Be that many people now accept obviously false information as the truth. The founder of shes the founder of. The founder. Over the past several decades the media have become more competitive their goal is not to provide their own interpretation of the days events or an interpretation of the truth as they see it their job is to stay ahead of their competitors so they all go out and cover the same stories that means that just a few big reports will make it onto the air or appear in print and other topics wont be covered at all. Once they finished covering a story journalists pack up their gear and move on to the next one. This behavior could raise doubts about their motives. Are they doing it just to keep up with the competition. Or are they trying to create a social consensus that could benefit business or financial interests. Look at how awful the wall street coverage is how wall street bankers or little more the thieves got away with all these kind of criminal acts which they dont get punished for the journalism is terrible there are hundreds of Channels Television radio on the internet. But. We often get the chorus of the same voices and what we need is that true diversity of voices i think it has to be more about fairness and more about fairness to the range of perspectives and people that exist and when those voices are theyre not your typical pundits that you get on all of the networks you know it seems to be you may have a number of networks theyre all interviewing the same people the small circle of know nothing pundits of pundits who know so little about so much if journalists were able to achieve the highest goal of their profession and they were freed from the institutional control theyd be presenting written. The easy of access the most Important Information if youre talking about issues of war and peace most people deeply care if youre talking about Climate Change the things of the planet people care the growing inequality between rich and poor people care independence just means that you are willing to tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may and you dont have to keep looking over your shoulder because say your own or or your boss or your sponsor has a lines that they dont want you to cross it really has a lot to do with your freedom to say things that other people dont want to hear i mean i think the media reflects the establishment consensus. It. Represents power instead of challenging power. Those who seek to distort the truth can take advantage of this and offer alternatives to big media News Coverage. They do this directly on social media. This information goes public without being checked for accuracy by professional journalists these days people can not only get news via traditional sources like newspapers they can also find it on news and social media networks. I think a lot of journalists dismiss buzz feed because they say well its fluffy content and thats not that you know and they conflate fluffy content with share ability and i just dont think that actually right this is why facebook for example is making such a Huge Investment in instant articles and doing so many partnerships with serious news organizations thats the same reason that snap chat is making is doing serious partnerships with serious news organizations because they know the Quality Content travels well as on those platforms as well. Even in the age of this new form of journalism reporters have to find new stories to cover. They can either do this by working from press releases or they can hit the streets and dig up a story themselves. But you have to know your city you have to talk to people real life working people. We get out there every day and try to come up with new stories. Its tough to be an investigative journalist in an environment where all the bosses seem to care about is the number of hits that a story gets. I think a lot of times journalists conflate the number of clicks a story gets with impact and resonance and i think that is a mistake or plyometrics that were actually designed to measure the success of advertisements to measure the success of journalism and thats a problem driving people to a story is job number one and it almost doesnt matter what they see when they get there i think this is extremely troubling if you say the top ten best something people want to look at that it seems like its a comprehensive people like lists people like short items but thats not what we need and theres a difference between the kind of News Coverage or Just Entertainment coverage short stories. That you might enjoy reading and the kind of stories that you really need to know in order to make an informed decision about you know who to vote for or whats happening in your in your community. Of course information can be edited in various ways. The important thing is for journalists to get their information from a reliable source and present it accurately. Reporters sure it is very good at sort of finding the discontents organizations and drawing them out and getting them to talk off the record sometimes the way i do it is i approach them and tell them very openly. That i am very curious about them and explain why you have to go to the cop car and thats how you develop polices versus you dont do it by you know coming to their office and demanding to meet the people who want to story perhaps a whistleblower someone who feels very strongly about something goes to media they trust which is why its so important to be trustworthy to not stand they are protecting those in power that have a tradition of holding those in power accountable. Sometimes sources agree to provide information only on condition of anonymity. But the use of Anonymous Sources can cause problems. One of the reasons i have. Left reporting it agreed to become an editor was that. I was reporting in washington in order to get. The information you needed from the source who knew the information. You had to agree to protect them a source said an anonymous source story and that bothered me i just had trouble doing there if that source had a name they could be accountable you know the reason you put names on sources is that it when they lied to you you want to know who it was who lied to you so that you dont go to them again if you allow them and an