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On the Story

Presidential Politics Heats Up; Where Are the Jobs and Why Aren't There More of Them?; Jayson Blair: Media Star?

Aired March 13, 2004 - 10:00   ET

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

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


SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week.
I'm Suzanne Malveaux ON THE STORY of how presidential politics heated up with direct attacks now between President Bush and Senator John Kerry.

LISA SYLVESTER, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: I'm Lisa Sylvester ON THE STORY of what many people think is campaign issue No. 1 -- jobs, where are they, why aren't there more new ones?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Maria Hinojosa, ON THE STORY of the former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, whose record of fraud doesn't keep him from wanting to be a media star.

In the aftermath of the terrorism bombings in Madrid, we'll go to northern Spain and talk to CNN's Diana Muriel. We'll talk to sports anchor Michelle Bonner about the hockey attack that broke a player's neck, and we'll talk to medical correspondent Holly Firfer about the latest government concerns about your health and your waste line.

E-mail us at onthestory@cnn.com.

Now, straight ahead to terrorism in Spain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We weep with the families. We stand strong with the people of Spain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: President Bush, speaking for so many people shocked by the terrorist bombings in Spain this week. Still an incomplete picture about who is responsible. Investigators say there's a possibility that al Qaeda was involved.

But first, suspicions turned toward the terrorist group ETA in northern Spain, where CNN's Diana Muriel join us by videophone.

Diana, I know this is a difficult story for you. But can you tell us what is the picture that you are looking at? The type of scene -- I know there's been a lot of carnage. Can you tell us what you're seeing?

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a very strong reaction, as you can imagine, here in the Basque country, hundreds of miles north of Madrid, where the attacks took place on Thursday. But the fact that the Madrid government, the Spanish government, has pointed the finger of blame and so quickly at ETA, which is the separatist movement who want to see a separate, independent national state for the Basque country, and have adopted terrorist tactics in the past to achieve that -- the fact that the government is blaming ETA so quickly and then by default, the Basque people, something that the people here resent very much indeed, Susanna (ph) (sic).

SYLVESTER: There was a white fan that was found that seems to indicate that al Qaeda might possibly be involved. Do we know at this time any more information about this?

MURIEL: We have some information from the Interior Ministry that was released on Friday, but there hasn't been, as far as I'm aware, any further details released. And indeed, many of the Basque people that I've been speaking to are very cynical about this. They say that the government is going to sit on any of the results that it may already have on the investigation into the bombing attacks on Thursday and wait until after Sunday's general election before releasing that information. They say that the government wants to create uncertainty in people's minds as to who might be responsible for this.

It may be ETA, it may be Islamic terrorists. But it's too early to say. We have no strong or firm information yet to go on from official sources, and that may remain that way for some days to come.

HINOJOSA: So, Diana, tell us about what's happening now in terms of you being in Basque country, the fact that there are the elections coming up tomorrow -- what's the sense of the people there in terms of what they're saying about ETA or not and how that might play out in terms of how they turn out for this election or not?

MURIEL: Well, one very strong message that I'm getting all over the region is that people are very keen to exercise their democratic right to vote, and they don't want to have this terrorist attack interfere with that in anyway.

But they also say that the fact that ETA has been caught up in this, at least by association with some of the comments that we've heard from government ministers, and, indeed, from the head of the country, is that this is very bad, indeed, for the Socialists, who are in opposition here, and that this is simply going to reinforce the governing party who, indeed, was leading polls before Thursday's bomb attack.

They also feel that there will be a political backlash, whatever the result is of the election, and, indeed, whatever the result is of the investigation into the bombing, and that their great search for more autonomy here, their need to be more independent, their demand to be more independent, will actually be reduced, and that they could see some of the privileges that they have, with greater autonomy -- their own parliament, their own police force for example -- they could see some of those things reduced or taken away from them altogether.

MALVEAUX: Diana, in talking with some law enforcement officials here as well as intelligence officials, they are very nervous when they see these pictures, they see what happened there, because they realize this type of attack, of course, the U.S. is vulnerable to as well.

Tell us, the law enforcement as well as police there, what are they looking at and how scared are they, that something like this could happen again, that this is the type of thing that perhaps cannot be prevented?

MURIEL: Well, Susanna, I have to tell you that the police force here in the Basque territory is extremely nervous and extremely jumpy, as is understandable. We saw those mass protests on the streets of the region, as well as all over Spain, with millions of people taking to the street on Friday night. It all passed off very peacefully, but there was a very strong police presence on street.

And I have to tell you that even when we went to a television station last night to satellite our report back to CNN, we got out of the taxi and a police officer pulled his gun. He was very nervous. We got out of the car too fast for his liking. He wasn't sure what we were trying to do and if it hadn't been for our Spanish-speaking producer, we might have been in an interesting set of circumstances.

But police are very jumpy. We've just had some confirmation from police in Pamplona, which is north of here, in Nevara (ph), that an off-duty policeman has short dead an individual. They won't give us any of the details of that shorting, other than to say the individual was dead on arrival at the hospital. But this is a sign of how nervous some of the authorities are here. A very, very visible presence of police on the streets, both in the... (AUDIO GAP)

HINOJOSA: OK, well, it look like we lost Diana in that case. Hmmm.

SYLVESTER: We'll be coming up. Thank you very much, Diana Muriel, for joining us. We'll be watching you ON THE STORY in coming weeks.

From international, turning to politics here at home. The presidential turned up the heat this week.

We'll be back ON THE STORY after this.

