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CNN Saturday Morning News

Betty Ford Dies; Job Numbers Fall Short; Unlimited Data Plans Eliminated; World Welcomes South Sudan as New Nation; 'News of the World' Shuts Down Amid Phone Hacking & Police Bribery Scandal

Aired July 09, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

SUSAN HENDRICKS, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is July 9th. Great to have you with us. I'm Susan Hendricks in this morning for T.J. Holmes.

Here is the latest. She is being remembered as remarkable woman, extraordinary first lady, Betty Ford dies at the age of 93. We will take a closer look at her live and the lives she has affected.

Verizon is joining AT&T and T-Mobile in cancelling unlimited data plans. So, what does that mean to you? We'll take a look.

Plus, we just saw the old Sudanese flag put away and a new one for a new nation to fly. There it is. The world welcomes a new country today. We'll take you live to South Sudan.

We begin though with the death of former First Lady Betty Ford. She was 93 years old. Ford was surrounded by family when she passed away last night.

She became first lady when her husband Gerald Ford became president in 1974 following the resignation of Richard Nixon. Betty Ford made headlines when she revealed her battle with breast cancer.

And in 1978, she entered a rehab center to deal with alcohol addiction. It was just a few years later that she opened a new famous Betty Ford Center. It became the place for celebrities and other people to get help for their addiction. She has helped so many people.

President Obama is speaking on this. He said, "Mrs. Ford helped reduce the social stigma surrounding addiction and inspired thousands to seek much-needed treatment. While her death is a cause for sadness, we know," he says, "that organizations such as Betty Ford Center will honor her legacy by giving countless Americans a new lease on life."

And this from Former President George W. Bush: "Laura and I are deeply saddened by the passing of Betty Ford. We admired her as a first lady and valued her as a friend. She made countless contributions to our country, and we especially appreciate her courage in calling attention to breast cancer and abuse because of her leadership -- substance abuse, that is -- many lives were saved. Tonight, our prayers go out to Mrs. Ford's entire family," end quote.

Nancy Reagan is also calling her an inspiration.

And George H.W. Bush said she is a great friend and courageous first lady. Ford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal, both prestigious civilian honors.

But her crusade against addiction maybe her greatest legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRY BEBITCH JEFFE, POLITICAL ANALYST: She educated a generation that needed education, that needed support in how to deal with these problems. It made it unnecessary to hide the reality of substance abuse. And I think that was a contribution that Betty Ford made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDRICKS: She certainly did. We will have much more on Betty Ford and her extraordinary life later on in the show.

You know, the government's latest job numbers are out and they fell well short of expectations. Only 18,000 jobs were added. Experts thought we would see around 80,000.

Take a look at the chart here. The nation had several months in a row of encouraging jobs numbers. While the 18,000 for June is an increase, it is not enough to keep up with losses. The unemployment rate actually rose from 9.1 percent to 9.2 percent.

Here is President Obama on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With the recovery that is still fragile and isn't producing all the jobs we need, the last thing we can afford is the usual partisan game-playing in Washington.

By getting our fiscal house in order, Congress will be in a stronger position to focus on some of the job-creating measures I've already proposed, like putting people to work, rebuilding America's infrastructure, or reforming our patent system so that our innovators and entrepreneurs have greater incentive to generate new products, or making colleges more affordable for families, and businesses that may be holding back because of the uncertainty surrounding the possibility of a default by the United States government will have greater confidence to invest and create jobs.

REP. CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS (R), WASHINGTON: Republicans have maintained there can be no increase in the national debt limit unless it's accompanied by serious spending cuts and reforms. To be truly serious, these cuts should exceed the amount by which President Obama wants the debt limit increased. And there can be no job crushing tax hikes on families and small businesses.

(END VIDEO CLIPS) HENDRICKS: Jobs, the economy, and the country's debt ceiling are the top issues facing Washington right now, in Congress and also on the campaign trail as well.

Let's go inside the numbers a little bit more.

Here's how it breaks down by gender, pretty interesting. Men are right about average right now, while unemployment for women, that's about 8 percent.

Here's how unemployment rate breaks down by race. The rates for whites went up 8.1 percent. African-American unemployment is the highest, but it did not change last month.

You're looking at live pictures from South Sudan, the world's newest country. A historic moment -- moments ago, they raised the flag in the country's capital of Juba. The people voted overwhelmingly earlier this year to break away from Sudan.

Here is a listen to a bit of a new country's national anthem.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HENDRICKS: South Sudan is about the size of Texas. We will have much more on the Independence Day celebrations, a long time for that -- a long time waiting. We'll have that next hour.

You know, the British royal couple are spending their first full day in California today. Prince William and his new wife Kate arrived yesterday. They spent time at a couple of events promoting British business interests.

