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CNN Live At Daybreak

'War Room'; Video Flap

Aired March 02, 2005 - 05:30   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

When it comes to Social Security reform, don't hold your breath. Republican lawmakers say a vote on President Bush's proposed overhaul may not happen this year. One leading Republican says opponents of the president's plan are better organized than supporters.

Will interest rates go up? Economists look for a hint this morning. In about four-and-a-half hours, Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan visits Capitol Hill to give lawmakers the latest take on the economy.

The line between church and state, where should it be drawn? That's the question the Supreme Court revisits this morning. The court hears arguments on whether Ten Commandments displays should be allowed on government property.

U.N. peacekeepers have killed up to 50 Congolese militiamen in fierce fighting. The violence was prompted by the murders of nine U.N. peacekeepers on patrol there. U.N. peacekeepers have been in the war-torn Congo since 1999.

To the Forecast Center.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol, good morning. You're not going to pick on me right now, are you?

COSTELLO: No, no.

MYERS: OK. OK.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Reliving terrifying memories, that's what people affected by the BTK serial killings in Kansas are doing now. It's believed Kevin Bright's sister was strangled by the killer. Bright recounts that night in 1974 when his 21-year-old sister was attacked in their home and he was shot twice. He talked to Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN BRIGHT, BROTHER OF VICTIM: I knew he was going to shoot me, and I grabbed a hold of his hand and arm and pulled it -- you know, pushed it back into his stomach and got my hand on the gun and the trigger and pulled it twice. And it didn't go off for some reason.

And he jerked it away from me and shot me the first time there. And then I went to the ground, and he waited. He left for a while. And then he came back in a few minutes and grabbed a hold of me and he started strangling me again. And I fought him again, and he shot me the second time. And anyway, I played like I was dead, and he left again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: When asked if he thinks suspect Dennis Rader was the man who attacked him, Bright says he's not sure.

There was a new development this morning in a grizzly murder case out of Chicago. Police are probing the shooting deaths of the husband and mother of federal judge Joan Lefkow. Now "The Chicago Sun-Times" reports police are looking into a series of suspicious calls made to the judge's home before the killings. Sources tell the paper the calls came from inside a prison facility. They say police are focusing on the same prison where white supremacist Matt Hale is being held. Hale was convicted in 2004 trying to arrange Lefkow's murder. Hale's father says his son had nothing to do with the recent shootings.

The intense search for Jessica Lunsford still has not produced any clues. The 9-year-old girl has been missing since last Wednesday when she vanished from her Florida home without a trace. Search and rescue teams are resuming their work at dawn. They have also brought in bloodhounds.

To Iraq now where suicide car bombers strike again with deadly precision. Thirteen people were killed and at least 30 others wounded in two separate attacks today. The first car bomb detonated near an Iraqi army recruiting center in the heart of Baghdad. Six Iraqi soldiers died there. This recruiting center had been the target of two previous attacks. On February 11, 2004, 45 recruits were killed. Four months later, on June 17, an insurgent attack killed another 35 army recruits.

And about two hours after today's first attack, a second suicide car bomber targeted an Iraqi military convoy in southern Baghdad. Seven people killed in that incident. The attacks came two days after a suicide car bomber killed 127 people and wounded about 150 others at a police recruiting center in Hilla.

To "The War Room" now. Suicide bombings and now a judge, one of those brave enough in Iraq who would have presided over Saddam Hussein's trial, has been assassinated.

Our senior international editor David Clinch now.

David, this judge surely knew the danger. It brings up that question we ask all the time, who was protecting this judge?

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well that's a very good question, Carol. There are a couple of pieces of information, though, we do need to make clear. This judge, we found out about this very late Tuesday, but this actually happened yesterday morning in Baghdad. An investigative judge with the tribunal that will be trying Saddam Hussein and the other regime leaders killed, along with his son, a lawyer, also involved in that tribunal.

Now it's not absolutely clear that he was killed because of his involvement in the tribunal. The names of those involved in the tribunal are not publicized.