ANNOUNCER: Suzanne Malveaux is a CNN White House correspondent. Earlier, she reported for NBC for six years, covering the Pentagon and the Clinton administration. She has degrees from Harvard and Columbia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: My opponent hadn't offered much in the way of strategies to win the war or policies to expand the economy. So far, all we hear from that side is a lot of old bitterness and partisan anger. Soon, he'll learn, anger is not an agenda for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group that I've ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well, Senator John Kerry later said he wasn't talking about all Republicans, just what he called "the attack dogs." But both men are involved in specific attacks against each other with many moons before the Election Day.

Welcome back, we're ON THE STORY.

And it is only going to get uglier. We have eight more months left of this.

HINOJOSA: I know, so what do you think, Suzanne? I mean, these ads that are coming out, that everybody's seen now -- why so soon? Are people going to get really exhausted from this, like, pit bull kind of attack and just say, Oh, God, both of them?

MALVEAUX: There are a couple schools of thought here.

I talked to Bush aides who say, first of all, this is a unique situation because -- well, the whole election cycle was accelerated by the primary process. But the other thing is, they say people right now are paying attention. They have voters' attention. And so they are putting everything they have into this. In the next couple of weeks, you're going to see this -- of course, this whole new set of ads some negative, some positive.

But they realize, when you look at those poll numbers, that Bush is vulnerable on a number of issues -- the economy, when it come to health care. The one thing they know that he's not vulnerable on is this war on terror and they are pushing really hard on that point.

SYLVESTER: I think there's running a little scared, though. Because you've had a few -- it seems like you've had a few misstep and that Kerry machine has just been able to ramp up so quickly, so suddenly.

So how are they responding to that, especially with the misstep -- the latest, the manufacturing are, where they put this guy's name out, and they were about to have the whole official ceremony, and they then said wait, Oh, wait a minute, maybe he's not our -- the best choice.

MALVEAUX: That's -- I mean, that's a great story, because you have this guy, this Nebraska businessman, who was going to be appointed to be the manufacturing czar. You've got all of this concern over manufacturing jobs lost. And before we had an official announcement out of the White House, the Kerry camp was faxing press releases criticizing this guy for his record, saying that there were workers that he hired, that they built a plant in China. The White House, who talked to the White House officials who talked to these guys behind the scenes, and they were just dumbfounded at this. They could not believe that already you had this out there.

And yes, what they had to do -- they had to take a second look. They said, Well, you know, we don't think that these criticisms are fair, but at the same time, you had the guy, Tony Romando, who withdrew his nomination because he realized this is already a problem. This is a distraction for the Bush camp.

HINOJOSA: So is that the Bush people are slow, or is it that the Kerry people are just fast? I mean, is it the -- which...

MALVEAUX: I think both sides are really very fast right now, both sides are firing back and forth. And even just the fact that you have these ads responding to one another. You've got the Kerry camp attacking -- I mean, the Bush camp attacking Kerry. And then just the day afterwards, you've got Kerry coming back, slamming, saying he's misrepresenting me here.

I mean, this is something that we just haven't seen before. You're talking about using the Internet, you're talking about using the television. And these guys are just moving at a pace that we have not really seen in the last election.

SYLVESTER: Who's winning the money war, the fund-raising, or in terms of -- we know that Bush has been very strong. But the Democrats have also been strong raising money through these other groups, these 527s and the like.

MALVEAUX: Now think about. You had like a -- there's a 10-to-1 ratio, a 10-to-1 advantage, President Bush's campaign over the Kerry campaign when it comes to money, because the goal is $170 million, and they're pretty close to the goal. And President Bush is going out, raising money all the time.

But the other aspect of this, of course, is they're looking at these groups, Moveon.org, Media Fund. They're putting their money out there on these ads. And the Bush camp says, Wait a minute, you are -- this is a violation of campaign finance laws because you're not official officially a political party. There are regulations that are in place here. So you've got a whole `nother battle that's going on with the FEC. Should be very interesting to see what happens with that.

But, you know, I mean, there's no guarantee there's going to be a ruling anytime soon on that, and those ads are going to be out there.

HINOJOSA: So, you know, when I talked to people on the street about the election, this is one of things that people say. They say, Oh, my God, this is going to get so ugly. Just this feeling like this is going to be -- who knows what's going to happen? It's kind of like where is the next shoe going to drop? What's the next big kind of accusation?

Is that the feeling that you're getting inside, that this is going to get uglier, possibly?

MALVEAUX: I think it's probably going to get uglier, sure. I think it's going to get uglier on both sides.

And the one thing -- this could backfire. Both sides realize that. But the one thing they say is that, Look, you know, these ads, and these attacks, and they're really focused on a very small group of people, which is the swing voters, no more than 20 percent, it's 18 states. And they're going to keep hitting them.

And what's going to happen is it's going to ebb and flow. Right now, people are paying closing attention. That may not be the case in two months from now or four months from now. If they see that, Hey this isn't working, they'll pull it; they'll do something else. They'll just kind of in and out.

The one thing that the Bush campaign is not doing is they're not backing down on using images of September 11. They've made that very clear. They feel that they're justified in doing so. They say this is the one area in which the president can show true leadership and we saw that on Long Island, just this past week, at the event he went to.

HINOJOSA: But even though -- even some of the 9/11 families who were there, who were kind of supporting the president, as they were dedicating this memorial, then, when you spoke to them they said, Well, we're kind of uncomfortable about this.

MALVEAUX: There were some family members -- there were those who had lost their loved ones in the 9/11 attacks, who felt like it was not appropriate for the president to be there, because it was followed by a fund-raiser immediately afterwards.

