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Trump Dominates Airwaves Despite Attacking Media; CNN Goes Inside Rebel-Held Syria. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 17, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:13] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: French authorities say four terror suspects have been arrested for allegedly plotting an attack in France and trying to communicate with ISIS. The source close to that investigation tells CNN the main suspect had been under house arrest because of ties to Islamic extremism. Convicted in 2014 and planning to join an al Qaeda affiliate, it's unclear just how close that group was to pulling off an attack.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama doling out a new round of sanctions to North Korea for its recent nuclear and ballistic missile test. The executive order terminates experts with Pyongyang and allows the Treasury Department to keep closer tabs on human rights abuses and potential cyber threats. The White House also asking for the pardon and release of Otto Warmbier. He's the 21-year-old American student sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a poster from a hotel.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Washington, D.C.'s Metro back up and running this morning. It was shut down on Wednesday for an emergency system-wide inspection. Officials repaired dozens of power cables, the culprit of a fire on the tracks Monday. The unprecedented closure left hundreds of thousands of commuters scrambling on how to figure out how to get around the capital.

PEREIRA: Sad news to pass on. Frank Sinatra, Jr., has died suddenly. The son of legendary old blue eyes died while on tour in Florida. Now, according to a family statement, he suffered a cardiac arrest. Frank Sinatra, Jr. carried on his father's legacy with his own music career, even working as his father's bandleader during the icon's final years on the road.

Frank Sinatra, Jr., was 72. He is said to have not been in touch with his dad as a boy but they rekindled that relationship and had quite a bond later in his father's life.

CAMEROTA: That's nice. Nice when that happens, it comes full circle.

CUOMO: Too young, only 72. Thoughts to his family, for sure.

All right. Let's take a little break here, when we come back, a closer look at Donald Trump and the media. All of you love to talk about this. Let's look inside how this dynamic works. Is it all part of Trump's momentum magic?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:37:17] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You are going to find out about the media some day, folks. They are the worst. They are the worst.

It's absolute dishonest, absolute scum.

But never kill 'em, but I do hate them. And some of them are such lying and disgusting people.

They write lies. They false stories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, those are just some of Donald Trump's feelings about the press. And for somebody who hates the press he knows how to use it to his advantage and he is threatening to shut down some parts of the free press.

Joining us to talk about all of this, CNN senior reporter for media and politics, Dylan Byers, and CNN media analyst, Bill Carter.

Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here.

Bill, I want to start with you. Donald Trump seems to have single-handedly shut down the next FOX debate.

BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes.

CAMEROTA: He said yesterday or two days -- this week that he didn't know it was happening and doesn't want to participate in it, and John Kasich said without frontrunner, I'm not going to participate and FOX stopped it.

CARTER: It was dead. They killed it.

CAMEROTA: How did it come to pass that Donald Trump have so much power over the media?

CARTER: Well, it's leverage. You know, he talks about his deal-making prowess, and this is him using his leverage. He knows he draws rating and there's evidence of that and we have seen it, and he particularly doesn't like FOX and he likes to do things to make them twist in the wind a little bit.

And so, here he has leverage over them and he exercised it.

CAMEROTA: Dylan, it's fair to say that Donald Trump likes being on television. He likes being the subject of various newspaper and magazine profiles and TV likes having him on, the ratings go up and it should be a win-win. But somehow, it's more complicated than that because sometimes he turns on the networks and won't go on.

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS: It's always comical when he rails against the media when he calls them dishonest and scum and liars and what have you, because he seems to be incapable of going more than an hour without being in the media, and that's in the news, on Twitter, tweeting out criticisms of members of the media. I mean, the story of Trump's campaign in the last nine months, it's a political phenomenon, but it's fundamentally a media phenomenon.

It's a story of about how someone can use and manipulate the media and benefit from unprecedented levels of free media attention well at the same time exploiting the wide-spread distrust in the media, especially among conservatives and those on the right in order to fuel his own campaign. I think, you know, people at media academics are going to be studying this one for decades.

[06:40:01] CAMEROTA: Donald Trump uses new media, Bill. He often uses Twitter to get his message out, which is the perfect medium if you just want to hurl a spit ball --

CARTER: Exactly.

CAMEROTA: -- and not have everything come back at you.

I mean, let me just read you an example. You know, obviously, we have been on the receiving end of it as has so many different media outlets. This one was directed to "The New York Times", he says, "The failing New York Times is truly one of the worst newspapers, they knowingly write lies, never even call to fact check, really bad people."

