Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170420

Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at rockefellerfoundation. Org Carnegie Corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Sreenivasan paris is on high alert again, after a gunman killed one policeman and wounded two more, before being killed himself. The attack came just three days before voting starts in frances president ial election. The sitting president Francois Hollande said all indications are that it was terrorrelated. Authorities sealed off the area after the incident on the famed champs elysees. It happened near a subway station in an area popular with tourists. translated it was a terrorist. He came out with a kalashnikov and started shooting, but he couldve shot us on the pavement and killed more people with a spray of shots, but he targeted the policemen. Sreenivasan in washington, President Trump called the killings a terrible thing and said it looks like another terrorist attack. We get more, now, from special correspondent Malcolm Brabant, whos in paris. He spoke with us moments ago via skype. Malcolm. Whats the latest right now . The latest information we have the Islamic State is now claiming responsibility for the attack in the champselyseees. Theyre claiming responsibility for a couple hours after this gunman opened fire with what we believe was a kalashnikov on Police Officers who were sitting in a van near the champselyseees, which is the main boulevard through paris. The latest information we have is one policemen have been killed, two have been wounded. The gunman himself was shot dead. He was known to the authorities. Police have been carrying out a raid on his home to find out more information. The french president , Francois Holland has called a meeting of his security chiefs to work out what the implications are for this attack, and its of the utmost importance for this country because its going in three days time and intentions are extremely high. Sreenivasan two important pieces of context, one, there was an attack a while ago. You were out with a candidate at a rally when that happened. Therewas a raid on a couple of men in marseille. The police were made aware that an attack was imminent, and they arrested two islamists who have proclaimed loyalty through the slowmic state. They seized a bunch of weapons, the whole of ammunition, and they may have been going into court, and the fear was that they were going to attack one of the candidates. At the time that these arrests were made, i was down in the city of dijon where the hard left candidate was speaking. What he was trying to say to french people was that these people were criminals, that people should not be afraid, that there should be vigorous debate and that the freedom of the french people should not be impinged by this, but nevertheless, this particular shooting, and also those arrests in marseille have shown that the islamists are serious, that they perhaps want to disrupt this election process, and so thats going to be making people extremely nervous on sunday when they put their ballots in the boxes, but the police and the army are basically saying that there will be about 50,000 people out on the streets of paris alone to try to make sure that this goes off as smoothly as possible. Sreenivasan all right, Malcolm Brabant joining us live from paris tonight. Thank you so much. In the days other news, the president renewed his attack on iran, and the nuclear deal struck in 2015. At a white house News Conference with italys Prime Minister, he called it a terrible agreement and sharply criticized tehran. They are not living up to the spirit of the agreement i can tell you that. And were analyzing it very, very carefully. And well have something to say about it in the not too distant future. But iran has not lived up to the spirit of the agreement and they have to do that. Sreenivasan earlier this week, the administration told Congress Iran is complying, at least technically, with the terms of the deal. In russia, the Supreme Court today banned the jehovahs witnesses after the government labeled them an extremist group. Russia is home to more than 170,000 jehovahs witnesses. Theyve been the target of a crackdown, but they say theyll appeal the courts decision. Human rights watch calls it a blow to religious freedom in russia. General motors has halted operations in venezuela after its factory there was seized by the socialist government. Its the latest in a series of such incidents. In a statement, the auto maker said it strongly rejects the arbitrary measures. And will vigorously take all legal actions. To defend its rights. Vice president pence today praised indonesia as a land of democracy and tolerance, in the latest stop on his asian tour. He held talks with president joko widodo in jakarta, and said the worlds most populous muslim nation is an inspiration to the world. As the second and Third Largest democracies in the world, our two countries share many common values including freedom, the rule of law, human rights, and religious diversity. The United States is proud to partner with indonesia to promote and protect these values, the birthright of all people. Sreenivasan the visit came a day after islamic conservatives in jakarta defeated the minority Christian Governor in his re election bid. Hes already on trial for blasphemy against the koran. Back in this country, more than 21,000 drug convictions are being thrown out, in massachusetts. The states highest court formally approved the move today, the largest single dismissal in american history. A former state Drug Lab Chemist had been accused of tampering with evidence and falsifying drug tests. President trump has ordered an investigation into whether imported steel from china and elsewhere is hurting National Security. He signed the directive, with executives from u. S. Steel makers looking on. The results of the probe could let him curb steel imports, under a 1960s trade law. And, on wall street, stocks rallied on upbeat earnings reports. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 174 points to close at 20,578. The nasdaq rose 53 points, and the s p 500 added 17. Still to come on the newshour business ties between the Trump Administration and large corporations. The russia file documents reveal russian plans to influence the u. S. Election. News dvisions stark contrasts between where conservative and liberal americans get their news, and much more. Sreenivasan now, how behind thescenes moves by a pair of Corporate Giants are raising red flags about the Trump Administration. Companies routinely advocate and bby every day on behalf of their business and shareholders. Sometimes those matters are not important only about corporate profits, but to the economic livelihoods of workers and communities. But moves by exxonmobil and dow chemical are fueling scrutiny about corporate influence within the Trump Administration. April 2012 Rex Tillerson, then c. E. O. Of exxonmobil, visits moscow, wrapping up a deal with the Russian State Oil company rosneft. It calls for investing up to 500 billion to hunt for oil in the arctic ocean and black sea. Id like to thank you for the warm welcome and it is a historic day for exxon mobil and rosneft. Sreenivasan but two years later, the Drilling Venture was blocked when the u. S. Imposed sanctions on russia, over its annexation of crimea from ukraine. Now, exxonmobil is asking the Trump Administration to let the black sea part of the project go forward. Tillerson, in his new role as secretary of state, says hell do just as he promised during his confirmation hearing. As to any issues involving exxonmobil that might come before me if confirmed as secretary of state, i would excuse myself from those issues. Sreenivasan but his past ties to exxonmobil mean the request is certain to draw extra scrutiny. Moreover, russias meddling in the 2016 election remains a hot issue in washington. Republican senator john mccain of arizona, for one, voiced disbelief about the news yesterday. In a tweet, he asked, are they crazy . At the same time, dow chemical is asking the new administration not to impose new curbs on three widely used insecticides. They are diazinon, malathion and chlorpyrifos. The Associated Press reports dow wants the government to set aside federal studies that found the chemicals may be harmful to about 1,800 threatened or endangered species. The Companies Argue the studies are fundamentally flawed. Environmental advocates say theres no such thing as perfect lab conditions. You cant just take an endangered fish, an endangered salmon out of the wild, take it to the lab and then expose it to enough pesticides until it dies to get that sort of data you need. Its wrong morally, its illegal. Sreenivasan the Environmental Protection agency says only that its reviewing petitions as they come in, giving careful consideration to sound science and good policymaking. As with exxon, dows influence will be an issue. The Company Contributed a Million Dollars to President Trumps inaugural activities. And in february, when mr. Trump signed an executive order on rolling back regulations, dows c. E. O. Was at his side. Lets look into some of the questions being raised about each of these examples. Jay solomon broke the news about exxonmobil in the wall street journal. And norman eisen is a former special counsel to president obama. His expertise is government ethics. Jay, let me start with you. What effects . The arctic and the black sea are the most sought after, pioneer spots for oil exploration, and, you know, for the future earnings for the growth of the business, this is seen as kind of one of the last great places to explore. Sreenivasan how much money are we talking about here . How significant is this potential . I mean, president putin, when they announced the deal in 2012, said it could be as much as 500 billion in investment and huge amounts of oil and gas is in that region. Sreenivasan is it typical for these types of exceptions to be asked for on humanitarian grounds and other reasons . There are if you look in iran or burma as the Obama Administration was kind of pursuing their policies, there were exemptions grantedded for humanitarian or technology reasons, but an issue like this that is politically charged with this much money with a country like russia, its pretty unusual youd see a waiver granted. Rex tillerson, a former head of exxon has recused himself for two years. Yes, he has. Ultimately the decision on the waiver is made by an office in the treasury department, but because of the National Security and Foreign Policy implications, the state department, probably some of the intelligence agencies, its a broader issue, but obviously when tillerson got this job, the question was immediately asked, you know, how will your previous job impact the issue of exxon, and its tricky, and already you see republicans and democrats saying, not just because of tillerson, but because of the concerns about russias hacking of the election and the other investigations that this is not going to get Political Support. Sreenivasan norman eisen, what about the idea that Rex Tillerson says he will recuse himself. Isnt that the kind of safeguard we have in place to make sure nothing untoward happens . Well, i think its important that mr. Tillerson recuse himself and he is to be applauded for doing that and for making a complete break with exxon, but that doesnt solve all the problems here. Exxon gave 500,000 dollars to mr. Trumps inaugural. Theres an enormous cloud around russia, not just the violations of National Borders and sovereignty that led to these sanctions, but also the violations of our democratic norms. There can be no doubt that they interfered in the election. The only question now is whether mr. Trump or those around him knew of it or were involved in it. So granting sanctions waiver here just is not called for. Sreenivasan norm eisen, a lot of times its the proximity and ajaci si of