Now, what happened was, the organizers of this event, however, one being the county executive of Nassau County, who is a Democrat -- they said, Look, we knew that he was going to be in town for a fund- raiser, so we decided to invite him to our own ground-breaking ceremony. And so we decided to combine the two. So they were not critical.

But there have been some family members, and there have been some New York firefighters, as you know, who have felt that they have used and exploited that image, that tragedy.

SYLVESTER: I'm really interested about the 9/11 Commission and about President Bush having to answer all these questions. Tell us, where do things stand right now?

MALVEAUX: Right now, he's going to answer questions before the chair and the vice chair. And there was an indication earlier in the week that it's probably going to go a little bit longer than an hour. Initially, they said it was just going to be an hour. And -- well, Senator Kerry and -- said -- Well, if he can spend an hour or a couple hours at this rodeo, certainly he can do more than an hour before the commission. So there is some wiggle room that we're seeing. They're give a little bit there.

But still, so far, they're negotiating over whether or not it's going to be the full commission or just those two top heads.

SYLVESTER: And the pressure is certainly on, at least at this point.

MALVEAUX: Oh, absolutely.

SYLVESTER: All right. Thank you, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

SYLVESTER: From some rough and tumble in politics, to knock-down violence in sports, we're back ON THE STORY of the hockey assault with sports anchor Michelle Bonner after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BERTUZZI, VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Fans of hockey, fans of Vancouver, for the kids that watch this game, I'm truly sorry. I don't play that -- I don't play the game that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks apologizing for attacking Colorado's Steve Moore during Monday's game.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

And joining us from Atlanta is CNN Headline Sports anchor Michelle Bonner.

So Michelle, what does this mean for the sport of hockey? Will this do a lot of damage for hockey fans?

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN HEADLINE SPORTS: Well, you know, at least -- that certainly remains to be seen.

Hockey right now, we should mention, is fighting something else much bigger. They're on the verge of a possible lockout next season where the owners are just asking the player to give up a little bit of their money. They're already giving something like 76 percent of their revenues to players. So they're already looking at much worse.

We've seen incidents like this in hockey in the past with no real, true ramifications. So in terms of what this might do to hockey, that certainly remains to be seen.

HINOJOSA: So here's this guy, and he's saying, "I didn't mean to hurt him." What is he talking about? The guy was pounding him; the guy was down; he continued to pound him -- I mean, I know he's saying sorry, but come on. I mean, isn't it -- these guys know what they're doing. They know when they're slugging someone that's it's -- that, yes, I did mean to hurt him. I mean, to me it sounds just entirely disingenuous.

BONNER: You're absolutely right.

I don't think that Todd Bertuzzi meant to cause as much damage. I mean, you're talking about a broken neck. You're talking about this kid's season being over. Yes, let's go back to the fact that -- we have to mention that the Vancouver Canucks and the Colorado Avalanche had played back in January and Steve Moore, the guy who has the broken neck, who is lying down there right now, he had actually taken out Vancouver's team captain, Marcus Naslund. He hit him hard enough back in January that he knocked him out for three games and gave him a concussion.

Brad May, who plays for Vancouver, talked about taking a bounty out on Steve Moore. Well guess what? Todd Bertuzzi, obviously, a lot of people are saying that this is retaliation, because the Canucks went back, took him out, knocked him out and did some severe damage.

So yes, they do know what they're doing. But I don't think that the intent, on the most part -- I mean, you -- everyone has made mistakes somewhere along the line and said, God, I wish I could go back and reverse what I did. The thing about hockey though, is that fighting is endorsed, it's condoned. So they know what they're doing to an extent, but causing that much damage, I would have to say that Todd Bertuzzi did not anticipate doing it like that.

MALVEAUX: So Michelle, I guess I got to play devil's advocate here. I mean, I'm not a big hockey fan. But, you know, when you watch hockey and you see these kind of brawls take place, you just think, you know, is it surprising that something like this happened, that it came to this point, if you consider it's all a part of this culture, of this game. I mean, doesn't it seem like everybody has a certain sense of responsibility in this?

BONNER: And that's just it, and it remains to be seen who really accepts true responsibility.

I mean, hockey has talked about cleaning up its image over the years. We've seen things like this. Let's go back to Marty McSorley a few years back when he took a stick to Donald Brashear, coincidentally of the same team, knocking him out. McSorley was found guilty in a British Columbia court, sentenced to 18 month. But the bottom line was that he wouldn't have a criminal record, didn't have to serve time if he remained so-called "good."

We've seen these kinds of incidents happen. But the thing is, you know, I'm a huge hockey fan. I'll be the first to tell you that I love it when there's a good hockey fight. Drop the gloves and go at it. I think to some extent, though, when you see situations like this, it has to be revisited in terms of how much damage you really can -- you know, if the guys keep their helmets on and their gloves on and they're just trying to duke it out with the big pads on, you know, that's one thing. But when you see something, a sucker punch like that to a guy from behind, throw in the retaliation factor, then, you know -- yes, in some ways, I would have to say I'm a bit of a hypocrite because you want that kind of fighting taken out of the game. SYLVESTER: It's odd because, you know, it's like, as you said, a lot of hockey fans sort of see this as, This is what they pay their money for. But at the same time, you know, is there a way of bringing down the level of violence? Can you regulate this in anyway? Or -- I mean, even the referees, they seem to just be sort of standing by.

So what can be done to sort of bring -- is it just changing the culture or what happens?

