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Tragedy Ignites New Gun Control Calls; Clinton Drops Jokes, Changes Tone on E-Mails; NY Tabloids Show Images from Killer; Trump Holds Double-Digit Lead. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 27, 2015 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:29:40] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Colin -- thank you so much.

And Dave, I don't mean to neglect you. So just going back to your point about, you know, how not to inspire these mentally unbalanced people to commit acts of horrible violence. So I don't know if there's any one answer because I do believe people have the right to know, you know, who shot someone else. I believe they have the right to know everything.

DAVE CULLEN, AUTHOR, "COLUMBINE": Well, yes. I think there are some answers.

COSTELLO: So where is the line?

CULLEN: Well, I think it's a matter of scaling back in how we do it. People definitely have a right to know, but in this day and age, I mean you can Google his name. It's going to be out there. You can get his image. That doesn't mean that we need to say it over and over again and show his image repeatedly, especially when we sort of visual wallpaper where it's background in opening of segments, you know.

I was on a (INAUDIBLE) a couple of years ago talking about this, how the media should stop using the image as the intro to the segment about whether we should do lots of it. There was just over and over the perpetrator for no purpose really. I don't think it needs to be wall to wall 24 hours.

You know, I'm not in the TV business, but perhaps an hour-long show could devote 20 minutes or something to it. Does it really need to be all day for an entire week afterwards? Anything that sort of like let the killers know we're not making you this starring role, we're not making you -- playing right into your hands.

I mean this guy did it on live television, and then filmed it himself just in case, you know, the live TV didn't get it and to put it on television. What more do we need to have tell us that these people are trying to get on television? That they're reaching for this infamy and then we're playing into their hands?

COSTELLO: I hear you. I haven't mentioned his name once in my two hours on television.

CULLEN: Yes -- thank you. COSTELLO: So thanks for being here. I appreciate it -- Dave.

And thanks to you, too -- Colin.

CULLEN: Thanks -- Colin.

COSTELLO: I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, likely voters were given one word to describe Hillary Clinton and most of the answers, well, not too flattering.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:52] COSTELLO: For Hillary Clinton the days of joking about or dismissing criticism of her use of personal e-mail while she was secretary of state may be over. Clinton taking a more serious tone on the issue during a campaign stop in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My use of personal e-mail was allowed by the State Department. It clearly wasn't the best choice. I should have used two e-mails, one personal, one for work, and I take responsibility for that decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's talk about this. CNN political analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast" John Avlon is here. Hi -- John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Carol.

COSTELLO: So why the change in tone?

AVLON: Well, I think she needed to change her tone. And this was a decidedly different approach. This wasn't joking about wiping servers off with a cloth. This was her saying I understand why people are upset. I get it. I made the wrong decision, and I take responsibility for it.

And that's an important step. A new tack in addressing this not only from a communication standpoint but also asserting that what she did when she did it was permitted under the rules and trying to be as transparent as possible going forward about serving over information and giving any testimony that's necessary.

But clearly the previous tack has not been working. The problems have been compounding so this is overdue but probably welcome from the campaign's perspective.

COSTELLO: You know voters like a little humility, right. It's like why didn't she do this sooner? It was just weird.

AVLON: Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes. Ok. So let's -- AVLON: It was weird.

COSTELLO: Nothing more said on that.

Ok. Let's take a look at this new Quinnipiac poll because it shows Mrs. Clinton still maintains a double digit lead with voters, but she's lost 10 percentage points in the last month. So will this trend continue or will her new tone make a difference?

AVLON: Well, clearly it's the hope of the campaign it will make a difference. I think what's significant about this poll, it's the first poll showing a Biden hypothetical candidacy could do better against some Republicans. That's got to make Hillary Clinton's camp nervous in part because it's sort of a red flag to a bull about getting Biden in the race.

But a bit of a reality check here. She still is doing twice in this poll as well as Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders. That's significant. But the downward trend is troubling and those five words you mentioned, that association at the top. Those numbers are really troubling for the Hillary Clinton camp when you have five words and three of them are negative and synonyms for liar. That's not good.

COSTELLO: I know. Well let's lay those words on our viewers right now. So the Quinnipiac poll asked voters about the first word that comes to mind when they thought of Hillary Clinton. That word was "liar" followed by "dishonest" followed by "trustworthy", "experience", and "strong". So that's kind of a weird mixed bag, right?

AVLON: It's a weird mixed bag but the first three are basically synonyms for having a truth telling problem. That's no good for the Hillary Clinton camp. Strong is good, experience is good, but clearly the weight is on the negative associations resuscitated by the server scandal which is why she's got to change her tone. The campaign needs to change their tack and try to get past this.

It's not going to be done in one day but clearly the damage has been done and it's been reflected in the downward trend of the polls over the last month.

COSTELLO: All right. John Avlon -- thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the shooter in the murder of two journalists posted his violence online. Why at least one journalist feels social media sites should not be the ones censoring it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:43:47] COSTELLO: Two New York tabloids are getting slammed by readers this morning for their shocking front pages. I'm not going to show you them but they're right here. The "Daily News" and the "New York Post" both used freeze frames of the journalist murders taken from the camera the killer wore. Here are how some readers reacted. Quote, "May I suggest this as

an alternative cover for the 'New York Daily News'. And this tweet, "That image is literally exactly what the shooter wanted people to see."

Let's talk about this. Joining me now on the phone, Michael Harrison, publisher of "Talkers Magazine". Welcome Michael -- it's nice to talk with you again.

MICHAEL HARRISON, "TALKERS MAGAZINE" (via telephone): Good to talk to you -- Carol. Bad circumstances but always nice to talk to you.