image then they can lie to you forever i have no secrets with my reader i insist when i talk to someone for the record that they use their name and if they dont use their name i dont want to hear them i dont care whatever theyre telling me if they dont have their name on it i can do without it. Theres another disadvantage to the use of Anonymous Sources the public becomes used to information thats not been technically speaking properly attributed. So someones opinion becomes information. What happens when people dont check information against the facts or when they distribute only information they agree with then facts and lies can become interchangeable. People who have access to power often captivated by it and journalists are no exception. Reporting is the gathering of factual information the writing is taking that factual information that youve gathered and shaping it. And putting it into phrases using words that make a picture for the reader but we needed that those seem pretty young too good reporting takes time to address it. But deadlock as you often get in the way youre meant to be dismissed because i didnt does my eyes are the first thing i visualize the story i see people that are going to represent my story let the students how do you structure your story and decide what information goes into it theres not enough room for all the details in the last in the cupboard to look and then i have to interview him to get the facts right a bit is that you focus on whats important and make sure that the text flows through the move through you this week then the real part of the work. Is what your first sentence what is the first words of the first sentence how apt you write a sentence you rewrite it and how do you improve it how do you improve it you change some words or you eliminate some words or you try with that first sentence and then with the second sentence and then with the third sentence to write a paragraph that is the lead of the story and that first paragraph has to be so compelling. So with visual so interesting that the reader is going to read the second spiral graph and then the third paragraph the fourth part of a read the whole story with. The material must be presented as accurately as possible. The really good it left for much from a step or simply. In the past newspapers and the news departments of radio and t. V. Stations were defined by their approach to covering stories. In the thing that shapes imaginings character is a types of questions you asked it sort of boy. That sort of matter for who shouldnt be turning information into propaganda from a few minutes get the needle up as you feel you have to provide a balance to counter this based on facts and include as much information as possible so that meat is can draw their own conclusions. That journalists always have to guard against. The natural bias that works its way into everything we do were clear were human beings and human is dangerous react to the world in a personal way. Thats a builtin about. These points of view help reporters decide which information they include or leave out of their stories. Still powerful people have a vested interest in keeping a lid on information that could be harmful to them. And sometimes journalists feel pressure to just keep quiet about some aspects of a story. No i mean this but as soon as the pressure doesnt bother me i deal with it every day its part of the job people are always calling and telling you not to print something. Is too little believe this. News should be what powerful people dont want you to know because after all powerful people have press offices they have ways to get out their story they have ways to get out the information that they want you to hear cooper only goes only for a few and. When youre working on a story about politicians. Business. World hank they always call up and try to throw their weight around the news but its over. But some journalists told me that they can do their work without having to worry about their bosses interfering. Im not going as a question i dont think any attempt has a bias of course theres a bias but that doesnt mean you cant have good stories she was dealing with the oppressed victims who were these women working under terrible management standards being underpaid and overworked ok thats good but using that same kind of formula years on power and c o four you get i have many friends who are really fine outstanding journalists. So they can describe to you the constraints that there are under who theyre mostly very well aware of the institutional contracts that. Shape the cruel to the. Kind of work that can be produced. These constraints often work in subtle and indirect ways. But they are effective nonetheless. Nobody ever says dont do that story because we have an advertiser that will be very angry about that or because our corporate owner doesnt like that kind of story thats not what they hear what they hear is. You know thats not really very sexy you know or thats going to take a lot of resources or thats going to take too much time and when you rather do this other thing is have a look at if you know. What its constraints can influence and sometimes its theyre not even aware of it and then go find them and then you only need to see one reporter fired you know for getting the right wrong person angry to internalize that idea and to realize thats not something you want to do. The mass media are under economic pressure to make profits and that can lead to conflicts of interest. Major corporations can pull advertisements if they dont like the way that a media outlet has covered them. C. B. S. Had done a wonderful series by a reporter named Roberta Baskin theyve done a series on sweat shops by nike nike sweat shops and it was a great series it exposed a lot of hardship and unfairness and it was really hard hitting and it want to warts so Roberta Baskin went back to do an update on the nike sweatshop story but in the meantime c. B. S. Had signed a sponsorship deal with nike and so c. B. S. Was running nike ads and in fact c. B. S. Anchors were wearing nike clothes on the air now Roberta Baskin is told you know her nike sweat shop story is not newsworthy is not interesting and shes not going to be able to do it obviously powerful people who havent