Mark shields and david brooks analyze a week of new names proposed for the coming Trump Administration, as they remember john glenn. All that and more, 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. Xq institute. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. And friends of the newshour. 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 the president elect has been out and about again today, taking his victory celebration to two more states. At the same time, hes mulling more names for his administration. Baton rouge, louisiana was this afternoons destination for the trump thank you tour. He used it to stump for republican john kennedy in a u. S. Senate Runoff Election tomorrow. If you go to the polls, hes going to win. If you dont go to the polls, hes not going to win. And if he doesnt win, ive got myself a problem in washington because you know we have its pretty close. Woodruff a kennedy win would give the g. O. P. 52 seats in the senate next year. Mr. Trump also met today with the leader of the Republican House majority, speaker paul ryan, before leaving new york. We had a great meeting to talk about our transition. Were very excited about getting to work and hitting the ground running in 2017, to put this country back on track. Woodruff with that in mind, the president elect is pressing to fill out his cabinet. According to reports today representative Cathy Mcmorris rodgers of Washington State is the choice for secretary of the interior; and the president of Investment BankGoldman Sachs, gary cohn, will head the National Economic council. He would be the third goldman alumnus in a Top Trump Administration post. But former new york mayor Rudy Giuliani removed his name from consideration for any post. He said he wasnt interested in anything other than secretary of state. Im here today for one main reason to say thank you to the great, great people of iowa. Woodruff last night, in des moines, the president elect appeared with his pick for ambassador to china, Iowa Governor terry branstad. With terry on our side, i know we will succeed in bringing our jobs back. And i also know that china, whos been so tough and so competitive, and, frankly, dealing with people that didnt get it. But ill tell you what, were going to have mutual respect. Woodruff meanwhile, mr. Trump indicated today he may ban pentagon officials who work on weapons programs from ever taking jobs with military supply companies. Tonight, the president elects focus is on grand rapids, michigan, the fourth stop on his socalled thank you tour. Also today, final figures showed the Trump Campaign raised about 340 million for the primaries and general election. Hillary clinton raised 580 million. In the days other news the white house announced president obama has ordered a full review of Cyber Attacks during the president ial campaign. A number of democrats have complained that russian hacking was aimed at aiding donald trump, but, a president ial spokesman said this is not an effort to challenge the outcome of the election. The u. S. Senate struggled today to finish a spending bill that would fund the government for four months. Coalstate democrats delayed the measure, as a federal shutdown loomed at midnight. They demanded the bill extend benefits for retired coal miners for a full year, while republicans urged them accept a shorter extension, for now. My intention is the miner benefits will not expire in april next year. As i just said, im going to work with my colleagues to prevent that. But this is a good time to take yes for an answer. Woodruff the bill would keep the government operating through late april. The president of south korea was impeached and stripped of her powers today. Park geunhye is implicated in an influencepeddling scandal thats brought millions of people into the streets. Our chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner has the story. Reporter roars of celebration erupted in seoul as news of the impeachment reached the streets. Thousands of protesters had camped outside parliament, anticipating the vote to strip President Park geunhye of her powers. It won support from both the opposition and parks own party, leaving her to accept the inevitable. translated i deeply apologize to our citizens for causing such a big National Confusion amid National Security and economic concerns due to my carelessness. Reporter parks impeachment is the culmination of a months long scandal that sparked enormous public outcry. It stems from accusations that she granted special favors and access to choi soonsil, a long time confidant. Shes also accused of arranging for choi to receive classified documents. Choi has been indicted on charges of using her influence to bully businesses into donating nearly 70 million to her charity. President park denies any criminal wrongdoing, but her standing in Public Opinion polls has plunged to just 4 . The drama has raised concerns that north korea with its active Nuclear WeaponsDevelopment Program might try to take advantage of political troubles in the south, where nearly 30,000 u. S. Troops are stationed. Were going to continue to meet all our alliance commitments, especially with respect to defending against the threats weve seen emanating from north korea. Reporter for now, President Parks duties will fall to the prime minister, while south Koreas Constitutional Court decides whether to uphold her ouster. For the pbs newshour, im Margaret Warner. Woodruff a dutch court convicted antiislam lawmaker Geert Wilders of