Their children in school. Sreenivasan all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. 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. Woodruff its three weeks to go till election day, just 24 hours until the last president ial debate, and charges of vote fraud and media bias are swirling. Today, the current occupant of the white house dismissed such talk, and rebuked the candidate behind it. It was a rose garden welcome for the italian prime minister, and president obama used it to call out donald trump on his claims of a rigged election. You start whining before the game is even over . If whenever things are going badly for you or you lose, you start blaming somebody else . Then you dont have what it takes to be in this job. Woodruff trump shot back this afternoon in Colorado Springs that they even want to try and rig the election at the polling booths, where so many cities are corrupt, and you see that, and voter fraud is all too common. And then they criticize us for saying that. Woodruff running mate mike pence joined in, visiting Republican Party offices in Rural North Carolina that were firebombed over the weekend, he insisted voter fraud is a reality, and called for voters to be on the lookout encouraging supporters to take the opportunity to be involved in a respectful way to provide accountability at polling places. Woodruff pence also complained of media bias and what he called scant coverage of negative news about clinton. The latest such news involved communications between the f. B. I. And a Senior State Department official who wanted one of clintons emails reclassified. It was not. But last night, in green bay, wisconsin, trump charged theres collusion in the Obama Administration to help clinton. The candidates wife, melania, was on cnn, claiming that the Sexual Assault allegations against her husband are not true. I believe my husband. I believe my husband. This was all organized from the opposition. Woodruff former People Magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff is one of the accusers she stated that trump forced himself on her in 2005, and today the publication reported that six of her colleagues and Close Friends corroborate her account. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton remained out of the public eye today, even as poll after poll offered her good news. The Washington Post reported she has a clear advantage in the latest survey of battleground states. And a usa today poll found 68 of young voters favor the democratic nominee, to 20 for trump. All of this sets the stage for tomorrow nights third and final encounter between the two nominees, this one, in las vegas. Sreenivasan in the days other news, iraqi forces slowed their advance on mosul, in its second day, as they reached larger towns on the outskirts. Humanitarian groups warned the citys one Million People could face a disaster. But president obama said plans are in place to avert a crisis. Well explore the situation in mosul, later in the program. Woodruff next door in syria, russian and syrian fighter jets halted strikes on aleppo today, ahead of their call for a short term stop to all fighting on thursday. Its meant to allow humanitarian aid into the ravaged city. But in moscow, the Russian Defense minister warned militant groups to evacuate, when the fighting stops. translated we call on the leadership of countries that have influence over armed groups in eastern aleppo to convince their leaders to stop military action and abandon the city. Everyone really interested in the fastest possible stabilization of the situation take genuine political steps and not continue shuffling political papers. Woodruff thursdays pause in the fighting is set to last eight hours. A United Nations spokesman complained today thats not nearly enough time to get humanitarian convoys in and out of aleppo. Sreenivasan a temporary halt to the fighting in yemen is also in the works. The countrys warring factions agreed today to a 72hour cease fire, beginning shortly before midnight wednesday. Its to allow muchneeded humanitarian aid to be delivered. Woodruff in iran, a court has sentenced an iranian american businessman and his father to 10 years in prison, each. Siamak namazi was detained a year ago. His 80yearold father was arrested in february. Todays announcement says they were sentenced for cooperating with the hostile government of america. Sreenivasan back in this country, for a fifth straight year, Social Security recipients and federal retirees will get just a tiny bump in benefits. The annual costofliving hike announced today is threetenths of a percent. The average monthly Social Security payment is 1,238 dollars. That means the increase for the coming year will be less than 4 a month. Woodruff stocks closed higher on wall street today, lifted by strong earnings in the the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 75 points to close at 18,161. The nasdaq rose 44 points, and the s p 500 added 13. Sreenivasan and, the original ruby slippers from the wizard of oz will get a makeover, if the smithsonian can raise 300,000. Its asking the public to help, on the crowdfunding website kickstarter. The ruby slippers are nearly 80 years old, and showing their age, at the National Museum of Natural History in washington. The institution wants to repair them and build a new display. Still to come on the newshour whats driving the idea that