white house has put out a statement. this is from deputy press secretary eric schultz saying the president applauds sony's decision to authorize screenings of the film. as the president made clear, we're a country that believes in free speech and the right of artistic expression. the decision m

brian stelter, great to have you with us. i appreciate it. >>> a lot going on.at what is coming up on "new day." michaela and alisyn both joining me. >> you get both of us, john. >> my dream. >> hey now. >> we are following president obama's historic decision to restore diplomatic relation ws with cuba. chris cuomo is in little havana. that decision has sparked strong and divided reaction there. some feel betrayed. others are elated. what exactly does this policy shift mean? is it a step toward lifting the embargo? >> we will look at both sides of the story. we will speak with lawmakers who have been working to open relations with cuba. we will speak with others who think the change is a mistake. they plan on blocking the president's new policy. a lot of emotion and history. a lot to take a look at. >> i woke up still saying wow. after so many years, i cannot believe this happened as big as it did. alisyn and michaela, see you in a bit. >>> vowing to fight back. the attackers behind the school massacre. our cnn crews will take you inside the scene of the horrifi

they've got some cleaning up to do, because this isn't good. >> nischelle turner, brian stelter thanks appreciate it. i'll be right back. and for many, it's a struggle to keep your a1c down. so imagine, what if there was a new class of medicine that works differently to lower blood sugar? imagine, loving your numbers. introducing once-daily invokana®. it's the first of a new kind of prescription medicine that's used along with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. invokana® is a once-daily pill that works around the clock to help lower a1c. here's how: the kidneys allow sugar to be absorbed back into the body. invokana® reduces the amount of sugar allowed back in, and sends some sugar out through the process of urination. and while it's not for weight loss, it may help you lose some weight. invokana® can cause important side effects, including dehydration, which may cause some people to have loss of body water and salt. this may also cause you to feel dizzy, faint, lightheaded, or weak especially when you stand up. other side effects may include kidney

fareed zakaria, brian stelter, james jones. thank you. fascinating discussion.iate it. >>> just ahead, now that sony's chief executive has had his say, does president obama stand by what he said earlier about sony's decision to cancel the release of the interview? does he still think it was a mistake? cnn's candy crowley has a chance to ask. we needed 30 new hires for our call center. i'm spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. [ female announcer ] need to hire fast? go to ziprecruiter.com and post your job to over 30 of the web's leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. you put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. makes my job a lot easier. [ female announcer ] over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter.com/offer5. >>> tonight's breaking news. a cnn exclusive, sony finally speaking publicly about its decision to cancel the release of the co

our senior media correspondent brian stelter is joining us now with more. sion to allow these theaters, these independent theaters to go ahead and screen the film. >> reporter: they're taking a stand, wolf. they don't want the film suppressed. in the statement, north korea was named in particular. but they don't want the threat or hacking to be affecting a movie's release in the future. >> typically, it's played in thousands of theaters in the country. that would have been in the case with "the interview." do we know how many are willing to show it now? >> reporter: it was 2,000 to 3,000 theaters. now 200 to 300. about one tenth of the original size of the release. this is really about supply and demand. originally, there was going to be a lot of supply and only a limited amount of demand. well, now, there's limited supply and the amount of demand is increasing because there's so much attention around this movie, so much free publicity about it. i have a feeling it's going to be a lot of sold out theaters on christmas day even though we should point out, the

brian stelter got up early to talk about this. he end with in loaded with his own material.n to a clip i like. >> nation as you know, i, stephen colbert, have never cared for our president. the guy is so arrogant. i'll bet he talks about himself in the third person. >> the president got a kick out of that. impersonating colbert. >> did a good job at it. took a couple shots at colbert. what do you do well when it is growing? you move it to cbs. this used to be controversial when he would go on leno or letterman. it is second nature because he has comedic wit. >> it is different than when richard nixon went on "laugh in" and said sock it to me. i don't think this should be controversial. it is a departure. >> it still surprises people. i talked about the decisions. he said every president has harder time reaching the public. you have to do these things. >> it allows him to diffuse the criticism. listen as he takes on as colbert called him emperor. he challenged him. >> for the first time, you are asking a sensible question. what is true -- what i tried to do is to make sure th

