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American Morning
Controversial 9/11 Memorial; 'Paging Dr. Gupta'
Aired July 21, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A memorial to those who died in the 9/11 attacks crafted by a Russian artist has proved to be too controversial to find a home.
CNN's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty now with this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Artist-sculptor Zurab Tsereteli remembers exactly how he got the idea for his monument to the victims of September 11.
ZURAB TSERETELI, RUSSIAN ARTIST (through translator): When the tragedy happened, I sat there and watched. Really effected me. I ran out into the street here in Moscow and saw people crying and the idea was born.
DOUGHERTY: So, Tsereteli, one of Russia's most famous and controversial artists, set to work designing his 9/11 project, a gift to America called "Tear of Grief."
Jagged bronze columns in real life nearly ten stories high, holding a huge titanium teardrop.
Water is pumped through it and cooled, creating smaller tears, as if the monument is weeping.
He originally planned it for New York City, but when that didn't work out, he set his sights on Jersey City, New Jersey, a pier that juts out into the Hudson River just across from Ground Zero.
The city's mayor at the time gave his blessing, but then he died.
The new Jersey City mayor, L. Harvey Smith, tells CNN he's not sure how the city ended up approving the monument. But nine out of ten residents don't want it.
L. HARVEY SMITH, JERSEY CITY MAYOR: It's a tear. It's grief. And Jersey City has had enough grief in its history.
DOUGHERTY: The artist remains unfazed.
TSERETELI: There can be tears of happiness if we united against terrorism there will be tears of joy.
DOUGHERTY: Tsereteli, head of the Russian Academy of Arts, sculpts everything from political leaders to clowns, and is no stranger to controversy. Moscow is full of his monumental works, which some critics call kitsch.
This mammoth statue to Peter the Great was so unpopular one group even threatened to blow it up.
Zurab Tsereteli plans to unveil his 9/11 monument September 11 on Grundy Pier in Jersey City.
The mayor says the city will accept the gift, but he's not saying where Jersey City will put it.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: In Jersey City, community activists have been going through neighborhoods getting signatures on petitions to have this memorial stopped.
HEMMER: About 22 minutes now before the hour. In a moment, hospital patients stand a good chance of seeing some fresh faces this month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought to myself, wow, I'm really a doctor, I'm not playing doctor any more. This is it. So pretty much your level of maturity goes up right away. Responsibility level goes up right away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Brand new doctors just out of med school are in hospitals around the country but their inexperience could be a good thing we hear. Sanjay explains in a moment.
COLLINS: Also ahead, police say some inmates went to amazing and boneheaded lengths just to get a few cold ones.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: This is the time of year when med school graduates become newly minted doctors and some fear that turning up in a teaching hospital in July may be hazardous to your health.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us this morning from Boston to explain.
I don't know if I buy this, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Heidi; some people call it the July phenomenon. In Great Britain, they actually go so far as to call it the killing season.
They're talking about fresh-faced new doctors, lots of book smarts, but not lots of clinical experience. Should you avoid them? We took a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): On the hit TV show "E.R.," it's not unusual to see new doctors making mistakes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Constant monitoring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
GUPTA: New doctors are more common in July. Fresh out of med school, they flood teaching hospitals across the nation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about our other gentleman?
GUPTA: Overnight, they go from being medical students to doctors called interns and they make some people nervous to be patients in teaching hospitals in July.
Dr. Christina Derleth remembers her first day on the job at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. That was just two weeks ago and she was nervous as well.
DR. CHRISTINA DERLETH, INTERNAL MEDICINE INTERN: It was very scary. Nothing changes from one day to the next, except for your title, and all of a sudden you're expected to be responsible and it's -- makes you nervous -- but -- the supervision here has been very good.
GUPTA: Supervision is the key when it comes to nervous new docs. Everybody is watching, from the nurses...
JANE THOMAS, REGISTERED NURSE: They always ask us to look at the orders -- do you see anything that we've left out -- can I -- you know -- add anything?
