politico said ryan has become a political hero. he was roughed up by police while he was inside a mcdonald's. that raised a lot of questions about police intimidation of reporters. ryan, i want to get to your arrest in a moment, but first tell me what you witnessed overnight? how were reporters like you treated during the curfew? >> reporter: yeah. so the interesting thing is this was the first night where there was a press area where we were allowed to remain stationed throughout the night. basically we were behind the police instead of within the crowd with the protesters but unfortunately that location was actually located away from a lot of the clashes that we were trying to cover. a number of reporters who did manage to make it down towards the clashes didn't have any issues and were actually later mingling with some of the officers further down and were allowed to report from there, but all of us who were working from within sort of i guess the press tent there were threatened with arrests if we left that area. and, you know, we were being pretty closely watched to make sure we weren't leaving that vicinity. >> you posted some pictures on twitter this morning that i want to show on the screen. a more positive side of the story. community members cleaning up after what happened last night. i've seen reporters saying that protestors have threatened them. what have you experienced? is that true? >> absolutely. very early on in the night yesterday we were threatened outside of the mcdonald's, actually, again by some of the people who were gathered there who i guess were going to cause some issues later in the night. >> they don't want to be seen on camera? they don't want to be shown? >> correct. yeah. if things got crazy, they said -- and we started taking pictures, we could become targets, too. >> you and leslie lowrie of the "washington post" were arrested and released 45 minutes later. never charged with anything. have you figured out the names of the arresting officers yet? because you said on wednesday they wouldn't tell you their names. >> reporter: absolutely not. i've encountered one of the individuals who works with the ferguson police department. in front of other officers requested his name, taken photos of him when i was surrounded with a lot of other media so there weent an issue of me being arrested again. i haven't seen the county officer who was the one who actually slammed my head into the door on the way out and was the worst physically abusive. i asked i guess the sheriffs last night to identify him by showing the photo i had and he declined to do so and sent me to internal affairs. so we'll see. we're not sure where the process is going to go to next, but we hope to identify who that officer is next. >> what was it like for you to hear president obama talk about police should not be bullying or harassing reporters? >> reporter: it was a very strange experience. it's not a place i'm used to being as a reporter. >> you don't want to be the story yourself. >> caller: yeah. right. i don't. i want to be -- last night was really refreshing, to be able to actually report on what was happening to other people and, you know, interview people this morning on the streets, but it's also interesting because it's a different sort of dynamic. often when i am interviewing people they recognize me for what happened and they say, oh, you're that reporter. it's added a different interaction with mepeople i'm reporting in the past. it's opened up people to speaking to me. >> that's a really interesting point. of course, some people have criticized you including msnbc's joe scarborough that you set yourself up to get attention and to get on tv. what is your response to that? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, i think there was a lot of armchair critics here. it was kind of disappointing to see that coming from within the journalistic community. from what i heard joe scarborough i think apologized the next day because i posted a photo that i had taken with him when i was in high school saying i thought we were cool but, you know, it was sort of disappointing to see that come from within the journalistic community overall. you would think that people would be willing to stand by other journalists and not sort of second guess their actions. any journalist who was in that situation, any good journalist who was in that situation, the exact same thing would have happened to them. i'm 100% sure of that. we did nothing wrong. we were allowed to record. we were obeying officer's commands and trying to get out of the restaurant as quickly as possible while still documenting the sort of extraordinary measures that they were taking and the attitude they had towards the customers in that mcdonald's. >> we should say, reporters and citizens have the right to record police. ryan, thank you for joining me. >> reporter: thanks so much for having me. the same night ryan was arrested an al gentlemjazeera c found themselves on the other end of rubber bullets. ashr used to be with cnn and now he's with a foreign bureau. i asked him what was going through his head when this tear gas erupted around him? >> well, the first thing we thought was we were standing in a position that we were told was safe. it was a safe distance about a mile from the epicenter of the protests. there were police officers a half a block from us. we were told we were safe. the assumption was nobody would be shooting tear gas canisters at us, let alone