been telling the truth dont like it when this is exposed by journalists. But even if many people are attracted by power and influence they value freedom and democracy even more. We want to be able to throw the rascals out or at least we want to believe that we can. Even in the media savvy twenty First Century people still need accurate information. But many still want politicians to provide easy solutions to the complex social and technological problems that we now face. Ive talked to a lot of journalists and have visited a lot of Media Outlets and i still cant predict what role the media will play in the future. But the thing that i knew of the work were doing today is completely different from what we were doing twenty or thirty years ago its absolutely different. We have to learn new ways to write new ways to tell a story and to reach out to people. Its a process of trial and error and. Were still looking for new ways to be the best journalists we can be. It would. Look at a book are still kind of locked in this mentality that what were creating is a newspaper in digital form and i think that is a fundamental problem i dont even know what a newspaper website means to normal people not to journalists we know what that means its a newspaper website but you know normal people dont think about newspaper websites they think about news there are kinds of things we can do to improve how we tell stories to make those stories more relevant we should be thinking about how to tell stories on mobile what are the needs of readers of news consumers and mobile what are the needs of consumers on desktop what are the needs of consumers at different times of the day. I sometimes ask myself what journalists want complete freedom like they enjoyed at the Washington Post when Katharine Graham was the publisher or career thats not as risky and provide some financial security. I think there are examples of organizations that are. Oriented around around different sort of paradigm so buzz feed is one of them thirteen ways you know youre from the midwest and everyone from the midwest when share that whether you think by his feet is amazing or whether you think it is you know the end of the world as we know it is not the point one state about a sort of found in a news our buzz feed that employs a number of investigative journalists including Pulitzer Prize winner very experienced people but also a lot of young people who are just talented reporters. And so they package writers material in the sort of sheryl clickable way that they learn from marketing this easier contest the point is that the organization is entirely designed to be consumed on other platforms right all of the content the buzz feed creates is designed to be consumed on facebook to be consumed on twitter to be consumed on other platforms you travel via shares not via some sort of broadcast mechanism instead of that were still in this very broadcast mentality of like we speak you listen. Buzz feed as organize itself around a particular Distribution Strategy that newsrooms like this one just simply dont understand and are not investing in to understand and if we dont understand and thats just one example but if we dont understand this and we dont we orient around how people are consuming content now and will in the future i mean were dead. But do people these days actually have the time to inform themselves properly do they actually want to be properly informed they seem to spend a lot of time reading one sided or content free news stories on their smartphones. But were due for people especially young people. Obsessed with extremely superficial interactions with others. Who laces their hold. In a room. With. Much of this content can be classified as fake news for alternative fact that china has a. Nazi most nothing government most known for its democratic practices but also the united sorry the European Union has come forward as a big climate leader and Angela Merkel the german chancellor and manuel mccrone the french president will be coming out together at cop twenty three here in bonn supposedly this is the rumor that we hear to make a strong statement for climate protection in europe this conference is taking place in bonn sonia what about germany itself is it poised to take over this leading role. I think germany is in a difficult situation first of all germany is only the technical host to this conference so the real president is fiji and germany i think intends to stay in the background to some extent doesnt want to overshadow the fijian presidency germany is also in a bit of a tight spot with regard to its own Climate Policies that its becoming ever more clear that the promise of a forty percent emissions reduction by two thousand and twenty is not going to be reached in germany and thats due among other things to the transport sector where emissions have increased as well as the continued use of coal and particular brown coal which is a very polluting fossil fuel that makes up coal about a quarter of germanys energy mix still so even though germany has maybe a third of its energy mix from renewables theres still a lot of fossil fuels in there and that really damages its credibility as a climate leader and so anyway already mentioned this bonn conference is huge more than twenty thousand delegates almost two hundred countries talking about write a range of topics and there is one in geo thats proposing smaller conferences in the future focusing on specific topics like coal or agriculture just briefly if you can do you agree are these summits too big to be effective. Well i think its an interesting proposal and i dont think that the world should skip these conferences and all of the feedback ive gotten and in our research is that they are quite important but it could be interesting to have smaller working groups that meet separately at different times of the year to kind of focus in on some of these key issues Energy Agriculture and so on right sonia from our environment he will be coming back to you in just a moment. Well first lets take a look at the situation in fiji the small island state in the Pacific Ocean is chairing the conference as a new set in wants to influence the agenda because just like on many other island nations it is already experiencing the