BONNER: I'm not so sure you can change the culture of hockey, because this is what -- if you go back to the '70s and '80s, this was good, old-fashioned hockey when they would drop the gloves and go at it. That's what hockey fans are truly looking -- it's a blue-collar sport. I mean, people love that aspect.

It is the one sport that does condone the fighting. But you know what? I'm sitting here with three pages -- three pages of stuff that I found of incidents, two pages just in hockey alone, that are very severe incidents, where guys have been taken out, knocked out of the game where no punishment's been handed down.

But here's an entire page of things in sports where guys have done things -- last August, Bill Romanowski of the Oakland Raiders, goes and rips off his teammate's helmet, punches him in the eye socket, breaks his eye socket -- he gets suspended for -- what? Like, a few games and that's it?

The police are -- this is where it gets complicated. The police need to get involved for incidents like this.

HINOJOSA: That's what I was going to ask you, Michelle. Now that you've come clean and you've told us that you like the fighting -- OK, thanks for letting us know, because it's been a long time since I've been to a hockey game, I think, if ever.

But do we need to inspect -- start bringing the police? do charges need to start coming up? Do the courts need to start getting involved? Or is that just -- you know, is that just taking it to another level?

BONNER: Well, it obviously is taking it to another level when you do bring the police and courts into situations like that.

When you look at hockey and the fact that fighting has always condoned. It's a part of the game, it's a part of the culture, as we just talked about. So each individual case has to be looked at differently. But there's a -- one of the cases I was look at, on these, in terms of general sports, Ben Chirstensen of Wichita State, beans an opposing batter who strayed out of the on-deck circle. That, right there, everyone who plays the game of baseball knows that's a no-no -- hits the guy, and is suspended for the balance of the season, but not charged criminally. That is something where he intentionally tried to take out that guy and hurt that guy, and yet -- no criminal charges are filed.

I think each individual instance where you know that some severe harm can be caused, then they have to be looked at, you know, on a case-by-case basis.

Hockey that is a tough, tough, question to answer, because fighting is endorsed. It is condoned.

HINOJOSA: OK. Well, I guess we'll have to see what happened when roller derby starts getting controlled. But anyway, thanks to you, Michelle Bonner.

Now, from sports to health, and why the government is telling us to drop your fork and stay away from those french fries. Medical correspondent Holly Firfer is ON THE STORY, and a check of what's making headline this hour after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Checking the headlines at this hour now -- just within the last 30 minutes word of a shooting at a college in Michigan. The president of Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek tells CNN the school is under a lock-down. He says the shooting took place in a parking lot. Two, possibly three people, have been shot. Their conditions at this time are not known.

In Fresno, California, police are on the scene of a killing of children, trying to sort out what happened. Police who responded to a domestic disturbance call found the bodies of a woman, a teenager, and seven children who are between the age of 1 and 8. Fifty-seven-year- old Marcus Wesson, believed to be the father of most of the victims, is in custody.

Authorities in Loudoun County, Tennessee, are trying to resolve a standoff with an armed teenager. A deputy was shot and killed Friday morning when he responded to a domestic disturbance. Four other officers were slightly injured. Police have identified the suspect in the home as a 16-year-old boy armed with a semiautomatic weapon.

In Spain, as victims are being laid to rest, the Interior Minister says there's no indication Thursday's commuter train attacks were suicide bombings. The minister also said ETA and al Qaeda are both suspects, but the investigation is concentrating on ETA. The death toll in the bombings reached 200 today.

I'm Heidi Collins at CNN in Atlanta. Now back to ON THE STORY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE GERBERDING, CDC DIRECTOR: Obesity is catching up with tobacco as the leading actual cause of mortality in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, warning that fat can kill.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

I'm joined now from Atlanta by CNN medical correspondent Holly Firfer.

OK, Holly. The headline is here -- so we're told so many things that we can't eat, that we shouldn't eat. I mean, we know that Americans are overweight. What are we being told now?

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, we're being told it's basically an epidemic now. Thirty percent of adults are considered obese. And when you're obese, it puts you at risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, a whole host of diseases. And, you know, the concern is, We're burdening our medical, our health care system. And now they say obesity and lack of exercise is gaining and even overtaking smoking as the No. 1 risk factor for disease and death in adults, which is pretty scary.

And even in children, this statistic, 15 percent of kids are overweight. And the numbers of obesity and being overweight has doubled since the 1970s. We're eating too much. We're eating large portion sizes. We're eating too many fatty food. We're not getting enough exercise.

And even on Friday, Secretary Tommy Thompson of the HHS asked manufacturers of food labels to change food labels so that you know exactly how many calories you're getting. If you've ever picked up a food that -- you know, a bag of chips, for instance, that's maybe went for one person to eat. And you read, OK, you know, I'm getting about 100 calories and this many grams of fat. But you have to look at portion sizing. It will say two to three portions. So you have to multiply that. And they say, You know what? We don't want you to do that anymore. We want you to tell you, if you're one person eating this bag, how much am I going to consume? Because that's part of the problem. We're not educated consumers.

MALVEAUX: Holly, it's such a sensitive issue, too. Because you really -- you ask, you know, Well, who or what is responsible for this increase? And I know that on the Hill, just this past week, they passed something that essentially didn't give liability or limited the liability for fast-food restaurants, that if you're obese, you can't turn to them and say, Hey, you know, you didn't warn me about these french fries just being so fattening.

Well, what is happening here, and how are they trying to determine who is accountable and what can we do as a community to really fight this problem?