And British soccer star, David Beckham, he was there. He was at one of the events. There he is.

Today, they will mix business with pleasure. On the agenda is a charity polo match in Santa Barbara and a star-studded British film and TV event in Los Angeles.

More arrests in the "News of the World" scandal in Britain. British Prime Minister David Cameron's former press secretary turned himself in. He was released though. He was editor of the paper at the time of the scandal before being hired by Cameron. He quit his government job earlier this year.

Employees of the tabloid newspaper hacked into the voice mail account of a murdered girl and erased messages. This week, owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the paper.

The paper's royal correspondent was also arrested yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ask that each of you join the athletics, the Texas Rangers, and all of Major League Baseball as we observe a silent moment of reflection and respect for Brownwood Texas firefighter Shannon Stone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDRICKS: A heartbreaking story here. Shannon Stone was a firefighter from Brownwood, Texas. He fell to his death from the stands in front of his young son at a Texas Rangers baseball game.

It happened earlier this week. He was trying to catch a ball for his 6-year-old son that was thrown in the stands by one of the Rangers players. Stone was honored with a moment of silence last night. The Rangers also set up a memorial fund for his family.

A man who flew across the country by using someone else's boarding pass has now been indicted. He was charged with being a stowaway and for trying to enter a secure area in the airport. He got through security with an expired ID and someone else's boarding pass and flew from New York to L.A. He got caught. Let was go.

And then he tried to do it again. That is where he was finally arrested.

You have to see this. A jail break is caught on tape. Take a look.

It happened at the Walker County jail in Huntsville, Texas, last month. The video is just being released now. You can see two inmates attacking the jailers. One of them got away to a car that was waiting outside the jail. He was caught about three days later, after the fact.

The benches cleared in Boston during the game between the Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles. There were few punches thrown but it doesn't look like any of them connected. The Red Sox David Ortiz took exception. He was hit and he was yelled at by the Orioles pitcher Kevin Gregg. They both ended up getting thrown out of the game. Not a good thing.

Just ahead, Britain's bestselling newspaper, "The News of the World," prints the last page tomorrow. It is done. What does this mean for Rupert Murdoch? We'll take a look at the man behind the paper and the media empire.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDRICKS: For more than 150 years, the British tabloid "News of the World" built a reputation reporting on some of the biggest scandals in the United Kingdom. It shuts down on Sunday for good after an investigation following allegations of phone hacking and bribing police. The tabloid is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

William Shawcross, author of "Murdoch: The Making of a Media Empire," is joining me this morning from London.

Mr. Shawcross, thanks so much for joining us. WILLIAM SHAWCROSS, AUTHOR, "MURDOCH: THE MAKING OF A MEDIA EMPIRE": Pleasure.

HENDRICKS: Let's talk about Mr. Murdock. You know him very well.

How much do you think or do you know that he knew about these methods that were being used?

SHAWCROSS: He cannot have known because he would have stopped them long ago. They are absolutely appalling abuse of journalistic procedure. Unforgivable to tap the phone of a murdered schoolgirl or the phones of relatives of troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan and Murdoch would not have t tolerated it.

HENDRICKS: Yes, when you think about

SHAWCROSS: I'm afraid that --

HENDRICKS: I'm sorry about that.

When you think about what was done and the despicable things that were done, do you think he made the right call of just canceling it? It's done?

SHAWCROSS: It's a very difficult call because as you said, it's a very old historic paper, which has a very great history -- though it has committed abuses in the past like all tabloids do. But it's also exposed a lot of fraud and misdeeds. Most recently, it exposed corruption in the Pakistani cricket team which was an important story.

So, it's very sad. It's sad for also for the 200 people who work there, frightful for them. Many of them will be given jobs in other news of Murdoch's papers in London. And he probably will create a new Sunday paper called "The Sun" on Sunday, to go along with his daily paper, "The Sun," which is another tabloid in Britain.

HENDRICKS: Mr. Shawcross, some were wondering -- I was reading a lot of articles on this -- if Rupert Murdoch was at all responsible, maybe in a trickledown effect of kind of creating an atmosphere where people will be willing to do anything to get that story. Who creates that atmosphere there?

SHAWCROSS: I think all newspapers in Britain and in American, too, now, are in a terrible situation that the Internet is creeping in on them so much and it's becoming very much more competitive. And certainly methods used by reporters have become more unscrupulous. "The News of the World" appears to have been the worst offender. But there are other newspapers also and tabloids in Britain which have behaved badly, and which will be exposed soon, I think.

As for Murdoch's own position, he's always accused of that by his enemies. And he has a lot of enemies, both political and commercial. And they are making hay out of this scandal, as you can imagine, in Britain, led by the BBC, which hates him, because he is a rather conservative publisher and the BBC favors a sort of liberal left wing conventional wisdoms of our time.

