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The Impact of Media on U.S. Culture; Sports' Winners and Losers of 2013; Al Qaeda operatives Rebounded in 2013; Top 10 International Stories of 2013
Aired December 27, 2013 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEVE MALZBERG, NEWSMAX TV: You can listen to the 911 tapes, I'm not going to go into that, but that was myth number one that they used to make a villain out of George Zimmerman.
But after the verdict was read, my goodness all along during the coverage that the media itself, the liberal media, all the media kept saying, wow, every prosecution witness has turned into a defense witness.
They're not doing their job. They don't have a case. Yet when the verdict was read, oh, my God, how could this be? It must be racism. Well, all along you knew this was going to be the verdict because there was no evidence but the media played the race card after the verdict. To a tee and that was despicable.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ok so Brian I want to ask you this question and hearing like both sides of that story right? And it seemed like out in the public people were either on one side or the other. They either believed what Steve says or what Eric says. How does this kind of coverage shape our culture? Because that's the wider issue here right?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I remember hurrying home the night of that verdict from dinner as soon as I got the CNN Alert saying there was a verdict. Everybody I think like me wanted to be by a TV to see what was going to happen.
And I think -- I think both of the other guests are right. Many people had made up their mind beforehand in part because of the fury of media coverage around this story. It's interesting the Pew surveys about what people were interested in that month showed that they were only modestly interested in the trial but the media coverage of it was wall to wall.
And there were also -- there were also divides in who was interested in the trial. The Pew poll showed that blacks, African-Americans, tended to be much more interested in the trial paying much closer attention than white Americans. You know, that is in part because we can all choose different media outlets nowadays; liberal media outlets; conservative media outlets, media outlets that cater to minorities. Because we have different options we sometimes end up with different understandings of what the case is even about. And that's probably not a good thing overall for the country. COSTELLO: Ok. So let's move on to the Boston marathon bombers. Steve, you say the media spent days denying radical Islam had anything to do with the bombings. Explain.
MALZBERG: Well, even after they knew the identity of the brothers, I could quote person after person, one writer in particular was wishing out loud before they knew who it was hoping it was a white male. After they found out who it was, you know, right away the media is fearing a backlash against the Muslim community and the safe -- for the safety of the Muslims.
The fact of the matter is they went on to deny, make excuses. We heard one commentator say that it was the bombings in the drone attacks in Pakistan that led these brothers to do what they did. But when you listened to their own words of the bombers themselves, the writings of the brother who was alive, the radicalization, the mosques they went to, we knew there was no doubt what drove these two brothers.
But yet the media was so afraid to touch it. So afraid to go there, to this day there are people who are making excuses for these two brothers.
COSTELLO: Interesting. So Eric, your take is different. You say conservative media was too eager to place the blame on Islam. Remember -- remember "The New York Post" cover. I mean if we could put that up so we could remind people. They showed that guy in the backpack. He had nothing at all to do with it but, you know.
ERIC BOEHLERT, SENIOR FELLOW, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: Right.
COSTELLO: The intimation was that this guy was guilty and had something to do with radicalism.
BOEHLERT: Yes. Rather than letting the story unfold and rather than letting the facts unfold, you know, the conservatives, they get the whiff of Islam and they sort of lose all perspective. I mean the "The New York Post", those were two local Massachusetts high school kids they put on the cover of their newspaper calling them the bag men -- not even with a question mark. And then -- and then Glenn Beck went off on this crazy week long conspiracy theory about another student in the Boston area and Saudi national student on how he was definitely behind the bombing and everything. This was after the federal authority said we interviewed him, he has absolutely nothing to do with this, we're not interesting with him.
Glenn Beck for a week continued to smear this kid and tell his listeners they've got inside stories, they know who was really behind it all. So --
MALZBERG: But it was radical Islam was it not? It was radical Islam.
COSTELLO: Yes, but you can't pin the blame on the wrong people.
(CROSSTALK)
MALZBERG: No, but this was a guy who was spoken to by the authorities. He was wanted. They found him. They spoke to him.
BOEHLERT: Yes.
MALZBERG: It was a strange circumstance. I mean, it was a strange circumstance. You speculate.
COSTELLO: Ok so Brian -- Brian, I'm going to bring you into it --
MALZBERG: No, no, no, no, no.
COSTELLO: Brian. Just one second. Brian, this kind of -- the kind of coverage that the media obviously is not going to change; I would predict that it's going to be like this for some time to come and that's partly why journalists are as admired as lawyers and car salesmen. And I apologize to lawyers and car salesmen. So what's the answer?
STELTER: Well partly it's a (inaudible) out of variety of sources. I remember when I read about Glenn Beck's comments, about that Saudi national, I was curious about him. So I was able to search other sources and you know it turned out a week and a month later. Places like Media Matters reminded us that Glenn Beck seemed to be wrong about that one.