hate speech today. The judges found wilders illegally targeted the moroccan minority in the netherlands with insults, and incited others to discriminate against them. Wilders called the verdict totally insane. His party narrowly leads in polls ahead of National Elections next march. In syria, thousands of civilians fled the fighting in eastern aleppo, as the army closed the noose on rebel fighters. Heavy air bombardment and Ground Fighting raged again. Syrian military officials claimed they now control about 85 of the rebel enclave. Meanwhile, the u. N. General assembly approved a nonbinding resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire. The World Antidoping Agency reports that russian cheating on drug tests is even more sweeping than already known. Findings released today say it involves more than 1,000 russian athletes in more than 30 sports. The agency concludes that the cheating, and coverup, go back to at least 2011, and the reports author says russia corrupted the 2012 London Olympic games on an unprecedented scale. For years, International Sports competitions have been hijacked by the russians. Coaches and athletes have been playing on an uneven field. Sports fans and spectators have been deceived. Its time that this stops. Woodruff the head of russias Antidoping Commission called the report out of date, pointing to reforms taken since the coverup was first discovered. Back in this country, a federal jury in charleston, South Carolina watched the videotaped confession of dylann roof. The selfdescribed white supremacist is accused of shooting nine black Church Members to death in june 2015. The f. B. I. Recorded the confession. On it, roof says i had to do it because somebody had to do it. That sweeping recall of takata air bag inflators will end up affecting 42 million vehicles in the u. S. The national Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued the new projection today. It also said only 12. 5 million of the inflators have been replaced so far. The devices can explode with too much force and spew metal shards. And, wall street rallied again, for more record closes. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 142 points to finish near 19,757. The nasdaq rose 27, and the s p 500 added 13. Still to come on the newshour the real world effects of fake news stories online; a boot camp where female recruits seeking combat jobs must meet the same standards as men; the housing crisis that contributed to the oakland warehouse fire; plus, mark shields and david brooks analyze a full week of news. Woodruff this was a week where the problems of socalled fake news often just a name for an outandout lie or unproven claim were evident once again, and this time, led to alarming consequences. Hari joins us from our new york studio tonight with a look at the latest concerns and the beginning of a periodic series on the subject. Sreenivasan viral conspiracy theories masquerading as news spread at incredible speeds throughout the election cycle across social platforms like facebook, reddit, twitter and 4chan, but on december 4 came a very real measure of their impact. A 28yearold man from North Carolina man entered comet ping pong pizza in washington d. C. Armed with an assault rifle, claiming he wanted to self investigate a fastspreading theory. Edgar maddison welch, seen Edgar Maddison welch, seen here with his arms up, was intrigued by the totally false Conspiracy Theory that the pizzeria was part of in a childabuse ring led by Hillary Clinton and her former campaign manager. After aiming at an employee, and discharging a weapon, he surrendered to authorities. Luckily, everyone inside escaped unharmed. This week, more fallout from what has been dubbed as pizzagate the Trump Transition Team removed Michael Flynn jr. , the son of the man president elect trump wants as his National Security adviser, after it became clear that flynn jr. Was retweeting this and other conspiracies. Hillary clinton, herself the target of other lies spread over the web repeatedly weighed in during one of her few public appearances since the election. Its now clear that socalled fake news can have real world consequences. This isnt about politics or partisanship. Lives are at risk, lives of ordinary people just trying to go about their days, to do their jobs, contribute to their communities. Sreenivasan Technology Companies like facebook and google say they are working to tackle the proliferation of fake news. One way has been to decrease the incentives for advertising that appears on these sites. Sheryl sandberg, the c. O. O. Of facebook, on thursdays today show weve taken important steps, but there is a lot more to do. We know people dont want to see hoaxes on facebook and we dont want to see hoaxes on facebook. Sreenivasan according to a Buzzfeed News investigation, many fake news sites are built purely for profit, sometimes even created by opportunistic teens in far off places like macedonia, regardless of the content, because more clicks lead to more dollars. What is motivating the rise of fake news, and what tools are Tech Companies developing to stop its spread . As part of a series of conversations, im joined by mark fisher of the Washington Post, who wrote one of the deeper dives on how the comet ping pong story spread so fast, and how it almost ended in tragedy. Mark, this is one of the first stories that i think drew a connection for people that virtual hoaxes have realworld consequences. Well, they absolutely do. We saw this when a gunman