So, Murdoch is being really kicked incredibly hard in Britain at the moment. But he's -- I think -- a brilliant publisher also and he -- without Murdoch and his war against the print unions in the 1980s, there would probably be no British newspapers, because until he won that war against the print unions, papers were losing money hand over fist. Then they became profitable again.

HENDRICKS: Right. Well --

SHAWCROSS: Similarly, without him -- what?

HENDRICKS: Well, maybe by taking this action, Mr. Shawcross, that will set the standard. It will be a little higher because he's taking such drastic action. As you said, 200 people out of work, but they will be re-employed.

Thanks so much for joining us, Mr. William Shawcross. Appreciate it. Thanks.

SHAWCROSS: It's a pleasure.

HENDRICKS: Here's a question for you. Have you checked your cell phone plan lately? Well, Verizon is joining AT&T and T-Mobile in cancelling unlimited data plans. You heard right. That could mean higher phone bills for you. We'll take a look at it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDRICKS: All right. This is not good news. Cell phone users could see their rates going up and soon. Verizon Wireless is joining AT&T and T-Mobile in eliminating unlimited data plans.

What does that mean for you and for parents of teenagers if you surf the mobile web, text, tweet, check Facebook, send pictures, stream videos, you name it? Your bill could go up.

Joining me now is financial expert, Clyde Anderson.

This went into effect for Verizon customers on Thursday.

CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL EXPERT: Yes.

HENDRICKS: Why are we seeing companies make this switch? Let me guess, we're talking money.

ANDERSON: Well, you know, it's all about money. Follow the money.

But, you know, you think about it, we've been using so much date lately. It's becoming the trend. I mean, everyone communicates this way. Text, voice mail, e-mail, all the things that we're doing, you know, that we're doing a lot of, a lot of data. And so, they want to capitalize on it. And also, I think, it's an infrastructure thing. You know, they've got to pay for all these things and all these packets of information that are being transmitted.

HENDRICKS: I think the biggest question to viewers at home right now, they're thinking, will this affect me or is it people who are signing up for new deals, or will it affect people at home?

ANDERSON: If you're already on a plan and you're under contract, you're going to be grandfathered in. So, that's the great news.

The other part is if you change something you could be affected by it because new customers are going to come under this plan or they're going to have to pay for the data that they're using. So, they're going to have to decide which package works best for them. And they're going to give you several options to choose from, as you can see -- $30 all of the way up to $80 for some packages.

But the thing you got to be careful is going over those things. You know, you talk about teenagers and people that they call power users. You know, so these are some of the people that may go over some of these plans, especially business professionals. If you use your phone for a lot of things that you're doing related to your business, you could potentially go over.

HENDRICKS: Did you see this coming for a while? Did you think, wait a minute?

ANDERSON: I wondered how long it was going to take for it to happen. I did kind of see it coming. I'm glad some of the companies, not everything -- Sprint is kind of holding out right now. So, Sprint hasn't done it. They haven't followed suit with everyone else. Not to say they won't.

But right now, they're saying they're not going to do it right now. So, we'll see. But -- I mean, it's big business. I think we have a quote there from someone, from Sprint, just letting you know.

HENDRICKS: Yes, saying, "We're continuing to advertise our unlimited plans and feel that they offer a great value to new and existing customers. They have been very successful. We will continue to offer them to customers."

They may have a niche now because if they're not raising their prices, you know, people are obsessed with this stuff, Twitter, Facebook. They may have to look at each other to talk to save some money.

ANDERSON: Exactly. I think you should go to the Web site. Each one has a calculator on the Web site that you can go to and look at it and see kind of how it's going to affect you personally.

HENDRICKS: This reminds me a little bit of the airlines. You know, now, they're even charging for pillows, carry-ones, everything. But we know it's coming. It's a money maker.\

Clyde Anderson --

ANDERSON: Exactly, big business.

HENDRICKS: -- thanks so much. Appreciate it. Good to see you.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

HENDRICKS: So, now you know most unlimited data plans are going away. How will those new rates affect you?

Digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong will join us after the break to help you pick the best plan for your lifestyle.

Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDRICKS: Just before the break, we told you Verizon is joining AT&T and T-Mobile by cancelling its unlimited data plans. It is true. So, if you text, tweet, videos, upload videos on your phone, you could see your cost going up a lot.

Digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong is here to save you some cash and show how to calculate the best plan for your lifestyle.

And, Mario, as I understand -- correct me if I'm wrong -- they're charging per gigabyte. But I don't know what that means.

MARIA ARMSTRONG, DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: You know what? You and most people don't understand what that means. It's technical terms for how we measure data which are absolutely right of a charge by these things called the gigabyte.