we will break down his words with cnn's brian stelter. for many, it's a struggle to keep your a1c down. so imagine, what if there was a new class of medicine that works differently to lower blood sugar? imagine, loving your numbers. introducing once-daily invokana®. it's the first of a new kind of prescription medicine that's used along with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. invokana® is a once-daily pill that works around the clock to help lower a1c. here's how: the kidneys allow sugar to be absorbed back into the body. invokana® reduces the amount of sugar allowed back in, and sends some sugar out through the process of urination. and while it's not for weight loss, it may help you lose some weight. invokana® can cause important side effects, including dehydration, which may cause some people to have loss of body water and salt. this may also cause you to feel dizzy, faint, lightheaded, or weak especially when you stand up. other side effects may include kidney problems, genital yeast infections, uri

let's get straight to our senior media correspondent, brian stelter. i take it sony has just issued a statement? >> they have. i think we can put it on screen for the viewers to read at home. it's from michael lynton, the ceo of sony pictures. he says the movie will come out in limited release on christmas. it says, we have never given up on releasing "the interview" and we're excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on christmas day. at the same time, we are -- he's not naming the number of theaters. sony doesn't know the number yet. they're still working on it as we speak trying to figure out how many theaters can get copies of this movie by christmas day so they can show it in theaters. number two, i think the more interesting part of the statement is when they say, we're continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters. that means some sort of video on demand system or an online streaming service like a netflix or a comcast video on demand system with way some of our viewers are watching right now. you can sit on the couch

brian stelter, cnn, new york. >>> all right. we've got word coming into cnn now of a deadly attack by the taliban in kabul, afghanistan. we don't have much information yet but police say they have identified a suicide bomber early thursday morning. when the bomber realized he was being chased by officials, he detonated explosives apparently. one afghan policeman was killed. three other people were injured. so a suicide bomber here killing a police officer in kabul. it was at this time yesterday we were reporting on an attack in helmand province. that just in. as soon as we get more we'll bring it to you. >>> in 45 minutes from now president vladimir putin from russia is going to make his year-end news conference. obviously this president facing a lot of tough questions. how is he going to answer questions about the faltering economy and, of course, the ruble in freefall. we'll be live in moscow with that next. >>> plus, colombia's farc rebels are calling for a holiday truce. how this year's proposal differs from others. >>> welc

don lemon, brian stelter, thank you both so much. thank you for being with me. i'm brooke baldwin in new york. we're going to washington. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. >>> as we all watched the drama continue to unfold in sydney, an australian official tells me, quote, we are all in the crosshairs. i'm jake tapper. this is "the lead." the world lead, intense gunfire as commandos storm a cafe where an islamic terrorist forced hostages to hold up his black flag. we'll take you inside this terrifying scene. >>> plus, he once called australian service members hitler's soldiers. new details on the alleged gunman's path to terror and why he was not exactly a stranger to police. >>> also, in our national lead, six people are dead and their killer still on the loose.

brian stelter, cnn host of "reliable sources" joining me live now. what happened? about? >> this is sony trying to find some way to get this movie out to the public. i think partly what we're seeing is an act of defiance by sony and some theater owners. the last thing anyone wants to feel, as if these hackers won and sony lost. what sony is going to announce this afternoon is they have agreed to send the movie to a limited number of movie theaters that will hold special screenings of the movie on christmas day. that, we know for sure. the movie could also come out on video on demand so you can watch it from the comfort of your couch at home. but those details aren't concrete now. sony have been a little bit startled because a couple of movie theaters in atlanta and austin have started to announce these special screenings on christmas day. i imagine some people now are trying to get tickets for those. >> congressman ed royce was on the program not even an hour ago who said sony should put it out over the worldwide web and give it to everybody for free. they all want

i want to bring in justice reporter evan perez, senior media correspondent, brian stelter, host of "reliable sources" as well as cnn's "money," laurie siegel. this had to be done with not only the fbi but looking at the data and determining by not just human intelligence but signal intelligence. what is the fbi saying? >> that's right, deborah. this has been an intensive investigation including the fbi, nsa, national security division, the white house has been on top of this because they do believe this is a national security matter now. you and i have been covering this for many years and you know how unusual it is for something just a few months after this hack occurred for the fbi to be issuing a statement like this. this is what they said. they have concluded that the north korean government is responsible for these actions against sony pictures. and they say that they detected -- they detected evidence that shows the internet traffic that was used to carry the hack came from north korea. it also showed signs that were similar to other hacks have been attributed to north korea earlier th