FIRFER: Well, basically, you know, everybody always looks for that finger to blame. Who can we blame?

But what manufacturers are saying and foodmakers are saying, restaurants, fast-food restaurants are saying -- we're not forcing you to eat this food. We're not forcing you to eat here. And most are offering alternatives, healthy salads or low-carb sandwiches, that we now see. Basically it's your hamburger without the bun, but saying that you need to be an educated consumer and make a good choice.

And that is why they're putting the owness on people and their doctors. Doctors and health care providers should be telling people, Here is what you need to eat, here is what you need to do to exercise. But nobody can hold your hand.

Just this week -- you know, we're still looking for that perfect, magic pill. On Monday, we heard about Robonimant, which is a new so- called superpill, which helps people stop overeating and stop smoking. It's in its final phases of study right now, and so far, it looks promising. Basically it shuts off the so-called canabanoid system in your brain, the one that makes you crave food. They found, you know, marijuana smoker will say, you know, I'm ravenously hungry after I've smoked marijuana. And this targets that system and basically shuts it off so you don't want to overeat and you don't want to smoke.

But still, doctors will tell you, That's great. That's a good, quick fix, but it's not a cure. It's a healthy lifestyle. You've got to make lifestyle changes. And it's becoming a serious epidemic, as we see more people having heart attacks and stroke and developing cancer.

SYLVESTER: Holly, let me shift gears just a little bit.

I know another story that's out there is dealing with women's reproductive health and some of the new challenges there. There are lots of women out there trying to have a child at either a later age, they're putting off having children.

What can they do? What sort of new medical things are out there for them to turn to?

FIRFER: Well, one of the reproductive specialists we spoke to said, You know what the problem is, is that women's reproductive health takes a backseat. There's not enough funding, there's not enough money, and we're not making advances very far. Talking about infertility, he said, You know, if this was heart disease, we'd have it solved. We'd have it fixed. We'd be out there talking about.

We know in-vitro fertilization is the gold standard. It's what most people will do to have a child. But it's very expensive. It can be thousands. I think the average is $12,400 in the United States for one procedure.

And it takes an emotional toll. We met many couples who say it was tearing their marriage apart, the pressure to have a child.

And there's some experimental treatments out there as well. But the FDA says, You know, we don't know enough about them. Are they dangerous? Is there a future danger to a child? So, therefore, we can't approve them. We're going to have to ban some of these.

And women are traveling overseas. We met a woman who went to Lebanon to have a procedure to try to have a child because you just can't do it in the U.S.

HINOJOSA: You know, Holly, it's interesting because when I went through this -- and I wrote about it in my book, so I know about -- I mean, people know what I went through, and having two miscarriages. I mean, you really do -- you do get to a point of desperation. And I remember I was getting family members who were sending me teas from Mexico and saying, If you just take this, You're going to be OK.

But I think that there's also something that needs to be talked about, which is, you know, you work yourself up so much about this, and that doesn't help either -- you know, the stress about it.

FIRFER: It's an emotional, psychological issue as well. And many fertility specialists will recommend couples also get therapy, because, as I said, it can tear a marriage apart. And as you know, it is an emotional strain.

One of the women said it's like a disease. It's with you 24/7 and you can't get rid of it.

But they are, you know, slowly making advances. But that is a concern that -- these teas, you don't know really what you're drinking, what you're taking and can it interfere with something else if you're also trying in-vitro fertilization or taking Clomid or any other fertility drugs?

So, you know, we need to be careful. People need to make informed choices.

SYLVESTER: All right. Thank you, Holly Firfer.

What's ON THE STORY for you in the coming days?

FIRFER: Basically, we're looking at -- next week -- well, that's a good question. You put me on the spot.

Asthma -- asthma and allergies, asthmatic allergies. We know that's coming up next week. The most -- the cities where your highest risk of asthma are and we'll tell you about that next week.

SYLVESTER: Sorry to put you on the spot like that.

FIRFER: That's OK.

SYLVESTER: I didn't mean to do that.

(CROSSTALK)

SYLVESTER: From health to a healthy economy and why jobs continue to lag. I'm back on that story in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Our economy is expanding. Productivity is strong. Unemployment has been falling. InClones are rising. And we're going to stay on this path of growth and prosperity in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: President Bush in Cleveland Wednesday, speaking to women entrepreneur, predicting, maybe claiming a little credit for growth and prosperity.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

MALVEAUX: Now, you hear a lot -- an awful lot about the trade deficit and how big a problem this is. And also, you hear a lot from the Bush camp, saying that Senator Kerry is an economic isolationist and that some of these trade agreements are in danger.

But we haven't really heard that he's going to -- he's going to review these, NAFTA and others, but we haven't heard there's going to be anything new in terms of pulling them apart. What is happening now in terms of changing our relationships with other countries?

SYLVESTER: Well, we've actually been moving towards -- in the direction -- and the United States just traditionally has been a free- trade nation. We've promoted free trade in other countries, and we've been moving even more in that direction. We've had free trade agreements with Australia, with Chile with Singapore, all of these within the last year.

I mean, these aren't a lot of things that are talked about a lot. But altogether, all of these markets, these new markets, are great for your multi-national corporations, and the argument is that they would be able to send more exports to these countries, which, in turn, will help the United States.

On the other hand, you have those arguing that essentially free trade is not necessarily a good thing because over the long haul, because of what it means in terms of the trade deficit. It was 43 -- a record, $43 billion in January. And if you think of it in terms of your personal economics, essentially, you are spending more than you're receiving. You are -- you've got less revenue come in from other countries and such, you are buying, buying, buying. But people will say, that's kind of the American spirit. People like to have things in this country. We are a country of consumers.