But on the other hand, it does nothing, as you say, to help those people who are involved in the tribunal in terms of the dangers that they face because of their involvement. Very few of them are known in public at the moment. The tribunal location of the courthouse hasn't even been revealed. But it's absolutely clear that anyone who puts their name on the list, who volunteers to be a judge or be involved in any way, faces this kind of danger, an extremely brave group of people who are going to be involved in these trials.

COSTELLO: Talk about the danger of that trial, because, well, who knows when it's going to come up, but hopefully within a year or maybe in a year. But a British tabloid recently reported that Saddam Hussein was going to be kept in this Hannibal Lecter type cell.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: And is that true?

CLINCH: Well we don't know, but that is what is coming out of course in the meantime while we wait to find out when Saddam's trial will happen. We had a hint yesterday when the first indictments or the equivalent of an indictment came out against some of the other regime leaders that the trials might begin within a few weeks, maybe six, seven weeks or so. Saddam's trial possibly a lot further away.

But, yes, in the meantime, a lot of media speculation that Saddam himself, if he was in court, might be inside a cage. We'll wait and see.

But what we do know is that the Iraqi government is determined to put these trials on television so that the Iraqi people can see justice being done. So within a few weeks, we may see the first televised trials in Iraq. Not Saddam himself, that's a little bit further away, but the new Iraqi government, of course, determined to make sure that the Iraqi people see justice being done.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, live in Atlanta, thank you. News versus propaganda, the line has always been blurred when it comes to politics. But one case in California has critics crying foul. That's straight ahead on DAYBREAK.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:43 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Social Security is the mother of all issues, so says House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, but it's not likely to be voted on this year. DeLay says opponents of the president's plan are better organized than its supporters.

A man accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush and launch other attacks in the United States has been denied bond. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali had been detained in Saudi Arabia. He's now behind bars in Virginia.

In money news, the world's largest automaker is about to hand out more pink slips. General Motors says it will lay off nearly 3,000 workers at its car assembly plant in Lancing, Michigan. GM plans to close the plant this spring.

In culture, Ellen DeGeneres is hoping to be in line to defend her Daytime Emmy title when the nominations are announced today. Ellen's show was named best daytime talker last year. The Daytime Emmys air May 20.

In sports, the Oakland Raiders expected to announce the Randy Moss trade today. The deal for the enigmatic wide receiver was agreed to last week, but the official word had to wait until the free agent signing period this morning -- Chad.

MYERS: Carol, did you just use a euphemism?

COSTELLO: How do you describe Randy Moss?

MYERS: I don't try.

COSTELLO: It's hard in one adjective.

MYERS: Exactly, and not to get in trouble for it.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

California's governor's office is facing off with some labor leaders. That's controversial enough, but the real controversy is brewing over what some call a fake news story. Stay with me while I explain.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's camp made this video at taxpayer's expense. It promotes a plan to allow workers to voluntarily give up their lunch break in order to go home early. Labor unions don't much like that plan, and they're very upset that the governor is using this video, saying it amounts to state funded propaganda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would mean they could eat when they're hungry and not when the government tells them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The employee then has the flexibility to determine whether or not they want to eat earlier or later or skip lunch all together in order to run personal errands and get off work earlier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under the proposed regulations...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Looks a lot like a news story, doesn't it? Is it propaganda or a legitimate use of taxpayer money? And haven't we seen something like this before?

Scott Libin, a media analyst with the Poynter Institute, joins us now for more.

Good morning.

SCOTT LIBIN, LEADERSHIP FACULTY, POYNTER INSTITUTE: Good morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: What do you think of this?

LIBIN: Well it concerns me, because it does look, at first glance, a little bit like a news story. The problem is it doesn't hold up very well under scrutiny. Stories like this tend to be completely one sided. And we would like to think that journalists can tell the difference.

COSTELLO: Yes, you would like to think that, but amazingly enough, dozens of news stations across California played this within their newscasts in its entirety.

LIBIN: Right. And you know I think the stations have some responsibility for that, too. If this is deceptive, there is a problem with that at the government level. But there's a separate problem with the fact that I'm afraid, in some cases, producers, who may be overworked or who may be inexperienced or who may be under trained, are either putting these things on the air without watching them first, which is frightening, or watching them and not recognizing that this is not journalism.

