A Masters Program in journalism and digital storytelling at American University in washington and as most guest you see on most cable news talk shows are these days she is joining us remotely margo welcome back thanks for having me homeland you bet its good to see and if theres a slight delay its because were operating in remote mode here but 1st things 1st professor i want you to grade both parties the president and the press in those Daily White House briefings that are on again off again and generally during this crisis. Well i think you know i guess it depends on which Political Party youre coming from the grade that you would give and its hard for me to be an objective of objective observer of this president ial administration when for years now they have continuously tried to deal a jet in my eyes and marginalize News Reporters for doing their constitutionally protected job and so i would say that in any environment when youre up against you know someone whos continuously trying to batter you i give the press corps in a way. And i have to say there was a little part of me that chuckled when the white house new press secretary started her her briefings and said to the press corps i wont lie to you which was almost as i think i guess one im about to give you the shall turn it of facts you know for her tenure however short that may be yeah arguably she did feel of about 15 minutes after making that statement but you know as we channel surf domestic cable news there is a kind. To the commercials we see often with solo piano music in the background sometimes touching black and white stills of strangers helping strangers and Big Companies helping the little guys and then after the commercials its back to the old red versus blue arm wrestling and social media is rife with misinformation and disinformation what advice do you have for the folks watching us about News Consumption who can we trust. Well i think thats a really great point and right now you know the World Health Organization had to come out in march and say that not only are we facing a pandemic in the world but were also facing what they called an info demick you know misinformation that is you know information that is false thats just spreading for whatever reason and then dissin from asia which is purposely put out on to social media to try to sway Public Opinion in certain ways so i think that news consumers really need to vary their diet i think one thing thats also important to know about how cold it is that it is changing so rapidly that news consumers have to expect that information that they may read or watch today may look very different the next week when you know we see the payoffs from social distancing or we see how numbers in italy have have declined or dropped or whats happening so i think that news consumers need to understand and be flexible that the news is not going to look the same every day as it doesnt in any other story so i would say that they need to rely on trusted news sources and i would say those include pro publica is doing some incredible work the Washington Post the New York Times these are names that we always hear in read trusted news sources and if possible if time allows to try to complement those trusted news sources with government sources like the centers for Disease Control and prevention and the World Health Organization to try to get a full picture of what it means for their lives and i come at that saying i understand my part of my job is to read a few hours a day not everyone has that time especially if youre home schooling or working from home but it is that important to get into the have and you know of trying to vary your sources you make a great point about how quickly this story is changing because here in rhode island our governor was begging. People to keep it kosher over passover and easter weekend no more than 5 people in the room 2 weeks later hospitalizations spiked because people were fudging so you really got to keep your eye on the ball and margot i thought of you instantly when i read a New York Times piece management explaining that in their words the pandemic has caused us to rethink the way we produce traditional elements of the news we report and in particular the structure of the print newspaper for instance the times has suspended 2 popular and until now profitable sections in the sunday paper sports and travel no games no travel that makes sense and theyve introduced at home which is a new section lifestyle section for the housebound that sure is number but the times may be a typical of newspapers these days ive read that less than 60 percent of their subscription revenue comes from print just 16 percent of their 5000000. 