the media is rigging the election. A tight race in nevada as democrats try to take back the senate. The looming humanitarian crisis in iraq, and much more. Woodruff claims of news media bias in politics are certainly nothing new. But what of Donald Trumps accusations that the press is actually responsible for rigging the president ial election against him . To explore that notion, we are joined by Jim Rutenberg, media columnist for the New York Times, and bob lichter, director of the center for media and Public Affairs at george mason university. We welcome both of you to the program. Im going to start with you, bob lichter. Donald trump is saying that the media an im quoting, that the election is being rigged by what he calls the dishonest, distorted media pushing Hillary Clinton. Youve studied the American Media for, what, decades . Is there a grain of truth to what he says . Well, when people say the maida are biased, they usually mean somebody is getting too much attention, more than he deserves and his coverage is more favorable than he should get. Donald trump is a news magnet. He gets more attention than anybody else, but a lot of that attention compares him either with hitler or mussolini, so study shows what our eyes see that, trump gets a lot of coverage, that his coverage is very negative, he has managed the considerable feat of getting more negative coverage than Hillary Clinton, who has issues in her own right, so you could make a case there is bias. I think the question is whether the traditional definitions of bias apply to such a nontraditional candidate as donald trump. Woodruff Jim Rutenberg, how do you see this . You write about this stuff frequently for the times. I think i would agree with that assessment to a degree. One thing is that Donald Trumps candidacy has been so amazing and hazouri this it has this cantlookaway quality. He says things were not used to hearing. Some of the things are about appearances of women, what have you, what we heard on the access hollywood leaked tape of him discussing his behavior with women, the description of groping, the press is going to cover that and its going to be negative, but it is what it is, a pretty accurate description of what he said in that tape for instance. Woodruff take us a little bit further. What donald trump, bob lichter, what donald trump is saying is that the media is in collusion with the clinton campaign. What evidence is there that that could possibly be true . Well, theyve been so nice to her about her emails is a piece of evidence. Its perfectly obvious, and studies show that her coverage is more negative than positive. Woodruff there was one story about a member of the Clinton Organization passing along information ahead of a debate. Is that right . Yep. There was that one story. And then there is the issue of her not turning these over, which has been raised many, many times by donald trump and by journalists. So i think theyre just. There isnt a case that can be made that the media have gone soft of Hillary Clinton. Shes not getting great coverage either. Woodruff in fact, and bob lichter just referred to this, Jim Rutenberg, the media, especially television media, can be credited for giving donald trump a lot of air time, a lot of print space during the primary period. This drove his republican competitors for the nomination crazy. There was one analysis that my newspaper wrote about where the figure that was used in terms of free media, this was the value of the extra air time he got from the News Networks was some 2 billion. No candidate came close. So he draws the cameras. It can be a good thing for him. Sometimes its a bad thing for him. Right now its not going so well. Woodruff how do you put this in historical perspective, bob lichter . We know the role of the press has changed in this country. I mean, you have talked about how 17th, 18th centuries, we had a Partisan Press in the United States. Donald trump should go back a couple hundred years and see the nasty things that were said about adams and jefferson. Its only the 20th century that the press has taken on the role of being an objective arbiter, trying to be fair and balanced and objective. In a way it releases journalists from the responsibility of saying im presenting this from my point of view. Its nobodys point of view. Im being fair all around. Donald trump makes that really hard to do. This is man who insults members of his own party. He bullies his opponents. He says things that are demonstrably untrue. What do you do with that as a journalist to be objective without becoming negative in a way that opens you to charges of media bias . I think trump has done a good job of defaming the media to some degree. Woodruff Jim Rutenberg, you have also written about how donald trump has singled out the press at his Campaign Rallies to the point where members of the press have felt uncomfortable and worse. Well, two Major Networks are now using security at his rallies, and its a kind of hell direct the crowd at the assembled press. And i have covered many rallies in my career where that hasnt happened with the exception of maybe sarah palin toward the end of 08 and when she was flirting with her own president ial run. Other colleagues i have talked to who are much older than i am referred me back the George Wallace and some of his rallies were tense. The National Guard was there protecting the press. But this is