rubber bullets. we were taken completely by surprise when this happened. >> have you experienced anything like this before ooereither her the united states or before? >> not here in the united states. i've covered protests for example overseas in pakistan when i worked for cnn years ago. in a place like that you would expect -- in the times that we were carrying that, that was one of the things that we felt, the indiscriminate sort of treatment of not only the protestors and the journalists themselves. the fact of the matter is, when it comes to what happened to our crew, they were firing cannons into the crowd disbursing them but clearly in the video there were no crowds at us. there were lights, there was a camera. we could clearly see them. we can't understand how they could possibly say they could not clearly see us. >> so was it intentional? do you feel you were targeted? >> reporter: i do. i do feel like we were targeted because after we were treated back there was a crowd that did go towards our camera equipment and that was caught on camera. they hovered around our equipment. no rubber bulge lets were fired at them or canisters fired at them. later on they basically said they were helping us out by getting us out of there. i find that a little bit insulting. it sounds like, you know, somebody sucker punches you in a bar and hands you a stick and kicks you out the door fks that's not helping you. it felt very much like we were being targeted essentially since we put our hands up, we screamed at the top of our lungs, we're press, and it still continued the way it was. >> al-jazeera's bosses says this has a chilling effect or at least it has a chilling effect on the press. has it? has it changed what you've been doing there? >> i think it had an immediate chilling effect but i any that's changed and it's brought a lot of attention to what's going on in ferg son as all of these journalists, the ones arrested, the witness caught up in the tear gas on wednesday night have been covering this. really, the fact of the matter is that we're here to tell the story of what's going on in this town. to be treated in a way that tries to put some intimidation into the way we're putting this, there is mill starization into police and the area. you saw these mraps, armored vehicles, s.w.a.t. teams, people in riot gear, police in riot gear. they literally were facing off with these demonstrators. that was not the case thursday night. there was not a police officer in sight. we saw police come in but they were in suvs and they were later able to leave without incident. it was very different. it clearly had an effect on how the night proceeded. >> thank you very much for sharing your story with us. >> reporter: thank you, brian. and we do have this breaking news this morning. u.s. attorney general eric holder just authorizing a second autopsy to be done on the body of michael brown at the request of his family. we still don't know the details of what was in the first autopsy, but now there will be a second. we are just getting started this morning. coming up, we have more on the protests and the participation of a certain cable news anchor. i think you know the one i'm talking about. al sharpton. we'll have a debate on his role right after this. you know.... there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. mmmm. these are good! the tasty side of fiber. from phillips i'm d-a-v-e and i have copd. i'm k-a-t-e and i have copd, but i don't want my breathing problems to get in the way my volunteering. that's why i asked my doctor about b-r-e-o. once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs for a full 24 hours. and breo helps reduce symptom flare-ups that last several days and require oral steroids, antibiotics, or hospital stay. breo is not for asthma. breo contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. breo won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. breo may increase your risk of pneumonia, thrush, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking breo. ask your doctor about b-r-e-o for copd. first prescription free at mybreo.com ♪ ♪ start a team. join a team. walk to end alzheimer's. visit alz.org/walk today. over 20 million kids everyday in oulack access to healthy food. for the first time american kids are slated to live a shorter life span than their parents. it's a problem that we can turn around and change. revolution foods is a company we started to provide access to healthy, affordable, kid-inspired, chef-crafted food. we looked at what are the aspects of food that will help set up kids for success? 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[ meows ] the internet of everything is changing everything. cisco. tomorrow starts here. welcome back. let's take a look at the red news, blue news. fox news is red news. just this week, all week in fact not a day woent by without complaints on fox about this man, al sharpton. he is the president of the national action network but he doubles as a blue news anchor. the 6:00 p.m. anchor on msnbc. he flew to ferguson this week to support the brown family and to anchor his show there. he has dual roles. he's back there holding a rally which msnbc will have live coverage of. smarp ton's fans say he's a civil rights leader. his detractors wish he would go away. >> regarding the al sharpton, how about for once he just stays out of it? why do we need him to condemn it or say go for it. why doesn't he just stay out? his presence alone