Now, "The New York Times" can't do anything about that. You take the incoming.

CARTER: Of course, and again, if you are a Republican and attack the media, you never lose any influence or voters. They love to attack -- and "The New York Times" the perfect thing to attack. But he also courts "The New York Times." This guy craves attention. That's what he really lives for.

It's partly that he wants to be president and he wants the idea paying attention to what he says, and when he tweets something, everybody re-tweets it and then it gets more coverage.

CAMEROTA: Dylan, you know, the media is not without its own guilt because the media loves to have him on and our ratings go up when Donald Trump is on, and he gets all sorts of free press.

Let me pull up some of the advertising rates he has not had to pay. He has bought $10 million worth of advertising but he has gotten 1$1.9 billion worth of free media. That is exponentially more than any of the other candidates.

BYERS: I mean, that will be when the history books are written one of the most important statistic of the entire Donald Trump campaign. Look, there's a lot of criticism that says why do you carry his press conferences, his rallies, his victory speeches? You are effectively giving him infomercials.

Look, he is the Republican frontrunner. And more than that, he is a unique and unprecedented phenomenon in American politics, he has defied political gravity for nine months on a daily basis, and he has set the agenda for so much of what we are talking about, like it or not, in this campaign season. So, you know, I understand the criticism. We have spent a lot of time looking into and talking with Donald Trump. It's also true that to not cover Donald Trump and to not take stock of what is going on in American politics right now might be its own form of journalistic practice.

CAMEROTA: Bill, I want to finish with this, because he's made a new threat against the media in the past couple of weeks, and it does send a shiver down the spine of journalists. Here's what he has just said, "I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of wining because they're totally protected.

That's changing the free press as we know it.

CARTER: It's also preposterous. How is he going to do it? The president doesn't just by fiat say we're going to change the libel laws. You know, he can't do that unless we get to a dictatorship, let's be scary about it.

He's not going to be able to do it. It's bluster. It's another way to intimidate. I will change the libel laws if you keep writing these things about me.

The worst thing for him, though, would be if people didn't write about him, because really to be ignored would be the worst thing for him than being criticized.

CAMEROTA: Bill, Dylan, thank you. Great to get your analysis.

Let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: So, Alisyn, up ahead, we are going to take you inside rebel-held Syria, thousands of civilians, they're desperate for help and aid? How do you get them aid? We have a just-watch CNN exclusive, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:37] CUOMO: This is going to be controversial. We just got word there will be no criminal charges for more than a dozen U.S. military personnel over mistakes that led to the bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan last year. Discipline is being handed out, but most of it is administrative, including punishments that can effectively end chances for further promotion. Forty-two hospital workers, patients and caretakers were killed.

PEREIRA: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is set to testify this morning as a congressional hearing on the Flint water crisis. Governor Snyder is expected lead contamination in Flint was a failure of government at every level, local, state and federal. EPA Administration Gina McCarthy and her testimony will place the blame squarely on the state, criticizing regulators and Snyder's handpicked officials in Flint.

CAMEROTA: Here's a big development. This generation of whales at SeaWorld will be the last. In a surprise announcement, the theme park announcing an end to its whale breeding program, the current workers will remain at the park and receive the highest quality care, they say.

The treatment of the whales came under fire after a CNN documentary "Blackfish." SeaWorld also announcing a new partnership with the Humane Society to work commercial whaling and sea hunts.

PEREIRA: They said they understand we as a society have evolved and they are listening. I think there's going to be a lot of people that will cheer this.

CAMERORTA: Yes, I mean, critics say it took them too long but they work their way around to the right of policy.

CUOMO: One of the things that helps people get it, and it's animals, and dolphins, which are what killer whales are, right, they are the only animals that only get to eat when they perform, and they are so intelligent they don't go along with the act with what other animals do, so that really helps you understand the focus of what their lives are like. It fuels a lot of the interests.

All right. We're going to take a little break here. When we come back, one of our most fearless reporters is going to take you inside rebel-held Syria. An exclusive CNN report, inside life in Syria during the violence, next.

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[06:53:22] PEREIRA: When rebels took control of the Syrian provincial capital of Irbil, they saw it as a crucial opportunity to demonstrate that they could build their own state and believe that's exactly why Russia is bombing all civic institutions into dusts, court houses, schools, even a Doctors Without Borders hospital has been leveled in recent months at the Kremlin's vicious aerial campaign.

