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Quest Means Business
U.S. Adds 943K Jobs in July, Most Since Last August; Greece Wildfires Turn Deadly; Australians Face New Lockdowns as COVID Cases Surge; Hezbollah Fires Rockets at Israeli Positions Near Lebanese Border, Calling It Retaliation For Airstrikes; IOC Removes To Belarusian Coaches Amid Sprinter Scandal. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired August 06, 2021 - 15:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:22]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS HOST: It is Friday. We made it.
The Dow is ending the week on a high, hitting new records with strong July job numbers. Look at the way the day progressed. Straight up, right out of
the gate, hasn't looked back, and 35,171. That will be a record if it closes and we'll have similar with other markets. That's the way it looks,
the main events of the day, and it is that labor market that is humming.
President Biden is warning the delta variant could derail the economic progress.
United Airlines becomes the first U.S. carrier to tell its staff, get vaccinated or you're grounded.
And Apple says, it will start scanning iPhones for images of child abuse. Privacy groups said it is setting a dangerous precedent.
For the last day of the week, the working week anyway, we are live in New York on Friday. It is August 6. I'm Richard Quest and of course, I mean
business.
Good evening. A blockbuster job report in the United States that comes with a delta shaped asterisk. The U.S. economy added 944,000 jobs in July. The
most since last August. And as it did so, the unemployment rate has fallen to 5.4 percent -- 943, I beg your pardon.
The numbers have sent the Dow to a record, the S&P has gains are smaller. The NASDAQ is tinkering into the red.
President Biden has warned that the delta variant can still derail the U.S. economy. After all, the C.D.C. says delta accounts for more than 93 percent
of COVID cases in the U.S. The President says there's a way to stop it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America can beat the delta variant just as we beat the original COVID-19. We can do this.
So, wear a mask when recommended. Get vaccinated today. All of that will save lives and it means we are not going to have the same kind of economic
damage we've seen when COVID-19 began.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Phil Mattingly is with us from the White House. The President is pulling every stop out in the organization. I mean, you know, we've had to
bribe, we've had the exhortations, we've had the threats, and now he is basically doing the pleading.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Pleading, and I think you're seeing as opposed to the primary focus being on carrots, which
was the better part of the last couple of months, you're seeing the sticks as well without any question.
You're seeing for Federal workers, the requirement that they get vaccinated. Obviously, a big push from the White House to try to get
private businesses to not just require, but actually mandate vaccine as well and we've been reporting that officials are actually discussing
whether or not it is possible to use kind of Federal authority to withhold funds for, particularly, long term care facilities, Medicare funds
specifically to try and also require vaccinations on that front as well.
It is an entirely new posture, Richard that we've seen really the three or four months prior to this, and it underscores the urgency here, and I think
the very real concern as they look around the country, they know there is an answer. They know there is a solution.
But they also know that if that solution is not taken advantage of by tens of millions of more people, it is not just the public health side of this
because as you know as well as anybody, these are interconnected. It is public health and economy.
And while obviously today was good jobs report, they feel like to quote, Tim Geithner and date myself a little bit, the runway is foamed a little
bit in terms of we've got some leeway to work because of the programs that were implemented over the course of the last several months on the economic
side.
If this continues in this direction, they will have very, very real problems on the economic side, too.
QUEST: Phil, the time to start worrying is when you start quoting Alan Greenspan.
Look, Phil, the reality is, though, as long as the Governor of Florida and others like him seem stubbornly refusing to budge, saying it is up to the
people to decide on masks, it is up to the people to decide on vaccinations. The U.S. stays stubbornly fully vaccinated at 50 to 60
percent.
MATTINGLY: Yes, look, and I think if you wanted to know why the White House is not just from a policy perspective to change their posture over the
course of the last 10 on 15 days, but also from a messaging perspective. They were so reticent to attack any Republican on this issue, on public
health issues, on vaccinations generally because they didn't want to turn it into a political issue.
They were wary of what that would do to vaccination numbers if it looked like an R versus D time of thing. That's changed. They've gone frontally at
Governor DeSantis repeatedly from President Biden on down over the course of the last several days.
[15:05:20]
MATTINGLY: And the reason why is because they are looking at the data. They're looking at the numbers. They're looking at Florida basically making
up about 25 percent of the total new hospitalizations in the U.S. because of COVID, and they are saying that this could be a significant problem, not
just for the State of Florida, but nationwide.
I think the one thing that you're hearing most from administration officials is the mitigation, they know what works from a mitigation side of
things. They obviously know vaccinations are the solution but as kids go back to school, as delta spreads and you're worried about -- you know, you
talk about jobs, you're worried about hospitality, you're worried about restaurants, they know masks are a key element as all the science says
that.