COSTELLO: And of course the labor unions say the Schwarzenegger administration is well aware of that fact.

I want to run a soundbite for our viewers now from Rick Rice, from Schwarzenegger's administration, defending this video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK RICE, SCHWARZENEGGER ADMINISTRATION: I know, No. 1, it's not propaganda, first of all. And No. 2, it is not illegal. In no way could it be mistaken for a news story. It's a news release. I expect criticism because I know how these people operate. They don't like anything we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So what do you think of that, because as you look at this video, it really does look like a news story? It's put together like a news story. Soundbites are inserted just like reporters do. How can he say that?

LIBIN: Well I haven't seen it in its entirety, but it wouldn't be the first video news release to masquerade as news in sort of a search for credibility. You know commercials are easy to identify. Material within newscasts, if it's produced carefully, can be a lot tougher to identify. And I'm not so certain that everybody sees the difference.

Again, we'd like to think that professional journalists have the time and training to know the difference. Propaganda, tough term to define, and it's a pretty inflammatory one. Is it that, I don't know, but it is not news.

COSTELLO: Yes, but, Scott, remember the Government Accountability Office, it found a fake news story about changes in Medicare. Remember the fake reporter Karen Ryan?

LIBIN: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Health and Human Services put together the same type of news release. And the Government Accountability Office said that was wrong because you're using taxpayer money to push an agenda.

LIBIN: Right. Now you know I'm not a lawyer and I don't know what statutes apply federally versus at the state level. I am a journalist, though, and what I understand is that journalism is produced with the viewer's interest in mind. Public relations is produced with the client's interest in mind. And in this case, the client is the state of California and its current administration.

COSTELLO: So really the folks who should really be looking out for this are the news stations themselves?

LIBIN: Well I think so. And part of the challenge is that this material is often distributed by news organizations with legitimate news material. And producers, and others in the newsroom, in the middle of the night, by themselves, with two hours of news to fill, may, in haste, make some bad decisions and may actually overlook some important distinctions.

COSTELLO: Scott Libin, a media analyst with the Poynter Institute, joining DAYBREAK this morning. Thank you.

LIBIN: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Question for you, are professional athletes fat? One survey says yes, they are. That story is next on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In "Health Headlines" for you this morning, researchers say older women with breast cancer don't necessarily need to avoid chemotherapy because of side effects. A study at the Vermont Cancer Center found women over 65 who underwent chemo had similar treatment benefits as younger women.

Can anti-HIV drugs known as protease inhibitors be effective against the Bird Flu virus? An Italian researcher thinks so. The Avian Flu is spreading in Asia and there have already been about 55 probable cases in humans over the past year. The CDC is preparing for what it says could be a worldwide epidemic.

And is the NFL full of fat guys? A scientist at the University of North Carolina studied the body mass index of last season's players and almost all of them were considered overweight and more than half qualified as obese. The study's author acknowledged the player's muscle weight likely tip the VMI scales. And an NFL spokesman dismissed the study as substandard.

So we thought we'd show you some of the popular players and how much they weigh. Take a look. Orlando Pace, he's 6'7, he weighs in at 320 pounds.

Chad, are you listening?

MYERS: Go ahead, Carol. I wasn't actually, but go ahead.

COSTELLO: What are you doing?

MYERS: I'm working on -- you sent all these e-mails to me now. Everybody wants to fine the weather guys and I've got to read them all. Go ahead.

COSTELLO: OK, well you go through those. We're going to read those viewer e-mails in just a second.

Warren Sapp is 6'2. He weighs 300 pounds. That would qualify as obese under, you know, the normal study's measurements. Donovan McNabb, 6'2, he weighs 240 pounds. Brett Favre, 6'2, he weighs 224. Both of those guys look slim, except for Donovan McNabb, he just looks kind of big to me, but Brett Favre looks thin.

MYERS: Well I mean isn't the muscle mass have something to do with it, too? I mean it's not all fat mass there.

COSTELLO: Well you could -- Warren Sapp has a little bit of a belly, don't you think?

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: But you know for his position he probably needs it.