we talk it over with host of "reliable sources" brian stelter. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> nice to see you back in studio instead of your moms house. >> we were trying to play xbox yesterday afternoon and the system was down. we were experiencing this firsthand >> talk about this lizard squad who is taking credit for this hack. >> this was a group an anonymous group online claiming it was going to do this for weeks ahead of time, threatening some christmas day attack. it's a perverse form of entertainment for the hackers to try to take down the computer systems at sony and microsoft and they can do it for something called denial of service attack. they flood the servers with illegitimate traffic and make it impossible for people like my brothers who wanted to play xbox to get onto the server. for a number of hours both servers were down. this morning xbox is mostly up and playstation is mostly still back down. >> they ask people to follow them. >> a perverse form of entertainment, the hacking group if you retweet us we'll get the ser

and brian stelter has more on president's response. but we begin can kyung lah live in north korea. and what are you learning? >> this is a very first comment from north korea. it is coming through reuters, a north korean u.n. diplomat telling diktors that north korea is not part of this. basically a blanket denial. it is very much in lock step with the last official statement we did hear from north korea. also denying they were a part of this, in that statement they did say they love it. that they found the movie to be offensive and it is a tate crime to try to insult the leader of north korea. here is the important thing. this is part of a pattern. what north korea has done, blanketwide is they've denied any kricyber attack and on sout korea. and experts here in south korea say the north has been slowly building a cyber army. >> as you've been reporting all week and we've seen special reports on how they train to attack. and jim is at the white house. some are calling this a game-changer and the president has come out and spoken to the world saying the united states will respond.

brian stelter, on the phone with me on this christmas eve. my thanks to both of you. >>> north korea highly suspected in this sony hack. we talked about that. internet in that country has gone down and this is days after president obama warned in that end of the year news conference of this proportional response from his administration for this act of cyberterrorism. how exactly did hackers break into sony's computer system? tom foreman has that. >> take him out. >> you want us to kill the leader of north korea? >> yes. >> what? >> reporter: a hack such as the one on sony can start with a list of names like credits for a film only this list would be of employees. hackers would scrutinize that list for people that work on targeted company's computer network sorting out their relationships with information from facebook and linkedin and even figuring out which projects they're involved with. security specialist alex mcgeorge helps companies understand how it works. >> once you have a list of people that you think are going to have this level of

to discuss, i'm joined by senior media correspondent and host of "reliable sources" brian stelter.you hearing? >> i think the online distribution plan will come later today. the talks are still going on as we speak. we know of at least 263 theaters now, the new number, where this movie will be shown tomorrow and then it will open a little more widely on january 1st into another 80 or so. >> there's some political reaction as well this morning? >> we found something that brings the democrats and republicans together. can you believe it? >> no! >> president obama praised the decision -- >> nothing like a good hack to bring everybody together. >> seriously, around the holiday decision, too. the president praised this decision. sony has been in touch with the white house for days and the republican national committee is coming out saying this is the right decision. over the weekend the chair of the rnc sent a letter to theater owners encouraging them to show the movie and take a stand against the hackers. a statement we got from the chair of the rnc saying "this was the right decision.

back with me is brian stelter. the lizard squad. which is some sort of hacker gang. it goes to show how stlangs dark corners of the internet can be, ashleigh, that there's a group out there -- but. >> they're not saying it has anything to do with the movie "the interview." >> that's right. we should say this up front. this seemed at first glance it could have been connected to the release of the movie online, a historic movement where it's available on xbox video store and released by sony picture which is sony's playstation division. but it does seem unrelated. this hacker game has been threatening to do this for weeks and they've been behind other outonlies of the playstation network and xbox live. we're talking about a pretty big meet ya story here because there's about 50 million people that have xbox live sun skripgss. about 110 million that has playstation life accounts. the internet is like a utility these days so when you can see a gaming network taken down by hangers, it's eye opening. >> i can see you in your mom's bush ad

. >> stop there, because brian stelter is here, too, and shaking his head. >> i shouldn't havele rodear-old been in the media spotlight for 70 years and don't know? >> i think once people heard what he said requeto "the post"s get this out of the way with this first. so what bill cosby said to "the new york post" was something like, you know, i hope the black media treats this more fairly than the rest of the media. eric, do i have that right? >> well, no, i guess what he said was he hoped that the black media would stay neutral is what he said, because apparently he has a feeling that other media outlets have not been neutral. the question is what does stay neutral mean to bill cosby and the suspicion that you know, many of us who been watching the story have, is that what he really wants is for people to stop asking questions and stop giving interviews to the women who are telling stories about being molested aenassaulted by him. the black press has typically been a place where celebrities who are in trouble can turn to for a more sympathetic ear in part because its eight a press t