facts that leads up to different conclusions. Until there is a smoking gun or a trail of evidence, are we prejudging . I think its very important not to prejudge, but at the same time, its clear now theres a consensus, an Intelligence Community consensus, weve just seen documents from a government thinktank in russia demonstrating an interference in our elections. What we can describe as an act of gray war by doing this. Its an extraordinary hostility against the United States, and theres substantial indications that there have been contacts by those who were in and around mr. Trump. Theres very substantial evidence that raises serious questions here, and that goes to the Political Climate for this sanctions waiver. I dont think its going to be granted. Sreenivasan jay solomon, you mentioned the Political Climate here. What kind of support or lack of support is there when you have senator mccain tweeting, are you crazy in the case of exxon . I think its tough. I think exxons argument is, you know, we have to basically start drilling by the end of this year or were going to lose this concession, and if we dont get it, the European Companies that are already starting to mobilize in this area, theyve been granted some waivers from the European Union to pursue this, so, you know, if we dont get, this its going to be developed, you know, anyway, and american jobs and money is going to be hurt. Thats what theyre going to argue, but i also agree, its going to be very difficult to gin up Political Support in an environment where russia, whether its the hacking or the act situations of collusion or ukraine, its just. They have not given President Trump anything to work with either, the russians, so i agree, i think it would be very difficult for the Trump Administration to get Political Support. Sreenivasan norm eisen, do you have different concerns about the issues with dow . Well, mercifully, dow is not accused of any improper assault on our democracy, but we do have an even larger political contribution to the trump inauguration, 1 million from dow. You have the dow c. E. O. , who is seen at mr. Trumps side. He has extraordinary access in the white house, chairs a group that advises mr. Trump, was there when mr. Trump signed his executive order relating to cutting back regulation, and now you have dows request to set aside the science, the u. S. Government has made scientific findings about these organo phosphates and the harms they cause to, set aside that science and relieve regulation. It doesnt smell right. Sreenivasan norm eisen, how different is this from the revolving door that people so hate about washington, that people come right out of government, go right into the private sector, and then oftentimes right back in if the administration changes . The problem with the Trump White House is that they removed the revolving door and just threw it open and its being flooded with Corporate Executives who are coming in with lobbyists. They removed the lobbying ban that president obama had in his executive order, and everybody believes that business has to have a seat at the table, has to be on a level table, though. The problem is it appears that the table is tilted to disproportionatery favor business as a special interest, beyond the public interest, and so that is worrying. Its in a way worse than the revolving door. Sreenivasan norm eisen and jay solomon from the wall street journal, thank you both. Thank you. Sreenivasan there is news in the russia file new documents reveal plans for russia to influence the u. S. President ial election. William brangham has that report. Brangham reuters reported today that a think tank controlled by the russian government wrote up detailed plans how to swing the 2016 u. S. Election toward donald trump. In two different papers, the think tank urged the use of social media and russian backed media to also undermine americas faith in its electoral system. For more on these developments, im joined now by ned parker, hes one of the reporters who broke the story. And john sipher, he served 28 years in the c. I. A. s clandestine service, including time in russia and eastern europe. Hes now with a Consulting Firm called crosslead. Welcome to you both. Ned parker, id like the start with you. Can you tell us a little bit more . What is it you found . What did you report today. Right. Well, we found there are two documents drafted by an inhouse policy shop for the kremlin that reports back to president vladimir putin, and this organization is also headed by a former Foreign Intelligence Service officers. This Organization Called the Russian Institute for strategic studies drafted two reports last year, one in june, and one in october. The first in june talked about how do you influence the u. S. Electorate through media and social media campaign, to overturn the policies of thenpresident obama and promote, persuade the u. S. Public to choose a new u. S. Administration that would promote policies beneficial to both russia and the United States. And, ned, staying with you for a second, is this evidence, is this in line with what u. S. Intelligence agencies believe the russians did, in fact, do during the election . Right. I think thats the significance of these documents. They came in after the election. The second document, which is from october, talked about how Hillary Clinton was likely to win the election, so it made sense for change of tact in terms of propaganda, and rather than work for her defeat and a new administration under donald trump, intend they should push for a weak Clinton Administration and to bring questions about the integrity of the u. S. Electoral process through different media and social Media Information packets. Now, getting these two documents after the election, it sot of crystallized what the u. S. Already knew about motive and intent, including the hacking, for instance, which there was forensics all over the place linking the hacking of the dnc and the clint campaign to