MYERS: He needs to push guys around.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

For more on this or any other sports story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/sports.

Here is what's ahead in the 6:00 hour of DAYBREAK.

The Ten Commandments come before the Supreme Court today. Our legal expert Kendall Coffey will join us to talk about how these public displays of religious symbols might hold up before the high court.

Plus, searching for the killer of a Chicago judge's family. We have new information this morning, and we'll talk about how authorities are checking to see if there is a possible link to a white supremacist.

This is DAYBREAK for a Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Right to our e-mail "Question of the Morning," should weather forecasters be fined if they get the forecast wrong? In Moscow in Russia, the mayor there is thinking about fining the forecasters. That's where this question came from.

So, Chad, take it away.

MYERS: The mayor actually makes his own forecast, too, Carol, so.

Jim (ph) and Kate (ph), we think that Chad is a god, but we don't think he should be fined if his forecast isn't right. Remember that forecasts are based on computer models. And we all know that computers don't think, they just compute, you know.

COSTELLO: Is that from Jim and Kate Myers?

MYERS: No, not that I know of.

COSTELLO: Just kidding.

MYERS: Could be.

COSTELLO: I'm just kidding.

This is from Bill (ph).

MYERS: Thanks, mom. COSTELLO: This is from Bill. No, I don't think weathermen should be fined. They should be treated just like any professional in the business. After multiple instances of misperformance, they should be placed in more appropriate positions, maybe snow shovelers or window washers.

MYERS: Well there you go. That's the Peter Principle in reverse.

Actually got an e-mail from one of the weather guys at WREX TV. He says that you know we give out our forecast free of charge. You can take it or you can leave it. What the tax dollars are actually funding is the National Weather Service. Maybe you need to think of fining them.

Obviously this whole thing is pretty ridiculous and he's just saying that tongue and cheek. So, thanks, Eric (ph), from...

COSTELLO: One more from Tommy (ph), a quick one. The forecaster should not be fined because sometimes it's impossible to predict what Mother Nature has in store for us no matter how advanced our equipment might be.

And that's probably the most accurate thing said this morning.

Thank you for your e-mails.

The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.

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 March 2, 2005 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

When it comes to Social Security reform, don't hold your breath. Republican lawmakers say a vote on President Bush's proposed overhaul may not happen this year. One leading Republican says opponents of the president's plan are better organized than supporters.

Will interest rates go up? Economists look for a hint this morning. In about four-and-a-half hours, Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan visits Capitol Hill to give lawmakers the latest take on the economy.

The line between church and state, where should it be drawn? That's the question the Supreme Court revisits this morning. The court hears arguments on whether Ten Commandments displays should be allowed on government property.

U.N. peacekeepers have killed up to 50 Congolese militiamen in fierce fighting. The violence was prompted by the murders of nine U.N. peacekeepers on patrol there. U.N. peacekeepers have been in the war-torn Congo since 1999.

To the Forecast Center.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol, good morning. You're not going to pick on me right now, are you?

COSTELLO: No, no.

MYERS: OK. OK.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Reliving terrifying memories, that's what people affected by the BTK serial killings in Kansas are doing now. It's believed Kevin Bright's sister was strangled by the killer. Bright recounts that night in 1974 when his 21-year-old sister was attacked in their home and he was shot twice. He talked to Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN BRIGHT, BROTHER OF VICTIM: I knew he was going to shoot me, and I grabbed a hold of his hand and arm and pulled it -- you know, pushed it back into his stomach and got my hand on the gun and the trigger and pulled it twice. And it didn't go off for some reason.

And he jerked it away from me and shot me the first time there. And then I went to the ground, and he waited. He left for a while. And then he came back in a few minutes and grabbed a hold of me and he started strangling me again. And I fought him again, and he shot me the second time. And anyway, I played like I was dead, and he left again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: When asked if he thinks suspect Dennis Rader was the man who attacked him, Bright says he's not sure.