HINOJOSA: Right. But you know what? At the same time, if you look at it on a global kind of perspective, when you're talk about free trade, there's also people who say, Well, if you're going to have free trade, you've got to have free movement of labor. And earlier this week, President Bush was meeting with Mexican president Vicente Fox. A lot of people were saying it was just kind of a "make nice" because there have been problems in the past. President Fox, from Mexico, was against the Iraq war.

But let's talk about what happened in that meeting. There was an agreement...

SYLVESTER: Well, one of the things that Vicente Fox and President Bush last week are and what they were able to agree on, is that -- the border crossing cards, for instance. These are --- they're also called laser visas. These are 72-hour passes that people from Mexico can come into the United States, they can go back and forth. It's used for business and shopping, to visit relatives and so forth.

HINOJOSA: Because that area, people need to understand, is so fluid -- I mean, that border area.

SYLVESTER: Right, I mean, you're talking along the border, you've got people who have got family member on both sides of the border.

So what President Bush and Vicente Fox is they reached an agreement in principle so that Mexicans coming across the border would not have to be fingerprinted or photographed.

You'll remember with U.S. visit, that took affect this year for airports, and it's supposed to take effect later on this year for land borders -- anyone requiring a visa to enter the United States has to be fingerprinted and photographed.

Well, consumer groups were saying, Wow if you have to require everybody who comes in from Mexico to be fingerprinted and photographed, you're going to have a long backlog of cars waiting to get through and so forth. So they said essentially that they were going to wave that requirement for Mexican visitors.

But on the flip side of that, there are groups that are opposed to that because they say that you're essentially letting -- you're changing the rules for Mexican visitors and not for other visitors.

MALVEAUX: One thing that didn't pass, though -- and I know that Congress really isn't very excited about doing this, is moving forward on the workers program. You have the immigrants, illegal immigrants who are already here. And he wanted to go ahead and smooth away so that they could obtain work legally. And I know that's -- that's pretty much been shut..

SYLVESTER: That is such a touchy subject, because, you know, President Bush announced this -- this is one of those programs that -- you know, you're going into an election year and the fact remains is no one likes the plan. I mean, the plan essentially would allow -- would match a willing employer with a willing employee. So if you have people coming in from other country, and as long as you have an employer who says, Yes, there's no American who wants this job and we do have a willing employee from another country, we're going to allow them -we're going to allow them into the country and give them a worker visa, essentially, and let them stay in the United States for, I believe it's up to three years.

The problem with that, though, is you have pro-immigration groups saying, Well, look, we see this for what it is. You know, it's an election year, You're making these promises, but there's no incentive at the end of the three-year period. We come into your country, we work for you and we want to have something to gain at the end of that. And what they want is citizenship.

On the other hand, you have the anti-immigration groups saying, Oh, this is amnesty in disguise.

So it's one of those policies where they put this out there and it's not winning President Bush points from either side at this point. HINOJOSA: And an interesting report, just before we end up, that undocumented Mexican immigrants now are dying at the highest rate ever because they're doing the most dangerous jobs and there's no one there to protect them and there's no recourse at all.

SYLVESTER: One of the reasons why President Bush announced this plan was, you know -- and pro-immigration groups have been focusing on this, is they want to bring those workers from out of the shadow. Because the reality is -- and everybody will say this -- we know the workers -- there are undocumented workers in the United States. It just is a reality. So the question now is what do you do? Do you give them legal recognition, which would mean that if they had a problem, they could sue in court, they could do some other things.

But on the other hand, again, very, very controversial for that reason, because there are groups that don't want to give more right and privileges, they want to give less rights and privileges.

HINOJOSA: Just a little controversial.

SYLVESTER: Yes.

HINOJOSA: But anyway, from the concerns of the national economy to the efforts of -- well, one liar and plagiarist to convince people to pay attention to him. I'm back ON THE STORY of Jayson Blair after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAYSON BLAIR, FMR. NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER: Some people, you know, it seems to me, would like me to crawl into a hole and disappear forever. That's just not in my nature.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: No, it's clearly not in Jayson Blair's nature. Disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair says he's sorry for the lies, for stealing other people's work and for just making stuff up. Now he's back in the spotlight.

And we're ON THE STORY. Welcome back.

SYLVESTER: So it looks like he's going to have his 15 minutes of fame and then he'll crawl under the rock and go away.

I mean, how much sustaining power can he possibly have with one book? And who's going to hire this guy? And that's the problem. You do one book...

HINOJOSA: Well, he's going to become a novelist. I mean, it's actually -- what's interesting is, like, you know, you hold up the book, when I've taken it out -- and I've been to a couple of media organizations just in the past, and I take it out and everybody was like, Oh my God, there it is. They want to see it, but then they say, But did you buy it? And I said, No, I didn't. It was actually bought by my producer.

But that's kind of people's reaction. They're just, like, they want to know, but they don't want to buy it. And actually, the last I checked on the Amazon list, he was way low.

So that's kind of his problem, is that people want to know, but they don't want to endorse him at all by buying it.

And, you know, when were talking to people at the Times, they just said, You know, he should become a novelist, because he can obviously write. So become a novelist where you do make everything up.

MALVEAUX: And there's been some reports, some reviews that some of the stuff in the book is made up. I mean, why do we even care about -- I mean, I can understand, you know, because of our own business, we say, You know, this is about ethics.