GUPTA: To the attending physicians...
DR. JOYCE DOYLE, INTERNAL MEDICINE RESIDENT DIR.: They are never alone; they always have a lot of hands on supervision with everything they do.
GUPTA: To the new doctors themselves.
DR. AMY HIRSH, 2ND-YEAR RESIDENT: That's what residency is about, having someone there so that you can ask those questions and get the right answer to it.
GUPTA: Studies don't back up the rumors that teaching hospitals are unsafe in the summer.
A large study published in the "Journal of General Internal Medicine," found no significant difference in the mortality rates or lengths of stay at teaching hospitals from July to September.
Ironically, most doctors we talked to think you might be safer having surgery in the summer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to double check everything that we do.
DERLETH: Supervision is higher because they know we're new.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're watching what they do, but they watch what we do, too. I mean, you know, I mean they're quick to point things out if we've forgotten something.
GUPTA: Meaning a teaching hospital might not be such a bad place to go. You get a good mix of the seasoned doctor and the inquisitive new kid on the block with the most recent medical school knowledge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And a lot of those seasoned docs out there, the older docs, say that the interns actually keep them on their toes, always asking questions.
Also, another piece of good news for patients out there, the regulatory work errors make it so that these residents can't work more than 80 hours a week.
Sounds like a lot, Heidi, but it used to be over 100 often so they should be less sleep deprived when taking care of you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: This is a very good thing to hear. But also most of these med students, don't they have some sort of hospital experience before actually becoming doctors? Isn't that required?
GUPTA: Yes, to be fair to your last two years of medical school your third and fourth years usually you're spending entirely in the clinics, on the wards, taking care of patients.
But having gone through this, Heidi, though, there is something very different when you make that transition. When you go from being medical student where someone else is accountable for everything to actually being doctor when you're the one with all the responsibility. So there's that big transition period -- a lot of people going through that now, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, certainly. You're the one in charge. All right, Dr. -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- thanks so much for that.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, some new developments involving Paul Johnson, the American kidnapped and killed last month in Saudi Arabia. Stay with us. We'll tell you about it on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Right about 46 minutes past the hour. Back to Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center -- rest of the news today -- Fred, good morning.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again to you, Bill.
We begin in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where Saudi officials say the head of slain U.S. hostage Paul Johnson has been found.
The 49-year-old Lockheed-Martin engineer was abducted by al Qaeda militants June 12. The discovery was made during raids that began last night. At least two militants were arrested in those raids.
A day before the 9/11 Commission releases its findings, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice is meeting today with members of the panel. She'll get an early briefing on the Commission's findings and recommendations.
Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt was part of the House Republican leadership that met yesterday with the Commission chairman and vice- chairman. He talked about that earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ROY BLUNT (R) MISSOURI: Really, the goal of this Commission should be and I hope will be to move forward, to learn what we can from what we did in the past but mostly to understand that this Commission is only of value, this report is only of value if we use it in a positive, forward-looking way and not try to get into meaningless blaming who could have done what when now that it doesn't matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: President Bush is expected to get a copy of the Commission's report tomorrow.
U.S. officials are interviewing refugees from Sudan to determine if abuses there can be legally described as genocide. In Secretary of State Powell yesterday said the U.S. is completely dissatisfied with the situation in Sudan's Darfur region. Some one million people there had been forced from their homes by Arab militias.
And Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is ordering an investigation into the shooting of one of his key critics.
Nabil Amr, who was a member of the Palestinian Legislative Committee, was seriously wounded yesterday by a sniper in Ramallah. Amr has since issued a plea for calm but also hints that someone may have been trying to silence him.
Palestinian officials condemned the shooting.
And finally on a much lighter note, the story of some escaped prisoners on a beer run. In Hawkins County, Tennessee two prisoners managed to prop open a malfunctioning jail door, escape, then walk to a nearby store to buy some beer. And they didn't stop there. They went back to the jail to drink it. Two other prisoners did the same thing -- all will be charged now with escape. I guess, Bill, the brewskies were just calling their names.