You know this might be an unpopular opinion, but I wonder if the press overall in retrospect overreacted to the attacks in Boston. It was a very scary week. I was scared along with the rest of the country.
In retrospect I wonder if there was an overreaction in the press because considering the relatively low -- low number of deaths and injuries. Now whether it was taken out of proportion, given all the other violence we see all the time. Because the word "terrorism" was applied, I think there may have been an overreaction for that reason.
COSTELLO: Interesting I wish I could continue this conversation but I've got to button it up. Steve Malzberg from Newsmax and Eric Boehlert from Media Matters and CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, thanks so much for a fascinating conversation.
STELTER: Thank you, Carol.
MALZBERG: Thank you.
COSTELLO: You're welcome. Brian, by the way, will have more on the biggest media headlines of the year this Sunday on "RELIABLE SOURCES". It all begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Sports (inaudible) heroes and goats in 2013 as usual. But murders and drug use and bullying also made the headlines for the sports section. Here to talk about the winners and losers of the year our "Bleacher Report" national league writer Dan Levy; SportsIllustrated.com managing editor Matt Bean; and Joe Carter from CNN Sports. Welcome to all of you. DAN LEVY, NATIONAL LEAGUE WRITER, "BLEACHER REPORT": Hello.
MATT BEAN, MANAGING EDITOR, SPORTSILLUSTRATED.COM: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Nice, you know I love sports, so I love this conversation, too. So let's talk about the good guys, first. Dan, you go first. Who are the big winners?
LEVY: I think the biggest winner of the year has to be LeBron James. He won his second consecutive NBA championship. He won his fourth MVP. The Heat had won 78 of the 98 games LeBron played in, in 2013. He is -- basically he's the best player in his sport maybe ever and he's having an incredible year this year. He's shooting nearly 60 percent from the field which is unheard of in his position.
COSTELLO: And he's from Akron, Ohio. He's one of my people.
BEAN: Oh, yes.
COSTELLO: Dan, who are your winners? I'm sorry, Matt. We're on to Matt. I'm sorry about that.
BEAN: Sure thing. I go by Dan sometimes, too. Our winner this year for the "Sports Illustrated" 2013 Sportsman of the Year was Peyton Manning. I've got to say nobody has turned in a dominant performance like this at the age of 37 in a sport as bruising as football. And that's why we went with Peyton Manning. He's got 51 touchdowns already this season. He's broken Tom Brady's record and he's up against the Oakland Raiders that have I believe the 26 ranked passing defense this week.
So we expect him to blow that out of the water but it's not just what Peyton Manning did on the field, it's how he did it and the legacy that he's going to leave for the quarterback position.
COSTELLO: So Matt, is he the greatest quarterback in history?
BEAN: I'd like to think he's definitely in that conversation. Of course, there are a lot of guys who will be right there with him, but he's making an inarguable case for himself right now.
COSTELLO: It's amazing. Ok Joe, who's your winner?
JOE CARTER, CNN SPORTS: My winner is the Boston Red Sox. World Series champs Boston Red Sox. I think it's for-- for not only for winning the world championship after having a terrible season the year before, but it's for what they did for the entire city of Boston. Obviously they became a rallying point for that city following the marathon bombings.
I love the point right here at the parade when they -- the world championship parade when they stopped the parade and they put the trophy on the finish line. I loved when David Ortiz stood on the mound said this is our bleeping city. Jonny Gomes said that they took on that Boston Strong mantra as a lifestyle, not so much a slogan. I just loved the World Series this moment here, putting the jersey that they had in their dugout all season long the 617, Boston Strong jersey, and really the most poignant moment of that parade obviously right there. And the Boston Red Sox are my winners of 2013.
COSTELLO: I almost didn't mind that they beat my Tigers. It was an awesome story. So Boston Strong, right.
Ok let's go on to the losers. Dan, your number one loser?
LEVY: Well it's sort of 1 and 1a. I think you have to say it's Aaron Hernandez and Oscar Pistorius. I mean if you look at some of the other big scandals that you and I talked about -- Lance Armstrong. To lose one's career, to be banned from your sport is bit different than being banned basically from society which is what happened with Hernandez and Pistorius if they're convicted.
The weird thing is 2014 for both of these guys probably going to be worse if we believe that they will be convicted.
COSTELLO: You got that right. Matt, how about you?
BEAN: Well, for me it's all about A-Rod. I mean the Biogenesis scandal has laid bare a pattern of repeated denial and cover ups that Major League Baseball has punished Alex Rodriguez for. Far and beyond any of the other players named in that scandal I think we're still waiting to see how this is all going to play out.
But you had A-Rod you know in his own city almost turned into a pariah because of how he handled himself. He was almost out of touch with what public perception had about a guy who actually on the field when he came back to play was pretty darn good, almost willed the Yankees into the playoffs himself.
