"Al Jazeera journalist killed in West Bank raid" PBS NewsHour 5/11/2022
Excerpt
SUMMARY: Israeli troops on Wednesday reportedly shot dead Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh during a West Bank raid. The 51-year-old Palestinian-American journalist was a household name across the Middle East for her coverage of the conflict. Josef Federman, Associated Press news director for Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan, joins John Yang to discuss.
SUMMARY: In a new Frontline documentary, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman addresses, for the first time, his role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Frontline’s Martin Smith, who tracked the crown prince down for the film, says Khashoggi’s murder opened a window for journalists to ask more questions. Smith joins Judy Woodruff to discuss what Frontline uncovered.
SUMMARY: Lesley Stahl is an Emmy-winning journalist who currently reports for the CBS News program “60 Minutes.” During her long career, she has served as a White House correspondent and anchor of CBS’ “Face the Nation.” But she didn't have an easy start in the industry. For the NewsHour’s “That Moment When,” Stahl tells Steve Goldbloom what it was like to be the only woman in a 1970s Boston newsroom.
SUMMARY: In “We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages and Ransom,” author Joel Simon analyzes hostage situations involving Westerners taken from Syria. One example: American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, who were executed. Judy Woodruff sits down with Foley's mother, Diane Foley, and author Simon to discuss why the U.S. might need to reconsider its negotiation policies.
A prominent American anchorwoman on Iranian state television has been arrested by the FBI during a visit to the U.S., the broadcaster reported Wednesday, and her son said she was being held in a prison, apparently as a material witness.
Marzieh Hashemi, who worked for the network’s English-language service, was detained in St. Louis, where she had filmed a Black Lives Matter documentary after visiting relatives in the New Orleans area. She was then taken to Washington, according to her elder son, Hossein Hashemi.
The FBI said in an email that it had no comment on the arrest of the woman who was born Melanie Franklin of New Orleans and has worked for Iran’s state television network for 25 years. She lives about half the time in Colorado, where her children live, and half the time in Iran, according to a brother.
“We still have no idea what’s going on,” said Hossein Hashemi, a research fellow at the University of Colorado who was interviewed by phone from Washington. He also said he and his siblings had been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.
The incident comes as Iran faces increasing criticism of its own arrests of dual nationals and other people with Western ties. Those cases have previously been used as bargaining chips in negotiations with world powers.
Federal law allows judges to order witnesses to be arrested and detained if the government can prove their testimony has extraordinary value for a criminal case and that they would be a flight risk and unlikely to respond to a subpoena. The statute generally requires that witnesses be promptly released once they are deposed.
Hossein Hashemi said his mother, an American citizen, had not been contacted by the FBI before she was detained and would “absolutely” have been willing to cooperate with the agency.
Asked whether his mother had been involved in any criminal activity or knew anyone who might be implicated in a crime, Hashemi said, “We don’t have any information along those lines.”
Hashemi was arrested after arriving Sunday at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, according to Iran’s Press TV, which aired footage of her anchoring news programs and discussing the war in Syria, set to dramatic music.
Last week, Iran confirmed it is holding Navy veteran Michael White of Imperial Beach at a prison, making him the first American known to be detained under President Donald Trump’s administration.
SUMMARY: Washington state is growing in terms of population and budget, but the number of reporters covering politics in Olympia, its state capital, has declined. And according to Northwest News Network political correspondent Austin Jenkins, “state houses are the incubators” for national public policy. He shares his brief but spectacular take on being “overwhelmed” in order to keep viewers informed.
SUMMARY: President Trump announced he will not sanction Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The President indicated he had no intention of breaking with the longtime American ally. Nick Schifrin reports, and the Washington Post's Fred Hiatt joins Judy Woodruff to analyze the administration's response to the international incident.
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss health care, Democrats’ campaign strategy and an unfolding American “cultural drama.”
Judy Woodruff (NewsHour): And now to the analysis of Shields and Brooks. That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks, joining us this evening from Los Angeles.
And welcome to both of you.
Midterm elections, we can just feel it. They're just a bit over two weeks away.
The President has been out on the campaign trail. He's been talking up Republican candidates. His language, the rhetoric is getting more combative.
I want you both to listen to something he said. He was in Montana last night talking about the terrible things that will happen if Democrats are elected, mob rule and so forth.
But he went out of his way to praise Montana Congressman Greg Gianforte, was convicted two years ago of misdemeanor assault on a news reporter. And here's what the President had to say last night.
President Donald Trump: Greg is smart.
And, by the way, never wrestle him. You understand that? Never.
(LAUGHTER)
President Donald Trump: Any guy that can do a body slam, he's my kind of…
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
President Donald Trump: He's my guy.
Judy Woodruff: So he's been talking — he's been partisan, David, but now the language is getting tougher, more combative.
What do we make of this?