HEMMER: Yes, you're probably right about that. Thank you, Fredricka.
Back here in New York now with Jack and the "Question of the Day" -- morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How you doing.
Interesting story in the "Times" today. Greece reportedly will allow 400 armed American soldiers to accompany the U.S. Olympic team under the auspices of NATO; 100 more armed Americans will be used as bodyguards for U.S. athletes according to the "Times" story.
Now all this apparently is being done kind of hush-hush. There will be no formal announcement because it all goes against Greek law, which prohibits foreigners from carrying weapons.
Greek officials responded to the "Times" report and said they will not let foreign guards carry weapons to protect athletes.
The question is, should the U.S. send armed troops to the Olympic games in Greece?
And, Viv in Alton, Illinois writes: "Remember Munich, Jack? If we want them to all come home safely, we'll send the troops. These athletes are America's best. Let's guard them with the best. Send the Marines."
Next letter actually comes from Ken in Shunan City, Japan -- he's a retired First Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps.
He writes: "The U.S. should send security to the Olympics applicable to the appropriate Greek laws and the threat level at the time. To demand or ignore the sovereign laws of Greece or any country that we are not currently at war with only supports critics of our seriously damaged foreign policy and image."
And another letter from Japan, Ken from Kyoto writes: "Today's question and your new glasses are both boring."
HEMMER: Oh.
COLLINS: Ahh.
CAFFERTY: I thought these weren't too bad.
COLLINS: Yes, you've been trying so hard with those, too.
HEMMER: It's Wednesday. You got Thursday and Friday, still.
CAFFERTY: I'm doing the best I can, Ken; you know what I'm saying?
(LAUGHTER) HEMMER: Thank you, Jack. In a moment here if you and your kid are having a hard time picking out a college, maybe a free iPod will sway you. We're "Minding Your Business" back in a moment with that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Talk of an almost unthinkable change at AT&T -- Christine Romans in for Andy Serwer -- she's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
So this is huge.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And what they started with is now poof -- when you think of AT&T you think of consumer long distance is what the company essentially invented and had worked on for so many years and since 1984 things have really changed since the breakup of Ma Bell.
The "Wall Street Journal" is reporting that the board of AT&T right now, starting last night and continuing today is deciding whether it wants to focus only on commercial customers, completely pull the plug on the consumer market. It would be a complete change in corporate identity for this company.
Business, though, already 70 percent of its revenue. The company, as I said, since 1984 has already lost 100,000 jobs. It's been kicked out of the Dow 30 because this is essentially old technology, the long distance business, so potentially a big change in strategy for AT&T.
COLLINS: Yes, so, but from old technology to new technology. Something happened at Duke makes me think I might want to go there. Especially since our executive producer went there.
ROMANS: And at $40,000 a year so I don't know how much a $200 iPod is really going to entice new freshmen, but Duke is going to give every freshmen an iPod. On that iPod he'll be able to download lectures, you'll be able to get notes, you'll be able to get the fight song of the school, you'll be able to get a syllabus for all of your classes.
All sorts of things will be on here. The university says it'll be a great way to integrate technology with learning, and it's trying it out and if you are -- I think it's kind of an interesting...
COLLINS: No other music, correct?
ROMANS: You can have other music. But it'll be about half a million dollars it's going to cost...
HEMMER: Forty grand?
ROMANS: That's what -- that's what it costs to go there.
HEMMER: Get some real estate with that?
ROMANS: No you just get -- you get an iPod and you get and education.
COLLINS: And a nice dorm room, maybe.
HEMMER: Forty gigs, plus. Thank you, Christine.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment much more on the Sandy Berger document matter. One lawmaker says it's as if Berger was trying to rewrite history. We'll talk to someone who says that is preposterous. Much more on this top of the hour when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Good morning. Former national security adviser Samuel Berger calls it an honest mistake. Will accusations he stole classified documents hurt the Democratic campaign?
