We look at the roles of celebrity, trust, and new media have changed the way americans consume news. Plus, David Axelrod on his years advising president obama and why, despite his time in washington, he Still Believes in the political process. I just wanted to write a story about my own journey to make the case its worthwhile to engage in this process. This is a great example of an enormous amount of mechanical energy which is currently being completely wasted. Woodruff the politics and red tape blocking hydropower a Renewable Energy source with untapped potential. We kept thinking, gee they really ought to be a way we could use that water. We were having to jump through the same hoops that if you are going to move boulder dam. Woodruff those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. At lincoln financial, we believe that you are the boss of your life. The chief life officer. In charge of providing for loved ones. Growing your nest egg. And protecting what matters the most. Lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. Life income, retirement, group benefits, and advice. Lincoln financial. Youre in charge. I. B. E. W. The power professionals in your neighborhood. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff president obama formally asked Congress Today to authorize military force against the Islamic State group. The request triggers the first war powers vote since 2002, and the invasion of iraq. The president said hes not asking to send in Ground Troops beyond special forces used in limited operations. Im convinced the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the middle east. Its not in our National Security interests and its not necessary for us to defeat isil. Local forces on the ground who know their countries best are best positioned to take the ground fight to isil and thats what theyre doing. Woodruff to that end, the proposal rules out enduring offensive combat operations like the afghan and iraq wars. It also calls for a three year time limit on the authorization for using force, taking it past the president s time in office. Majority republicans in congress voiced doubt that the resolution goes far enough. Some democrats worried that it might go too far. I am concerned about the breadth and vagueness of ground troop language. The limitation against enduring offensive Ground Combat operations suggesting that all defensive Ground Combat operations are okay, since everybody works for dod the department of defense allowing defensive actions without any additional explanation is pretty broad. Woodruff well hear more from senator kaine and republican senator deb fischer later in the program. The Bombing Campaign in syria and iraq has done little to stop foreign fighters from joining the Islamic State. U. S. Intelligence leaders told a house hearing today that some 20000 foreign fighters from 90 countries have joined the militants. That includes up to 150 americans whove tried to reach the war zone inside syria. In yemen, britain and france joined the u. S. In closing their embassies, as turmoil spread in the capital. Crowds protested today in sanaa against shiite rebels who took over the government last week. Rebels patrolled the streets and eventually beat and stabbed some protesters. Rod nordland of the New York Times is in sanaa and spoke with us earlier. Rod nordland, welcome. We understand not only did officials at the u. S. Emsy close it down they also abandoned cars at the airport in sanaa. What is the situation on the ground . They went into the airport and got on commercial flights, they did it in an orderly way. The houthis say theyre just taking the cars for safekeeping and following yemeni law and theyre doing their best to try to prevent it from blowing up into any bigger incident than it is. The surprising thing, its pretty calm on the streets in sanaa these days. Woodruff what would you say the attitude is of the new houthi government toward the u. S. . U. S. . Theyre trying to desperately to reach out to the United States and persuade them theyre trying to be on friendly terms. They havent had much success doing that. I think the americans want to see a government in place and one the houthis agreed on with other parties and not just dominated by them. Woodruff we know the u. S. And the houthis are on the same side of the fight against al quaida. Could that make for cooperation . I think its already making for cooperation. You know the houthis have Long Campaign against american drone strikers even though theyre against their bitter enemies al quaida. Since taking control, theyve done nothing to speer fear with those and have dialed back antidrone and andtyamerican rhetoric. Woodruff with know u. S. Embassy, how are they trying to reach out to the u. S. . What is the message . I interviewed their leader a couple of days ago and he was adamant about trying to have better relations with the u. S. Even went so far as to repudiate their slogan which says death to america and say thats just a slogan, we dont mean it literally and we want to be friends with the United States and saudi arabia and other countries h in the region and played down their connection to iran. Its widely believed the iranians finance them. He said it wasnt true and they didnt want to see the iranians make way in yemeni either. Its a reassuring message but its hard for the americans to take it seriously because they dont actually have a government to deal with here whether its hoothootyhouthi or another