David Brooks, New York Times: Well, a couple things.
One, it's appalling. I mean, anybody who assaults a journalist for doing their job has done something appalling. And anybody who praises that is doing something appalling.
Second, he is a showman. He's like the Mort Sahl of the ethnic right. And so he tries to offend. And when he offends, his people go crazy and they like it.
And so I sort of think it is appalling. I sometimes wonder if we should ignore it, because it sets off a cultural drama where one group of people gets upset, and then the other but people are delighted the other group of people got upset, and it just creates this drama that benefits Trump, frankly. And he's not stupid about that kind of thing.
Judy Woodruff: So we're amping it up by talking about it, Mark.
Mark Shields, syndicated columnist: I think we have to talk about it, Judy.
I mean, this is a week in which the disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi, the murder of a journalist, a Washington Post journalist, for what he was writing, apparently, has been front and center. And the President is not unaware of this, because he's been a central figure in disparaging the investigation and taking up the cause of those who were allegedly involved in it.
So this is — this is irresponsible, it's reckless, and it's really cheap, in the literal sense of it. This is a — this is a reckless act of an irresponsible man. And I don't think it go unremarked upon.
Judy Woodruff: Are there consequences, David?
David Brooks: Well, I mean, I think the major damage Donald Trump is doing to the country is weakening the norms of decency and civility.
And if you don't have those norms, it's all dog eat dog. And so I don't underestimate the harm that gets done.
I just observe that, since the first Presidential debate, when he went after Carly Fiorina for the way she looked, and other people, those — the ethos of World Wide — the World Wide Wrestling Federation has been the ethos Donald Trump has played on, on the campaign trail.
And there is some bit of owning the libs, as conservative say, that the desire to offend is part of the fun of the thing. And, sometimes — I totally get Mark's point. You got to try to maintain some sense of standards of how public officials are supposed to act with integrity.
But, sometimes, I feel manipulated when I do react, because that's sort of what Donald Trump wants.
Mark Shields: I want David to trust his own instincts, which are good.
(LAUGHTER)
Mark Shields: No, I mean, but David touched on what I think is the central element of this campaign.
Are we going to have guardrails. Are we going to reestablish guardrails in this country as to what is right, what is wrong? And I think that to a great degree is what this election is about.
But I mean, let's remind us — our listeners that Gianforte himself publicly apologized for what he did after it happened and accepted the court's judgment.
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including President Donald Trump’s efforts to energize Republicans ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, accusations of voter suppression in Georgia, and the state of U.S.-Saudi relations after a Saudi journalist’s alleged murder.
Judy Woodruff (NewsHour): We turn now to another busy week of news.
With just over three weeks to go until the crucial midterm elections, President Trump is headlining rallies almost daily across the country, hammering Democrats, and trying to energize Republicans to get to the polls.
A cue for the analysis of Shields and Brooks. That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
Hello to both of you. It's Friday.
So we do have the President, it seems, out on the campaign trail every single day, jetting out to whether it's Tennessee or Pennsylvania or another part of the country.
Today, Mark, he is in Ohio trying to energize the Republican vote, the base, trying to get them out. Is it working, do you think?
Mark Shields, syndicated columnist: Republicans feel it's working better than it did two or three weeks ago, Judy.
But I think what is remarkable about it is how constant it is. You said about energizing the base. It's about inflaming people. Donald Trump's message is never about forging a coalition, reaching across the divide, trying to enlist the majority. It's always about coming back to, it's us against them, and we may not be perfect, but, boy, those other guys are really bad.
And I think that's the message. It's going to be a referendum, as it is every midterm, on the President. And his numbers right now are just about the same point where Barack Obama's were in 2010, when the Democrats suffered enormous defeat, Bill Clinton's in '94, when the Democrats suffered a big defeat, and 2006, George Bush's, when the Republicans lost control of the Congress.
Judy Woodruff: But you do have the President, David, out talking about Democrats are part of an angry mob, calling them evil, I mean, using some of the strongest language he has used.
Is that likely to get his base even more fired up?
David Brooks, New York Times: Yap. Ya.
(LAUGHTER)
David Brooks: I think it's working.
We're in an age of negative polarization. And that means you don't have to like your own party. You just have to hate the other one. And that means it's all about contempt. And has the other side made you appalled? Have they made you feel contemptuous?
And one thing the Kavanaugh hearing has done is, it made both sides feel the other is appalling. And so that has fired up both bases. And the effect is — and it's always worth reminding ourselves that we no longer having one election anymore. We have a red state election and a blue state election.
And they're increasingly disconnected. And so the odds are looking pretty good. The polls have been shifting in a Republican way on the Senate side in all those red states, Texas, Montana, and those places. And the Senate is looking more secure as of this moment.
The House is looking more endangered for the Republicans at this moment, as suburban women move over to the Democratic side. So we have two different elections. And there seems to be pretty strong momentum in opposite directions.