But I don't really care. I don't really care about this guy.

HINOJOSA: You know what? I think there are a lot of people who, when they hear about this, they are -- they just kind of glaze over it. I mean, out there -- even in New York, when I was in the bookstore, there were a lot of people, who were like, Jayson Blair, I don't know.

On the other hand, if you're in our business, you do want to know. And there was a charge -- there was a charge that came up on a Web site that said that he had actually lifted a paragraph from another story about him and that he had put it into this book and then he quickly had to respond and say, No, no, no, no, no, that's not true.

But, you know, essentially, people -- they just -- I mean, what I kind of hoped -- just, you know, full disclosure here -- I just wish he would say, you know what? I'm a pathological liar. I have lied from the time that I was able to speak and I'm going to continue to lie. And therefore -- and there's no pill you can take, there's no anti-depressant, there's no nothing. I'm a pathological liar and I'm going to try to get better.

But there are a lot of people who have problems when he continues to bring up the issue of race. And I was doing this because, you know, I was a black man at The New York Times. And then even on "LARRY KING," you know, 10 minutes later, he said, Well, you know, I was lying before I was at The New York Times. It's like, Well, so what is it?

SYLVESTER: Do people -- are people feeling sorry for him? Is that what the book is trying to do? To kind of get the sympathy factor from people?

HINOJOSA: You know what? Howard Kurtz, who's actually going to have him on his show, on "RELIABLE SOURCES," said that the problem with the book is that, once you're done reading it, you still don't understand why he did it. You just get no clue why he did this. And he seems to be wanting to point blame at everyone and not able to say, It was just me.

And he did say that in the interview with the "LARRY KING" people. He said, You know, I realize now that I just made bad choices. But he said that kind of after the book came out.

MALVEAUX: I think the problem is too is that people think the public makes -- you know, that the media make stuff up anyway. You know, that this is one of those things -- they look at this example, and say, Oh, well, you know this just proves what we've suspect all a long. I mean, I think that in some way it does affect, it does damage the credibility of what we do.

Beyond that, I -- you know, who -- who cares why he -- why he even did it?

HINOJOSA: Well, the interesting thing about it is that, you know, the work we do in television, you know, we really can't -- you know, we have picture to match. We can't just make this stuff up, and there's always these checks and balances.

What I'm amazed at is that you could have a reporter like Jayson Blair who is having -- who was making mistakes and The Times would have to go in and put a correction, continually. I mean, if we made mistakes like that, we'd be fired. How is it this guy could be making mistakes at a place like The New York Times and they just go in and make a correction and they didn't say, Wait a second, time out, we need to stop and figure this one out?

SYLVESTER: He should have become a novelist to begin with -- I mean, and saved everybody the trouble.

HINOJOSA: Well, you know, there are just a lot of people who, they literally -- they hear him name and they're like, Ugh.

So you know what? Even if he was a novelist -- unless he writes an extraordinary novel, that's just fabulous, I think the guy's going to have to like really switch it out and maybe become what he said -- he says he's been doing a lot of work with AA. Maybe he becomes, you know, a social worker, a drug counselor, or something like that.

But I don't think he's going to have...

(CROSSTALK)

HINOJOSA: ...because it's not going to happen in the media world at all.

SYLVESTER: All right. Thanks, Maria.

Stay with us. We're back ON THE STORY after this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Television start Jennifer Garner made headlines this week. What's her story? More when we return.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Jennifer Garner -- what's her story? Known for her role as Sydney Bristow in the hit television series "Alias," Jennifer Garner has a new role this week: CIA recruiter. The agency launched a video this week on its Web site featuring the actress.

JENNIFER GARNER, ACTRESS: The CIA serves as our country's first line of defense in the ongoing war against international terrorism.

ANNOUNCER: The agency says, although fictional, Garner's character portrays what the CIA is looking for in its officers: integrity, patriotism and intelligence. She received no fee for her work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: And with us (ph) is one of the interesting things right now.

There I was walking through, strolling through National Airport and what did I see? Lo and behold, it's a picture of Suzanne Malveaux. This is on the Washington Flyer magazine. She is just looking absolutely fabulous. There's a nice, lovely little article that talks about all...

MALVEAUX: Lisa is my new agent. I've decided. She's a good promoter her.

SYLVESTER: I just -- it's a beautiful picture and kudos to you.

(CROSSTALK)

HINOJOSA: Honey, you work hard, OK? You deserve the cover of a magazine.

MALVEAUX: I am so surprised that you even got a copy of that, because my parents have been scouring every single airport with, you know, bags of these magazines. But thank you very much.

Thanks to all of my colleagues, particularly you, Lisa.

SYLVESTER : I'm going to get the autographed copy. Coming soon to eBay.

MALVEAUX: And thank you for watching. We'll see you back ON THE STORY next week.

HINOJOSA: All right. I want to see.

MALVEAUX: And still ahead, "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS," focusing this week on America's idols, Rubben Studdard and Clay Aiken and musician Carlos Santana. At 12 noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific, CNN live Saturday. At 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, CNN's "IN THE MONEY."

Coming up at the top of the hour, a check of the top stories.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Aren't There More of Them?; Jayson Blair: Media Star?>


Aired March 13, 2004 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week.
I'm Suzanne Malveaux ON THE STORY of how presidential politics heated up with direct attacks now between President Bush and Senator John Kerry.