>> brian stelter, great to have you here with us.e, the university of virginia is accused of having a rain culture. the president of the university was expected to address allegations that her school mishandled reports of sexual assault. so why did she cancel? >>> plus, more details are here but -- more deals, i should say, are here, but is cyber monday living up to the hype? so much hype. we'll have a look at the best deals. you've been waiting for this, from amazon.com, we'll go to a white house of what people are buying right this minute. ups is a global company, but most of our employees live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪ >>> it's safe to say a lot of people were hoping to hear from uva's president today speaking about the sexual assa

brian stelter, thank you very much.'s bring in mel robbins, of course, cnn commentator, analyst, and mel, you've got to be chomping at the bit here. but this is an interesting dynamic that place out how a political battle between nations could boil down to whether you sit in the movie theater seat. >> well, you know, i heard brian say something really interesting, which is he thinks that it's going to come out at some point, and it already has. over the break, we noticed that the assassination scene of scenes, has already been leaked online. so if anybody wants to watch it for free, you can watch it online right now. this is what i think is really important. sony stood alone, martin, for three weeks, the white house wouldn't stand by him, hollywood executives would not sign a petition that george clooney was circulating around, basically urging people to stand together in hollywood. movie theater owners would not stand with him, and why? the reason why nobody would stand with him is because the threat was credible. thes

brian stelter, enjoy your holiday with your family. >> thank you. >>> if you are planning to curl upext to the christmas tree to watch "the interview" from the comfort of your own home, you might be wondering how safe it is to watch the comedy given all the talk about cyber hacking. the big question, could your computer become a target for cyber hackers. let's ask cnn's alison kosik. should people be worried? >> cyber security experts we talked to said relax, you won't be hacked if you watch on google play or youtube. they say it was easy to hack into sony and get those e-mails and information out. but they say it doesn't mean the movie itself is tainted with malicious software, also known as malware. it doesn't mean they won't try. there are a couple of ways that hackers could try to block the viewing of this movie. for one, they could try flooding google or microsoft with a lot of internet traffic. kind of like shoving a lot of garbage down a garbage chute. google and microsoft have excellent defenses against those attacks which are known as denial of service attacks. hackers could

our senior media correspondent brian stelter has the very latest. >> you want us to kill the leader of to their demands and pull what they call the movie of terrorism. there are growing suspicions that north korea is behind the cyberattack, prompting concerns over political pressure. according to "the new york times," even before the movie was finished, sony's ceo asked for certain scenes in the movie to be toned down. or not shown outside the united states. >> i don't think this is a good time to withdraw. i think it's a good time to stand your ground. >> reporter: while the sony hackers promise a christmas gift of yet another juicy and possibly worse data bump, sony is asking news organizations to ignore the leaked e-mails. the studio now hiring a high-profile litigator to demand that news organizations not reveal any further hacked material. in a letter that cnn received, boyes writes, if you do not comply with this request and the stolen information is used or disseminated by you in any manner, sony will have no choice but to hold you responsible. >> essentially, we've done their b

brian stelter, richard quest and joey jackson, thank you. >>> north korea spilled secrets from sony. a former insider is going to return the favor. a north korean defector talks about kim jong-un's network of hackers. [ man ] i remember when i wouldn't give a little cut a second thought. ♪ when i didn't worry about the hepatitis c in my blood. ♪ when i didn't think twice about where i left my razor. [ male announcer ] hep c is a serious disease. take action now. go to hepc.com or call 1-844-444-hepc to find out how you and your doctor can take the next step towards a cure. because the answers you need, may be closer than they appear. ♪ because the answers you need, may be closer than they appear. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara®. it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ... stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. bef

brian stelter is here, a message came from the hackers? night a message was received by a number of sony executives from the people they believe to be leading the hack attack. in times they've received messages from the hackers, other times the hackers have made public threats. but this one is different. this is directed to top executives at the company, a number of senior executives whose names i've seen onner, the mail. i won't share that part but i'd read you what the message says because i'm shocked by it. it says "it's very wise that you have made a decision to cancel the release of the interview. it will be very useful for you." it goes on to say at the end "we ensure the security of your data unless you make additional trouble." so carol this sounds like a victory lap from whoever these hackers are so hackers saying you did the right thing by scrapping movies from theaters and as long as you keep it off line and out of theaters we will -- i think it says stop attacking you. >> so that negates its supposed christmas surprise? >> that