And if statewide officials choose not just to not follow that guidance, but also to ban utilizing it entirely, that it is only going to prolong what
has turned into a very real and very unexpected, I think, crisis over the course of the last couple weeks.
QUEST: Phil Mattingly at the White House. Have a good weekend, Phil, I appreciate it.
In Math, the Greek letter delta, there it is, is used to denote change, and you can pencil a delta in front of the jobs numbers, which are going to be
highly dependent on whether the delta variant takes the pandemic from here.
The July numbers point to a continuing recovery, 5.4 percent unemployment rate is down from 10.2 percent last year. There are 8.7 million unemployed
Americans, three million more than pre-pandemic, which we'll talk about in a second.
The U.S. wages are still rising. They are not as fast as earlier in the year, and that is a goldilocks scenario in a sense because there is wage
growth, which is what you want, but not too fast which is inflationary.
Last month, seven cents an hour, nearly twice that in April. And the course of the labor force has looked light over the last two years. The pandemic
caused a deep, steep hole out of which the economy is still digging, and the pandemic is not in the rearview mirror.
The former White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair is Laura Tyson, she joins us now, and it is always good to have you, Professor Tyson to
talk these issues these out. I am so grateful.
Now, look, let's first of all just reflect. They still say that 5.7 million jobs below pre-pandemic. But the unemployment rate is only one percent off
where it was. I mean, we are down to 4.4, give or take. We're down at 5.4 now. So, we are pretty much back on the employment front to where we were.
LAURA TYSON, FORMER CHAIR, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Well, I think it is the question of what you were predicting as the growth rates for the
economy and the growth rate of employment pre pandemic. That explains I think that discrepancy.
We certainly are at -- the unemployment rate just reported is the lowest during the pandemic recovery. The employment population which is a
measurement of how -- another measurement of the labor market is at a now pandemic high. The labor force participation rate is off a bit, but it is
still quite low.
So, part of this is the projected jobs that would have existed had there been no pandemic, and then the change in the behavior of workers -- labor
force participation rates, willingness, ability to go to work, and things like that.
QUEST: And yet this job numbers, we don't really -- it doesn't really factor in the delta variant, the new mask mandates, and arguably --
TYSON: No.
QUEST: So, we can't really quantify today's situation too much.
TYSON: So, I think it is really important to know that the big gains in the July employment numbers were in what I would call in-person jobs. Okay?
Personal services, leisure and hospitality, retail services, restaurants, education, it turns out was a major source of net job growth in July, all
of those are in-person.
And what happened going into July is that there was less concern. People didn't realize what was happening with delta. And now, I think, there is a
real possibility here now that the spread of delta and the various things associated with that such as, you know, in California, we have mandates
everywhere for masks and every place you go into now, you need a mask, and it is all fine.
But that can possibly slow things down. I just think we don't know. You know, the whole pandemic, throughout the pandemic, what economists have
said is the pace of recovery depends upon macroeconomic policy, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and it depends upon policy to contain and control
the pandemic.
And right now, it looks like that secondary of policy looks a little like we need more progress in the United States.
[15:10:10]
QUEST: So, does the Fed look wise for having stayed the course? This is exactly what Powell was talking about, wasn't it?
TYSON: Yes.
QUEST: We don't know, and whilst everybody else is saying, start taking your foot off. With delta on the horizon, suddenly it seems prescient.
TYSON: Yes. I think the Fed has been right all along. The Fed made it clear in the last comments of Jerome Powell, the CEO Chair of the Fed, so he
said, look, we have -- our goal is maximum employment with a long-term inflation rate of two percent, and we anticipate there will be some period
of time when the inflationary rate is above two percent.
That's it. That is what he thinks most economists -- now, there is debate - - and I will admit there is debate, about the extent to which the inflation blip in 2021, this year, which will be in excess of two percent. The
inflation rate will be more in the area of between three percent and four percent, depending upon how you measure.
But the point is, is that a transitory blip or a long-term change? I believe it is a blip.
Again, I'll go back to delta. It is interesting here, in July everybody was going to the beach, they were going to restaurants, and they were going,
okay. And those services did increase their prices. There is no doubt about it. I personally have experienced it all over the place. Services increased
their prices.
I believe that was a one-time transitory upward shift to make up for the pandemic. But now, going forward, what if the demand slows down a bit
because of delta concerns? That's a really important thing to think about in the fall.
QUEST: And in the fall, we'll talk to you more, I hope, Laura, to discuss this well. Very grateful you've given us time. Have a good weekend. Thank
you.