government. Woodruff rod, thank you. Youre welcome. Woodruff as u. S. Diplomats leave yemen, theres word the American Military exit from afghanistan may be delayed. The Washington Post reports the administration is considering keeping more troops there, for longer than planned. The current plan calls for ending the u. S. Military mission entirely by early 2017. The leaders of france, germany, russia and ukraine gathered this evening for new talks to end the fighting in eastern ukraine. The summit took place in minsk, the capital of neighboring belarus. A ceasefire announced there last fall has collapsed in a new surge of combat between pro russian rebels and ukrainian troops. Another momentous meeting played out in brussels, as finance ministers from across the euro zone focused on greece and its debt. The new greek government has vowed to renegotiate terms of the countrys bailout. The International Monetary fund helped fund the bailout, and its leader, christine lagarde, said today shes open to considering athens ideas. translated they are absolutely competent intelligent, theyve thought about their issues. We have to listen to them. We have to start working together and it is a process that is starting and is going to last a certain time. Woodruff greeces current bailout ends on february 28th. The u. N. Refugee Agency Reports more than 300 migrants have died trying to cross the mediterranean from libya to italy. It is the latest in a string of such disasters. The victims had no food or water, and their small rubber boats were overwhelmed by heavy winter seas. Also today, the captain of the italian cruise liner Costa Concordia was found guilty of manslaughter and abandoning his ship. Francesco schettino now faces 16 years in prison for the deaths of 32 people. The cruise ship smashed into rocks off the island of giglio in january 2012. The ship filled with water, and rolled onto its side. Back in this country, the fight over funding the department of Homeland Security heated up. Though in the minority democrats have blocked Senate Action on a house bill that funds the department, but blocks the president s executive orders on immigration. That prompted this today, from House Speaker john boehner. You know, in the gift shop out here, theyve got these little booklets on how a bill becomes a law, right . The house has done its job. Why dont you go ask the Senate Democrats when are they going to get off their ass and do something other than to vote no . Woodruff a Senate Democrat spokesman responded that cursing is not going to resolve the issue. Senate republicans have said its up to the house. Without further action, the Homeland Security department runs out of money on february 27th. Woodruff the house gave final approval this afternoon to a bill approving the keystone x. L. Oil pipeline. It now heads to a certain veto at the hands of president obama. He has said he wants the federal review process to play out. The pipeline would allow oil from canadas tar sands to flow to gulf coast refineries. And on wall street, stocks marked time, as investors watched the european meetings on greece. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost six points to close near 17,860; the nasdaq rose 13 points on the day; and the s p 500 was virtually unchanged. Still to come on the newshour. What Brian Williams suspension and jon stewarts announced departure tell us about the changing media landscape. Senators respond to president obamas request to use military force on Islamic State militants. David axelrod on his new book and life in politics. Smale scale hydropower projects an untapped Renewable Energy source. And, bringing home troops sent to west africa to fight ebola. Woodruff its been a turbulent 24 hours for nbc news. The future credibility of its longtime anchor, and questions about the organization, and the traditional role of nightly news broadcasts are all on the line. This is a very difficult story for us to report on because it is so. So personal in so many ways, most importantly because brian is not only a colleague here but such a good friend. Woodruff it was uncharted territory this morning, for nbcs today show and the rest of the network News Division. Overnight, came word that nightly news anchor Brian Williams is suspended for six months, without pay. In a staff memo, nbc news president Deborah Turness said williams misrepresented an incident from the iraq war. The judgment of Nbc Universal president steve burke, was harsher still. By his actions, said burke, brian has jeopardized the trust millions of americans place in nbc news. His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate. From nbc new world headquarters, this is nbc nightly news with Brian Williams. Woodruff williams ascended to the anchors chair more than a decade ago. His remarkably swift fall began january 30th, with a report on his war experiences in iraq, back in 2003. This story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back in the invasion of iraq, when a helicopter we were traveling in was forced down by a r. P. G. Our nbc team was surrounded and kept alive by an armored mechanized platoon from the us army 3rd infantry. Woodruff then, last week, williams recanted the story to stars and stripes after members of the helicopter crew said hed arrived on the scene an hour after the attack. That sparked criticism from media analysts, mockery on social media and an internal nbc investigation, all citing other appearances where williams exaggerated what happened