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 21, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A memorial to those who died in the 9/11 attacks crafted by a Russian artist has proved to be too controversial to find a home.
CNN's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty now with this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Artist-sculptor Zurab Tsereteli remembers exactly how he got the idea for his monument to the victims of September 11.
ZURAB TSERETELI, RUSSIAN ARTIST (through translator): When the tragedy happened, I sat there and watched. Really effected me. I ran out into the street here in Moscow and saw people crying and the idea was born.
DOUGHERTY: So, Tsereteli, one of Russia's most famous and controversial artists, set to work designing his 9/11 project, a gift to America called "Tear of Grief."
Jagged bronze columns in real life nearly ten stories high, holding a huge titanium teardrop.
Water is pumped through it and cooled, creating smaller tears, as if the monument is weeping.
He originally planned it for New York City, but when that didn't work out, he set his sights on Jersey City, New Jersey, a pier that juts out into the Hudson River just across from Ground Zero.
The city's mayor at the time gave his blessing, but then he died.
The new Jersey City mayor, L. Harvey Smith, tells CNN he's not sure how the city ended up approving the monument. But nine out of ten residents don't want it.
L. HARVEY SMITH, JERSEY CITY MAYOR: It's a tear. It's grief. And Jersey City has had enough grief in its history.
DOUGHERTY: The artist remains unfazed.
TSERETELI: There can be tears of happiness if we united against terrorism there will be tears of joy.
DOUGHERTY: Tsereteli, head of the Russian Academy of Arts, sculpts everything from political leaders to clowns, and is no stranger to controversy. Moscow is full of his monumental works, which some critics call kitsch.
This mammoth statue to Peter the Great was so unpopular one group even threatened to blow it up.
Zurab Tsereteli plans to unveil his 9/11 monument September 11 on Grundy Pier in Jersey City.
The mayor says the city will accept the gift, but he's not saying where Jersey City will put it.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: In Jersey City, community activists have been going through neighborhoods getting signatures on petitions to have this memorial stopped.
HEMMER: About 22 minutes now before the hour. In a moment, hospital patients stand a good chance of seeing some fresh faces this month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought to myself, wow, I'm really a doctor, I'm not playing doctor any more. This is it. So pretty much your level of maturity goes up right away. Responsibility level goes up right away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Brand new doctors just out of med school are in hospitals around the country but their inexperience could be a good thing we hear. Sanjay explains in a moment.
COLLINS: Also ahead, police say some inmates went to amazing and boneheaded lengths just to get a few cold ones.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: This is the time of year when med school graduates become newly minted doctors and some fear that turning up in a teaching hospital in July may be hazardous to your health.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us this morning from Boston to explain.
I don't know if I buy this, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Heidi; some people call it the July phenomenon. In Great Britain, they actually go so far as to call it the killing season.
They're talking about fresh-faced new doctors, lots of book smarts, but not lots of clinical experience. Should you avoid them? We took a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): On the hit TV show "E.R.," it's not unusual to see new doctors making mistakes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Constant monitoring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
GUPTA: New doctors are more common in July. Fresh out of med school, they flood teaching hospitals across the nation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about our other gentleman?
GUPTA: Overnight, they go from being medical students to doctors called interns and they make some people nervous to be patients in teaching hospitals in July.
Dr. Christina Derleth remembers her first day on the job at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. That was just two weeks ago and she was nervous as well.
DR. CHRISTINA DERLETH, INTERNAL MEDICINE INTERN: It was very scary. Nothing changes from one day to the next, except for your title, and all of a sudden you're expected to be responsible and it's -- makes you nervous -- but -- the supervision here has been very good.
GUPTA: Supervision is the key when it comes to nervous new docs. Everybody is watching, from the nurses...
JANE THOMAS, REGISTERED NURSE: They always ask us to look at the orders -- do you see anything that we've left out -- can I -- you know -- add anything?
GUPTA: To the attending physicians...