TYSON: Nice to be with you, Richard. Take care.
QUEST: Now, in his remarks today, President Biden praised companies for helping raise the U.S. vaccination rate.
United airlines has joined those ranks with its latest announcement. Pete Muntean has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Richard, unions representing United Airlines workers are telling their members to get vaccinated or face
getting fired sometime this fall. What is so interesting is that these unions are underscoring that this is legal for United Airlines to do.
There are some holdouts though, about 80 percent of flight attendants for United have been vaccinated according to their union, 90 percent of pilots
according to the Airline Pilots Association, and it says exemptions will be made only on a case by case basis, for a deeply held personal belief or an
extreme religious reason.
The Airline Pilots Association says it does understand that there are some pilots who do not want to do this and there could be further negotiation
with the company, although United says October 25th is the date that someone would either provide a lot of reasons, a lot of documentation as to
why they do not need to follow this companywide mandate.
Flight attendants say they have seen an uptick in infections over the last couple of weeks, mostly by flight attendants who are not vaccinated, but
there have been some breakthrough cases. They say this is not the time to let their guard down and that you should get vaccinated and wear a mask.
By the way, masks are still mandated across the transportation system, in planes, trains, buses, boats, also here in terminals. United says, a
mandate for passengers to get vaccinated would have to come from the Federal government -- Richard.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Pete Muntean reporting.
Think of it as hell on earth. It is in Greece and it is the fires that were extinguished, now reigniting, and they are at Athens' doorstep. We are live
on the ground next.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:16:26]
QUEST: In Southern Europe, it is being likened to the apocalypse. More than 50 active wildfires are burning out of control in Greece. Thousands of
people are being forced from their homes. At least one person has tragically died in Athens along with two others in Southern Italy.
The emergency services are scrambling in Macedonia and Turkey amidst this unprecedented heat wave.
Elinda Labropoulou is with us in Athens. So, the cause of these fires, lots of them, and we know it has been very dry. Is there any common thread
between them?
ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Well, it's been very dry, as you said, and there's been an extensive heat wave in Athens, in Greece that has been now
lasting for a good week. Today in particular, we had very strong winds as well.
Just to give you a sense of scale, we are looking at over 150 new fires just starting today. Of course, some arrests have also been made in
connection to potential arson. We don't know yet what the conclusion of this will be.
But certainly, most of the fires that we see are very much linked to the weather conditions -- Richard.
QUEST: All right, and the ability to get them under control, they have literally thrown everything at them including some helicopters dumping
water, fire retardant materials, all the like. Are they getting better or worse?
LABROPOULOU: It is hard to tell at this stage because a lot of the fires are rekindling. Right behind me is the big Athens fire, the fire that broke
out on Monday and it destroyed dozens of homes, and you can see that this has been rekindling again and again, day after day.
Even today, some homes have burned, so it is very difficult to really assess where things stand at the moment.
As you said, many other countries have come to Greece's rescue. A number of European countries have all right sent aid and more aid is coming in.
In this Athens fire alone, we were just briefed that currently there are 700 firefighters on the ground, despite the fact that it is dark. So, it is
a tremendous operation. And it is not just Athens. There are fires all over the country. There is a large fire on the island of Euboea, it is an island
that is also popular with tourists. About 1,000 people just today had to be evacuated by boat.
So as we understand, the situation is very, very difficult -- Richard.
QUEST: And the -- obviously, it comes at the height of the tourist season. Now, I mean, there is no good news here at all, is there? First of all, it
is an extremely difficult holiday summer season where the Greeks are trying to do their very best to get as many tourists as they can in a safe way.
Now, you've got these fires, which are well and truly burning towards tourist areas, even the tourists may be safe. Put it together and I bet
people are wondering, what next?
LABROPOULOU: You're absolutely right. I mean, it should be the case that tourism has been -- would be affected, but so far, at least, the numbers,
maybe just, you know, the industry hasn't had that much time to react to the news of the fires and people decided even last minute not to cancel
their holiday.
But from what we understand, most people who were going to make to it Greece, have. They have made it through the heat wave and of course, now,
they are braving the fires, much like everybody else.
QUEST: Elinda, thank you. Take care and talk to us when there is more to report, thank you.
[15:20:06]
QUEST: Millions of people in Australia are under lockdown as the country struggles to contain the outbreak of the virus there. Top Australian health
officials says the outbreak of the delta variant have created a pandemic of the unvaccinated in certain areas.
In the state of New South Wales, which of course includes Sydney, the largest city in Australia, they are reporting a record number of daily
COVID cases for two days in a row.
