Its credibility . Lawrence its a question of starting to clean it up. I think whats happened is that the dynamic of the web is very the sort of quick accountability and Quick Response and dissemination through twitter and other means of, you know questions about something that popped up tends to kind of clean things up on its own a little bit. If somebody comes out with something thats not right or thats clearly proveably wrong or from a source thats questionable, the accountability of that happens much quicker. And i think that over time thats, my sense is, its built up that, you know, if something comes from say, you know, the abc news or the journal d or the New York Times, you know its got a strong bedrock of credibility than if it comes from some place that no ones ever heard of because people through experience have learned that a lot of these reports are, you know, built on very flimsy evidence. Jack id like to open it up to all of you. We have a credible opportunity to figure out what it is that these four gentlemen are looking for from us. Jack questioner i was in chicago talking to some oldline investigative reporters over the weekend and they raised the question, you know, speaking about regional papers, st. Louis post dispatch, the regional paper for ferguson, do you think if they had a strong Investigative Team there would have been a ferguson . I dont know enough about them to answer that. I think theyve done some very good work there in the wake of what happened. I think they just got awarded the National Press foundation for their coverage of the ferguson matter. Are you talking about prior to the event . Prior to the event. Questioner prior to that. [inaudible] its hard to know. I know for instance, the milwaukee journal d has done great reporting on their police department. Thats a regional paper thats faced its own struggles. I think its hard to know whether that would have been the case. Brian i would not be critical of the st. Louis dispatch, though. Theyve shown themselves to be very tough on ferguson. Questioner jonathan harris. I think you do great work and what you all do, changing minds, is a really crucial part of our democracy. I want to kind of flip that on its head though, in particular when it comes to some of the regional papers. One example in our state, there is a regular column that is supposed to be a watchdog on government. The journalist is top notch. Hes excellent both in his investigations in general and in his writing. However, the fact that he has to produce every single week, i dont think always gives him the ability to drill down, one. Theres a pressure always to have content on a regular basis. And it seems like at times one story that keeps on getting sort of twisted around with maybe a different little fact, a different angle, and i fear, and ive experienced that it ends up actually doing the opposite and building mistrust in government, where it shouldnt be, and something that we dont need now. How do you is that a phenomenon youve seen . How do you deal with it . How, as an editor deal with Something Like that . [inaudible] questioner perhaps. Theres no question when we talk about the advantages of the internet and people having access to news and news organizations being able to distribute their news much more widely, thats all true. Lawrence the downside has been, since the beginning, what you say, that 24 7 cycle,ed knee cycle, its need for quick updates, the Competitive Landscape which means that any scrap of news or information you have if you dont get it out quickly, somebody else is going to get it out there first and youre going to feel behind the curve. All those forces are pressing against doing in depth, thoughtful, longer term work. And even on a beat reporting level, not just sort of longterm investigative work. So yes, its been a problem. I think whats happened is that , as i was saying earlier as the seek system has created some of these new kinds of as the ecosystem has created some of these new kinds of organizations to fill these gaps, theres an adjustment thats going on that will preserve a strong accountability and watchdog work. But its still a work in progress. I just wanted to chime in. The tension between taking months and months to do the really in depth investigative piece, and between that and covering the news when you get it and when you get a nugget thats of interest putting it out there, is something i think we all face. I faced it, you know, throughout my whole career. And im not sure the answer is one or the other. Michael i remember having this conversation with an old boss of mine, bob woodward. Who actually first hired me when i went to work for the washington post. And he reminded me, watergate was an incremental story. They didnt take months and months to do the big takeout on watergate. They covered developments as they uncovered them. And that tended to lead to more tips, more sources, more stories. And so i think, you know, very often covering it as you get it can be just as productive and informative for the reader as spending a long time to do those kind of in depth pieces. Questioner first, i want to say, its been very, very interesting for me. Ive heard about stories that i never heard about them before, some of them. God bless you on the black lung issue. But my you know, the panel is the future of investigative journalism, right . Investigative reporting. So id like to have your take or opinion on what about, what i believe Many Americans now do not believe that the news media in general has much integrity oring i get or ethic or whatever. And my example is, examples are that youve got, you know an anchor that tried to make himself a war hero, imbedded war hero. You have the far right guy on fox saying he was in the middle of a combat thing. And wasnt even in granada or the islands and all this kind of crap going on. They make their own news. Then, just a follow up on the ferguson thing, my god, thats been going for how long and took the Justice Department to get to find out that they were its a cashgenerating speed traps in ferguson and what not. And the media never got that. It