is -- >> stay away from ham burger, it ain't going to happen. >> rabid dock? come on, beckle? here's the immediate question about sharpton. he's always been an activist. should he anchor a show? let me ask a cnn commentator and crystal write. >> crystal, do you think it's appropriate that al sharpton has this blog? >> no. i don't consider al sharpton an activist? i consider him an ibs city gator of race wars and racial tensions in america. he did this with tawana brawly way back in the '80s. this is what he does. the crazy thing about it is msnbc has now given him a show and he tries to come off as an objective journalist and he's anything but. as you mentioned -- >> do you think he comes off as a journalist? i don't think he would say a journalist. >> why should he have a show -- i don't think he should be called a journalist. i don't think he should be called a civil rights advocate. he hasn't advocated for peace and justice in over three decades, brian. >> a couple of things here. first, al sharpton, whether we like him or not, and i happen to like him, he's certainly an activist. that's what he does. any definition of activist he fits whether you like his level or type of activism is a different conversation. al sharpton would not argue he was objective journalist. i think he's somehow failing to live up to a level of journalism. he's no different than shawn hannity, glen beck. he's no different than many pundants. >> this is the brave new world we live in where people are sometimes involved in the stories they're covering. i understand why they make people uncomfortable. >> i don't think anyone in america is thinking al sharpton is trying to tow the middle. i think at times that work is necessary because when you talk about trayvon martin, that only hit the national scene before al sharpton arrived. >> they did put a national spotlight on it. by the way, msnbc, i talked to a person there who said in some cases he has brought more attention to issues that we should be covering, for example, voting rights issues. let me pull the up a quick statement from the president of msnbc phil griffin. he said al sharpton is both the president of the national action network and host on msnbc. we've always been transparent about his dual roles and his work outside of msnbc. >> seems reasonable to me. >> well, shawn han nilt at this is not professing to be some type of activist. this is about an opinion and it's not helpful when he jumps the gun like he did in trayvon martin's case. you all talk about putting a spotlight on trayvon march continue's death. >> media images are important. there was a real uprising of post pictures on twitter under #if they gunned me down. mark, tell me what that was all about. >> if they gunned me down hashtag and campaign was something that organically grew out of social media and i thought it was powerful. it's speaking back to how black victims are represented. with trayvon martin, some were desperate to put him on a horse, others were desperate to make him look like a thug. in other times it shapes how the public responds to us and how cases are investigated. many people in social media particularly young black men and women show two different images on the screen, one looking dignified and respectable, others looking in ways that the media might turn an eye toward. it shows the disparate but it also spoke to the very real chilling possibility that many young black men and women could be gunned down on the street. the fact that we're having a conversation of how we would be represented if they gunned us down speaks to a very stark reality in the nation. >> crystal, did you feel the same way mark did when you saw this movement online? >> yes. and i agree with mark. i think that as a black woman and mark a blackman, we were younger once, i don't want to speak for mark. >> i'm still young. >> me, too. i know i have two brothers. i know from their experiences when they were driving as teenagers at night in the south being afraid of being pulled over. my parents warning them when they were out at parties in urban environments to behave a certain way. this is real and mark is right. there are peaceful protests going on in ferguson. i have a problem with the mill tarization of the police and the message that sends how police feel about black americans. sure, i guess at the end of the day i think we all should be able to have the kind of conversation mark and i are having and are having with you, brian. we need to diffuse the racial tensions. as i believe michael brown's mother said, guys, stop the violence. my son is dead tragically. he was about to go to college. she wants no -- some kind of conclusion to this awful tragedy, as we all do. at the end of the day i don't think it's helpful when we rush to judgment whether it's trayvon martin, whether it's michael brown. it doesn't really help any of us at the end of the day. >> i'm glad you brought up the heavy handed nature of the police response. i think in many ways photos from twitter and facebook are what led the national media to pay attention to that. >> yes. >> i think we need both. we need anchors telling people on air that nonlethal force was used but we need to see the photos of what happens when nonlethal force is used. we need to see the bloody photos of people hit by the rubber bullets. i think it's important we see both versions of that. >> yeah. my only concern is that, you know, sometimes we preach calm and even the president over the past few