But A-Rod has not handle this correctly like Major League Baseball said in their verdict, this is a pattern for him and really a guy who had so many given gifts has handled this in a way that is not becoming of a guy of his stature.
COSTELLO: Joe?
CARTER: I'm going to go with another team. I'm going to say the Florida Gators. You know I'm a huge college football fan Carol. And I'm going to say that the Florida Gators were the most disappointing team of this college football season. The expectations in Gainesville are very high. They won the title in '06 and '08 -- obviously a Heisman trophy with Tim Tebow. Last year they won 11 games. They started this season ranked 10th in the country and then obviously that quickly evaporated. Not only did they lose seven games in a row to finish the season, they lost to Georgia Southern.
Now congratulations to Georgia Southern, but Florida at home should never lose to a team like Georgia Southern; and Georgia Southern in that game did not complete a single pass. They beat Florida the old fashion way, by running it right down their throats.
So for the first time since 1990 Florida will not be participating in a bowl game. But college football for all its pageantry and all its drama also has a lot of unpredictability. And I like that, just like Auburn, turned things around. Watch out for Florida next season you never know in college football but obviously their disappointment this year is why I picked them as a 2013 loser.
COSTELLO: Great conversation. Thanks to all of you for being here -- Dan Levy, Matt Bean and Joe Carter. Thanks so much.
BEAN: Thank you.
LEVY: Thank you.
COSTELLO: NEWSROOM is back in a minute.
CARTER: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Osama bin Laden is dead and gone but more leaders and more groups now carry on Al Qaeda's mission against the United States. As Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr shows us, 2013 has been a year of rebuilding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: CNN has learned recent intercepted messages from senior al Qaeda operatives in Yemen are renewing concerns the group is planning to attack. The intercepts don't indicate specific targets but are described by one source as, quote, "active plotting".
SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: There are multiple indications that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is plotting attacks both within Yemen against U.S. and other western structures as well as overseas.
STARR: The group in Yemen already well known for the failed underwear bomber attempt to bring down an airplane Christmas day, 2009. Four years later the U.S. intelligence community believes it poses the greatest threat of an attack on the U.S.
JONES: They're still capable of conducting attacks outside of Yemen including plotting attacks against the United States in multiple locations including trying to conduct attacks against the U.S. homeland especially by taking down aircraft.
BARBARA: Analysts say the group rebounded in 2013 from battle field losses. U.S. drone strikes have had mixed results. A drone attack this month failed to kill an al Qaeda planner believed to be behind a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy. Yemen says more than a dozen members of a wedding party were killed in that attack.
Yemen's al Qaeda leader Nasser al-Wahishi (ph) also advising al Qaeda fighters across the region. And those al Qaeda affiliates from Yemen, to Syria, Iraq and Libya are growing stronger. The threat they posed worries key members of congress.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST: Are we safer now than we were a year ago, two years ago?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I absolutely agree that we're not safer today.
STARR: In Iraq police are trying to crack down but al Qaeda openly operates training camps near the Syrian border and from there al Qaeda has moved in to Syria with weapons and tactics learned during the U.S. war in Iraq.
Inside Syria, a key al Qaeda affiliate also stronger than a year ago. About 100 Americans along with potentially hundreds from Europe are fighting alongside thousands of militants.
JONES: If they were able to return to Europe and to get access to the United States or return directly to the United States, they were not put on any watch list, they would pose a very serious threat. They're well-trained, they're radicalized and they have the ability and intent to strike the U.S. homeland.
STARR: Analysts say the rise of the new al Qaeda affiliate is part of the price paid for years of attacks against the old core al Qaeda. Many of those leaders are long gone, including Osama bin Laden. And now the new affiliates have much more autonomy, much more freedom to operate as they see fit.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Checking other top stories at 50 minutes past, the mission to free a trapped ship just off the coast of Antarctica has stalled for now. One of the ice breakers ran into icy conditions of its own. But it is within sight of that stuck vessel. It is just six nautical miles away.
Luckily there have been no injuries and the expedition leader says everyone seems to be in good spirits.
In Argentina a Christmas day swim turned out badly near the city of Rosario. A swarm of the flesh-eating piranha insured about 70 swimmers including some kids who may have lost fingers in the attack. Locals say an isolated bite isn't all that uncommon, but to have so many people attacked at once is virtually unheard of.
Still to come in THE NEWSROOM a royal birth, U.S. intelligence secrets out in the open and the appointment of a new pope, a look back on the top international stories of 2013, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: This year several events grabbed the world's attention from the announcement of a new pope to one man's quest to reveal the inner workings of spy agencies inside the United States.
Which story came out on top? CNN's Michael Holmes takes a look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Number ten --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're getting word of a deadly shooting involving international sports icon, Oscar Pistorius and his model girlfriend.