There was a new development this morning in a grizzly murder case out of Chicago. Police are probing the shooting deaths of the husband and mother of federal judge Joan Lefkow. Now "The Chicago Sun-Times" reports police are looking into a series of suspicious calls made to the judge's home before the killings. Sources tell the paper the calls came from inside a prison facility. They say police are focusing on the same prison where white supremacist Matt Hale is being held. Hale was convicted in 2004 trying to arrange Lefkow's murder. Hale's father says his son had nothing to do with the recent shootings.

The intense search for Jessica Lunsford still has not produced any clues. The 9-year-old girl has been missing since last Wednesday when she vanished from her Florida home without a trace. Search and rescue teams are resuming their work at dawn. They have also brought in bloodhounds.

To Iraq now where suicide car bombers strike again with deadly precision. Thirteen people were killed and at least 30 others wounded in two separate attacks today. The first car bomb detonated near an Iraqi army recruiting center in the heart of Baghdad. Six Iraqi soldiers died there. This recruiting center had been the target of two previous attacks. On February 11, 2004, 45 recruits were killed. Four months later, on June 17, an insurgent attack killed another 35 army recruits.

And about two hours after today's first attack, a second suicide car bomber targeted an Iraqi military convoy in southern Baghdad. Seven people killed in that incident. The attacks came two days after a suicide car bomber killed 127 people and wounded about 150 others at a police recruiting center in Hilla.

To "The War Room" now. Suicide bombings and now a judge, one of those brave enough in Iraq who would have presided over Saddam Hussein's trial, has been assassinated.

Our senior international editor David Clinch now.

David, this judge surely knew the danger. It brings up that question we ask all the time, who was protecting this judge?

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well that's a very good question, Carol. There are a couple of pieces of information, though, we do need to make clear. This judge, we found out about this very late Tuesday, but this actually happened yesterday morning in Baghdad. An investigative judge with the tribunal that will be trying Saddam Hussein and the other regime leaders killed, along with his son, a lawyer, also involved in that tribunal.

Now it's not absolutely clear that he was killed because of his involvement in the tribunal. The names of those involved in the tribunal are not publicized.

But on the other hand, it does nothing, as you say, to help those people who are involved in the tribunal in terms of the dangers that they face because of their involvement. Very few of them are known in public at the moment. The tribunal location of the courthouse hasn't even been revealed. But it's absolutely clear that anyone who puts their name on the list, who volunteers to be a judge or be involved in any way, faces this kind of danger, an extremely brave group of people who are going to be involved in these trials.

COSTELLO: Talk about the danger of that trial, because, well, who knows when it's going to come up, but hopefully within a year or maybe in a year. But a British tabloid recently reported that Saddam Hussein was going to be kept in this Hannibal Lecter type cell.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: And is that true?

CLINCH: Well we don't know, but that is what is coming out of course in the meantime while we wait to find out when Saddam's trial will happen. We had a hint yesterday when the first indictments or the equivalent of an indictment came out against some of the other regime leaders that the trials might begin within a few weeks, maybe six, seven weeks or so. Saddam's trial possibly a lot further away.

But, yes, in the meantime, a lot of media speculation that Saddam himself, if he was in court, might be inside a cage. We'll wait and see.

But what we do know is that the Iraqi government is determined to put these trials on television so that the Iraqi people can see justice being done. So within a few weeks, we may see the first televised trials in Iraq. Not Saddam himself, that's a little bit further away, but the new Iraqi government, of course, determined to make sure that the Iraqi people see justice being done.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, live in Atlanta, thank you. News versus propaganda, the line has always been blurred when it comes to politics. But one case in California has critics crying foul. That's straight ahead on DAYBREAK.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:43 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Social Security is the mother of all issues, so says House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, but it's not likely to be voted on this year. DeLay says opponents of the president's plan are better organized than its supporters.

A man accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush and launch other attacks in the United States has been denied bond. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali had been detained in Saudi Arabia. He's now behind bars in Virginia.

In money news, the world's largest automaker is about to hand out more pink slips. General Motors says it will lay off nearly 3,000 workers at its car assembly plant in Lancing, Michigan. GM plans to close the plant this spring.

In culture, Ellen DeGeneres is hoping to be in line to defend her Daytime Emmy title when the nominations are announced today. Ellen's show was named best daytime talker last year. The Daytime Emmys air May 20.