consequences of Global Warming. Our correspondent in heartache sent us this following report on how fiji is dealing with rising sea levels caused by Climate Change. When enrico goes out fishing this has become a familiar sight. Emptiness. You used. When i was small i usually went out to sea with my grandfather and father but we didnt have to come as far out as we are now we would only go as far as the closest reefs get a good catch and then go back home now its different we have to go from one reef to the next because theres nothing there the sea is getting warmer. Me. Here in the shallows off the coast of a new level fiji second biggest island life is slowly dying the rising temperature of the ocean is killing the coral reefs and with them for the fish. The changing climate is also taking its toll on. And ricos village the sea level is rising and savvy is slowly being swallowed by the ocean and ricos wife maria grew up here she remembers what it was like when she was a child when i went to mina they used to be trees walking now when i was little. When we caught crabs here. Right here was my uncles house. One of the next to it was a small shop. And a playground where all the children would go to play. What i thought at high tide this area is now underwater the shoreline has been pushing inland for at least two decades several times a year half the village is flooded by especially high tides the salt water makes the soil and fertile leaving behind only sandy barren land. But also corrode the foundations of the houses eventually the villagers have no choice but to give them up. When we built our homes we thought we could live here for ever we never thought of such a thing as Climate Change and that it could impact us like this and so quickly now were seeing what it can do its really sad for everyone in the village. For the moment the villagers are only moving their houses a bit further back away from the encroaching sea but theyre only buying time. Over a bowl of carver a traditional mildly narcotic drink in the pacific they discuss their future. Just a few hundred metres further up in the hills theres enough space to relocate the whole village permanently but most of the villagers fuz to move to them the land they live on is sacred. Its. Not in favor of relocating because our forefathers were sent here to look after the foundation of the home of our First Paramount chief. It is these stones they cherish they mark the original home of the first chieftain to rule over the whole island and large parts of eastern fiji some two hundred years ago because of tribal wars he himself was forced to leave but he sent the villagers ancestors to keep watch. Today his successor lives on a different island but the villagers obligation passed down through the generations has become part of their identity at their youth. We were supposed to be relocated. But we said that we cannot move because first we have to consult our current paramount chief. Asked him but he didnt agree to the relocation why dold us we had to stay here because the duty bestowed on us is of great importance. And yet the rising seas might leave them with no choice but to abandon this sacred place. The villagers are well aware of who is to blame for their plight. Its the fault of the big nations theyre the ones polluting the air with their harmful gases it hurts me and makes me angry because we are being affected by things that were not responsible for and that are beyond our control. For the people of. Climate change is more than just an abstract threat. For them its real. And they know simply praying wont help. They need real answers fast before their home is lost forever. Lets bring back in from environment looking at that report you know and recalls village is not the only one thats almost been swallowed because of rising sea levels is it too late. Well its certainly not too late experts say that we have about a decade left time window of about ten years in order to quickly decarbonize the worlds economies and prevent that to a degree temperature rise for these islands these small islands states its a bit trickier they actually require that one point five degree maximum temperature increase that is also stated in the Paris Agreement and that then goes again back to this issue that i mentioned of ambition ramping up the ambition and bringing in the cuts quicker for the social implications here are huge sonja entire villages might have to be relocated is that being given priority at the conference i think that was one of the signals that was sent by making fiji the president giving fiji the presidency over this event was that really giving a voice and a presence to some of these more vulnerable nations the small island states i think are kind of a symbol of this vulnerability. So yeah theyre absolutely more in the center stage at this point and i think it that sense it was a very very good decision to do that and we have seen industrialized nations are pledging one hundred billion dollars annually starting two thousand and twenty to help some of those less developed countries cope with Global Warming is that pledge now at risk after the pull out of the us. Well the hundred billion by two thousand and twenty is. A bit of a challenge at this point lets say theres been about ten billion has been committed to date. Fifty percent of that of around half of that from the European Union and mostly in general from industrialized countries now trying to pull out came after president obama former u. S. President obama had already contributed a billion. To this fund and two more billion were supposed to come from the United States and that probably is not going to make it but if you look at ten billion and a hundred billion theres still a very big gap and thats a very big question mark. Sonia dean from our Environment Team covering the conference taking place in bonn a starting there today thank you sonia. Turning now to a car that could accelerate the fight against air pollution automobiles trains and airplanes are responsible for one fifth of Global Energy related c o two emissions but transport is a growing sector and vehicle emissions are expected to double by twenty fifty some german engineering students are looking to the sun for a solution. Meet the blue cruiser the