russias military intelligence. Sreenivasan john sipher, you worked against and for the russians, does this conform to how they operate . Certainly it does. This institute was an internal part of the former k. G. B. Sreenivasan this is not a separate thinktank . No, it was an internal analytical unit which then separated and tied itself to the president ial administration headed by longtime serving k. G. B. Officers. In fact, the head of it now was the head of the s. V. R. , their external intelligence service. Sreenivasan is this the kind of evidence that gave u. S. Intelligence agencies the confidence to say, we think russia did medal in the elections . I think this is another piece in that puzzle certainly. I dont think its a big surprise. President putin hardly needed this group to tell him by june of 2016 that he should start trying to influence the election or to, you know, find candidate that was prorussian when we already by that time all of us sort of knew that. However, i think. I do think this is part and parcel of a longer effort that we see now in europe. The russians are now trying to influence elections in germany and russia and bulgaria and the man who ran this institute is tied to possible efforts to assassinate the montenegrin Prime Minister in montenegro, which may be why he lost his job in january. Sreenivasan ned parker, in these two documents, as youve discovered them, was there any mention of wikileaks or the computer hacking that intelligence agencies also believe the russians were involved in . No, there is no mention of wikileaks or the hacking, but i think you have to see these as they were described to myself and my colleagues, john wolcott and john landday. They were described as part and parcel of a campaign some the kremlin is a very topdown, authoritarian culture, so when these documents passed around, they only reinforced what everyone knew to do. So when you actually started to see the Wikileaks Dump happening, the russian affiliated media outlets, like u. S. Like russia today and sputnik and the troll factories outside of st. Petersburg that pump news out on twitter and other outlets on the internet, they were able to amplify the voice and the reach of the hacked, stolen materials from the clint campaign and the dnc. So they reinforced each other. Sreenivasan john sipher, is it really that easy for the russian government to say, you three News Agencies start pumping out stories that are anticlint or protrump. Is that. Is it that obvious . Its funny because in my time in government, especially in the last year, we often talked about an all of government approach, if were going into afghanistan, all of our agencies have to work together. Weve never been as good at it as the russians because thats a centralized state. So, yes, they do a very good job of a coordinated approach the use diplomatic intelligence, military and political power at once. Im not surprised at all by this. Sreenivasan ned, you heard john mention earlier that the concern obviously is that the russians did it to us back in 2016. We have elections coming up in france and elsewhere in europe. Did the intelligence officials that you talked with for this reporting, did they give you any sense that they believe that the russians are going to be involved in those elections, as well . I think thats sort of an open secret. You look at france, and Marine Le Pen makes no secret of her affection for russia. So i think thats seen as part and parcel for the course. Sreenivasan john sipher, one last question before you go. I understanding there is also reporting about a mole hunt going on within the c. I. A. Right now. From your time in the c. I. A. , what can you tell us about that in. Thats unfortunate. Any organization or enterprise has to worry about the insider threat, and this includes the c. I. A. In my time in government, weve caught spies. Almost always in that case, it is an intelligence source of ours that lead us to find out who that person is. So i wish them the best of luck in figuring this out, and hopefully they can find out who it is before too long certainly. Sreenivasan all right. John sipher, ned parker of reuters, thank you both very much for being here. Thanks. Sreenivasan stay with us, coming up on the newshour making sense of the Airline Industrys turbulent business. A new title from the newshour bookshelf locking up our own crime and punishment in black america. And a brief but spectacular take on discovering yourself. But first, the ouster of bill oreilly from the Fox News Channel is an earthquake inside the conservative news media machine that many say over the years, has contributed to the polarization of america. Tonight, we look at one aspect of the two americas what were calling news divisions. We return to White House Correspondent john yang, who went to arizona recently to examine how people get their news, and the impact that has on how they see the world. Yang marcus huey, ken block and Delia Salvatierra all live in the phoenix area and call themselves news junkies. But thats where the similarity ends. Their sources of news are as different as their politics. Salvatierra is a democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton. The new york times, the washington post, cnn and the new yorker are sort of the foundational things that i surround myself with. Yang huey is a republican who voted for President Trump. I would say anything that comes out of fox, i pretty much take to the bank. If something comes from Laura Ingraham, i pretty much take that to the bank. Yang and block, an independent, voted for libertarian candidate gary johnson. I kind of bounce all over the board. I have twitter and a news feed on my phone so you know, i take a little bit of everything. Yang none of that surprises thom reilly, director of the nonpartisan Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State university. Hes one of the authors of new a study examining where voters get both news and commentary. Voters today