0 assemb assembly. this year she's in the news for a different reason. she called off her state visit to washington. a rare occurrence in international relations. she's protesting in the wake of revelations that the united states allegedly spied on her personal conversations. thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. i'll see you next week. stay tuned for "reliable sources." i'm candy crowley. an update on the hostage crisis in nairobi, kenya. officials confirm at least 59 deaths and 175 wounded. about 30 hostages and an unknown number of terrorists remain in the mall. cnn chief national security correspondent is joining me now. put this in perspective for us. who are these people and what do they want? >> it start eed largely as a domestic threat. they have shown an intent to strike abroad. this is the biggest attack and it's worrisome. al qaeda affiliation. some americans in their membership which makes american authorities worried about using americans to attack inside the u.s. but also american interests abroad. here's the other thing. african union forces have had a lot of success pushing al shabab out of strong holds. this is a sign that they are coming back. ambitious attack and memories of mumbai, that style assault on a high profile target. >> i'm not sure -- we're trying to get zain verjee. i'm not sure whether we have her or not on the scene. i'm sorry? okay. we're having trouble bringing her up. we know the outlines of this and one of the things we know is that there are israeli special forces on the ground. can you interpret that for me? >> they have a history of helping kenyans on counterterrorism. to some degree that's natural. they have tremendous experience dealing with similar situations to this hostage situation. i imagine the kenyans are happy to have the help. there was israeli ownership of the mall as well. >> in sense of working together, there is a history between kenyan military and israeli military? >> there is. because there have been other attacks in kenya against israeli interests. you may remember a couple years ago they tried to shoot at an israeli airliner trying to come in. they missed thankfully. they've tried this before. now they've had some success. >> we do have zain verjee on the ground for us in nairobi. can you tell me what's happening on the ground right now? >> reporter: everything has become so tense in the last five or ten minutes or so, candy. i don't know if you can hear but there are military police helicopters that have been going around and around west gate mall for the last one hour and in the last 15 minutes or so they've started to fly very, very low. i am at the center which is about five or ten-minute walk to west gate mall which is on my left-hand side. we've all been moved away from that. this is where the medics are. the red cross set up here and they have a triage center. all of a sudden there was some kind of warning and they were told to clear the passageway and do it quickly. we were moved from our position. everyone is in standing position. we're not allowed to leave these gates. definitely israeli special forces working alongside with kenyan counterparts and are inside west gate mall from senior kenyan sources i heard that shabab group is relatively isolated inside the mall but i know that mall really well. i go there multiple times a week. my family is there almost every day. and it's a mall that takes about 3,000 people so it's huge. the government officials and security officials are saying the first and second floors are secured but there's also three and four and that's a question mark. >> cnn's zain verjee in nairobi. we'll hear from her throughout the day as cnn continues to cover the story and we'll have more news out of kenya at the bottom of the hour. until then, we'll go to "reliable sources." >> thanks, candy. welcome. i'm david folkenflik. much information that news organizations provided on air and social media platforms proved wrong. the most haunting mistake involved an identification card found at the scene and was named as a suspect. it's important to note the reports were quickly retracted but they spilled elsewhere. you worked for the united states navy for 24 years. after that you worked in civilian role for several years. you went on administrative leave last october as i understand it. when you got that call from a producer from abc news asking you that question, what was that like? >> surreal. i thought it was a hoax and someone was joking with me. and before i know it, i realized it was real. it was real when the fbi showed up at my door. the emotion i felt, i was watching the story unfold because a lot of those guys i knew and were friends and co-workers. to be accused as shooter when i'm an hour away in virginia watching the whole thing unfold. it was frustrating. a lot of my immediate family, siblings, mother, mother-in-law thought i was dead and to find out he's not dead and alive again. okay. now he's someone of interest of being involved. i can't begin to tell you the amount of people impacted besides myself. one of the biggest things that bothered me is when you are go in there and i put my name in and image of my name in, the picture that comes up is of aaron alexis and that's linking my name with the incident president. >> what would you tell reporters about the consequences of getting something like this so very wrong? >> well, i would tell a reporter the human factor. if you get this wrong how will it impact their lives of the individual who was identified wrongly? >> identified wrongly. and unjustly. on monday often relying on officials, news organizations reported other elements wrong about the number of shooters and weapons involved. several news outlets reported that the shooter committed the mass murders with various guns including an ar-15, a type of semiautomatic rifle. >> sources tell us that alexis was armed with three weapons. an assault rifle, a shotgun and also a pistol. >> they do believe most of the gunshots were fired from the ar-15. >> he was able to get an ar-15 and other weapons on location. >> the ar-15 was used in the aurora, colorado, and newtown, connecticut, mass murders. some gun owners complained that reporters don't know what they're talking about when it comes to guns. one "washington post" reporter has helped to lead seminars to educate other journalists on what to avoid on the topic. david, thank you so much. we know that aaron alexis did not use the ar-15. why does that matter? >> when you talk about writing about guns because it's