sustainably produced solar electric car it was built but German University students were at a racetrack near the students are test driving the solar powered vehicle but first it needs to tank up on light the blue cruisers power is supplied by the solar cells on its roof and whod. Want to carstens two thousand watt. We have the aim to do better every year every cycle so this is. The solar car that combines sustainability and design. The blue cruiser is made from sustainable and recyclable materials. The seats for example are covered with the material made from pineapples the students get ready for a drive sixty of them are taking part in the experiment. The solar cells produce enough energy to generate speeds of up to fifty Kilometers Per Hour on a sunny day the car could stand the road forever. But rain clouds start gathering no problem the car also works with the battery this automobile is certainly not a do it yourself project the car body and battery use state of the Art Materials and thats in part thanks to a collaboration with the tucson coal company the project is led by a professor at university. Fried bet is convinced the solar ecar is more environmentally friendly than gas powered ones. You have to use the whole life cycle and in the Combustion Engine you have an efficiency for twenty five percent so it is a very bad efficiency and you use. To burn it in a car and in electrical you just use. Renewable resources to drive the car and this makes it much more sustainable that overcomes the blue cruiser might not make it into mass production but the students still hope their use of eco Friendly Materials and technology will inspire the car industry of the future. Now to a crew of rock gods and science groups teaming up to save the planet half way to paris brings together musicians and writers academics and experts for an evening of music and speeches last night the project stage one such performance in new Yorks Carnegie Hall with punk music legend patti smith taking center stage. People were talking about a hundred years down the line it will be a life and death issue its a life and death issue today for me. To. Be. Living life. To. The. Core. If the coming with me to the family where the future of the picture justice is one look like the Catholic Church looking for. So many people whose lives have been turned upside down theres really no need for more talk or there is more action from the. Or womb. And room for. Rebecca phone and jesse paris paris smith of the cofounders of the pathway to paris concert in new york to join us on the line good to have you both it looks like it was a great i how was the concert. So wonderful thank you so much. Where did the idea for organizing pathway to paris come from. Were started in september twenty fourth team after the people that march in new york city because were so moved by how many people it gets taken to creating their city and all over the world and we really want to celebrate the efforts of these global intentions of helping move our planet toward a sustainable the whole world for ourselves and future generations and to make organize a small concert thats been brewing this movement and director paris and had a couple and organize two beautiful consequence her strength here on climate talks that took place in december twenty fifth in. Ok so concerts for the climate what are you hoping to achieve with this. Well now ever. Made his announcement of a paris poet have perfectly mum and with just the magnitude of how complicated it can be to turn these agreements attraction now support of her mission has changed and evolved and now become our are mandated to helping to turn the persecution into action and could do we have a few different ways we choose to do this one is through cultural egos and because we see where there was a universal language the part of change is the focal point and so we are trying to raise awareness and to hold these goals and bring leading says because the couple are people but they have the same time were not going to listen to bach but quite a Carnegie Hall beyond the cities and states in a sort of committed to work helping inspire and work with cities to create a Climate Action plan to implement different strategies for fossil fuels by two thousand and forty and to come under present miscible ok and rebecca just briefly if you can when you look at the development of climate politics how where you can people are about Climate Change is there broad enough acceptance. So i think i think youve got a real business. Perspective out there but i think where we can all unite because when we look at the gradation and pollution. They present all agree on that and the impact that has on our lives for that second be a Common Thread to help us. Move in the direction of conditions around the world all right rebecca from one of the cofounders of the pathway to paris concert in new york rebecca thanks very much for joining us on a program. Thank you so much. All right we just have time for a minder of our top story at this hour a u. S. President donald trump aside north Koreas Nuclear program is a threat to the world and that the era of strategic patience is over weapons programs have topped the agenda during trumps a visit to japan as part of its first asian tour. Thanks for watching to get your back in a few minutes. On stage. And radio created by a graphic. Bear. Using the great tanks and music by your handsome boston bob. Tom singing with a gong no heaven without help. In thirteen minutes. Every journey begins with the first step and every language of the first word i looked into the cohesive germany to learn german. Was assessed why not. Its simple online on euro mile and free. Stuff. D w z learning course goes very german maybe you see. Its all happening. With it. Or link to news from africa and the world. Your links to exceptional stories and discussions hello and welcome to news program tonight from born in germany from the news of easy to i why web site d w to construct africa join us on facebook at d w africa. This is deja vu news live from berlin a mass shooting in texas leaves dozens dead the victims reportedly include a pregnant woman and children killed by a gunman armed with insults rifle the attackers believed to have been a former u. S. Air