But the few doctors left behind say they cannot abandon their moral obligation to the people.

Our senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward, she went into rebel-held Syrian territory where virtually no Western journalists have gone for about year. And she joins us with her exclusive report, even bringing us terrific and amazing stories, and now you are taking a look at what it's like inside for these medical professionals?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. We heard from so many people in rebel-held areas that what they felt like was it a war against everyday life, this was a war against anytime they would try to build sep semblance of a functioning society, they felt like it got bombed.

So, we took a look particularly at court houses and hospitals to see just how they have been affected, not only by the regime's bombardment, but by the Russian military intervention. I should say this piece was shot before the cessation hostilities and before the news Russia would be withdrawing its military.

But take a look. I think you will be surprised.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice-over): It's an all-too common sight in rebel-held parts of Syria, the moments after the air strike. Dazed survivors stagger from the rubble, and those still trapped call out for help.

[06:55:03] The target this time, the court house in Idlib City, activists say the bombs were Russian.

(on camera): When rebels took this provincial capital of Idlib, they saw it as a crucial opportunity to demonstrate that they could build their own state and they believe that's exactly why the Russians bombed this courthouse, to undermine that effort.

(voice-over): Any civilian infrastructure is a potential target, including hospitals. Last month, four were hit in a single day. One, in the city of Maarrat Numan, was supported by Doctors Without Borders. This is what remains of it now is ruins, and at least 25 people were killed.

Dr. Mazen al-Souad was the general manager. He told us that Russian and regime forces target hospitals cynically and deliberately.

DR. MAZEN AL-SOUAD (through translator): They want to kill the maximum number of people. Also they want to forbid the area from having medical service. If there is no doctor, no nurse, no hospital, then there is no healthcare for the people and people will flee.

WARD (on camera): Is it possible that they didn't know the building was a hospital?

AL-SOUAD: Everyone knows this is a hospital. There was even a sign that said this is a hospital. But if they didn't know, this is an even bigger disaster because if you are bombing a building like this without knowing it's a hospital, it means you are hitting totally indiscriminately.

WARD (voice-over): Against the backdrop of this vicious war, Islamist factions have gained the upper hand, including al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. The landscape is peppered with signs shunning Western democracy, and urging all men to join the jihad. And one encourages women to cover up completely.

Dr. Fera al-Jundi works at the only hospital still standing in Maarat Numan. He's no militant, but sees this conflict in black and white.

DR. FERA AL-JUNDI (through translator): The whole of the Syrian people is against ISIS and against extremism but we see that the Russians are bombing far from ISIS and they're focused on civilian areas.

WARD: I asked him why he doesn't leave Syria?

AL-JUNDI: If I did that, I would abandon my conscience. This is our country, we can't desert it.

If we left, then we have sold our morals. Who would treat the people? I can very easily leave, but we will remain steadfast.

I am prepared to die rather than to leave. And I will carry on no matter what.

WARD: Carry on in the faint hope that for the next generation of Syrians, it will be better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: So powerful to see that response from him so emotional. That doctor in seeing the hospital that was hit, is there any sense of the scale of how many hospitals have been destroyed and hit with the air strikes?

WARD: Well, this is what was interesting, Michaela, we did research before we did this story and we wanted to know how widespread this phenomenon was, because, obviously, and the Russian air force and the air force of the regime said they never targeted hospitals, or any civilian infrastructure, but we looked at a report at a Doctor Without Borders just for 2015, and only looking at rebel held areas, and they said that 82 medical facilities, 82 medical facilities hit last year, 12 of them were absolutely destroyed by those hits.

And I just wanted to give you a couple other figures that stayed with me from this report, and just that area in northwestern Syrian area where we were, that rebel-held area, 462 children under the age of 5 were killed last year, and in and around Damascus rebel-held area, 420 women and children were killed in 2015, really giving you a sense that civilians are very much bearing the brunt --

(CROSSTASLK)

PEREIRA: Absolutely, the innocents in harm's way.

That doctor and others that you spoke to, what are their sense of these peace talks going on in Geneva?

WARD: Well, it's interesting because, of course, people on the ground want peace.

PEREIREA: Right.

WARD: Of course, they want their lives to improve. They want an end to the bombardment.

At the same time they don't feel their voice and their needs are being represented or heard in Geneva. They feel that they are kind of unwitting pawns in this game of chess between super powers that is going on.