00 plus subscribers pay for our copies and i love that dollar a week digital subscription which is so popular now are pandemic lifestyle has really accelerated a bunch of trends that were already in motion ecommerce teleconferencing and margot when you and i 1st met it was a couple of years ago on t. V. Here we were already seeing cities as big as new orleans and pittsburgh go without a 7 day a week print edition and now the Tampa Bay Times is only printing on saturdays or sundays and now that were wary of touching things do you think print newsprint is going to go from obsolete to extinct. Yes i do think that it will and i say that with a degree of sadness i still subscribe to a sunday print New York Times and i still try to make time to sit down and read the sections and like you i when i saw the sports section wasnt there it was almost felt almost disoriented you know that this is certainly something that has going to that cold it has quickened the pace but this is not something that we didnt see the writing has been on the wall in terms of Digital Movement the wall street journal the New York Times are seeing increases in their digital subscriptions i mean that means advertisers are getting more savvy at how to target the readers of those newspapers and print just isnt isnt cutting it anymore so were going to see a digital only landscape i think very soon in the next 5 years if not even sooner than that and you know in terms of profitability you know news organizations have had problems for years and you know cope it is again only a strengthening those problems at a time that is at a time when we need objective solid News Coverage and watchdog journalism more than ever and it is just you know terrible to see these 2 things happening at the same time. Yeah i agree kind of old school but with this Advertising Money moving digital its going to be pretty easy for newspapers to line out the extreme expense of newsprint running the press running the trucks around with the elves etc were speaking with a journalism professor margo from American University in washington and the way we are speaking this remote broadcasting youre seeing a lot on t. V. Now this kind of a rough cut skype quality to it and t. V. Stations are discovering that they need fewer square feet of expensive real estate margot do you think that this new aesthetic or lack thereof is going to be the new look for t. V. In the new normal. I have to say that i think that you know what it will change for for working environments may be that. Youll see people maybe zooming in to meetings in ways that they may not have had to before you know i only live 7 miles from American Universitys campus but it still can take me an hour to get to work in rush hour traffic so i know for myself if im only going to go for one if i only have one meeting on campus im going to ask in the fall semester to zoom in that said i think that the production of news and you know this just from the r. T. C. Studios you know the lighting the audio the technicians all of that work that you have done the great journalism thats being done i think were going to miss having that in place in terms of the production so i think t. V. News will will be back in a studio in a in a pretty pretty soon after i think thats thats my prediction on that but i do think its going to change the way many of us. Zoom our skype into meetings in the future. You know after all this time at home i am eager to see you again in the studio in washington after the show i never want to wipe off the makeup. Hey some have called for government assistance to newsmedia the governments printing money money for everybody else is that a slippery slope. Yes it is a slippery slope because one of the core tenets of the society of professional journalists journalists code of ethics is independence and it worries me whenever someone says we should get some kind of bailout or handout from the government i dont know in all of that red tape what the restrictions might be how does it reshape things like the freedom of information act or public records which were already seeing and tracking at American University how thats being affected by cobe it so yes im concerned about that i dont want the government involved in the independent press in the United States its bad enough that we have corporate owners that already are you know guarding newspapers i think we dont want to be beholden to corporations and the government. Hey im down to just under a minute but i got to ask has a you announced the plans for the fall it all ended up pretty much online everywhere have you finalized what college is going to look like for the new semester we have and i am very i have a lot of faith in president Sylvia Burwell who is a former health and Human Services secretary under president obama so i know that she understands data she understands Public Health in a way many other University Administrators may not so my faith in her is quite strong we will be open in the fall semester she announced this week and we expect by june 1st to have an announcement about what that will look like whether or not thats a hybrid in online or in person environment so all of us are eager to get back to campus but were going to work you know just as hard whatever that environment looks like as im sure you know every workplace well as we emerge from you know emerge from these last couple of months. Im glad to hear that American University has a great school and dr margo suskind i do look forward to seeing you again in washington thanks for your time tonight ok thanks so much allan appreciate it. Coming up as we emerge from home confinement will social distancing continue and what are the new rules for the new normal we will talk with elisa ghosh a from Beverly Hills manners dot com next this is the big picture on our to america. He says to add to. The good in each other than the men. But on the better side of the day the book lists the soul that this isnt just. A movie should learning t. M. Must go if youll still be stuck with your muscles from the course of your knee which uses to. Use a sloth could. Go chill the fuck should. We think he minds be. Soldier piece off the boot shes wearing. Future which so so looks like to move the opposable