CNN's Lynda Kinkade reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Anger and frustration on the streets of Melbourne after the Victorian government declares the start of
lockdown number six.
Australians unable to leave the country for more than a year, now once again face restrictions on leaving their home.
Virus weary demonstrators clashing with police as Australia's largest cities struggle to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: The advice is if we were to wait even a few days, there is every chance that instead of being locked
down for a week, this gets away from us and we are potentially locked down until we all get vaccinated, and that's months away.
KINKADE (voice over): Almost two-thirds of Australia's 25 million people are now under lockdown as the highly contagious delta variant spreads.
Sydney has been under lockdown for over six weeks. Yet, it recorded its worst day of the pandemic on Thursday with a record rise in locally
acquired infections.
GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA: The delta strain is like nothing we've seen, and that is why the vaccine is our key tool.
Fortunately, we do have that tool now available in Australia. But we constrained with some types of supply, obviously, which we have been
talking about.
But getting jabs into arms will massively help us reduce those case numbers and massively improve our ability to help additional freedoms moving
forward.
KINKADE (voice over): Until now, Australia had avoided some of the worst consequences of the pandemic in part by shutting itself off from the rest
of the world. Since March of 2020, the country has kept its border virtually closed. Tourists are not allowed to enter. Australians can't
leave, except under special circumstances.
And tens of thousands of citizens stranded abroad have registered for government help to return home. Help that hasn't come.
After more than a year of Fortress Australia, frustration is growing at home and abroad.
RODGER POWELL, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY SERVICES, AUSTRALASIA: We were only one of two countries in the world where the citizens aren't allowed to
leave the country, and the other is North Korea, which is not one that I want to be held up against.
PHILLIP KOINIS, DIRECTOR, OXFORD TRAVEL: I'm hoping the more we're vaccinated, the more it will allow us to be a little bit more liberal in
our quarantine systems, our departure systems. Right now, the exemption are very difficult to obtain and some people seem to be getting them a lot
easier than others.
KINKADE (voice over): Australia's Prime Minister said last week that at least 80 percent of the country's adults will have to be vaccinated for the
borders to reopen. But with only 20 percent of those over 16 fully inoculated against the virus, it seems Fortress Australia will stay largely
locked down and closed off for the foreseeable future.
Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Tokyo has reported some 4,500 new COVID cases on Friday, and that follows a record day of 5,000 the previous day. At least 387 cases have to
some extent definitely been linked to the Olympics. There are two days to go until the closing ceremonies.
Speaking earlier, Japan's Prime Minister said he doesn't believe The Games are behind the rise in infections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOSHIHIDE SUGA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Because of traffic restrictions, remote work, and the cooperation of the public, the
flow of people in downtown Tokyo has not increased compared to the situation before the start of the Olympics.
I do not believe the Olympics has resulted in an increase in COVID-19 infections so far.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, despite the COVID anxiety, some might arguably say because of it, these Olympics have also produced extraordinary moments of
sportsmanship and kindness.
The sharing of gold medals, runners helping rivals. CNN's Will Ripley on the feel-good games.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The legacy of Tokyo 2020 may not be measured in medals or COVID cases, but acts of
kindness, moments of grace, Olympians choosing humility over hubris.
American gymnast Simone Biles cheering on her teammates, even as she was struggling to compete. American swimmer, Annie Lazor hugging her South
African competitor, Tatiana Schoenmaker who broke a world record to win gold.
ANNIE LAZOR, TEAM U.S.A. BRONZE MEDALIST, SWIMMING: To have someone right next to me break a world record, just as a fan of the sport in general,
that's something that's pretty amazing to happen to you.
[15:25:10]
RIPLEY (on camera): Given that there were no spectators and you were in this bubble in the middle of a pandemic, do you think that brought the
athletes closer? This experience?
LAZOR: Definitely more of a sense of we're just really happy that this is happening and really happy to be here.
RIPLEY (voice over): Happiness written on the faces of the first ever Olympic skateboarders.
SKY BROWN, GREAT BRITAIN BRONZE MEDALIST, SKATEBOARDING: Winning as one big family, probably getting on the podium with two of my best like -- two of
my favorite people is like awesome.
ROB KOEHLER, DIRECTOR GENERAL, GLOBAL ATHLETE: I think, you know, we're seeing that camaraderie between athletes now. There is always something
good that comes from something bad, and I think this is part of what the pandemic has done is, it has created a better community of athletes that
are supporting each other under very difficult conditions in Tokyo to be supporting each other is huge.