DR. JOYCE DOYLE, INTERNAL MEDICINE RESIDENT DIR.: They are never alone; they always have a lot of hands on supervision with everything they do.
GUPTA: To the new doctors themselves.
DR. AMY HIRSH, 2ND-YEAR RESIDENT: That's what residency is about, having someone there so that you can ask those questions and get the right answer to it.
GUPTA: Studies don't back up the rumors that teaching hospitals are unsafe in the summer.
A large study published in the "Journal of General Internal Medicine," found no significant difference in the mortality rates or lengths of stay at teaching hospitals from July to September.
Ironically, most doctors we talked to think you might be safer having surgery in the summer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to double check everything that we do.
DERLETH: Supervision is higher because they know we're new.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're watching what they do, but they watch what we do, too. I mean, you know, I mean they're quick to point things out if we've forgotten something.
GUPTA: Meaning a teaching hospital might not be such a bad place to go. You get a good mix of the seasoned doctor and the inquisitive new kid on the block with the most recent medical school knowledge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And a lot of those seasoned docs out there, the older docs, say that the interns actually keep them on their toes, always asking questions.
Also, another piece of good news for patients out there, the regulatory work errors make it so that these residents can't work more than 80 hours a week.
Sounds like a lot, Heidi, but it used to be over 100 often so they should be less sleep deprived when taking care of you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: This is a very good thing to hear. But also most of these med students, don't they have some sort of hospital experience before actually becoming doctors? Isn't that required?
GUPTA: Yes, to be fair to your last two years of medical school your third and fourth years usually you're spending entirely in the clinics, on the wards, taking care of patients.
But having gone through this, Heidi, though, there is something very different when you make that transition. When you go from being medical student where someone else is accountable for everything to actually being doctor when you're the one with all the responsibility. So there's that big transition period -- a lot of people going through that now, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, certainly. You're the one in charge. All right, Dr. -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- thanks so much for that.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, some new developments involving Paul Johnson, the American kidnapped and killed last month in Saudi Arabia. Stay with us. We'll tell you about it on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Right about 46 minutes past the hour. Back to Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center -- rest of the news today -- Fred, good morning.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again to you, Bill.
We begin in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where Saudi officials say the head of slain U.S. hostage Paul Johnson has been found.
The 49-year-old Lockheed-Martin engineer was abducted by al Qaeda militants June 12. The discovery was made during raids that began last night. At least two militants were arrested in those raids.
A day before the 9/11 Commission releases its findings, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice is meeting today with members of the panel. She'll get an early briefing on the Commission's findings and recommendations.
Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt was part of the House Republican leadership that met yesterday with the Commission chairman and vice- chairman. He talked about that earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ROY BLUNT (R) MISSOURI: Really, the goal of this Commission should be and I hope will be to move forward, to learn what we can from what we did in the past but mostly to understand that this Commission is only of value, this report is only of value if we use it in a positive, forward-looking way and not try to get into meaningless blaming who could have done what when now that it doesn't matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: President Bush is expected to get a copy of the Commission's report tomorrow.
U.S. officials are interviewing refugees from Sudan to determine if abuses there can be legally described as genocide. In Secretary of State Powell yesterday said the U.S. is completely dissatisfied with the situation in Sudan's Darfur region. Some one million people there had been forced from their homes by Arab militias.
And Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is ordering an investigation into the shooting of one of his key critics.
Nabil Amr, who was a member of the Palestinian Legislative Committee, was seriously wounded yesterday by a sniper in Ramallah. Amr has since issued a plea for calm but also hints that someone may have been trying to silence him.
Palestinian officials condemned the shooting.
And finally on a much lighter note, the story of some escaped prisoners on a beer run. In Hawkins County, Tennessee two prisoners managed to prop open a malfunctioning jail door, escape, then walk to a nearby store to buy some beer. And they didn't stop there. They went back to the jail to drink it. Two other prisoners did the same thing -- all will be charged now with escape. I guess, Bill, the brewskies were just calling their names.