opinion more than with like it on the show stuck in the summer watching the police force sort of us hold. You cant be both with the yeah you like. Weve all been feeling a little claustrophobic lately and the very 1st place im headed when we get the all clear is to my barber my hair was short of in this in 1968 but they were all locked down and meantime we are socializing virtually which has its own protocol or lack thereof and what should we expect the new normal to feel like lets ask the author of Beverly Hills manners golden rules from the worlds most glamorous zip code and etiquette adviser to the stars she may be appearing remotely but we always find her approachable lisa gosh a welcome back to the big picture. Thanks to some much holland and wonderful to see. Lisa when all this is over and we get to leave home will we customarily shake hands or is that history. Well i definitely think that for now shaking hands is something that people are guarding as a taboo so we need to absolutely had to adopt what were calling his new forms of touchless greetings and if we look at what other countries have been doing for ages you know rooted in respect and rituals there are lots of other actual choices that we can do that can hopefully become to feel more natural and organic for us so whether that be you know a simple wave hello or a nod or somebody actually bow waiting to greet one another the nama state has also become popular and of course just a simple hand over the heart but i would say no matter what greeting choose i think when any any kind of gesture is done with a beautiful smile then thats the part that really let someone know youre happy to see them. You know its interesting even as were Walking Around with face masks i can tell when people are smiling when we had you on a while back it was as the holidays were approaching and you gave us some really useful advice for keeping the franks and thanksgiving and what family doesnt have a crazy uncle or a tipsy art who turns that event into a minefield but thats just one day can you give us some advice for this extended claustrophobia were all experiencing. Right as so we are in tight quarters and we are not used to being in amongst one another for all hours on end so the best thing that we can do is extend the simple courtesies that we would sometimes for a lot of people to others before their own family so we want to really look at you know who are the people were sharing this space with and how can we wake up every morning and again put a smile on our face reach other nicely offer to help one another whether its cooking breakfast or making lunch or helping somebody get set up to start their workday or their school day giving each other the benefit of the doubt and certainly keeping us you know we talk about social distancing when were out in about what we want to also think about allowing people in their personal space at home because those that are in particularly close quarters i mean im lucky im here in los angeles in california where we can be or feel quite spread out but in some of the more urban cities where they are vertical its really hard to do that so the only thing we can do is to be as courteous and as time and as patient as loving as possible so that we all dont want to strangle one another because we dont know how long this will last in certain cities and towns and states and we just you know we have to stay helpful and wake up every day with a positive attitude. Earlier in the show professor margo talked about all these zoom meetings that were have while were in Virtual World and zoom is the new Conference Room and you tube is now full of bloopers you might as seen this one but if you havent lets have a look where one coworker thought the meeting had ended. In your list. Below. Jen called you know. Oh my god im so. Thankful pictures of the. Oh oh. Ringback but he didnt. So hes not the only one who was not the only one who was caught literally with his pants down one of more popular versions of this is an a. B. C. News correspondent who swears they were shorts but they were just short lisa give us some tips about these virtual meetings. Exactly other than what else any sort of. Right exactly and its the one area that everyone can identify with and ill tell you in my luck i had you know before we were all zooming a chapter on skype and Video Conferencing that just talked about how everyone looks like hell when using these sort of tools from home especially and so we want to remember is that our presence matters just as much when we are using these technological tools online as when we are in person so we want to think about things like selling up even sitting up enjoy dressing up and you mentioned about how you havent had an opportunity to have your hair done as a lot of us are in that same boat but just washing your hair putting on your game face and these Little Things help to make. The way that we present ourselves much more polished and come across confidently especially when we have these small periods of time whether were in a a meeting or a certain amount of minutes with someone or getting on as. One of those cocktail hours its just a matter of trying to at least put our best effort in putting our best foot forward and be conscious that youre not the only thing being seen in the background matters a lot to right. Exactly so you can see here i have made a little bit of effort to have something percent of all in my background so you want to look at