basically have this cafeteria type format where they can choose from personalized news sources that not only serve to inform them but reinforces their world view. We want to hear stuff we believe in particularly in a very polarized world. So i do think were seeing this, people hurrying back to where they feel safe. Yang the researchers found that the proliferation of news sources on cable tv and the internet has upended the relationship between news outlets and their audiences instead of voters being shaped by news, reilly says news is being shaped for voters. What were seeing is that particularly with a lot of internet sources, theyre appealing to a base, and theyre attracting a wide audience and its growing. And theyre responding to what voters want instead of vice versa. Yang it used to be that politicians and candidates would appeal to a base but now youre saying that news outlets are appealing to their base . And theyre shaping it, yeah, yeah. Yang democrat salvatierra grew up in a conservative, republican household and found her own brand of politics in college at the university of california, berkeley. She now runs her own immigration and criminal law practice. I think the press has become increasingly important and i think once the new administration attacked certain organizations as fake news, it only empowered me to listen to those news organizations even more. And whereas before i could flip back and forth between maybe fox news and cnn, i dont trust fox news because it is so overwhelmingly endorsed by the administration. Yang but youre deliberately seeking out opinions, commentary that reinforce your views . I do that naturally. I wish that i could tolerate watching fox news a little bit more but i cant because its usually the same time that im watching Anderson Cooper or don lemon and theyre asking legitimate questions, theyre pushing the envelope and theyre asking the questions that are aligned with my views. Yang huey, the republican in our mix, is a retired Small Business owner. He and his wife lorri view the world through a very different news prism. I try to get up a little before 7 00. Im in the breakfast room and i have fox news on. I have the wall street journal down in front of me and i have my iphone next to me. And if theres no breaking urgent news on the tv, then the first thing i do is ill go check my phone, look through my facebook wall to see if theres anything i might have missed through the night. Yang you said whatever you hear from Laura Ingraham and fox you feel confident in . I have a track record and history with them and i feel they havent really let me down that often. Breitbart, i feel good about it but if its some kind of startling headline, i might hold back and look for other opinions. Cnn and msnbc, i feel it might not be fake news but, i feel that those organizations unfortunately they would like to see trump be a one term president so they may be yang block, an uber and lyft driver, says he voted libertarian last year as a default. The thing im most pleased with is the fact that Hillary Clinton didnt get into the white house. That was my concern. I couldnt vote for trump at the time, no, and i dont know if i could now. Yang a selfdescribed cynic, block grew up in a democratic household and became the black sheep republican. With what he calls the recent political circus, he declared himself an independent. While he drives, he prefers a rightleaning talk radio station, and at home cnn and nbc news both in the morning. And back at dinner time. His smartphone, with his twitter account, is never far away. He is an equalopportunity critic when it comes to some of the news sources most frequently mentioned by voters in the Arizona State Morrison Institute study who do you distrust the most . Wolf blitzer. Yang why . He has just become more of a grandstander than anything else. Everything is breaking news, every day, every moment, everything cant be breaking news. Its not possible. Yang do you watch fox . Not so much anymore. I felt that was onesided more so than the combination of all the other outlets. I guess there was an element of distrust. As citizens we dont know what we dont know. Were only given so much information. Yang how do these three voters, with their selected sources for news, view one current big story . Do you believe that the russians tried to interfere with the election . Does suspicion around this issue remain . Absolutely. Do i believe they tried to influence the election for donald trump . That seems like a stretch. You have the clintons who have received tens of millions of dollars personally or through their foundation from the russians. So in my mind, i would think that if putin has somebody to be cheering for, it would be Hillary Clinton. I believe that they did. I dont know if its to the extent they are being accused of, but i believe that they did. Yang the a. S. U. Morrison Institute study found that independents like block can help bridge the alternative realities of polarized partisans. If you talk to different people, youre open to different ideas that perhaps on a Larger National scale can lead to more compromise. Yang as he drives his customers, block says sometimes the best way to get along is simply to switch the channel. a lot of time my customers have just gotten off a plane and theyll hear something that just happened and say oh, turn it up, turn it up. Or conversely, theyll say, i have been listening to that all day, can you please turn that off. Can we have some music . yang if they can agree on that. For the pbs newshour, im john yang in phoenix. Sreenivasan the Airline Industry and its Business Model have been in the crosshairs of late, particularly since the United Airlines story captured worldwide attention. Many travelers have been asking just how do Airlines Make money and do those profits come at the expense of passenger comfort and convenience . Our economics correspondent, paul solman, has been exploring the turbulent business of aviation. Its