days has prepared calm in a statement from the white house and in the press from martha's vineyard. my concern is that sends a message if we remain calm and allow due process to take course, everything will happen the way it's supposed to. the truth is, if we remain calm and don't create the media specific tackle, quite honestly, if we don't have demonstrative protests, not violence, then nothing ever happens. crystal mentioned chicago. chicago killings happen every single weekend. i'm in chicago and quite honestly i've been in chicago protesting black on black violence. it's not a sexy story if someone is dead from a white cop. we may be using spectacle. when i say spectacle i mean it in a technical turn. i mean having a huge media attention. >> something to cover, exactly. >> i agree with you on that. >> that's what does it. you know, roaches do whatever they want in your house until you put the light on. i'm talking about flicking the light on so that people can respond. that's what the marches are. if we have a crawl on the screen saying black kid killed by cop, nothing happens. it's only when we have a demonstration that we get that -- >> i've never heard that roach line before, i like it. i think we'll end there. thank you both for joining me. >> pleasure. >> thanks. and up next, huge news at nbc this week. this morning on "meet the press" they paid tribute to david gregory. he was removed from the show just a few days ago. didn't even get to say good-bye. what's the future hold for sunday morning talk shows? 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"meet the press" has been around since 1947. it is the longest running show on all of television. a who's who of politics. and nbc takes that legacy very seriously, which is why what's happening right now is kind of baffling. the network is replacing david gregory with chuck todd after months of nasty stories about gregory in the press. no surprise, of course, a show about beltway politics is fraught with backstage politics. here's the thing about it. gregory followed the most famous moderator in "meet the press" history. tim russert. it was pretty reliably number one in the ratings. russert died in 2008. gregory took over and "meet the press" is now number three. so nbc can point to the ratings as the reason for making the change, but it's been done in an ugly way. gregory isn't just leaving the show, he's leaving the network without even saying good-bye on the air. so to discuss this and the future of sunday morning public affairs program let me bring in frank cessna, the director of gw school of media and public affairs and a former washington bureau chief and jay rosen, journalism professor at new york university. thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> frank, what do you make of the way this has happened? we've been talking for months about whether gregory was going to keep his job and now all of a sudden he's leaving the network. >> it's ugly, it's the dark under side of television. it's the guillotine brought into television and it's a bad way for gregory to have to leave. the fact of the matter is, his tenure was not a success. the ratings sank. was it his fault? hard to say. was it the x factor, the mysterious chemistry between host and audience, maybe. this is as you say the backstage politics of the program. >> right. are you a believer that the format itself is still alive and well? >> yes. >> is there a point to the sunday morning political talk shows? >> yes. absolutely, a vital point to it. people are fascinated by people. people are fascinated by politics. this is a niche program. it always has been. it fills a vital role for the networks to plant their flag in the public affairs domain. people in public life go to these shows, to set an agenda, to take on a debate and it can be and should be riveting for people who are interested in it. >> jay, i know you disagree. i know you think these shows are broken. tell me why. >> well, i think they're still important but they're broken for a number of different reasons. one of the most important ones is that as the partisan divide has gotten worse, partisan argument concerning not only policy and politics but facts themselves, often there is no common set of facts on which the players can disagree and one of gregory's problems is that he was unable to adjust to that. i think these shows are an important instrument of accountability but they've drifted out of touch with the audience, people who are interested in politics now have a lot more information available to them. they also expect more interaction with their journalists than dhe in the past, and that's not something that david gregory was very good at. i also think, brian, that he showed a very strange sort of almost fatal lack of self-awareness in that he was unable to make sense of any of the criticism of him. he was also in a large way unable to persuade the audience that he was on their side when he interviewed politicians, and i think that's one of the reasons that he had such low ratings. and also a lot of hostility coming at him and very few fans. >> i think that what you just said, jay, is absolutely right in terms of the changed nature of the show but that's a format issue, that's not a program issue. so journalism needs to be, media needs to be more of a conversation with the audience. i think you're absolutely right. the host needs to be the surrogate for the audience but also listening to the audience. the fact that