the dnc, the dfcc, the pa, corporations, special interests. it s just us. this is as punk rock as it gets. reporter: without much help from the democratic party, he s gone to social immediate y. good morning from tyler, texas. reporter: live streaming the campaign every chance he gets. we don t have folks who produce slick messages for us. we have an iphone and it s a late model iphone at that. reporter: how crucial has that social media aspect of your campaign been to your success? it s great. it s the most direct, honest way to connect with people short of actually being there in their community with them in person. reporter: the el paso congressman supports providing legal status to many undocumented migrants, legalizing marijuana, pro choice, supports a ban on assault weapons, not the kind of issues that get strong support in texas. and republican ted cruz seizes
maddox. he s executive vice president, managing director of cnn international. he joins me from atlanta. good to see you. good to see you too, frank. one thing has changed with social immediate y. because viewers from all over the world can get involved in a story in a way they couldn t have done 15, 20 years ago. the coverage of a story like this 20 years ago would have been a one-way conversation. how does that change the coverage of a disaster like this tony? it changes everything really. i mean in terms of the perceptions of the story and the introduction you highlighted the fact that baltimore came along and of course domestic has to focus very strongly on that. but cnn across all of its platforms here at international and all throughout our online services not only are we reaching many people but they re also reaching us. they re giving us feedback. they re telling us about people who they my might be missing, places where they think it might be really appalling. you ll not
moments of anguish here just extraordinary as well as the frustration. we there was a briefing about an hour ago. this is closed obviously to the media. but there are windows. and just looking into the window one image that stood out was a father head bowed, tears streaming down his face. his hand resting on the shoulder of what looks like his young son in front of him. gives you an idea of what these people are going through. heartfelt tweets. social immediate y. coming from family members of the pilot. daddy please come home. i need you. that sort of that sort of heart-rending pleas. and still many people here holding out hope don. hope against hope that maybe a miracle will happen maybe there will be survivors here. but as the hours tick past it just looks more and more unlikely. i want to get to will ripley. you re in beijing. the chinese are one of the many nations assisting in this search. what s the latest you re hearing in china? china certainly very keen on deploying