RIPLEY (voice over): Support spanning across continents and badminton courts. When Denmark dethroned China to win gold in the men's singles, the
players traded shirts as a symbol of respect.
These Qatari and Italian high jumpers, friends and competitors for years opted out of a jump off deciding to share the gold.
GIANMARCO TAMBERI, ITALIAN GOLD MEDALIST, HIGH JUMP: It was just amazing and sharing with a friend is even more beautiful.
MUTAZ ESSA BARSHIM, QATARI GOLD MEDALIST, HIGH JUMP: Thank you.
RIPLEY (voice over): There were high-fives and helping hands. After falling during the 800-meter, these runners from the U.S. and Botswana finished the
race arm in arm.
A legacy of kindness and camaraderie outshining even the Olympic flame.
Will Ripley, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: And when we return, I'll be speaking to the CEO of Discovery International about those sporting moments and how it produced rating hits
for his network. That is coming up after the break.
Apple also wants to look at the photos on your phone or at least in iCloud to help stop child abuse. The company is resisting government demands for
data, now that it is trying to strike a balance between privacy and safety. Our discussion after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:20]
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. A lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. The viewers are breaking streaming records and the President and CEO of
Discovery International explains and really asks and we asked, was it really worth all the money you spent? Any publicity is good publicity, says
the make of the cardboard beds that some Olympic claims are anti-sex the athletes say, absolutely not.
As we continue tonight, you can see where we're going. But before we get there, this is CNN and here on this network the news always comes first.
Just quiet tonight along the Israel-Lebanon border after the sharpest flare up and fighting in years. Hezbollah says it launched rockets towards open
land near Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms area today. Calling it retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon the day before no
casualties have been reported.
U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan says the war there has, in the words entered a new deadly or more destructive phase. It comes as the City of
Zaranj near the Afghanistan's border with Iran becomes the first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban as the militants continue to make sweeping
advances throughout the country.
Two Belarusian coaches have been asked to leave the Olympic Village after getting their accreditation pulled. The IOC is investigating their role in
the scandal involving the Belarusian sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya. She says they were trying to make a go back to home country against her will.
The Discovery Network say the Olympics have been ratings gold for its European streaming services. In contrast to NBC in the United States where
T.V. audiences have dropped dramatically. Some new Olympic sports have helped attract viewers. For instance, teenagers dominated women's
skateboarding and these three medalists are all 13 years old. A fourth is only 12.
The first gold medals in surfing went to the U.S. and Brazil. And an 18- year-old Spaniard became the first man to win a gold medal in climbing. J.B. Perrette is the CEO of Discovery International joins me now. And of
course, you'll be aware that Warner Media parent company of CNN is currently being merged with Discovery Networks. So for regulatory reasons,
we're not talking about the merger.
We are talking about the Olympics. J.B., you paid a lot of money for them. How will you quantify whether it was worth it? I look at the press release.
And I see, you know, gold in all the numbers. But does it make financial sense to have done what you did?
J.B. PERRETTE, PRESIDENT AND CEO, DISCOVERY INTERNATIONAL: Yes, it's great to be with you again, Richard. Look, it is -- the Olympics are the greatest
event in the world. There's nothing that brings together as many athletes, audiences, countries, as this one big global event. And so it has -- we
look at it as measuring its success in multiple different ways. Clearly as a financial element to it, which over the course of the four games that
we'll be broadcasting, we started in Pyongyang in 2020 in 2018.
And we go all the way through to Paris in 2024. We've said the games will be profitable. And so that's one key element to it. The second is obviously
what it does to the brand. We've now elevated this event and the popularity of it and the visibility of it is probably unlike any other in terms of
elevating our both Discovery and Discovery Plus which is our streaming service as well as our Eurosport brand, our core sports brand.
And then we use it obviously to cross pollinate and bring people into -- our kind of tent, if you will, of content by introducing to them throughout
the games, all sorts of other elements of the games. Whether that be sports or non-sports. And so, in all three of those measures they -- we've seen --
we've seen it work incredibly well.
QUEST: Do you think the new sports added a younger element? It has always been the gymnastics which was very popular, the track and field and then
you had perhaps and forgive me, as some of the more esoteric sports but these new ones go right to the heart, if you like, of a younger millennial
generation.
PERRETTE: Totally. I mean, look, we've seen already in the first week alone. 275 million users engage across Europe with the games. And that's 10
percent up by the same timeframe versus Pyeongchang three years ago. And so, it engages enormous amount of people and the numbers have been
staggering because you're right, the climbing, the skateboarding, the surfing, these sports who, you know, some had questions about how big of an
audience that might pull have been actually quite successful in finding audiences.
