institution and former vice president of costa rica, greg grandin at new york university and michael shifter, incoming president of the interamerican dialogue. justice stevens and latin america, coming up. >> funding for charlie rose has been provided by the coca-cola company. supporting this program since 2002. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is chaálie rose. >> justice john paul stevens today announced his retirement from the supreme court. he had been on the court 34 years. he was known as the leader of the liberal wing. he is the fourth longest serving justice in u.s. history. he was appointed by republican president gerald ford but he was hardly beholden to conservatives. "the new york times" wrote that he may be the last justice from a time when the independence rather than perceived ideology were perceived a identification for seat on the court. he dissented in the famous case of bush versus gore saying although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential election, the identity of

than data, the former executive editor of the "washington post" and michael shifter, published a report last fall that said the economic foundation of the nation's newspapers is collapsing in newspapers themselves are shrinking. the knight foundation commission on information needs of local communities said, local journalistic institutions are themselves in crisis with financial, technological and behavioral changes taking place in our society. yet there's universal agreement that healthy journalism is a vital ingredient in a democratic society. citizens need trusted sources of information about how the government and major institutions function. only a thriving news media can serve as a check on a powerful government. at this moment of tremendous change, what course should policy take? how can we guarantee the survival of an independent media serving the public interest? what role can government policy makers play that does not preach first amendment protections? to answer these and other questions, we have assembled a panel of experts who have different points of view that promise us