cnn sports correspondent rachel nichols is here and senior media correspondent brian stelter the, hosteliable sources. should ray rice get his job back, rachel? >> i don't think it's getting his job back. the ravens won't have him rejoin their team. will another nfl team take a chance of ray rice? we've seen this before. we're not comparing what ray rice did what michael vick did or the other players who've gotten second chances did but you can compare the public reaction and the reaction has been outrage at first and then the belief that, yes, in america people do tend to deserve second chances and that some team will probably take a look at him. there are questions, though, with ray rice that goes go beyond this incident. there are questions about football. we know in the nfl that football teams are willing to look past a lot of things if they think somebody will help their team but they're also not interested in players if they don't think they'll help their team. ray rice is going to be 28 years old in january, 30 years old is considered a cap for a lot of running backs and he didn

tom fuentes, thanks to you and brian stelter, senior media correspondent, host of "reliable sources" here at 11:00 a.m. >> there is sporadic service today. brian todd has been looking into how north koreans, especially the nation's elite, are affected by all of this. what are you finding out? >> the outages have hit the elite harder than anyone in the country. tonight, we have new details on the internet system, who has access to it and how their young leader uses it. as the u.s. and north korea face off over a devastating cyberattack, most north korean citizens are cut off and isolated. >> if you ask the average north korean citizen about the internet, would he or she know what you are talking about? >> ordinary people in the mountainside far away from pyongyang, they do not have any idea about what that is about. >> reporter: only the elites have access to the internet. there are just over 1,000 i.p. addresses in the entire country. compare that to 1.5 billion i.p. addresses across the u.s. if you're in north korea and on the internet, it doesn't seem any slower or more primitive. >

brian stelter, nice to see you, thank you. >>> check out brian's new article at cnnmoney.com.] two yearly physicals down. martha and mildred are good to go. here's your invoice, ladies. a few stops later, and it looks like big ollie is on the mend. it might not seem that glamorous having an old pickup truck for an office... or filling your days looking down the south end of a heifer, but...i wouldn't have it any other way. look at that, i had my best month ever. and earned a shiny new office upgrade. i run on quickbooks. that's how i own it. welcome back. this morning we've been talking about the history of mayor bill de blasio and the nypd. i'm sure you can remember this have you had yo where they turned their back on him as he came to the hospital where the two officers who had been ambushed in brooklyn were being treated. so this is a long history and we wanted to unvit our next guest to talk about how this works. he not only knows what it's like to lead a police forks he's also been a mayor. lee brown is former mayor and police chief of houston and written a book titled "p

brian stelter is senior medica k0 r respondent and will ripley 1 in tokyo right now.art with you, will, because this thing is having repercussions there, too. tell us. >> well, you know, japan and north korea are very close neighbors so while for audiences in america filmmakers in america it might seem like a distance joke, north korea is a very real threat for people in japan, a threat they've dealt with for decades, north korea has kidnapped japanese citizens in the past and forced them to train spies. they routinely fire projectiles into the sea of japan and now there's new fear that sony and japanese companies and the japanese government could be vulnerable to a major cyber attack because the suspicion here is that north korea is somehow behind this. >> it's just getting worse and worse. brian, you've heard of a major movie studio that's going to pull the movie, movie chain, i should say. >> there are four or five big companies. one has decided they won't screen it. they haven't said it publicly. are we going see amc, rezbhal tho -- regal, will they not air the mo

>> our colleague, brian stelter, was reporting as well this morning, alongside these issues of tryingse the holes and vulnerabilities of these companies, if that's really the motive for lizard squad, they are perverse in what they find fun. messing with people and messing with companies and then getting the bragging rights to do so is also seemingly a motive. how close is anyone to finding out who these people, person, whomever this group is, who is behind this? >> very good question. these hacking groups live in secrecy and they are very good at it. this particular group has been around for a while and they have gone undetected or at least nobody has caught them. i would imagine they are going to remain underground for a while, ashleigh. >> i'm very sorry for your christmas being disrupted and the gaming. you are one of those millions. all of those grownups that got the games and couldn't play. dan simon, happy new year's. nice to see you. >> same to you. >> dan simon joining us live. >>> still ahead, a teenager's story of horror. how she says she was recruited by terrorist for a sui

brian stelter talks about why the story has received so much attention. >> reporter: i think the storyas gained traction because historically, the first daughters and sons of presidents have for lack of a better word have been off limits. they consider scrutinize the adults, but a sense people don't go after the children of presidents. that is probably why this has gotten so much attention. it is interesting this woman is a communications director. she works with the media and speaks to the press and public for the congress member. now she is in the pr nightmare, i would say. it all started because of the facebook post on thanksgiving. it was barely noticed until a reporter at the african-american web site the root noticed it. now there has been calls for her to be fired. i'm not sure that will actually happen. we have not heard from the congress member about this over the weekend. they may be trying to wait and see if it blows over. it gets to the point i was making the children of presidents have been off limits. that was true for george w. bush and bill clinton and all into the past