an inflammatory issue, the more outrageous or explosive the claim, the higher the burden is on the reporter to verify that stuff. when you have a 24-hour news cycle opposed to old news cycles of once or twice a day, you are put under incredible pressure to verify that stuff instanto instantaneously so it ratchets it up higher. his name is out there and linked to this. >> when you talk to reporters in your newsroom and other newsroom, stories go gun, gun trafficki trafficking, other incidents. what pit falls do you tell them to avoid? >> a lot relies on the makes and models of gun. people confuse fully automatic with semiautomatic. why it's not a mistake as catastrophic as linking his name as a suspect, it undermines our reporting. many are gun owners and they say if you don't understand the difference between a fully automatic and semiautomatic weapon, why should i believe the rest of your reporting? >> when you think about it, is there a gap as has been claimed by some gun owners and some conservative critics of the media between the class and people they cover who are law abiding gun owners? >> gap might be a little bit of a strong word. i do think that you probably have more gun knowledge in newsrooms generally when you talk about in the heartland. i'm from oklahoma. grew up there. a lot of people i knew hunted. >> worked at the tulsa tribune. >> now defunct. rest in peace. i grew up with guns in the house. we always had a .38 special sitting on my dad's dresser. it was always there. i think that when you get into densely urbanized areas, you know, you have less reporter experience with firearms in the newsrooms. the seminars that you talk about, it's clear. there's a thirst for knowledge and understanding and it's easy to get it's just that reporters don't find themselves in sort of a position of informing themselves ahead of time because they are reacting to these events. it's a classic example on monday you have massive shooting and you have instant sort of response and a lot of reporters are writing about this and don't know what an ar-15 is or why implications of reporting something erroneously is like throwing a rock into a pond. >> a lot of events like catastrophic are complex and detailed. i can imagine someone who is roughly half of americans who have concerns about gun ownership and they might say that's terrible but guns were used to kill someone. why this? why is it so important to get this right? >> it's critical to get this right because this is in many ways an issue unlike many others. it's a constitutional issue. it resonates with people. there's a huge amount of cynicism about the press. i get it. i understand it. i hear those concerns all the time. all the things we do, little mistakes, they undermine our credibility over all because it calls into question if we get these things wrong. >> what would you advise people doing things to try to get things right. >> we have all been sort of in that moment where you are is this right? is this wrong? you are going back and forth and torquing in the wind. i think the biggest that you can do is you have to sort of in your mind leverage against how controversial is this claim? ar-15 claim that some news organizations went with, we fortunately held back. we didn't have enough information. i was not involved in daily coverage of this. my colleagues did an excellent job of holding back. you recognize that if you leak suddenly and in everyone's mind with a shooting in newtown, here we go. another discussion about ar-15s. not the case at all. when you have those kind of claims, you have to step back and say how do we really know this? we've seen the information can be wrong. we have seen this gets out and takes on life of its own. you have to put the brakes on. you can't just go with something unless you have enough evidence. >> david fallis of "the washington post," thanks for joining us. >> an asian american talk show host talks about racism and sexism in the tv news business. we'll look at what a young julie chen did years ago and what it might mean today. how much protein does your dog food have? 18 percent? 20? new purina one true instinct has 30. active dogs crave nutrient-dense food. so we made purina one true instinct. learn more at purinaone.com clean energy is creating good jobs all across our country. like here, in california, where we're creating more jobs and getting more power from the sun and the wind. i'm tom steyer. each week, we're taking a look at the keystone xl pipeline proposal -- separating fact from fiction. this week -- the truth about jobs. today, america's energy sector is growing stronger as we diversify, creating hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs here at home, while reducing our dependence on oil from abroad. but foreign oil companies like transcanada are pushing the other way. proposing the keystone pipeline through america's heartland, promising us jobs if they get their way. but here's what they don't say... a state department analysis found that keystone will create just 35 permanent jobs once the pipeline is built. 35. as a businessman, i don't devalue any job. but 35 jobs maintaining a foreign oil pipeline -- one that comes with real risks to the farms and towns and water supplies it would run through -- that's not gonna grow our economy. and it would undercut the kind of clean energy jobs that are repowering america. next week, we visit the big apple, where climate change isn't an abstract notion, it's the test for our times. see you there. it's the test for our times. make my mark i wawith pride.ork. create moments of value. build character through quality. and earn the right to be called a classic. the lands' end no iron dress shirt. starting at 49 dollars. i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired. i hope he's saving. i hope he saved enough. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. whether you're just starting your 401(k) or you are ready for retirement, we'll help you get there. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word... if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts... well muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour one on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour three. zyrtec®. love the air. julie chen talked about her experience as a reporter early in her career. chen did undergo the procedure. chen's story prompted a backlash. some critics accused her of selling out and others claim she had other surgery too. this week chen addressed the question again. >> i do not have cheek implants. i did not take out fat over here to make my cheeks look more -- i did not have chin surgery. i did not have a nose job. i have not done my teeth. nothing. nothing else has been done. >> in an effort to quiet chen's critics, the talk showed a sequence of the application process. at a time when they are not just anchors but news division chiefs many television journalists are under a double standard. joining me is kelly mcbride and wendy is a former anchor for a station in orlando. wendy, how much pressure did one face back then? what do you make of julie chen's story? >> if you talk about pressure specifically as an asian american woman, i didn't really feel anything particular, anything stronger than i would have as a young reporter or a young anchor in large market like orlando. i didn't feel any pressure ever to not appear asian or look asian. i will say in my first job i was asked to change my name which i did shorten because my given birth name is difficult and longer. >> are these subtle clues in which you are to appear more western or white or more approachable to a nonasian, nonjapanese audience? >> or maybe so my last name would be pronounceable in west texas where i started television. it could be that too. >> who are you talking to here? kelly, you talked to a lot of professionals in the business. women in particular about how their careers progress and you talk to television journalists about this. do you find issues of ethnicity matter and do you findparamount? >> absolutely. many people would be surprised at the effort and the energy that television stations and television networks put into discovering how the audience will respond to a certain person. so they do screen tests. they do focus groups. and then they allow that information to inform who they put on the air. so our standard of beauty has always been one that's based on the white ideal. thin nose. certain shape of eyes. a certain shape of mouth. and to the extent that we have become more diverse in television it really has been initially to have people of color who look more white be the first ones to plow that pathway. and to a certain extent, it ends up being a chicken and egg question. because if i'm going to put someone who looks very different on television and then run it by a focus group and the people in the focus group react negatively because they've never seen anyone like that on television, who is going to go first? >> you know, you also wrote this piece this week about what happened with miss america when she was crowned the first miss america of indian american dissent. and the response that she got online turned into a piece that went viral on buzz feed. why was that piece so noteworthy? >> an hour after she was named miss america, buzz feed puts up a piece that describes a dozen or so racist tweets that people have asking if she's really an american implying that she's a terrorist. by the next morning more than a million people had shared that with each other on facebook and twitter in social media environment and the reason they were sharing it was because they didn't agree with the sentiment that was part of -- that was the reason for that original buzz feed piece. for the most part people were appalled that there was a conversation about whether she was really american. however, in the conversation that we had in journalism subsequently, we really narrowed it down to are we racist or not? are we ready for a woman of color, an indian american woman to be miss america? we missed a really good opportunity because we framed -- we allowed that buzz feed piece to frame the question when that was meant to go viral and it's very easy to share things that are negative that you're route y outraged by. >> there is this entertainment show business element to what happens in television news. when you think about that, in your experience as a woman television news professional, to what extent did people look at women journalists, women anchors, women colleagues, women friends differently than their male counterparts? >> you have to believe there's for sure a double standard. women are looked at more critically. >> even now? >> i believe so. trendy. clothes. hairstyles have to be cutting edge. they can't just go with the suit and tie. men's appearance on television over the last 20 years hasn't changed that much. women's definitely has. i'll also say that what has changed in the last few years, i did get out of regular television a couple years ago is how -- when the internet started rising and social media started rising how critical your rank and file viewer has been able to get and how vicious some of the tweets and the e-mails and the communication has come from regular viewers. they hold a lot more power anymore and they can get directly to you. you're popping up your phone and reading what joe blow down the street has to say about what you've done with your hair that day. >> people that once screened at their television sets can do it online and share it with friends and followers. thank you so much for join usins on this topic. we'll let the latest news from kenya and reporting on state secrets on how they used american traditions to get along restrictive laws they face at home. rk with pride. create moments of value. build character through quality. and earn the right to be called a classic. the lands' end no iron dress shirt. starting at 49 dollars. guys, you took tums® a couple hours ago. why keep taking it if you know your heartburn keeps coming back? that's how it works. you take some tums®. if heartburn comes back, you take some more. that doesn't make any sense. it makes plenty of sense if you don't think about it! really, honey, why can't you just deal with it like everybody else? because i took a pepcid®. fine. debbie, you're my new favorite. [ male announcer ] break with tradition, take pepcid® complete. it works fast and lasts. get relief from your heartburn relief with pepcid® complete. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. where their electricity comes from. they flip the switch-- and the light comes on. it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions-- it matters. ♪ we know in the cyber world, threats are always evolving. at first, we were protecting networks. then, we were protecting the transfer of data. and today it's evolved to infrastructure... ♪ ...finance... and military missions. we're constantly innovating to advance the front line in the cyber battle, wherever it takes us. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.