HEMMER: Yes, you're probably right about that. Thank you, Fredricka.
Back here in New York now with Jack and the "Question of the Day" -- morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How you doing.
Interesting story in the "Times" today. Greece reportedly will allow 400 armed American soldiers to accompany the U.S. Olympic team under the auspices of NATO; 100 more armed Americans will be used as bodyguards for U.S. athletes according to the "Times" story.
Now all this apparently is being done kind of hush-hush. There will be no formal announcement because it all goes against Greek law, which prohibits foreigners from carrying weapons.
Greek officials responded to the "Times" report and said they will not let foreign guards carry weapons to protect athletes.
The question is, should the U.S. send armed troops to the Olympic games in Greece?
And, Viv in Alton, Illinois writes: "Remember Munich, Jack? If we want them to all come home safely, we'll send the troops. These athletes are America's best. Let's guard them with the best. Send the Marines."
Next letter actually comes from Ken in Shunan City, Japan -- he's a retired First Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps.
He writes: "The U.S. should send security to the Olympics applicable to the appropriate Greek laws and the threat level at the time. To demand or ignore the sovereign laws of Greece or any country that we are not currently at war with only supports critics of our seriously damaged foreign policy and image."
And another letter from Japan, Ken from Kyoto writes: "Today's question and your new glasses are both boring."
HEMMER: Oh.
COLLINS: Ahh.
CAFFERTY: I thought these weren't too bad.
COLLINS: Yes, you've been trying so hard with those, too.
HEMMER: It's Wednesday. You got Thursday and Friday, still.
CAFFERTY: I'm doing the best I can, Ken; you know what I'm saying?
(LAUGHTER) HEMMER: Thank you, Jack. In a moment here if you and your kid are having a hard time picking out a college, maybe a free iPod will sway you. We're "Minding Your Business" back in a moment with that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Talk of an almost unthinkable change at AT&T -- Christine Romans in for Andy Serwer -- she's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
So this is huge.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And what they started with is now poof -- when you think of AT&T you think of consumer long distance is what the company essentially invented and had worked on for so many years and since 1984 things have really changed since the breakup of Ma Bell.
The "Wall Street Journal" is reporting that the board of AT&T right now, starting last night and continuing today is deciding whether it wants to focus only on commercial customers, completely pull the plug on the consumer market. It would be a complete change in corporate identity for this company.
Business, though, already 70 percent of its revenue. The company, as I said, since 1984 has already lost 100,000 jobs. It's been kicked out of the Dow 30 because this is essentially old technology, the long distance business, so potentially a big change in strategy for AT&T.
COLLINS: Yes, so, but from old technology to new technology. Something happened at Duke makes me think I might want to go there. Especially since our executive producer went there.
ROMANS: And at $40,000 a year so I don't know how much a $200 iPod is really going to entice new freshmen, but Duke is going to give every freshmen an iPod. On that iPod he'll be able to download lectures, you'll be able to get notes, you'll be able to get the fight song of the school, you'll be able to get a syllabus for all of your classes.
All sorts of things will be on here. The university says it'll be a great way to integrate technology with learning, and it's trying it out and if you are -- I think it's kind of an interesting...
COLLINS: No other music, correct?
ROMANS: You can have other music. But it'll be about half a million dollars it's going to cost...
HEMMER: Forty grand?
ROMANS: That's what -- that's what it costs to go there.
HEMMER: Get some real estate with that?
ROMANS: No you just get -- you get an iPod and you get and education.
COLLINS: And a nice dorm room, maybe.
HEMMER: Forty gigs, plus. Thank you, Christine.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment much more on the Sandy Berger document matter. One lawmaker says it's as if Berger was trying to rewrite history. We'll talk to someone who says that is preposterous. Much more on this top of the hour when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Good morning. Former national security adviser Samuel Berger calls it an honest mistake. Will accusations he stole classified documents hurt the Democratic campaign?
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