washington is so messed up and so broken, that argues for why these programs should be more relevant, a place to hold people's feet to the fire even better, closer, hotter which is why the role of the host is so important. i think where chuck is going to excel. >> i think one of the big problems with these shows and "meet the press" in particular is that "meet the press" kind of became greet the talking points. i don't think david gregory ever realized that problem. he certainly didn't have the witt to solve it and if you're number one in a declining format, you're okay. if you're number three in a declining format, you're not. >> this is why the host has to stay -- hang on a second, senator, windbag. before you go any farther with that, we've heard that a hundred times before. we've done our research. here's why that didn't work. here's what you said six weeks ago. here's the problem with your proposal. tim russert was very, very good with that. i've done sunday talk shows. i did it with this network for seven years. you know what you're getting is guests coming in to set the agenda. that means by definition they're coming in to present their talking points. >> isn't this partly, frank, insider versus outsider journallism? if you're producing the "meet the press" for the gang of 500 that care and dictate politics in this city then you'll get a very different show than for outsiders. >> that's right. the danger with these shows is you're trying to make news. in trying to make news it's that little incremental nothingness that will drive a headline but is not of interest to people outside the beltway. people around the country and the world, exactly what jay is saying, what they want to hear and should hear on a sunday morning is, wait a minute, where do you get all of that? how do you propose to make that work? it's not and it musn't be a talking points show otherwise it should be called, you know, meet the talking points. >> right. right. but, brian, there's a difference between the 500 or 1,000 people in washington who are the movers and shakers and the smaller segment of the big audience that is interested in politics. those are two different things, and "meet the press" as well as the other sunday shows sometimes seem to be about those 500 people, not the hard core audience which exists around the country. >> chuck todd will start on "meet the press" september 7th. jay, are you optimistic that he can improve what you see as the faults on the program? >> well, chuck todd is much better at social media. he's much more interactive. he's much more tuned in to that larger class of people who are interested in politics that i talked about. on the other hand, he's completely a creature of the game and he loves the inside game, and i think the problem with these shows is they are too wound up in that inside game so it's going to be a challenge for chuck to adjust to that. i think one more thing we should adhere is that there is a very strong sense in the country that washington is broken. the political class has failed. we can't even get on the same page about what the problem is let alone solve the problem. i think it would be wise for chuck todd to see himself and his colleagues, washington journalists, as part of the class that has screwed up politics and maybe in taking over "meet the press" he can begin to address some of how that happened. >> what an interesting thought. jay rosen and frank cessna, thank you for joining me. >> thank you. time for a quick break here. when we come back, we're turning from network television to cable. we're going to talk about this. >> wait. >> she's eating. she needs to drop a few. >> oh. >> you did not -- >> really? >> -- say that! >> oh, yes. i'm going to ask a respected doctor what she thinks about that on air diagnosis right after this. , welcome back to "reliable sources." i've learned a lot about conservative politics on fox. may i suggest you don't take the medical advice. fox has a medical a team. one of the members is dr. keith aslo. he's a psychiatrist and he was on the fox show outnumbered this week, part of the group that was complaining about michelle obama's campaign to make school lunches healthier. ablo challenged her credibility by suggesting she weighs too much. >> she needs to drop a few. >> oh. >> no, you did not say that. >> really? >> oh, my goodness. are we on a seven second delay? >> i want nutrition. >> michelle obama needs to lose the junk in the trunk. >> let's be honest. no french fries. that's all kale and carrots? i don't buy it. >> speaking as a guy who was overweight and lost 90 pounds a few years ago, i think we need all the help we can get to reduce obesity so i really wish talking heads would not controversiallize something as simple as nutrition advice. let's hone in on ablo. this is far from the last time that he's said something outrageous. in 2012 he suggested that vice president joe biden might have dementia and he said newt gingrich's three divorces might make him a strong president. i want to bring in dr. gail salt. gail, what responsibility do you think tv doctors have when it comes to talking about the health of others? >> i would argue a huge responsibility, that when you carry the label of m.d., and a psychiatrist is an m.d., they're an m.d. of the brain, of the mind for mental illness, you're putting forth the idea that you are going to act with integrity, you are going to go by frankly american psychiatric guidelines which is not to diagnose