Judy Woodruff: How are Democrats countering this, I mean, this approach by the President, Mark?
There's this couple of polls, including the one we did with Marist and NPR this week, that came out showed, yes, the enthusiasm gap has narrowed. It was the Democrats who were more energized. And, indeed, Republican seem to be more energized.
What — how to Democrats come back?
Mark Shields: Well, the first thing they ought to do is stop picketing and stop boycotting and organize.
I mean, the most Democratic group in the entire electorate of voters is age 18 to 35. And they live everywhere. They aren't concentrated in certain districts, like perhaps African-American or Latinos are. They are everywhere. And if they vote, the Democrats will win big.
I will say this. I think the most encouraging sign for the Democrats is, the Democrats do have a national macro message in this campaign. It's about checks and balances on the President. It's not a new message, but it's a message that certainly resonates with an awful lot of voters.
It's about preserving the strength of health care, particularly the preexisting condition provision. But, most of all, I think it's contrast with the Republicans, who don't have a national message. They really don't. They're running micro campaigns.
In one camp — one district, it's you double parked, and you got several parking tickets, or you were late on your library books, or you missed your mother's birthday. I mean, they're running very personal campaigns in a very micro sense. I think that's good.
The final thing I would say is, look at the governor's races, the governor's races across the country, if you really want to see which way the country's going. They're going blue. They're not — they're not going red.
When you have got Democrats competitive in places like Oklahoma and Kansas and South Dakota, which they are right as we speak here tonight, then there's a possibility of the Democrats sweeping that entire belt from the Midwest all the way to the East Coast.
Judy Woodruff: We did hear, David, Al Gore, saying — talking about checks and balances, that that's a good motivating thing for Democrats.
But what about that? I mean, is — are we seeing Democrats united in some way, in some — in a message that they're…
David Brooks: Yes, unity is not any parties' problem right now. They're both — they're all pretty unified.
To me, one of the — an interesting debate is happening — you could call it the Michelle Obama-Hillary Clinton debate. And when Michelle Obama famously said, when they go low, we will go high, and she's sticking to that. And Hillary Clinton says, no, they are going low, we got to go low too.
And you see that debate. I think, in this age, having the moral high ground is a bit of an advantage, a major advantage. And because of Donald Trump's behavior, he has put the Republicans at a moral disadvantage.
And keeping go — staying high, staying reasonably civil, not totally going into the gutter with Donald Trump strikes me as the right Democratic strategy and the right strategy for any movement, because once you go down there, you self-corrupt.
And so I — one begins to see — Eric Holder said, if they go after us, we kick them. You're beginning to see a lot of people getting so angry about Kavanaugh and other things, any means necessary. To me, that is a mistake just for the soul of your party.
Judy Woodruff: I mean…
Mark Shields: Let me say, I agree with David.
I think it's not only the right thing to do, but the wise thing to do. I think it's in the best interests of the country. And I would say, at a practical level, you can't compete with Donald Trump. He's just better at it than anybody else.
Judy Woodruff: Better at what?
Mark Shields: Better at finding, identifying the weakness or shortcoming of his opponent, and then exploiting it.
It is a major talent. He did it serially to each of his Republican challenges in 2016. He did it to Secretary Clinton in the election. And that's really what makes this midterm election. He is searching for an opponent that he can do the same thing.
David Brooks: Yes. And the politics he specializes in is, I don't really like those kind of people.
Like, we used to have debates about health care, about economic policy, about foreign policy. Now it's just, those people are really bad. Those people who say you're bad, actually, they're the bad ones.
And that's a style of politics. Somehow, we have gotten away from issues. And the governor's races are — maybe that's a third electorate, because the governor's races tend to be a little more about issues. And they are swinging to the Democrats.
SUMMARY: Jamal Khashoggi, a singular voice willing to criticize Saudi leaders, has disappeared in Istanbul at the Saudi consulate. The Washington Post columnist and prominent former editor has previously spoken out about some of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's actions, including the silencing of dissenters. Nick Schifrin talks with Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post and Robin Wright from the New Yorker.
SUMMARY: Faces of the five victims led the front page of the Capital Gazette, a day after mayhem broke out in the Maryland newspaper's offices. The accused gunman has a long-held grudge against the paper after a 2011 column about his guilty plea to criminal harassment. Amna Nawaz talks with Terence Smith, contributing columnist for the Capital Gazette and longtime NewsHour contributor.
SUMMARY: Patrick Soon-Shiong, a multi-billionaire surgeon, entrepreneur and part owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, finalized his ownership of the Los Angeles Times [and San Diego Union-Tribune] this week. Judy Woodruff talks with him about how his upbringing in apartheid South Africa drove his love of newspapers and his vision for the future of the organization despite significant past struggles.