to his helicopter. It also prompted onair apology i made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago. Woodruff but it didnt end there. New questions arose about williams assertions that in new orleans, during hurricane katrina, he saw a body floating in the French Quarter and gangs infiltrated his hotel. Amid the furor, williams began a voluntary leave of absence this week, but suggested hed return. Now, its unclear if he will ever return, but in the interim, lester holt will anchor nightly news. Less clear, is who will fill another anchor seat. 17 years is the longest i have ever in my life held a job by 16 years and 5 months. laughter woodruff jon stewart announced last night hes retiring later this year from the daily show, comedy centrals highly popular faux news program. Im going to have dinner on a school night with my family. Who i have heard, from multiple sources, are lovely people. laughter woodruff the news of his leaving took social media by storm. On twitter alone, more than 250,000 posts mentioned the daily show. During his time at the helm stewart has mentored the likes of stephen colbert, john oliver and larry wilmore, all of whom went on to have their own shows. A date for stewarts final show has not been set. We get reaction to this decision and the larger issues here. David westin is the former president of abc news. Hes now the principal at Witherbee Holdings which advises and invests in media companies. Max frankel is the former executive editor of the New York Times. And, Kelly Mcbride is a leading voice on ethical issues at the poynter institute. Wewe welcome all three of you. Kelly, some are questioning why nbc made this decision to suspend Brian Williams before they finished their internal investigation. What do you make of that and the punishment . Well, it was a bit mysterious because normally, a Media Company would say what they were suspending the individual for so that there would be some sort of record of it. So the fact that they suspended him before their investigation is complete maybe it was a p. R. Move. Maybe it was more about the Public Relations than the journalism. Maybe they wanted to buy themselves some time in order to figure out what their next strategic move is, and its possible that Brian Williams will never come back on the air. Woodruff max frankel, what do you make of the punishment and how this was done . Well, breech of trust was the accusation and i think thats exactly the right charge. They are buying time. They are worried about the Financial Investment in the nightly news, which is an enormous part of the nbc operation. There may be a chance for remorse and rehabilitation as their announcement suggested but, frankly im very skeptical. I saw something with my eyes and what i have reported to you on camera was wrong. Thats a very serious distortion of what the job of a news anchor should be, and i agree that he may never get back. Woodruff david westin, how do you size this up as someone who sat at the head of a News Division for a competing network . Well, of course, i dont know what the thinking was of steve burke or the management of nbc news. From where i sit i think what steve did was just about exactly right. On the one hand, he needed quickly to get out with a statement that the breech of trust max refers to is inexcusable and terribly important to them. He needs to communicate with his own organization as well as the public that they take this extremely seriously. As far as the investigation goes, we dont know what that will show but what brian already admitted to constitutes a breech of trust. At the same time i think steve was right in trying to hold out some hope for brian saying they were rooting for him and people deserve a second chance. When i was in situations that were difficult maybe not this one but others, i wanted to only decide the things i needed to decide and see how it plays out because right now i dont think anyone knows all the facts. Woodruff go ahead, max frankel. The question of the future turns on what he can do in the future. Can he sit down and ask Hillary Clinton about what it was like running away from bullets that werent there . Can he confront a president who says im not a crook . Can he incredibly interrogate lying politicians, if you will, without them turning the tables on him . Thats the future that brian has to face and he has to be able to persuade an audience that all of that is in the past and that he can responsibly deal with the tensions of the news in the future. Its a tall order. Woodruff and that raises the question, Kelly Mcbride, i wanted to ask you, and that is what does determine whether he comes back and what is at stake, truly here for nbc . Well i think nbc is asking two questions and one is the credibility question max is asking now. Can he ask those tough questions of sources and do it with any amount of integrity and credibility . Then the second thing is will the Audience Trust him. Thats a gamble. Six months from now, if they decide to put him back on the air, they will be looking at revisiting this whole mess, and by then the audience may have attached to another anchor and may be completely willing to move on with somebody else. So theyre really looking at a numbers game what can they reasonably expect the audience to do between now and then, and then what makes sense in six months in terms of putting him back on the air . Is it worth the gamble then or now . Woodruff i want to turn to david westin. How do you s