[15:35:08]
PERRETTE: And in digital in particular which has obviously been a big focus for us. Those audiences who more natively sit in the digital ecosystem have
definitely loved finding all their different favorite sports on -- through Discovery Plus and through our Eurosport Player digital applications.
QUEST: Can I turn to the serious matter of censorship, or at least the difficulties you're having in Poland, as you are going to renew the license
for your news channel there. Now, the Polish government, which of course, is your well aware is in deep trouble with the European Commission and
likely to get worse. But how do you see this restriction which on -- if you like the provision of new services in Poland.
PERRETTE: Look, we're celebrating TVN24, which is our 24-hour news channel, the leading broadcaster of news in the Polish market. We're celebrating our
20th anniversary literally this month. We are relatively new to the news game. But we have always tried to stand up for independent non-polarized
kind of straight reporting the facts and telling the stories that are important to the Polish people and we will continue to do that.
Our concern is obviously the political politicization of the news. And this license is a real concern, not just to us as a company, but to the Polish
people, to the Polish economy, and to the investment that comes in from outside whether that be from the E.U., the U.S. or abroad. Because at the
end of the day, if one can't -- as a commercial enterprise believe in the sort of rule of law and the normal proceedings of those -- of those
regulatory frameworks to operate normally, it should be very concerning to all investors in the market that ultimately the government can decide at
any point in time to take aim at one or the other companies.
QUEST: OK. But have you got -- have you got the stomach for a fight? I mean, if it comes down to it and it becomes a question of, do you stay with
the investment? Do you stay with TV -- TVN24, does Discovery have the stomach to fight against the Polish government if necessary?
PERRETTE Look, we're fully committed. We're fully committed. Richard, We -- we've been already, obviously doing everything we can in trying in as many
ways as possible as a collaborative, we continue where the biggest investor in Poland. We employ in over almost 4000 people in the market. And so we
are trying to do everything we can rationally commercially, you know, and relationship wise to make our position heard.
And we will stay in the fight because we think it's important not just for our business, but also, as we say, for the Polish people to make sure that
they can get all the facts and choose their sources of information from any number of different choices, including ours.
QUEST: So finally, back to the Olympics, we had -- we followed this really closely on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS as you -- as you would expect, in that --
at the beginning of the Olympics, we had sir Martin Sorrell of -- for WPP, formerly of WPP who said look, they are still the biggest event in the
world, it is still -- I still advise people to go with them. Then we had the whiskey guy you sponsored and said, well, you know, they're really not
the biggest in the world.
And actually, when you look at it and add it all up, I'm not sure it is worth it. You've got tens of millions stuck in this in this game. So you
have -- you have a dog in the race. What does it -- what does the Olympics need to change as it goes into Paris and Los Angeles and then (INAUDIBLE)
PERRETTE: Well, I think the point you made earlier is part of the change they're making, which is obviously the content needs to stay relevant to
the people. So you have all the traditional sports, which continue to be very important. And they're trying to introduce new younger sports to bring
in new audiences. That's one. Number two is ultimately the platforms that people are digesting and consuming the content on are changing.
And so that's our job as media providers, which is what we're doing -- which is it's no longer just in free to err on traditional live linear
television. When we put it for the first time ever across Europe in linear what they call free to air broadcast in pay television on Eurosport on --
and on digital on Eurosport.com which hit almost 60 million (INAUDIBLE) in one month, which are a record of all time, as well as on our streaming
products where you could -- was the only place you could get every minute live of the events.
And this is unprecedented. And so providing access to people and to new viewers on every platform is part of that recipe that we think is, you
know, key and so I think the challenge, the geography of the traditional viewership when everyone measures the success of the Olympics versus what
happened in linear television two games ago, three games ago, four games ago naturally because television viewership is declining.
Live television viewership is declining, those numbers will continue to taper but they're still huge and where the numbers are growing rapidly
where we've seen, you know, almost over a billion streams, minutes of stream content in the Olympics so far, that's 20 times so far what we saw
just three years ago in Pyongyang.
[16:40:10]
PERRETTE: And so digital is accelerating rapidly. The linear is gradually yes under pressure. But when you cue all that together, it's still unlike
any other event.
QUEST: J.B. Perrette of Discovery International. Thank you, sir.
PERRETTE: Great to see you, Richard.
QUEST: As we continue tonight, Apple announces a new tool to protect children from abuse. It's raising serious questions about privacy. In a
moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: In the United Kingdom, Wales is moving to COVID alert levels zero tomorrow on Saturday. That means businesses will be allowed to reopen. All
restrictions on gatherings will be removed. And people will still be required to wear masks in some indoor circumstances. And of course, I slept
for 10 days if they are infected or symptomatic. Excuse me. The move comes as COVID cases fall across the United Kingdom.