was the Justice Department, so in that context, whats your take on the integrity of the sources and the people that are presenting the news to us and what not . [laughter] 30 seconds. Brian whatever the shortcomings of individual reports, nbc news is a place of integrity. Its done great work over the years. I worked there for 20 years. You worked there. There are shortcomings, we all make mistakes. Myself included. But i think thats not fair to say that nbc is a place not of integrity. I think the viewers, you know, trust it and weve seen that just they have a new anchorman there now while Brian Williams is on suspension. Lester holt is a doing a terrific job. Their viewers have not abandoned them. So im not convinced that thats the case that one flawed person, one flawed story suggests that the whole place is bad. I think thats painting with too broad of a brush, to be honest. It may be the producer. [inaudible] i dont know the details what have happened there. Brian id just say its a place of integrity to this day, i think. Questioner i appreciate you all being here. Thank you. Ive got sort of two questions. One is about nonsexy stories that possibly need to be told. Ok, the things that dont have some of the common attractive things. And sort of real good followup. Because some things can be so profound in the simple one news account that it does lead to change. But some of our social problems are huge and need multiple followingup. As i mentioned jerrymandering. Ok thats a profound National Issue and yet where will we get the commitment from the media to look at Something Like that, that needs to be done . So i guess im wondering what is nonsexy news and sort of real longterm things that need a real commitment from folks like you to follow them . So would you speak to those issues . Lawrence thats what we specialize in. [laughter] somebody comes and says, hey, lets look at the Workers Compensation system. That sounds like a real, you know, tabloid headline. But were not alone in this. As many news organizations do, you try to see all right, is this a real social issue, is this a problem, is this something that needs to be looked at in an in depth way . Thats why thats why you do this methodical data digging, to find out whats really there. Once you do a nonsexy story becomes a very important and sexy story in that you are saying this incredible disparities in the system that no ones really accounted for before. I think a lot of really Good Journalism work starts from there. Its not just the big nonprofits that are doing it. Questioner chicago consumer coalition. Consumers are always concerned these days about the sources of our shirts and sweat shirts and our shoes. But ive heard no discussion this morning, and most of your articles are international, about the kind of news climate internationally that comes from the work that you do. Nye inbox just the past month i counted them had 20 different requests for research about journalists who were assassinated or in some ways injured because of stories they did. So my question is from the good work that you do abroad, what impact does that have abroad in terms of the kind of investigative reporting that could and should be taking place there . Brian youve done a lot of that. Brian certainly have. I wish i could say our stories had more impact on whats happening in bangladesh. Its a closed system there and the workers are at the mercy of kind of the coalition of the government and the manufacturers and our stories have attempts to put pressure on the American Companies that take advantage of cheap labor frankly. Thats how weve had the greatest impact. I dont think were going to influence the bangladeshi government. But if we can influence, as we had, tommy hill figure and other companies that have gone to bangladesh to make their clothes, thats the pressure point. Its very dangerous for journalists in those countries sometimes to tell the truth. You see journalists killed in mexico on a routine basis who try to tell the truth about the drug cartels and certainly in the middle east and dont forget americans who are killed, murdered by isis, tried to report on what was happening in syria. So it can be very, very dangerous. I remember every single day i wake up what a great country were in. Where journalists from free for the most part to tell the truth and not face the kind of retaliation they do elsewhere. Its a tough environment. We live in a country with a great First Amendment that protect us. For those who dont us use it to the full advantage, shame on them, in terms of journalists in this country. Questioner good morning. Montgomery county Consumer Protection office. We as consumers love hidden camera stories. Theyre inherently just so powerful. Maryland, like other states, few other states, is a twoparty consent state. Meaning you cant capture audio. What extent does that interfere with what do you and to what extent would you like to see those laws changed . Brian were very aware of those laws. You can do hidden camera, you just cant do hidden audioy had in your state. We have a list of math actually, when were considering doing stories that involve hidden camera, where can we and where can we not offer it . Theres some ways around it. It does have a direct impact on the ability to do to catch people in the act, so that is a challenge. The laws the law. We are very cognizant. In maryland and california its actually a felony to record somebodys audio without telling them. Jack quick interruption. As a print reporter, do you find yourself getting involved in stories that need visual, so you decide not to do it and maybe vice versa . Are there some great visual stories that just are too long so you dont do them . Brody not as much at the wall street journal. I dont think we had pictures until five years ago at all. [laughter] drawings. But there is more of an emphasis in recent years to have a more vibrant and colorful paper. Theres been a lot of time on the layout of it. Its not quite like television, though, where you approach a story looking for visuals to go with it. It would be they encourage us to try to do online