walked into the pizza place that was the subject of this false rumor about a supposed sex ring that Hillary Clinton and john podesta, her campaign chairman, were running in a residential pizza place in washington, d. C. We traced this to patient zero, looking back to how and why did this spread, and what we found was a combination of people who had a profit motive and people who were really quite innocently running across this story and deciding that it was concerning to them and they wanted to know more about it. Sreenivasan thats one of the things people will wonder about, how do you not see the falsehood in this or how do you press share or how do you end up kind of perpetrating this lie further and further . What were the answers people were giving you . You know, i think there is a tendency to dismiss the people who spread these stories as uneducated or simply not understanding the technology theyre dealing with. Anything but the case. They tend to be quite yietd people who are well connected online. If you look at the diminution of trust across society about government and the news media, people are looking for alternative ideas and sources and are open to these kinds of stories that they find online. Once they find them, what i found in talking to the people who spread the message most widely is they were kind of caught up in the fun of this. To them, it was kind of a serious game because they thought they were saving children who were being held in this underground sex ring, but kind of a game where they were really enjoying the hunt and that thrill of the chase is really very similar to whats most satisfying about doing journalism, but without the responsibility part, and thats the part where they say, well, you know, its reminiscent of wht Silicon Valley executives used to say years ago that the internet is a selfcorrecting mechanism. A lot of the people who were involved in this believe that and theyre really not keeping it front of mind. The realworld damage such as a gunman showing up to conduct his own investigation. Sreenivasan youre describing a large scale game of clue. Im aging myself by reference to the game. Tell us about the people who are doing it for profit. Some people are doing it for political reasons and some for profit. You find an extraordinary amount of the traffic online about pizzagate, this rumor, was going through odd places vietnam, macedonia. Whats going on there is that people are setting up sites and setting up bots, which are essentially algorithms used to spread a message or retweet something many times, and they do this because the more people they can get coming to their site, the more advertising revenue they get from the big social media companies. So there is a profit that can be made by taking something, however fantastic or incredible, and putting it out there in such a way that it goes viral, and then all of that web traffic, all of those clicks translate into dollars rest recently facebook and google tried to take a little of those dollar incentives away from these fake news sites. Other than that, what else are they and can they do . They can do a lot more than theyre doing. We look across the ocean to europe where they are doing a lot more under pressure from governments there who dont have our same system of First Amendment guarantees and dont have the kind of freedom our Internet Companies have as a result of the exemption that absolves them from responsibility for the content they have open their sites, thats from the 1996 telecommunications act. In europe, without the legal strictures, there is a different kind of legal system involved where these companies are required to remove derogatory material about people from their sites, and theyre having to do that. So they clearly know how to do that. They choose not to in this country in part because its expensive to have editors and producers going through and making sure the material on their site is responsible. The Internet Companies tend to say this is not our responsibility, this is a matter for the users to express themselves however they wish. But if you think about the rest of our economy, there is no other product, news product or physical product where the maker says we have no responsibility for what we make. That is just the nature of our commerce. We expect companies that produce things to take responsibility. Sreenivasan how does it change the landscape of journalism . There is definitely a line of thought that says just by us labeling this fake news instead of lies or conspiracy theories, that were elevating it to a status it doesnt deserve. The idea of yellow journalism has existed since the late 18 huns. It helped us get into the spanishamerican war. Sure, and conspiracy theories have been around since the dawn of civilization, biblical admonitions against them. Its always been and probably always will be. The problem is probably not the fake news or speech itself. The problem is its being spread more quickly and widely through technology than ever before and thats the part we havent gotten the handle on. So for traditional journalism, the role is fact checking, building up our credibility so that people do see that there are places that can be trusted. But we do happen to live in a time when trust is at a relative low, and weve seen this in periods of economic and political trouble in our country after the kennedy assassination and now after the 2008 crash. So during those periods, people do look for alternative source, and thats wha