let's bring in brian stelter. what are you learning, brian?they're coming fast and furious today. what sony's just said goes a little bit further than where the ceo went with fareed zakaria earlier today. i'll read it to you. it says, after the theater owners decided not to run this movie, they had no choice but to pull it but after that decision on wednesday, we immediately began actively surveying alternatives to enable us to release the movie on a different platform. it is still our hope that anyone who wants to see this movie will get the opportunity to do so. what does that mean? it means they are once again seeking digital distributors, maybe companies willing to let you buy this movie online and watch it for $10 or $20 or maybe even release it for free. i think everything's on the table right now. the question is, is there any company willing to help sony do this? during the commercial break, i heard from netflix, the first company that comes to mind when you think about who could release this movie to everybody all at once. netflix say

i want to talk more about this development with brian stelter who could be known for damaging things,a lot of your reporting. judy smith, huh? >> yes. >> is that going to work? >> she's been helping amy pascal. she's the one who was caught in e-mails to the producer scott rudin sounding racially insensitive about president obama. they have three different pr firms working with sony. sony has their own pr firm as well but the fact that they have three helping them out shows you how bad that is. >> they are responsible for a lot of money and people and get the movie out. don't cave to the north koreans. >> the chorus is getting louder every day. >> halabaloo. there's been a rise in the last few days. people who were never going to see this movie, people that haven't heard about this movie now want to see it. sony is being looking for a way to put it online perhaps. >> there was a lot of confusion. sony not releasing it and now releasing it, are we being looking at things like youtube and crackle and netflix? >> i think they are. they meant that they are canceling the christmas day relea

. >>> welcome to our u viewers in the united states and around the world, i'm brian stelter, it's 11::00 a.m. in indonesia. 155 passengers seven crewmembers, it was supposed to be a short hop, a two-hour flight to singapore, just like every other morning, every other day. but the airplane disappeared just a short time after -- hoping for any information, in the warm stormy waters of the java sea, they're searching for any sign of the aircraft the

this is a newsroom of abc in london and here you have got brian steltering tweeting out #freeajstaff. tony. >> cristian saloomey sat down with thing united nations undersecretary for public information. >> what we find hard to swallow is the united states, just as these men were being convicted gave the egyptian government $1.5 billion most of it for military purposes. why is the united states supporting a government that is repressing journalists is repressing peaceful demonstrators and doing things that are contrary to the rule of law? >> well, you're -- i'm going to take exception to various parts of your question and i think there are two separate issues. and the -- but they're aligned around the idea that we talk to the egyptian government, we talk to president al-sisi about protecting the rule of law protecting civil society protecting free speech. those interests are aligned in the sense that the al jazeera three are caught in that nexus. and we want them to be released. we want them to be let go. and almost any terms. and so that is the -- that is our particular focus. >> the

brian stelter is following the story for us i believe from your mother's living room, is that right, brian? >> reporter: i had to come ohm home for christmas, randi. my family and i gathered last night, we watched "the interview." we watched it through xbox because there's three big ways you can watch it, through xbox, google and youtube and sony's own website and it worked pretty well. the technology was pretty strong. >> and so what did you think? what are your reviews? >> reporter: it's a silly comedy and i thought for a silly comedy it was worth $6. sony was smart, i think, to price this as a very low point online. it doesn't cost $20 or $30. it just costs $6 to rent it. that way i think it's trying to appeal to as many people as possible and youtube did pretty well. this is a big deal for youtube. they've had movie rentals for two years but a lot of people haven't known about it because they haven't had movies online at the same time as in theaters. "the interview" night might be a preview of the day when maybe you can see movies at home the same day in the theater. >> it wasn't

i want to bring in brian stelter who's on the phone, i believe. brian, all things media, this is an amazing turnaround when you think about the events here. what does this mean for sony and give us the backstory here? this is unprecedented. >> it really is. i don't think anybody, including sony executives, thought we would be at this place one week ago. a week ago today, this movie was canceled. not postponed or delayed but canceled by sony. but that was a very embarrassing decision by sony. the backlash was immediate, even from president obama. now we're seeing an act of defiance by sony and by google and microsoft, all these companies helping sony do this a essentially standing up for freedom of expression even though i admit it's just a silly comedy. by the way, i'm looking at youtube, the movie is streaming now. it's one hour, 52 minutes long. it's up and running. you can watch it right now for $5.99. >> watch us at the same time, brian. >> that's right. >> give us a sense of -- what does this mean for sony business-wise, for the industry. it w