someone that you've ever met, not to label someone with dementia with no evidence of such, and not to -- and basically to follow the hippocratic oath, which is to do no harm. so to be criticizing people willy-nilly is i don't think meets the hippocratic oath. it undermines the way the public sees mental health professionals which is what concerns me the most because, you know, especially what's gone on this week with robin williams, the concern that people don't get treatment because of stigma, discomfort, wondering if they can go in and trust a mental health professional, it's really important that anyone who presents themselves as such in the media really follows those guidelines and people feel that they can trust them. not that they will be criticized. >> medical experts are some of the most influential on television. i wonder if there's an urge to be entertaining, provocative, have you ever felt that? >> i would say i have felt that because, let's face it, people want -- media wants eyeballs. producers, viewers, and so on respond so much to that provocativeness, but i would say that i try very hard every day to resist that, to say, you know, the most important thing is i'm a physician. i'm a psychiatrist. people are looking to me to educate, to inform about problems, about treatment, to have science be the backup for what i'm saying, and if i want to speak about opinion, i think if any professional wants to express their opinion that has nothing to do with medicine, they have to carefully take off their doctor hat and make it clear that they're doing so. >> i don't want to take ablo's bait about michelle obama, but is it fair to say you can have a physician who's a little bit overweight or have a psychiatrist who has his or her own mental health problems and still be treated by that person? i ask because one of the people that helped me most when i was losing weight was someone who was overweight as well. >> so, absolutely. the bottom line is that many actually mental health professionals are drawn to the field because they have struggles with mental health problems themselves and obviously as long as they're not ill, as long as they've been treated, they not only can be wonderful clinicians, and we all know this in the field, but they can have a particular empathy. somebody who struggles with their own weight can have a particular empathy that can be different and extremely helpful. >> absolutely. >> i also would say honestly, i have no idea what that's about. we talked about michelle obama's fantastic arms and biceps for years now and how incredibly fit and attractive she is, so i don't know what that's about, but it is important to know that many people who have struggled with weight are some of the best actually nutritionalists and fitness people out there. >> gail, thank you so much for joining me. >> my pleasure, brian. up next on "reliable sources," you've seen the extraordinary pictures from the risky rescue mission from mount sinjar. now look at the reporter and the man behind the camera. they're going to join me after this. that helps supplement good bacteria found in two parts of your digestive tract. i'm doubly impressed! phillips' digestive health. a daily probiotic. ♪ ♪ start a team. join a team. walk to end alzheimer's. visit alz.org/walk today. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. sea captain: there's a narratorstorm cominhe storm narrator: that whipped through the turbine which poured... surplus energy into the plant which generously lowered its price and tipped off the house which used all that energy to stay warm through the storm. chipmunk: there's a bad storm comin! narrator: the internet of everything is changing how energy works. is your network ready?" the ca♪illac summer collection is here. ♪ during the cadillac summer's best event, lease this 2014 ats for around $299 a month and make this the summer of style. could help your business didavoid hours of delaynd test caused by slow internet from the phone company? that's enough time to record a memo. idea for sales giveaway. return a call. sign a contract. pick a tie. take a break with mr. duck. practice up for the business trip. fly to florida. win an award. close a deal. hire an intern. and still have time to spare. go to comcastbusiness.com/ checkyourspeed if we can't offer faster speeds - or save you money - we'll give you $150. comcast business. built for business. welcome back. for weeks now the news media has been telling the desperate story of the minority yazidi community in iraq. it looked for a period of days at least as though thousands might die atop mount sinjar there. the story has been told from afar. but at a crucial moment ivan watson was able to bored a helicopter on a relief mission and the result was some of the most extraordinary video we have ever seen from a conflict zone. i don't really need to say more about it. just take a look. >> reporter: more desperate people throw themselves at the aircraft. heaving their children on board. it's first come, first served. there were some who couldn't make it. aboard the aircraft, shock. exhaustion. fear. and eventually gives way to relief. they're firing on targets below. they're protecting the helicopter, but it's terrifying these little kids who are traumatized after their weeks trapped on the mountain. they're flying over isis front lines. this is the only protection we have right now to protect the aircraft and its precious cargo. >> that is quite literally courage