insane territory to be in as a country where this is a conversation were having. Woodruff Jim Rutenberg, staying with you, i want to come back to something you quoted this week in one of your columns. A Senior Editor at the web site american conservative, rob drayer i think is how you say his name, he said, mainstream journalists are interested in every kind of diversity except the kind that would challenge their own prejudices, those include bigotry against conservative religion, bigotry against rural folks and bigotry against workingclass and poor white people. Thats pretty sweeping, isnt it . Its a sweeping generalization, but that said, were not perfect, and for what most of our conversations so far have been a defense of the press, but the press, lets face it, a big part of the country is primed to believe what donald trump is telling them about the press, and the press needs to definitely take a look at itself and look if there is something to it. There is a cultural mindset that i think even goes across the ideological divide of the mainstream news media. The wall street journal editorial page and the New York Times editorial page agree on certain things like free trade that this crowd feels is, you know, threatening their livelihoods and their country. Woodruff at the same time, we know that. You have talked, bob lichter, about the need for american, frankly for journalists to rethink the way we write about, not just donald trump, but the people who have been supporting donald trump. I think Jim Rutenberg was quite right. Journalists, National Media journalists are part of an elite, and they know government elites, they know business elites, and its these elites that donald trump is running against, and as a result, he stirs the populism of his supporters who also feel that the elites are running away with the country, although i think its overstated to say that these are kind of pez ntses with pitchforks. There is a kind of bice in that portrayal of his supporters. There are some of those people, but they obviously wouldnt be running in the 40 odd percent of the public if there were nobody like that. Woodruff no question about that. Bob lichter, Jim Rutenberg, thank you both very much. Woodruff from the press, we turn to nevada for the newshours latest ontheground report. A split amongst republicans, paired with sluggish growth in construction, means jobs are front and center, and a Key Senate Race is now in play. John yang reports, part of our continuing series on poverty and opportunity in america, chasing the dream. When news breaks, we talk about it. This is news talk 840 a. M. Yang the sun rises over t yang the sun rises over the nevada desert, one day closer to the election, and heidi harris is talking to the biggest audience of any las vegas morning radio talk show host. A hot topic the very tight Senate Contest between republican joe heck and democrat Catherine Cortez masto. I tried to watch the debate, i did. Therefore i cannot in good conscience continue to support donald trump. Yang heck shook up the race when he jumped off the donald trump bandwagon after the now infamous access Hollywood Tape surfaced. Now some Trump Supporters say theyre dumping heck like rob. Were trying to send a message. We put donald trump there for a reason, and thats how i feel. Ill be voting for donald and the ballot questions, but not for joe heck. Yang harris, a reluctant Trump Supporters, says she hears that a lot from listeners. I dont know how many of them are going to vote for her instead of him, Catherine Cortez masto, but i think theyre going to stay home and not vote for heck, which essentially gives her a free vote. Reporter with early voting about to begin, its become a big campaign issue. Heck was pressed on his about face last week in a televised debate. He said it was a personal decision. As an emergency room doctor, ive taken care of too many women whove been victims of Sexual Assault. My wife was a victim of Domestic Abuse in a previous relationship. Reporter cortes masto wasnt buying it. Lets call this for what it is congressman heck was worried about his political career. Yang it was hecks last public appearance before leaving for a weeklong army reserve assignment at the pentagon, where hes general heck. Nevadas desert and mountains can feel remote, but its politics are surprisingly typical since 1908, it has failed to vote for winner of the white house just once. And this year it may decide who controls the Senate Analysts say its republicans best shot at winning a democraticheld seat. Its attracting outsized interest and money. Who else has sunk millions in to elect joe heck . Nearly 49 million worth of ads, many in spanish in this state thats about 30 latino. Whoever wins the race will become only the fifth person to elected to the seat since 1933, replacing Senate Democratic leader harry reid whos retiring after 30 years in office. Heck served in the Nevada State Senate and was elected to the house in 2010. Cortes masto is a former federal prosecutor and twoterm Nevada Attorney general. Even before his unendorsement, heck said he disagreed with trumps remarks about women and minorities. This week, cnn published an audio tape of heck, authenticated by his campaign, at closed a las vegas fundraiser. I want to support him, i really do, but he has got to change his tone and hes got to be i dont want to make him into a politician or make him into