In sports, the Oakland Raiders expected to announce the Randy Moss trade today. The deal for the enigmatic wide receiver was agreed to last week, but the official word had to wait until the free agent signing period this morning -- Chad.

MYERS: Carol, did you just use a euphemism?

COSTELLO: How do you describe Randy Moss?

MYERS: I don't try.

COSTELLO: It's hard in one adjective.

MYERS: Exactly, and not to get in trouble for it.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

California's governor's office is facing off with some labor leaders. That's controversial enough, but the real controversy is brewing over what some call a fake news story. Stay with me while I explain.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's camp made this video at taxpayer's expense. It promotes a plan to allow workers to voluntarily give up their lunch break in order to go home early. Labor unions don't much like that plan, and they're very upset that the governor is using this video, saying it amounts to state funded propaganda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would mean they could eat when they're hungry and not when the government tells them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The employee then has the flexibility to determine whether or not they want to eat earlier or later or skip lunch all together in order to run personal errands and get off work earlier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under the proposed regulations...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Looks a lot like a news story, doesn't it? Is it propaganda or a legitimate use of taxpayer money? And haven't we seen something like this before?

Scott Libin, a media analyst with the Poynter Institute, joins us now for more.

Good morning.

SCOTT LIBIN, LEADERSHIP FACULTY, POYNTER INSTITUTE: Good morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: What do you think of this?

LIBIN: Well it concerns me, because it does look, at first glance, a little bit like a news story. The problem is it doesn't hold up very well under scrutiny. Stories like this tend to be completely one sided. And we would like to think that journalists can tell the difference.

COSTELLO: Yes, you would like to think that, but amazingly enough, dozens of news stations across California played this within their newscasts in its entirety.

LIBIN: Right. And you know I think the stations have some responsibility for that, too. If this is deceptive, there is a problem with that at the government level. But there's a separate problem with the fact that I'm afraid, in some cases, producers, who may be overworked or who may be inexperienced or who may be under trained, are either putting these things on the air without watching them first, which is frightening, or watching them and not recognizing that this is not journalism.

COSTELLO: And of course the labor unions say the Schwarzenegger administration is well aware of that fact.

I want to run a soundbite for our viewers now from Rick Rice, from Schwarzenegger's administration, defending this video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK RICE, SCHWARZENEGGER ADMINISTRATION: I know, No. 1, it's not propaganda, first of all. And No. 2, it is not illegal. In no way could it be mistaken for a news story. It's a news release. I expect criticism because I know how these people operate. They don't like anything we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So what do you think of that, because as you look at this video, it really does look like a news story? It's put together like a news story. Soundbites are inserted just like reporters do. How can he say that?

LIBIN: Well I haven't seen it in its entirety, but it wouldn't be the first video news release to masquerade as news in sort of a search for credibility. You know commercials are easy to identify. Material within newscasts, if it's produced carefully, can be a lot tougher to identify. And I'm not so certain that everybody sees the difference.

Again, we'd like to think that professional journalists have the time and training to know the difference. Propaganda, tough term to define, and it's a pretty inflammatory one. Is it that, I don't know, but it is not news.

COSTELLO: Yes, but, Scott, remember the Government Accountability Office, it found a fake news story about changes in Medicare. Remember the fake reporter Karen Ryan?

LIBIN: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Health and Human Services put together the same type of news release. And the Government Accountability Office said that was wrong because you're using taxpayer money to push an agenda.

LIBIN: Right. Now you know I'm not a lawyer and I don't know what statutes apply federally versus at the state level. I am a journalist, though, and what I understand is that journalism is produced with the viewer's interest in mind. Public relations is produced with the client's interest in mind. And in this case, the client is the state of California and its current administration.

COSTELLO: So really the folks who should really be looking out for this are the news stations themselves?

LIBIN: Well I think so. And part of the challenge is that this material is often distributed by news organizations with legitimate news material. And producers, and others in the newsroom, in the middle of the night, by themselves, with two hours of news to fill, may, in haste, make some bad decisions and may actually overlook some important distinctions.

COSTELLO: Scott Libin, a media analyst with the Poynter Institute, joining DAYBREAK this morning. Thank you.