part of his weekly reporting on making sense of economic news. Reporter the whole world was watching watching United Airlines last week, as its skies proved a lot less friendly than advertised. But a flight we took recently had a much happier ending no passenger was bloodied and dragged from the plane, which took off from tiny windsor locks, connecticut and landed barely five hours later in dublin, ireland, for an affordable 549 round trip, including fourday hotel stay for some of the passengers. Theres a larger theme of our story, however that an industry notorious for losing money has been making it, hand over fist, at the expense of often helpless consumers. But that competition may be on the verge of rescuing us at long last. The president was kind enough to put knots in this twine. Reporter aer lingus c. E. O. Stephen kavanagh keeps an old globe gifted to his predecessor in the 1960s by the president of ireland. The first knot being based in ireland and the second knot was the technical range at the time. And his ambition was that ireland would become a gateway point. And 50 years later, we believe were delivering on that ambition. Reporter now, aer lingus wasnt exactly a cash cow as a government service. Aer lingus was owned by the Irish Government up until when . 2006. Reporter and it lost money in all that time, right . Yes. Well most, most of the time, yes. Reporter when i told sophisticated Business People that i was doing this story, they said, oh airlines, an industry that always in the end loses money. So are you just in a up phase of what eventually is going to be a down industry . Theres no doubt that the business is cyclical. And theres no doubt that that industry over many years has had difficulty in returning its cost of capital to shareholders. Reporter by difficulty, you mean it hasnt. It hasnt. Reporter but smaller, fuel efficient planes can now reach well beyond the knot on that 60s string. Indeed, these are boom times for airlines, and not just aer lingus. What explains the turnaround . The answer demands a bit of ancient history, and ancient footage as well. For decades, governments, including the u. S. , strictly regulated fares and routes, if they didnt own the carriers outright. Fares worldwide were high; routes, plentiful; planes, often halfempty. But profits were rare to nonexistent. Then, in 1977, president jimmy carter anointed cornell economist alfred kahn to deregulate. Its the greatest thing i ever did in my life, other than have children. Reporter kahn thought Market Forces would bring air travel to all. He didnt worry much about profits. When i visited him in ithaca, new york in 2003, he was proud of his legacy. What i did has been extraordinarily beneficial to millions and millions and millions of people every year who couldnt afford to travel, who now can visit their grandparents, which now strikes home to me, go home for vacation from college, who can travel and indeed be tourists. Reporter but a key part of kahns plan never materialized antitrust enforcement. Thus deregulation spurred a wave of mergers, speeded up when business was walloped by 9 11 and then the crash of 08. Bankruptcies abounded. Today, the u. S. Fleet has shrunk to just four main carriers, which control 80 plus of the u. S. Market. No wonder passengers are at the mercy of the Major Airlines flights, jampacked; routes, slashed; service to smaller airports, dumped. Yes, fares have dipped, but costs have dipped more, thanks to new planes, cheap fuel, doit ourselves software, union work outsourced to contract workers. Meanwhile, fees have so metastasized here in the u. S. , one Lowcost Airline now differentiates itself by mocking them. On southwest airlines, we dont charge fees on stuff that should be free. Reporter u. S. Airlines alone made an estimated 20 billion last year. Fees accounted for an estimated 3. 8 billion, itinerary change charges, another 3 billion. Selling miles to Credit Card Companies has been estimated to bring in upwards of 10 billion more. Hey, even southwest is now under pressure to impose fees to increase profits. In justifying the profits of aer lingus, which itself has merged with British Airways and iberia, c. E. O. Kavanagh might as well be speaking for the industry as a whole it has achieved greater efficiency. So your story is we finally figured out how to do it right. Is that true . We have figured out what you need to manage. Airlines are extremely profitable at this juncture. Reporter kevin dillon runs connecticuts airport authority. With only four carriers dominating the domestic market, he has to pay to bring new business to his underserved airport. Our passengers out of this catchment area for many, many years have driven down to new york or driven up to logan. Reporter connecticut offered 13 Million Dollars in cash and guarantees. But they still had to bribe you to get you to do this. Well if what youre referring to is that were getting support from the airport and from connecticut, yeah, its, its helpful. As it was we put a lot of commercial risk into launching a route. The fact that they would share some of the risk we think is totally fair. Reporter spokesman Declan Kearney stressed that aer lingus too is making an investment 50 Million Dollars in equipment; crew and fuel costs; promotion. But the bottom line is that the profits from overbooked flights, infuriating fees and cheaper costs are luring competitors once more. Nofrills Norwegian Airlines began flying to the balmy isle of guadeloupe from new york and boston for 69. Norwegian is about to start flying to scotland from connecticut. As we flew affordably to dublin. As we enjoy a brief pub interlude, remember the advantages of competition, on flights to dublin or anywhere else low fares, no fees, comfy planes from which no one is in danger of forcible removal. Because of the profits that beckon. And one last time, why the profits . Two main reasons, claims c. E. O. Kavanagh. One, there has been some level of consolidation in north