The world's first minister Mark Drakeford joins me from Cardiff. He joins me via Skype. First Minister, this is what everybody is really interested
in is why the U.K. the latest numbers of falling, it seems if the latest wave after Delta. Do we know the reasons why?
MARK DRAKEFORD, FIRST MINISTER OF WALES: Well, I think we have some short- term explanations which are to do with universities, no longer being in operation, schools closed for the summer. And that may be having an impact
on the figures. It may also be the fact that levels of vaccination which are particularly high in the U.K. and especially so here in Wales have had
the impact of flattening the impact of the third wave and blunting the impact of the Delta variant.
QUEST: The Welsh experience when both -- when the U.K. -- when the central government, the U.K. government announced it was opening up to the U.S. and
the E.U. and in its latest travel lists. You've been highly critical. You've basically pointed out that there is a -- an open border between
Wales and England. And therefore, you know, you've been browbeaten, bullied, whatever you want to call it into it.
But isn't that inevitable? What London says when it comes to travel has to be the way for the rest even for the devolved nations?
[15:45:03]
DRAKEFORD: Well, we do have very little practical option but to follow what the U.K. government decides in this area. Our view has been that the U.K.
Government has not acted sufficiently quickly or sufficiently seriously to prevent the reimportation of coronavirus into the U.K. And particularly to
deal with the risk of new variants, arising in other parts of the world and then finding their way back here because of international travel.
We would have taken a different course of action to build those defenses stronger, we failed to persuade the U.K. Government of that, and in
practice, what they decided in this area, it's very difficult Indeed for us not to follow.
QUEST: The Welsh experience with COVID, along with so many others, and this worry about the Delta variant, that -- what do your health experts say in
terms of the medium term? Is Delta -- I guess what I'm hedging here is delta going to drive us all over the cliff?
DRAKEFORD: Well, I think our experience is a bit more optimistic than that. Because while the Delta variant is undoubtedly more transmissible than the
previous variants, or Delta, the vaccinations that we have here in Wales are proving highly effective, both in resisting the Delta variants and in
break -- and in adjusting the link between falling ill and hospitalization.
QUEST: First Minister, I don't want to just only talk about COVID, I do want to get a feeling for you -- from you, for Wales, trading and business
in the post Brexit world. We know the issues of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland protocol. But if we just look at what Wales is doing, how
are your companies faring?
DRAKEFORD: Well, all companies are affected by Brexit and the complications that that has caused for them. The European Union was the biggest market
for Welsh exporters, by some way. And as a manufacturing nation and with a rural economy. A new barriers to trade are not good news for us. However,
that's not the whole of a picture. Last year, we had the highest number of inward investment opportunities coming to Wales of any part of the United
Kingdom.
And Wales continues to be an outward looking nation, keen to welcome people from the rest of the world to come here. I'm keen to trade with the rest of
the world as well.
QUEST: And we'll be keen, First Minister, to be with you with QUEST MEANS BUSINESS at some point from Cardiff. We look forward to that in the not too
distant future. Thank you.
DRAKEFORD: Thank you very much.
QUEST: Apple says it plans to scan iPhones for photos depicting child abuse. The company says it will test new technology that automatically
matches photos to a database maintained by the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The company insists it's trying to strike a
balance between safety and privacy. Some privacy advocates are already raising concerns. CNN's Clare Sebastian.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Richard. A couple of things you need to know about this. One is that this kind of technology has
actually been around for a long time Facebook, Google Twitter. The, you know, many tech companies already scan images and send reports to the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The difference here is an Apple are now doing it on your device.
They say this ensures greater privacy, it doesn't automatically go into their servers. But this is -- this is what's interesting about this. And
also it's a huge turnaround for the company, Richard. This is a company that forget that is -- that is used privacy is such a major selling point.
They even launched an ad campaign this year saying privacy. This is iPhone expired with Facebook and Google on the subject.
They've actually led to a potential drop in Facebook's revenue by requiring that all apps explicitly seek permission of users before tracking them
across the internet. So a major turnaround here. And privacy experts are up in arms about this. The Electronic Frontier Foundation says in a statement
today, Apple can explain at length how its technical implementation will preserve privacy and security and its proposed backdoor.
But at the end of the day even a thoroughly documented carefully thought out and narrowly scoped backdoor is still a backdoor. They are worried this
would be a slippery slope.