So, to help people understand that a little bit, you know, a gigabyte is really 1,000 megabytes. And so, this kind of mathematics is almost like a foreign language. I don't know about you, but I didn't do that great in matt math class. But this is how we measure data today though.

HENDRICKS: So, I guess the bottom line, the question is: what is the best way to keep my bills low, especially if I use my smart phone a lot, if I'm texting, if I'm uploading pictures? You don't want to be charged. And parents out there of teenagers are thinking, oh, no, there goes the limited plan.

What should they do?

ARMSTRONG: Yes, no, absolutely because, you know, today our consumption on these devices is heavy on all types of things from photos to videos to streaming music and things online. So, you are absolutely right. We need to be aware of those wireless data points.

And so, there are a few things that you need to be aware of.

Number one: e-mails like about 200 -- 20, sorry, 20 kilobytes of e-mail. So, email very low on data. The things that are going to charge you the heaviest on your usage are going to be things like video streaming, music streaming, things like photos. And doing a lot of those types of interactivity with your phone is really going to tax your data and usage.

HENDRICKS: So, I guess depending on what you use your phone for, it may be smart to buy the more expensive monthly plan to save some money in the long run, right?

ARMSTRONG: That's right. I mean, when you're talking about a minute of video, when you watch a minute of video on your smart phone, you're talking about -- you know, you're talking about almost two megs of actual data being placed on your phone. So, it's not going to take a lot of time before you start reaching to some of the caps depending on what kind of plan you actually have.

HENDRICKS: All right. I see at the cell phone stores, the lines are wrapping around the building as we speak trying to figure out what the best plan is for them.

Mario, thank you.

ARMSTRONG: And the thing is

HENDRICKS: Yes? Go ahead.

ARMSTRONG: One other quick tip, I should say for folks fast is a lot of people still use the data -- the cellular networks to access data. And what we should be thinking about is when we can use Wi-Fi on your phone. That way, it reduces the chances of you getting taxed for that data.

So, at all costs, whenever you can, use Wi-Fi on your phone and that will save you a lot of money.

HENDRICKS: Oh, some good advice. I'll do that. Mario, thanks. Appreciate it.

ARMSTRONG: OK. Thank you.

HENDRICKS: She touched the lives of countless others as first lady and as founder of a world famous substance abuse treatment center. Betty Ford passed away surrounded by friends and family last night. We will chronicle the life of this remarkable woman , next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDRICKS: Former First Lady Betty Ford died last night, surrounded by family. She was 93 years old. She became first lady when her husband Gerald Ford became president in 1974, following the resignation of Richard Nixon.

But she is also known for founding the Betty Ford Center.

CNN's Soledad O'Brien has her remarkable life story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rarely was there a first lady whose human qualities stood out more than Betty Ford.

By her husband at all times, here for a visit by President Bush, she was strong, active, and, most of all, candid.

BETTY FORD, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: It has been the outgrowth of my own health that has made it possible for me to go ahead and, in my way, share what I learned with others.

O'BRIEN: Before 1974, it was almost unheard of for a first lady to publicly mention personal problems. In the first year of her husband's presidency, she announced she had breast cancer and would undergo a mastectomy.

But it is this that will be her greatest legacy, the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse.

SHERRY BEBITCH JEFFE, POLITICAL ANALYST: I think she educated a generation that needed education, that needed support in how to deal with these problems.

O'BRIEN: Mrs. Ford disclosed publicly that she had for years abused alcohol and had become dependent on prescription drugs -- the first major political figure to openly address a problem that plagued millions.

JOHN SCHWARZLOSE, DIRECTOR, BETTY FORD CENTER: It has been, from the very first day, a place to any man or woman who wanted help.

JEFFE: It made it unnecessary to hide the reality of substance abuse. And I think that was a contribution that Betty Ford made.

O'BRIEN: She wrote in considerable detail about her battles. She authorized a made-for-TV movie, "The Betty Ford Story."

GERALD FORD, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: She felt and I felt and the children felt that if the story was told well and we had faith in David Rupert (ph), that it could be I immeasurably beneficial.

O'BRIEN: She married Gerald Ford just after World War II and just before he ran for Congress for the first time, and she was by his side from then on. She was her own woman, speaking out for abortion rights and women in the workplace.

Mrs. Ford kept largely out of the public eye in her later years. Most Americans saw her for the first time in more than a decade when she was given the place of honor at both the funeral and burial of her husband. It was a four-day period of national mourning and although she looked fragile, she never wavered.

And the treatment center that she helped create will be a memorial for generations to come.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HENDRICKS: It certainly will. She has helped so many people.

We will be back at 8:00 a.m. Eastern.

But, first, battlefield breakthroughs, the wars in Iraq and Africa helped change medical care here at home. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is taking a look.

A special edition of "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." starts now.