under fire. ivan watson joins me now along with the photo journalist who shot that amazing video, mark phillips. i was terrified, brian. i was really scared., brian. i sent a note to my girlfriend to pass on to my family when we were taking off just in case. and so, yeah, i was -- mark my words, i was pretty frightened. >> were you terrified, as well? what we don't hear as often is people from behind the camera. i'm curious of what that experience is when you're trying to get the shot but you're in the middle of this chaos. >> concentrate on what i'm doing and that takes away the fear factor. making sure the camera's rolling, making sure where ivan is. make sure he's around. and getting the shots. i'm actually counting in my head. am i holding the shots long enough? it's when i get back to the hotel where we're staying. you look at the pictures and realize how sometimes scary and how close you are. that's helpful. you divorce yourself from the emotion of it so you can get your shots. if you didn't, i think it'd be useless. >> those are from your cell phone camera, right? >> right, i mean, i try to document when i can what's going on. and i think i've perhaps picked up a little trick from amazing camera men like mark that doing something like that, not only can i then share images, as well afterwards, but it also does help me focus and shield myself from what's going on and not -- not be thinking about or worrying about the possibility that the fighters below might have surface to air missiles that could shoot our helicopter out of the sky. >> one day later, there was a helicopter crash, apparently mechanical of some sort and a "new york times" reporter among those injured. now receiving medical care. when you heard about her injuries and the crash of that helicopter, how did you two react? >> took a deep breath. >> yeah. >> and thought we're lucky we weren't on it. there was talk about going back the following day. we decided we had enough. we had a good story and there were others. that was wise on us or maybe just lucky. >> it's a sad development because, brian, we met briefly the iraqi pilot who was killed flying that helicopter, and i think that guy's a hero because they were literally saving lives. i have a colleague and friend. he is a photographer on assignment for time magazine. he's a veteran photographer. and if you can imagine, he went down on that helicopter and still managed to shoot spectacular and riveting photos in the immediate aftermath of that accident. >> both of you have been in other conflict zones, as well. and i wonder, mark, how do you deal with any feelings of guilt that might come up later. there you are part of a mission to deliver supplies and rescue a small number of people, but there were so many others left. does guilt ever come into play? >> i think there's always going to be, you can't save everybody. that weighed on me for years. and you can't save everybody. but you can save a couple. and i know it's not right to save those lucky few and you feel you should go back. but that's the way life is. ivan, how do you feel? >> yeah, i mean, it feels terrible that not everybody could get on these aircraft. and just, you know, day-to-day covering this situation, people out here who just make you want to break down and cry and wave your hands up in the air with helplessness because there's so much suffering going on. and you just -- you just really, really feel powerless, brian. >> ivan watson and mark phillips, thank you, both, for joining me. >> thank you. >> thank you, brian. let me close with the words of al tompkins. who wrote exactly what i feel about ivan and alyssa ruben. he wrote this, the photo journalists, the translators, the fixers who make their reporting possible. you be a sound sleeper, or... a mouth breather? well, put on a breathe right strip and instantly open your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicines alone. so you can breathe and sleep. shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right. that's why i always choose the fastest intern.r slow. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. and before i go this morning, did you see this magazine cover earlier this week? this is "wired" magazine with edward snowden on the cover protectively clutching the american flag. this provoked a wide range of reactions. snowden and his advisers have been very careful and very sophisticated about their pr ever since he decided to leave the country with all of those nsa documents. they have chosen when he speaks and how he speaks. and they've always tried to put the focus on the documents and on the revelations about nsa mass surveillance. not on snowden. but this picture seems to change that. this picture really fired up a lot of people this week. and i wonder if it actually hurt his cause rather than helped it. snowden's focused on reforms to nsa mass surveillance programs. but i think some of that got lost in all that attention about the cover photo. you can read my column about that on cnn.com/media. as i mentioned, our media coverage continues seven days a week on cnn.com. we'll see you right here next week. and if you can't join us live, set your dvr. "state of the union" with candy crowley begins right now. curfew imposed. curfew broken, as the fury of ferguson moves into a second week. >> hands up. >> don't shoot! >> today, missouri governor jay nixon on the state of ferguson's streets, and t i

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