what is behind you want to keep things clean if you have an opportunity need to put in some Fresh Flowers or when you arrange the painting definitely also notice your field of depth so you have your whatever tool your news in your template or your computer and notice how wide is it where is the screen actually focusing so that if you were in the middle of the meeting or conversation and you had to accidentally get up or move a little bit that someone wouldnt see you that you noticed dressing from the waist up and that you had a totally different outfit on in the waist down so these are always that we can sort of check ourselves before we record selves i must say that all these t. V. Commercials were seeing now which are pandemic pertinent strike me as tasteful i got to tell you i am pleasantly surprised at how little profiteering seems to be going on what are you advising your clients in terms of imaging their companies these days. Well i would like to say that anything that we do that people can take pride in that will make a Company Proud that is where we want to have a focus it has to be relatable it has to be heartfelt you want people to identify with it so anything that would be the opposite of that would be something that would be repelling or that would feel awkward and really unsavory during these sensitive times so if you look at something also that happens to be humorous and has a part of tugging a little bit at the heartstrings that actually is a wonderful combination i was just noticing the i think it was the wall that had this wonderful ad that talks about how parents are speaks to and shows images of parents homeschooling their children and this image of you know wanting to pull their hair out because its not like it was years ago its really difficult for some of us parents to school our children and so its up to that and then it had this beautiful ad at the end that you know gave a wonderful shout out to the importance of teachers so its things like that that really make a difference in these times yeah ive read some research not only about how well the applause for the heroes plays but i have read some research that says people really like the ads where the Company Shows you how theyre being good to their employees with these unemployment numbers through the roof and and so much uncertainty lisa gushy Beverly Hills manners dot com thanks again good to see. Thank you for having me and be well. You bet and thank you for watching you know in the future there is going to be a movie about right now hollywood will tell the story to people who are too young to have experienced what were going through so that they can see the inconvenience and the claustrophobia and all the characters in this movie are desperately going to need a haircut but there are Silver Linings all around us for instance your fixed rate Home Mortgage with uncle sam running the Printing Press day and night with these relief payment that are mine are probably money you gotta think that inflation d is going up so the biggest investment youve ever made will turn out to be the deal of a lifetime another benefactor of the status quo is Mother Nature fewer flights up in the sky many of us are not driving at all and there is nasa imaging that shows stark reduction in emissions if you are in los angeles even new delhi and you look up you will see a blue sky and maybe have seen the news footage of jelly fish swimming in suddenly pristine can now in venice italy i think were getting a preview of what the green future could be and while were all cooped up at home you know who is loving this dogs because we dont leave them every day and right now we should be playing with our dogs as much as we can because we miss them. When they leave us. And that is the big picture next week stephen Jay Jay Wiseman will be back with another scam alert we had in just a couple of weeks ago and even since then the wise guys are dreaming up new ways to rip you off bookmarks scam aside dot com if you see r t america somewhere else where did you tube dot com slash r t America Direct t. V. Channel 321 dish t. V. Channel 280 pluto t. V. Channel 279 and the super cool portable t. V. App is in the app store its free and its screen got a download it we have thousands of shows there and all of our big picture shows are on demand at youtube dot com slash the big picture r t m holland cook stick in close to home here in rhode island hope you are to stay safe and question more. All that sugar has created excess body fat in the majority of people worldwide and that impairs immunity and therefore makes us more vulnerable to infection and during this period when were more isolated in our all. We. Want to eat more sugar thats really the worst thing people do this coming. And this years clearly is is just very clear that its those there are. Symptoms of overfat so they have a more middle east and its those individuals that are coming into the hospitals its those individuals that are stuck leaving us. And. Ultimately because they missed all of this regulation it was like there were mental health. Be a bust tail of those people as you can see beyond the 1st place in us unique. Rules and unions days ago i was a potential solution of wishing to go through the. Temple taste sure strain below the means to be a small body over but im sure it. Will show just reminds of doesnt believe in the search for to closure that is 30 somethings can each scene seem bothered and the human impulse to just go