joining me is the author of "genesis code" and brian stelter, host of "reliable sources." jamie, it's hard to believe it was just a week ago when we got that obscure message from hackers that was going to threaten anybody that went and saw that movie on christmas day, was going to be in big trouble, making references to 9/11. and now we see theaters are going to go ahead with this. do we think that north korea will react in any way? what do we suspect? >> well, certainly i don't think there's a high likelihood that there will be 9/11 attacks on theaters coming from north korea. it's going to anger them in some way but, frankly, north korea is behaving so terribly, even worse than usual, i really can't imagine how we could have any worse relations with north korea. but at the same time, now that the movie is being released and hats off to wonderful people like michael in atlanta and others around the country, we have a real opportunity in this country not just to talk about freedom of expression here but also to talk about the terrible human rights conditions in north korea

our senior media correspondent brian stelter looks at the explosive reaction online. >> reporter: i thinktory has gained traction because historically the first daughter, the first sons of presidents have been for lack of a better word off-limits. politicians in the media can criticize and scrutinize the adults all they want but there's a general sense they don't go after the children of presidents. this is why it's gotten so much attention. interesting this woman is a communications director. she works with the media. she speaks to the press and the public for tennessee congressman steve fincher yet now she is in this pr nightmare, i would say and it all started because of her facebook post as you said on thanksgiving. this was something that she posted in relative obscurity. barely noticed until a reporter at the african-american news website the root noticed it. that got it a lot of attention and caused it to go viral and now there's been calls for her to be fired. a 'stachashtag. i'm not so sure that will happen. maybe they're waiting to see if it blows over but gets to that point i w

and brian stelter also, senior media correspondent and host of "reliable sources." before i get to you, kurt, you have news to break as far as other theaters are concerned. >> if you go to see a movie, you may go to one of them and they all decided to yank "the interview" from their screenings next week. the only one i haven't heard from is amc and "wall street journal" has decided they will remove the movie but i don't have confirmation yet. every big company that can decide whether this film will be in theaters decided it won't be next week. >> your reaction to all of this? >> it's incredible that the united states is being dictated to by a vile administration that is behind this and to back down and not show this movie is a big mistake because what will be next? will it be books? you can't put this book out or whatever. there's a real threat. i understand why theaters don't want to see it and it's a real problem for rival studios. half a dozen major films opening on christmas day. >> they are worrying about -- >> this is the buzz any movie producer would dream ab

. >>> welcome to our u viewers in the united states and around the world, i'm brian stelter, it's 11:00 a.m. in new york and 8:00 a.m. in indonesia. 155 passengers seven crewmembers, it was supposed to be a short hop, a two-hour flight to singapore, just like every other morning, every other day. but the airplane disappeared just a short time after -- hoping for any information, in the warm stormy waters of the java sea, they're searching for any sign of the aircraft the search has been halted until daylight. unfortunately no new facts. but let me redo this statement from the airline's ceo. he says we will deeply shocked and saddened by this incident. we're cooperating with the authorities to the fullest extent to determine the cause of this incident. but meanwhile our main focus is keeping our families informed. let's begin with cnn's aviation correspondent richard quest, he joins me now, and i believe we have andrew stevens up. he's at the airport and he's been there for a few hours now. andrew how are officials and families dealing with what's happened? >> reporter: it's a very ver

our investigative correspondent and also brian stelter, host of cnn's "reliable sources." in reading when this came down minutes ago, i thought, okay, the magazine is apologizing because a number of major papers have begun to question the validity of the piece but when they talk about discrepancies in jackie's story, and we know what they are. >> i just got off the phone with the attorney of this fraternity. he said, one, they went through e-mail records and council records, a council at the school that regulates greek life. no party that night. the night she describes that she was brutally raped by seven men, there was no party. the guy they said orchestrated the whole thing and brought her to the party and lured her into the room, he was not a member of the fraternity. they identified him. not a member. there was no side staircase which was a big detail how she was led up the staircase to it the room where she was attacked and she has dreams and flashbacks of that staircase. no staircase according to the lawyer. no pledges that time of year. no members that had nicknames