videos or online compliments with your story online that have either video or interviews because apparently advertisers are really paying for those sorts of things right now. But at the beginninging of the story its not something i set out to do. Questioner denise myrrhy. Im asking this as an individual. Im going to piggyback on the gentlemans statement about this panel being the future of investigative reporting. And i see that its all men, its all white. And the people to his point about well. To his point about ferguson. The people who make the decisions on what stories to get deep on it may not be an issue that resonates with you, but there are issues that are going on. So if this is the future, whats the problem . I mean, because for me, you know, what happens is you talk about people sidelining off to other sources. Its because youre not telling the stories that we want to hear. The decisions arent being made at the top level that are broad. So if youre talking about the future and you think about the future of this country and where the demographs are going, you know this is a little bit disheartening. [applause] jack fabulous question. It would be great if each of you could kind of delve into that, as you look forward and as you look backwards to see whos coming up behind you. Michael its an excellent point. What youre looking at here is the past of investigative reporting. [laughter] despite the makeup of the panel, i think things are changing. Lawrence there are a lot of women, african americans, his pan inges asians all hispanics, asians all taking responsibility in all these groups. So while we have been behind and not as aggressive as we should have been in being more diverse in our organizations, thats very much a topline question. In terms of the topics that are tackled, its a fair point. That the people who are in the decision makinging positions are perhaps not in touch, as in touch as they should be with some of these other questions like inequality and race. But i think that by and large the main organizations are at least making efforts to address that. Michael its an absolutely excellent point. Diversity is important not just for the sake of diversity. But because it does give other perspectives on whats a story. And this doesnt speak directly to the issue of women or africanamericans or minorities, but how you view something is very much you know, you can you view something a little bit differently and suddenly what you sort of might not think of a story can become an incredible story. Allah ferguson i remember covering the Boston Marathon bombing at the time. And at the time it was a terrorism story and everybody was focused on who did this and were there terrorist lynx abroad, a whole community, a whole major American Cities terrorized. I remember watching in the day that they identified the brothers and they were searching for the one who is now on trial, and seeing the all the humvees and National Guard and troops coming in heavily armed and it was amazing. It was like being in a war zone. And at the time i wasnt thinking about the militarization of our police department. And what kind of environment that was creating. I was covering a terrorism story. But in retrospect, there it was. The same story that got a lot of people alarmed during ferguson when we saw the militarization of police, was fully on display in boston, but thats not what beam were talking about at the time people were talking about at the time. Toy just use that as an example of how you look at something, and you look at something slightly ditchly, and your eyes open and you see a differently, and your eyes open and you see a really major story. Thats something that diversity can contribute to but its sort of all on us to take a look, take a step back and look at what were seeing in a little different way and you suddenly see theres lots of other things to report. Questioner care for crash victims. Thank you for all you people have all the good work youve done. But i would just like to ask a little bit more elaboration on the question of how you prioritize your work. Do you have anything that sort of says were looking for the greatest good, for the greatest number or anything like that . Brody thats a really good question also. Part of the issue is that, its sort of hard to figure out what the priorities should be on a day to day basis. I know i come into the office every monday and make a list of the five stories i want to do in that year. And then a few days later it will be a different list and a few days later it will be a different list. What i try to do is try to look for stories i can do on the shortterm, to kind of stay relevant and in the news. But then to try to pick the four, or five stories, whether theyre sexy or not, to try to do in that year. So that while you get distracted by all the noise thats out there and everything on 2013 and everything on cable news you try to keep your eye on the ball on good stories you can do on a monthly or quarterly basis. I think that every good reporter sort of has to do that these days because no one is or few peopler are getting or few people are getting a year on a story. You have to do shorter stories to kind of keep you in the news while staying focused on longer stories. Thats what you have to do otherwise youre constantly writing 300word stories. Brian some stories that affect millions of people are better for us than stories that affect hundreds of people. Stories with visual elements to abc are more more relevant. And stories that we havent heard are bigger than stories weve done before. Those are three threshold questions i would ask and my producers would ask and our bosses would ask. How many people are affected, how do we tell the story, what do we see and has somebody else done this before becomes a factor. Jack this has been phenomenal. Brody, larry michael, brian. On behalf of c. F. A. , thank you very much for spending time with us. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] the u. S. House is about to gavel in but before we get to, that some Live Programming to tell but happening on cspan3. In just over half