QUEST: Clare, I -- when I read the story, I assumed that it was -- the only scandal when the pictures were going up to iCloud for storage. So if you're
not using iCloud storage, then your phone isn't sort of susceptible to this. What -- am I right? Have I missed the point?
SEBASTIAN: Yes, so before a photo is stored on iCloud, which they are going to match it against this database that's held by the National Center for
Missing And Exploited Children and other child protection services and agencies.
[16:50:04]
SEBASTIAN: This is -- it's not -- they're not looking at the photo itself that's crucially important. They're using a cryptographic hash that this
database provides and they say that they'll only upload it to their servers if there's a -- there's an initial match and then it will be uploaded the
servers and go through and second layer of sort of cryptographic analysis before they even have a person look at it to see if it does match up
against that existing child sexual abuse image that is out on the internet.
But Richard, crucially important to note this this according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will be a game changer.
They said in a statement in 2019 that if and to end encryption is implemented without a solution in place to safeguard children, the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that more than half of its cyber tip line reports will vanish.
This is a part of the story that cannot be ignored really important tool to help crack down on this.
QUEST: Clare Sebastian, thank you. This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, the end of the week, Friday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The Japanese mattress brand Airweave is having a strange P.R. moment. Made the recyclable beds for Tokyo Olympic Village. They're built
in a cardboard frame and a thin bit of foam, spray special expensive foam. When the athletes joke it was the IOC's ways of preventing promiscuous
relations, social media was ablaze, Olympians jumping on Airweave mattresses to test their worth. The CEO proved the beds are up to the task.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice over): Before any athletes in Tokyo got set and took their mark, even before the Olympic cauldron was ignited, the first controversy of the
games, the bedding.
MOTOKUNI TAKAOKA, PRESIDENT AND CEO, AIRWEAVE: For the Olympians, the night before that -- their competition is the most important day for the sleep.
So we have a surprise for the bedding for better sleep. That's why it will drive too much my -- their sleep quality by giving the best matters for
each athlete. So, that's our mission for this Tokyo 2020.
QUEST: I spoke to Motokuni Takaoka, the founder and CEO of Airweave who supplied the beds. Some athletes joked his minimalist mattresses and their
eco-friendly cardboard frames around to sex, even alleged it might be a tactic by the IOC to keep people apart and mitigate the spread of COVID.
Not so says the chief executive. The beds were designed so that the smallest and the largest athletes alike could get a good night sleep.
TAKAOKA: This mattress will customize for every athlete we call the (INAUDIBLE) the bedding is always bedding for everybody. And despite that
heavy way through restaurant or like lightweight (INAUDIBLE) everybody sleep on same bed.
[16:55:04]
TAKAOKA: But for this time, this time we are customize the bedding for each.
QUEST: Were you surprised by all the fuss and all the athletes jumping on your beds to prove that they could withstand two or three people getting up
to a bit of extra activities? Were you surprised at that?
TAKAOKA: We are very surprised. OK? We try to be focused on the bedding, the mattress, three block mattress. But we are focused on the bedframe
because by first it was (INAUDIBLE) bed then after that, many player jumping and on the bed to test that the cardboard bed.
QUEST (voice-over): And so as we head to the final weekend of the games, the Airweave CEO assures all the Olympians, however they choose to
celebrate the bedframes won't fail them.
TAKAOKA: So the athlete changed that mattress broke according to their body shape or body weight. But before that, we make the mattress as soon as
possible, like four inches, so for -- to make that, we drive to -- we need a very strong play for the shock of the athlete because I imagine after
they get a medal, if one or two athletes to jumping on the bed so, some weight goes directly to the bed. So we need to have a stronger frame.
QUEST: They say there's no such thing as bad publicity. Do you agree?
TAKAOKA: Our policies, as long as we are doing the right thing, as long as we are doing right thing, any publicity is good for us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: So in other word, profitable moment after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment, every possible prognosis of doom and gloom against the Olympics was offered up except locust and plaids. Well,
we had wandered thought off with COVID. And then the event actually got underway. And there was a spirit that was different, the one of the crowds
to be sure. And everybody had to be careful that they didn't catch something nasty. But as Will Ripley's report on tonight's program showed
there were moments of great passion and great sadness, great excitement, great tenderness, and great affection on support for each other.
The reality is that Tokyo has risen to the task it was set. They provided a games that was different from others, by necessity. That has left a
different taste in the mouth, by design, and as proved that we can get on with life, even in the era of COVID because that's what you and I have
talked about on so many occasions, getting on with life adjusting as necessary, changing our minds and behaviors when necessary and when
required, but we get on with it.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. Have a
great weekend.
END