. >> brian stelter, thank you very much. >>> and now sean hennry, the president of crowd strike services which specializes in cyber security. good to have both of you with us. gordon, let me start with this issue that there were concerns about whether people would go to the movies on christmas day because there was a threat of 9/11 style attacks. are those threats serious? >> i don't think so. because i don't think north korea could mount an attack on u.s. soil. but they didn't have. to all they had to do was threaten and we've seen the results of that. and so what they've been able to do is determine content of what americans will see in pyongyang. and that is a bad lesson the next time they are unhappy with a new york times report, they will not just cancel the visas, they will shut off the lights at the headquarters. >> this is an act of war and dan rather and far he'd were talking about it, it is a threat of war. do you get google to put it on a website and they worry about being hacked. >> the u.s. has to take action. we have u.s. governments being hakd by multiple nations, includin

brian stelter joins us now to talk about the story. coming out last night with a letter about what's going on within hollywood on what amounts to a massive cyber terror attack against a u.s. business. >> it is revealing. he was speaking to deadline.com. he said say that silly comedy. it says a lot about where we are. we have a responsibility to stand up against this, not just sony, but all of us. he wrote many days ago this letter he wanted lots of big hollywood stars and executives to sign. this was before the threat against movie theaters. nobody was willing to sign it. no other competing studios, no big actors willing to participate. revealing the tension over the hacking. he says everybody needs to stand together against the threats. >> it is not just the movie industry, the banks and retailers. everything that we have been seeing. the nation's entire critical infrastructure could be hacked. the fact that hollywood is sort of caving to this, do you believe that ultimately we are going to see a releasor do you think at this point peo

i'm brian stelter. it's time for "reliable sources." this morning, too little, too late.urces is refusing to talk to the writer again. she will tell me why. >>> plus, torture in hollywood. the movie "zero dark 30" is a story now refuted by a new senate report. what should we believe? >>> and home for the holidays. an emotional plea to the iranian government by the brother of jailed washington post reporter jason razion. >>> please, let him come home and beit

i'm brian stelter. it's time for "reliable sources." this morning, too little, too late. calling her sources back, one of the sources is refusing to talk to the writer again. she will tell me why. >>> plus, torture in hollywood. the movie "zero dark 30" is a story now refuted by a new senate report. what should we believe? >>> and home for the holidays. an emotional plea to the iranian government by the brother of jailed washington post reporter jason razion. >>> please, let him come home and be with us. it's the holidays and we all just want to be together. >>> new developments in a year's long standoff between the government and a "new york times" reporter. attorney general eric holder has decided that james risen will not be forced to name his confidential source. he talked about a botched plan for the iran nuclear program. risen was facing the prospect of jail time because he was refusing to give up the source. now sources tell cnn evan perez that it's off the table, jail time is not a possibility and risen will not have to reveal that source. very good news for risen

don lemon, brian stelter, thank you both so much. thank you for being with me. i'm brooke baldwin in new york. we're going to washington. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. >>> as we all watched the drama continue to unfold in sydney, an australian official tells me, quote, we are all in the crosshairs. i'm jake tapper. this is "the lead." the world lead, intense gunfire as commandos storm a cafe where an islamic terrorist forced hostages to hold up his black flag. we'll take you inside this terrifying scene. >>> plus, he once called australian service members hitler's soldiers. new details on the alleged gunman's path to terror and why he was not exactly a stranger to police. >>> also, in our national lead, six people are dead and their killer still on the loose. breaking details on a manhunt outside philadelphia for a suspected gunman who apparently went on a house-to-house rampage and may not be finished. >>> good afternoon, everyone. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we'll begin with the world lead. a brazen act of terror in the heart of dow

i'm brian stelter and it's time for "reliable sources." this hour, al sharpton, activist, political adviser, and msnbc anchoanchor. how many hats can one guy wear? >>> plus, the president and race. what he says and what he doesn't say. obama's long-time messenger dan firefighter is he pfeifer is here taking us behind the scenes. >>> and new information about the american reporter jail in iran. >>> but we have to begin this morning with a journalistic sin at "rolling stone." it is now making national headlines and it's all about this bombshell article, a rape on campus which describ

>> joining me now from new york, cnn senior media correspondent and host of "reliable sources" brian stelteryou. how likely is it that sony will make good on that promise to deliver the movie? >> i think it's very, very likely. i will be shocked at this point if we don't see this movie some way somehow. the question now is how. one source at sony said to me today, we are pursuing all options. let's imagine what those could be. it could be netflix or youtube. it could be independent movie theaters, or it could be the big movie theater chains that originally decided not to show the film about four days ago at this point. i think we will by 2015. >> sony we know has taken a lot of heat for shelving the movie. a lot of americans, including the president, they argue you can't let a dictator for another country dictate what we will or won't watch. wouldn't thb a great p.r. opportunity for sony and the major theater chains and on-line companies like netflix and hulu to show this movie. what do you think? >> that's what i think we're seeing. i think what we're sensing from sony is a bit of defiance.