COSTELLO: Thanks so much. So what do you make of the covers? I mean they're tabloids, they deal in the sensational and they're very sensational this morning.

HARRISON: Well, I'm certainly an advocate of free speech and freedom of the press so they have the right to do that. However, there is such a thing as taste. And there is a reason why even though we're in the digital age, let's look at print journalism. There's a reason why they call it the front page.

I personally think it's in bad taste to put something that might be disturbing to people on the front page where people could see it against their will if they're walking on the street. It's on the newsstands. It's out there. It's in public.

[10:45:01] I think that if I were the publisher of those tabloids, I certainly would have run pictures, but I would have run them in a more discreet place so as not to inflict them on people who might not want to see them. And that's the way I would do it.

COSTELLO: You know, I spoke with the Roanoke mayor earlier this morning and he hadn't seen the pictures but I described them to him. And he had an interesting take. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR DAVID A. BOWERS (D), ROANOKE, VIRGINIA: They remind me of Matthew Brady, the civil war photographer who took pictures of the battle scenes during the Civil War. They were appalling at the time. People were -- they were provocative at the time, but they helped the American people begin to understand the horrors of war.

I mean, at some point when are we going to understand the horrors of gun violence in our country?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ok. So basically what he was saying, Michael, is people actually need to see images like these to like bring home the horror, the true horror of gun violence.

HARRISON: Well, his position was a partisan and a biased position of his own sensibilities and his own feeling as to what people need to do for the benefit of any social progress. So I don't necessarily buy into that.

I believe in free press. I believe in free speech. The First Amendment is very important. And I personally do believe that publishers and editors should not take it on themselves to determine what people need or what people should be protected from seeing.

So when I said don't put it on the front page so as to protect the sensibilities of other people that might not want to see that, I think that that's a smart thing to do. But I think it's equally warped to say it's my job to shove this into the consciousness of the people that they have to understand the horrors of war by putting it in their face.

So I think there's a middle ground, Carol, and I think that most reasonable journalists -- we're talking about journalism here, we're not talking about entertainment or sensationalism or titillation for the sake of selling newspapers or getting, you know, media ratings. We're talking about the pure principles of journalism which we don't hear that much about anymore.

I think that it's important to not edit stuff that people as adults need to know but on the other hand we walk such a fuzzy line with sensationalism and attention-getting devices. I think that that should also be taken into consideration when making presentations to the public.

COSTELLO: I hear you. Michael Harrison -- thanks so much for your insight. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, hot off the heels of a new poll, GOP front-runner Donald Trump is gearing up to take his next stage. Protesters have vowed to be there. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:52:19] COSTELLO: Donald Trump takes his pledge to make America great again to South Carolina today as a new poll shows he has widened his lead in the race for the White House.

CNN Politics reporter, M.J. Lee is in Greenville, South Carolina to walk us through the numbers. Good morning, M.J.

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning -- Carol.

Whatever it is Donald Trump is doing is clearly working. This morning we have yet another poll showing that Trump is the clear leader in the Republican pack. His number right now is at 28 percent which is up from 20 percent in the previous month, and no one else really comes close to Donald Trump right now.

The person in second place is Ben Carson who is only at 12 percent and then we have a few candidates like Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker who are at 6 percent or 7 percent. It just goes to show, Carol, that even though Trump has been at the center of a number of controversies, whether it's throwing a reporter out of a campaign even or making questionable comments about Fox News' Megyn Kelly, people are into him. And there is a lot of excitement about his candidacy.

I'm here in Greenville, South Carolina right now where we're waiting for Donald Trump to come here and speak. And I can tell you that outside dozens and dozens of people are already lining up to hear him speak.

Donald spoke with Chris Cuomo on "NEW DAY" earlier today and asked about his lead in the polls. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I see the response that I get, Chris, and, you know, I'm honored by the polls but I'm not that surprised to see it. I also see my competition. You know, I see people like Jeb Bush who is a nice man, but he's not bringing you to the promised land. I see others and I respect everybody that's running. You know, it takes courage to run.

It really does take a lot of courage. Even if you're a politician it takes courage to run but I would say that we will get them there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Reporter: as you can see, Carol, never missing an opportunity to take a jab at Jeb Bush. This open war between Trump and Bush will be a fascinating storyline to follow in the coming weeks.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. M.J. Lee, thanks so much.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:58:36] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 58 minutes past.

A judge sentencing movie theater gunman James Holmes to the maximum handing him 12 life sentences plus more than 3,000 years in prison. Applause could be heard in the courtroom as Holmes was led out in shackles. He is not eligible for parole.

The USA Network has delayed the season finale of its show "Mr. Robot" following yesterday's shooting saying the previously filmed season finale of "Mr. Robot" contains a graphic scene similar in nature to the day's tragic events in Virginia. Out of respect, we are postponing tonight's episode.

Just a little under six hours ago, the morning team at WDBJ took to the air for their first broadcast after the murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward with some help from journalists from other stations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've had a lot of help from many of our journalism colleagues that includes Steve Grant to my right who's an anchor at our sister station KY3 in Springfield, Missouri. Thank you so much for being here with us -- Steve. We appreciate you --

STEVE GRANT, KY3 ANCHOR: Thank you, Kim, and I bring with me the best prayers and best wishes of all the folks of southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas to WDBJ 7 and all of Roanoke area. Our hearts are broken with yours and certainly we're here to do everything we can to help you get through this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we appreciate it. We're needing everyone's help and love and support right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Awesome.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

[11:00:10] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: And I'm John Berman.

Today a TV station, a Virginia community, the entire --