america where its possible for airlines as businesses to generate sustainable levels of profitability. And the other is capital is more disciplined. Reporter investors are more disciplined in that they now demand immediate profits or simply sell their airline stocks, he means. But maybe the discipline in north america is just consolidation, right . I mean it may be that if there were more vigorous pursuit of antitrust in america, you would have more competitors competing on price and then airlines wouldnt be making any money again. And thus kavanaghs answer to this question may be the moral of this story. That is undeniably true. If you have full freedom of access to a market, where capital is cheap, where there isnt a discipline of a return, then that isnt a stable market. And in airlines, no business in that type of environment is capable of generating sustainable return. Reporter which would suggest that once competition hits full throttle, we consumers may again be flying high; the Airline Industry, coming back down to earth. For the pbs newshour, paul solman, reporting from dublin, ireland, and 15 miles north of hartford, connecticut. Sreenivasan now, race, crime and imprisonment. Thats the focus of the newest addition to the newshour bookshelf. Jeffrey brown has that. Brown mass incarceration and its devastating effect on black americans and neighborhoods. Its a subject thats attracted much attention in books and policy circles in the last decade. A new take on the issue comes in the book locking up our own; crime and punishment in black america based in part on the experience of author james foreman, jr. As a public defender in washington, d. C. Foreman is now a professor at Yale Law School and joins me now, welcome to you. Thank you. Brown let me pick up on that experience of being a public feer, what did you see there that made you rethink the story of mass incarceration . Well, i went into the job because i viewed this as the civil rights issue of my generation. One in three black men under criminal justice supervision. And when i got to local courts of washington, d. C. What i saw was case after case with africanamerican judges, prosecutors, bailiffs d. C. Has a significant africanamerican representation in operation of this criminal Justice System and that system was very harsh. I had one case where a judge before locking up my clients lectured him on Martin Luther king. He said, Martin Luther king fought and died for your generation to be free and youre out here messing it up, carrying a gun, getting high, disrespecting your family and the neighborhood. So thats the thing that really told me there was a story here. Brown you know a number of books and thinkers have looked as this over the last number of years, mass incarceration through the lens on institutional racism, right . Even a continuation of the history of slavery in this country. Are you challenging the story . Filling it in . What do you see yourself doing here . No, i think that story is correct and powerful and urgent. So what i see what im doing is adding to it, because theres a part of the story that we havent focused on yet. And its the part of the story of this generation of African American Decision Makers that came in at the end of the Civil Rights Movement and took office, became police chiefs, became prosecutors, became judges, what were they doing during these brown became the attorney general, you talk about eric holder. Absolutely, who was brown give us, give us an example, though, i mean, of what, of of, a specific example like holder. Well, okay, so somebody like eric holder comes in as the u. S. Attorney for the district of columbia in the early 1990s and he gives a big speech where he says crime and violence are destroying our communities. He says, the black people of d. C. Are no more free than the black people of selma, alabama were in 1955. But whats keeping us down, whats keeping us locked inside is crime and violence and criminal gangs. So in response to that he promoted a program called operation ceasefire where police would stop cars on any pretext, of a minor traffic violation, speeding, tinted windows, you name it, because they wanted to search those cars for guns. Brown so with good intentions, best intentions, of protecting the black community, but youre suggesting all of that helped foment whats come in the mass incarcerations. Exactly. I mean, the story, my story is a tragedy, right, because it is a story of best intentions in many cases. You have people, often they dont part of part of the story that people didnt know what was going to happen next. So in the 1970s, they chose not to decriminalize marijuana. That was a big debate in d. C. At the time, and when they didnt do it and they said, well, its not that big of a deal if we dont decriminalize marijuana because nobodys really going to prison, no ones losing their job for a marijuana conviction but then later in the 80s and in the 90s we passed laws that said you cant get a student loan, you cant get public housing, you cant get a job if you have a marijuana conviction. So a decision they made at time a, later turns out to have these devastating effects. Brown so, when and why did these attitudes change . Or or have they shifted sufficiently . Well theyve shifted in part. So i think the big thing thats happened in the last few years, the black lives matter movement, is a part of this, important writers like Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson and ta Nahesi Coates have really promoted this issue. And attitudes in the black community have started to change as people more and more see mass incarceration as a Racial Justice issue. But, one thing that hasnt changed is we still dont really talk about people who have committed violent crimes. When we say were going to try to reduce mass incarceration, our whole focus so far has been on nonviolent drug offenders. And i argue in the book, thats not going far enough. Brown why is it important to recognize the