LIBIN: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Question for you, are professional athletes fat? One survey says yes, they are. That story is next on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In "Health Headlines" for you this morning, researchers say older women with breast cancer don't necessarily need to avoid chemotherapy because of side effects. A study at the Vermont Cancer Center found women over 65 who underwent chemo had similar treatment benefits as younger women.

Can anti-HIV drugs known as protease inhibitors be effective against the Bird Flu virus? An Italian researcher thinks so. The Avian Flu is spreading in Asia and there have already been about 55 probable cases in humans over the past year. The CDC is preparing for what it says could be a worldwide epidemic.

And is the NFL full of fat guys? A scientist at the University of North Carolina studied the body mass index of last season's players and almost all of them were considered overweight and more than half qualified as obese. The study's author acknowledged the player's muscle weight likely tip the VMI scales. And an NFL spokesman dismissed the study as substandard.

So we thought we'd show you some of the popular players and how much they weigh. Take a look. Orlando Pace, he's 6'7, he weighs in at 320 pounds.

Chad, are you listening?

MYERS: Go ahead, Carol. I wasn't actually, but go ahead.

COSTELLO: What are you doing?

MYERS: I'm working on -- you sent all these e-mails to me now. Everybody wants to fine the weather guys and I've got to read them all. Go ahead.

COSTELLO: OK, well you go through those. We're going to read those viewer e-mails in just a second.

Warren Sapp is 6'2. He weighs 300 pounds. That would qualify as obese under, you know, the normal study's measurements. Donovan McNabb, 6'2, he weighs 240 pounds. Brett Favre, 6'2, he weighs 224. Both of those guys look slim, except for Donovan McNabb, he just looks kind of big to me, but Brett Favre looks thin.

MYERS: Well I mean isn't the muscle mass have something to do with it, too? I mean it's not all fat mass there.

COSTELLO: Well you could -- Warren Sapp has a little bit of a belly, don't you think?

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: But you know for his position he probably needs it.

MYERS: He needs to push guys around.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

For more on this or any other sports story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/sports.

Here is what's ahead in the 6:00 hour of DAYBREAK.

The Ten Commandments come before the Supreme Court today. Our legal expert Kendall Coffey will join us to talk about how these public displays of religious symbols might hold up before the high court.

Plus, searching for the killer of a Chicago judge's family. We have new information this morning, and we'll talk about how authorities are checking to see if there is a possible link to a white supremacist.

This is DAYBREAK for a Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Right to our e-mail "Question of the Morning," should weather forecasters be fined if they get the forecast wrong? In Moscow in Russia, the mayor there is thinking about fining the forecasters. That's where this question came from.

So, Chad, take it away.

MYERS: The mayor actually makes his own forecast, too, Carol, so.

Jim (ph) and Kate (ph), we think that Chad is a god, but we don't think he should be fined if his forecast isn't right. Remember that forecasts are based on computer models. And we all know that computers don't think, they just compute, you know.

COSTELLO: Is that from Jim and Kate Myers?

MYERS: No, not that I know of.

COSTELLO: Just kidding.

MYERS: Could be.

COSTELLO: I'm just kidding.

This is from Bill (ph).

MYERS: Thanks, mom. COSTELLO: This is from Bill. No, I don't think weathermen should be fined. They should be treated just like any professional in the business. After multiple instances of misperformance, they should be placed in more appropriate positions, maybe snow shovelers or window washers.

MYERS: Well there you go. That's the Peter Principle in reverse.

Actually got an e-mail from one of the weather guys at WREX TV. He says that you know we give out our forecast free of charge. You can take it or you can leave it. What the tax dollars are actually funding is the National Weather Service. Maybe you need to think of fining them.

Obviously this whole thing is pretty ridiculous and he's just saying that tongue and cheek. So, thanks, Eric (ph), from...

COSTELLO: One more from Tommy (ph), a quick one. The forecaster should not be fined because sometimes it's impossible to predict what Mother Nature has in store for us no matter how advanced our equipment might be.

And that's probably the most accurate thing said this morning.

Thank you for your e-mails.

The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.

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