HOLMES: The Olympian admits to shooting Reeva Steenkamp in his lavish South African home on Valentine's Day. But he says it was all an accident.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oscar Pistorius appearing before the magistrate. He was clearly upset, at times sobbing, crying.
HOLMES: Pistorius, nicknamed "Blade Runner" for the prosthetic legs he uses for sprinting, was charged with premeditated murder. He's fighting that charge, saying he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder.
Number nine, the royal announcement heard around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: The duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4:24 p.m. local time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God save the queen.
HOLMES: The fountains of Trafalgar Square illuminated in blue light.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The new royal heir in the United Kingdom.
HOLMES: Baby George was born in July to Prince William and his wife, Kate.
Number eight --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tens of thousands of people have poured out on to the streets in what is another demonstration against the government.
HOLMES: About a year after the Arab spring ushered in Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi is the ousted in a military coup. Many Egyptians frustrated by what they saw as the slow pace of change and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
Number seven, after decades of distrust and a diplomatic gridlock, there's a thaw with Iran.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": The phone call that's making history. President Obama called Iran's new president, Hasan Rouhani.
HOLMES: And in November, a breakthrough in Geneva.
BLITZER: A deal has been reached, a deal involving Iran and six world powers.
HOLMES: The preliminary deal limits Iran's ability to work towards a nuclear weapon and loosens some international sanctions. Critics say it doesn't go far enough.
Number six --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All around us you hear the sounds of windows breaking. You hear the sounds of large objects falling and crashing to the floor.
HOLMES: Typhoon Haiyan wiped out entire towns in the Philippines, one of the strongest storms to hit any country ever.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: The smells in Tacloban are overwhelming, the smell of death, the smell of decay.
HOLMES: More than 5,000 people killed.
Number five, terror at a mall in Kenya, gunmen opened fire, killing dozens and taking many hostages.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone here in Nairobi is on a razor's edge. I'm standing just a short distance away from the Westgate Mall that's under siege in its third day.
HOLMES: Surveillance cameras captured this chilling video of gunmen shooting their way through a supermarket in the mall and al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab in Somalia claims responsibility.
Number four, grief and gratitude as the world says good-bye to Nelson Mandela.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's now at peace.
HOLMES: The former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate died at the age of 95.
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Behind me you can see a crowd. They've been dancing and singing almost nonstop since the news came.
HOLMES: His life celebrated for ending apartheid and creating a democratic and inclusive South Africa. For 10 days, South Africans and dignitaries from around the world honored the man who taught the world about compassion, patience, reconciliation and freedom.
CURNOW: Now we see Nelson Mandela making that final journey.
HOLMES: Number three --
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A person who says he leaked top-secret information about a U.S. government surveillance program has emerged from the shadows and identified himself.
EDWARD SNOWDEN, NSA LEAKER: My name is Ed Snowden.
HOLMES: The U.S. manhunt for Edward Snowden turns into an international game of cat and mouse.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: The man who's been spilling U.S. intelligence secrets is on the move. But where is his final destination?
HOLMES: First Hong Kong lets him go then Russia refuses to extradite him. Snowden's leaks were a major embarrassment for the NSA, revealing the extent the agency was spying on Americans as well as international leaders and citizens.
Number two --
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The pope resigns, the leader of the Catholic Church stepping down at the end of the month.
HOLMES: Pope Benedict becomes the first head of the Catholic Church to resign in 600 years. The 86-year-old said it was because of poor health.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR The bell is ringing here in Rome -- the campanone, the big ring. That means one thing, John Allen. What does it mean?
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: The first pope elected from South America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The curtains are open. The cross bearer is coming out and there he is.
HOLMES: Dubbed "the people's pope", Francis has laid out a vision of a more inclusive Catholic Church, focusing on compassion for the poor and afflicted.
Number one, the civil war in Syria -- more than two years of fighting, some 100,000 have been killed, more than 2 million are refugees. In August, a chemical weapons attack kills hundreds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's absolutely horrifying. We've seen a video showing the bodies of lifeless children.
HOLMES: Syria denied responsibility.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. is making the case for military intervention in Syria.
HOLMES: The U.S. on the brink of military action. But a last-minute deal brokered by Russia averted an international crisis. The agreement dismantles Syria's chemical arsenal but left Bashar al-Assad in power, a civil war raging and a civilian population still suffering.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Michael Holmes reporting.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. I hope you have a fantastic New Year.
"LEGAL VIEW" starts now. PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: The snow dragon to the rescue. A Chinese ice breaker draws closer to a ship with 74 people aboard trapped in the thick Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve.
And a gloomy holiday for more than one million long-term unemployed Americans -- their jobless benefits are set to expire tomorrow.
And rocky mountain high starting New Year's Day, wee for recreational use will be legal in Colorado.