role of African Americans in bringing about mass incarceration. You know . Why why is it important to fill in or tell the story, take the story further the way you have . Well part of it honestly is, you know, im just that kind of person who, if i go to a movie and theres no black characters, somebody asks me at the end of the movie, what did you think about it . I say, well, it was okay but there were, there were no where were the black characters . I mean, i think that black people have been central to every part of american history, and so i dont want to watch a movie, i dont want to read a book, i dont want to study history that doesnt show the role that africanamericans were playing. So that to me is really at a basic level the number one reason, but its also because, factually, we were there, right . In d. C. In atlanta. In memphis. In los angeles. In chicago. In new york. You have substantial African American representation and i just dont think we can write us out of the picture. Brown let me ask you finally, i mean we started with a personal story, you as a public defender talking about the unfinished work of the Civil Rights Movement. Youre also the son of a very prominent civil rights leader, james foreman. Connect the dots for me, the kind of work as a public defender but, more importantly the mass incarceration problem now to the Civil Rights Movement. How do you see it . Well, they have this similarity. Both of them, that is to say jim crow and mass incarceration, both have led to a whole part of the population being locked out of opportunity by being defined by a certain status, either your race or the fact that you have a criminal conviction. And that means you cant get a job, you cant get public housing, you cant get student loans, you cant live freely as an american citizen. And so i think really what the Civil Rights Movement was about was finding the most acute thing that was harming black people which at the time as jim crow and responding. And i see the movement to fight mass incarceration in much the same way today. Brown all right, the new book is locking up our own; crime and punishment in black America James foreman, jr. Thank you very much. Thank you. Sreenivasan next, another installment of brief but spectacular, where we ask interesting people to describe their passions. Tonight, we hear from illustrator catia chien on what it means to create from the inside out. Her latest picture book is things to do. When i was growing up i didnt actually have bedtime stories or anything like that. I grew up in a pretty dysfunctional family. There was a lot of emotional upheaval. What i did grow up with was comics. Comic books really gave me a way out of that loneliness. So theres this comic book character named monica. It was a constant that i had in my life that i could read stories about monica and her friends. And you know, i thought that if i grew up and i could do that for another child, like that would be worthwhile. I definitely feel that i didnt, i wasnt seen when i was a child and even coming here as a, as an english was, you know, it was difficult for me to speak, and ah, that was when i really connected with the value of art and expression. There is a sense of wanting to find belonging when you have experiences of being an outsider and wanting to create something that feels really true to yourself because youre constantly comparing yourself to Something Else and it doesnt quite match. The process of creating from the inside out is really a process of mattering, you know, of when i teach a lot of students ask me what do you use, what is your tool, and stuff like that. It goes much deeper than that. It goes into who are you . What do you actually want to say . What matters to you . And then from that place theres, everything is possible. You will find a way to get it out. One of the best things that i things that i do with the kids is that i say, lets all close our eyes and all pretend, you know, to be an illustrator. I guide them through a series of, you know, visual things that theyre experiencing through their imagination, right . So when i did a boy and a jaguar, i had them experience the jungle, they jump into a lake and then they look in the lake and then whats reflected back to them is the face of a jaguar. There was this kid in the back, in the back of the room that was really loud and rowdy, didnt want anything to do with me, i had the kids raise their hand and tell me what they felt. And he raised his hand and he said, i didnt know that i could go there. thats the meaning of empathy, the act of creating a story, a story thats not your own that you can step inside of, thats empathy. My family in terms of how theyve responded to my work, its so, its so practical, you know, it has to do with like is that paying you . I have long ago understood that thats not, thats really not where the gold is. You know, youll chase that forever and then at the end of your life you think, like what have i done. The feeling of actually belonging, its selfcreated. Like you actually can create so for me, like being an outsider and arriving at the process of creating something from the inside out, its really just a validation of existing. And it matters that we add to the conversation so its not just one voice thats being told in picture books, it matters. My name is catia chien, and this is my brief but spectacular take on creating from the inside out. Sreenivasan find more of our brief but spectacular videos online at pbs. Org newshour brief. And thats the newshour for and again, to our honor roll of American Service personnel killed in iraq and afghanistan. We add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. Here, in silence, is one more. And thats the newshour for tonight. Im hari sreenivasan. Join us online, and again here tomorrow evening for an exclusive interview with the secretary general of the United Nations and a preview of the french elections. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org