LISA SYLVESTER, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: I'm Lisa Sylvester ON THE STORY of what many people think is campaign issue No. 1 -- jobs, where are they, why aren't there more new ones?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Maria Hinojosa, ON THE STORY of the former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, whose record of fraud doesn't keep him from wanting to be a media star.

In the aftermath of the terrorism bombings in Madrid, we'll go to northern Spain and talk to CNN's Diana Muriel. We'll talk to sports anchor Michelle Bonner about the hockey attack that broke a player's neck, and we'll talk to medical correspondent Holly Firfer about the latest government concerns about your health and your waste line.

E-mail us at onthestory@cnn.com.

Now, straight ahead to terrorism in Spain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We weep with the families. We stand strong with the people of Spain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: President Bush, speaking for so many people shocked by the terrorist bombings in Spain this week. Still an incomplete picture about who is responsible. Investigators say there's a possibility that al Qaeda was involved.

But first, suspicions turned toward the terrorist group ETA in northern Spain, where CNN's Diana Muriel join us by videophone.

Diana, I know this is a difficult story for you. But can you tell us what is the picture that you are looking at? The type of scene -- I know there's been a lot of carnage. Can you tell us what you're seeing?

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a very strong reaction, as you can imagine, here in the Basque country, hundreds of miles north of Madrid, where the attacks took place on Thursday. But the fact that the Madrid government, the Spanish government, has pointed the finger of blame and so quickly at ETA, which is the separatist movement who want to see a separate, independent national state for the Basque country, and have adopted terrorist tactics in the past to achieve that -- the fact that the government is blaming ETA so quickly and then by default, the Basque people, something that the people here resent very much indeed, Susanna (ph) (sic).

SYLVESTER: There was a white fan that was found that seems to indicate that al Qaeda might possibly be involved. Do we know at this time any more information about this?

MURIEL: We have some information from the Interior Ministry that was released on Friday, but there hasn't been, as far as I'm aware, any further details released. And indeed, many of the Basque people that I've been speaking to are very cynical about this. They say that the government is going to sit on any of the results that it may already have on the investigation into the bombing attacks on Thursday and wait until after Sunday's general election before releasing that information. They say that the government wants to create uncertainty in people's minds as to who might be responsible for this.

It may be ETA, it may be Islamic terrorists. But it's too early to say. We have no strong or firm information yet to go on from official sources, and that may remain that way for some days to come.

HINOJOSA: So, Diana, tell us about what's happening now in terms of you being in Basque country, the fact that there are the elections coming up tomorrow -- what's the sense of the people there in terms of what they're saying about ETA or not and how that might play out in terms of how they turn out for this election or not?

MURIEL: Well, one very strong message that I'm getting all over the region is that people are very keen to exercise their democratic right to vote, and they don't want to have this terrorist attack interfere with that in anyway.

But they also say that the fact that ETA has been caught up in this, at least by association with some of the comments that we've heard from government ministers, and, indeed, from the head of the country, is that this is very bad, indeed, for the Socialists, who are in opposition here, and that this is simply going to reinforce the governing party who, indeed, was leading polls before Thursday's bomb attack.

They also feel that there will be a political backlash, whatever the result is of the election, and, indeed, whatever the result is of the investigation into the bombing, and that their great search for more autonomy here, their need to be more independent, their demand to be more independent, will actually be reduced, and that they could see some of the privileges that they have, with greater autonomy -- their own parliament, their own police force for example -- they could see some of those things reduced or taken away from them altogether.

MALVEAUX: Diana, in talking with some law enforcement officials here as well as intelligence officials, they are very nervous when they see these pictures, they see what happened there, because they realize this type of attack, of course, the U.S. is vulnerable to as well.

Tell us, the law enforcement as well as police there, what are they looking at and how scared are they, that something like this could happen again, that this is the type of thing that perhaps cannot be prevented?

MURIEL: Well, Susanna, I have to tell you that the police force here in the Basque territory is extremely nervous and extremely jumpy, as is understandable. We saw those mass protests on the streets of the region, as well as all over Spain, with millions of people taking to the street on Friday night. It all passed off very peacefully, but there was a very strong police presence on street.

And I have to tell you that even when we went to a television station last night to satellite our report back to CNN, we got out of the taxi and a police officer pulled his gun. He was very nervous. We got out of the car too fast for his liking. He wasn't sure what we were trying to do and if it hadn't been for our Spanish-speaking producer, we might have been in an interesting set of circumstances.

But police are very jumpy. We've just had some confirmation from police in Pamplona, which is north of here, in Nevara (ph), that an off-duty policeman has short dead an individual. They won't give us any of the details of that shorting, other than to say the individual was dead on arrival at the hospital. But this is a sign of how nervous some of the authorities are here. A very, very visible presence of police on the streets, both in the... (AUDIO GAP)

HINOJOSA: OK, well, it look like we lost Diana in that case. Hmmm.

SYLVESTER: We'll be coming up. Thank you very much, Diana Muriel, for joining us. We'll be watching you ON THE STORY in coming weeks.

From international, turning to politics here at home. The presidential turned up the heat this week.

We'll be back ON THE STORY after this.

ANNOUNCER: Suzanne Malveaux is a CNN White House correspondent. Earlier, she reported for NBC for six years, covering the Pentagon and the Clinton administration. She has degrees from Harvard and Columbia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: My opponent hadn't offered much in the way of strategies to win the war or policies to expand the economy. So far, all we hear from that side is a lot of old bitterness and partisan anger. Soon, he'll learn, anger is not an agenda for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group that I've ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well, Senator John Kerry later said he wasn't talking about all Republicans, just what he called "the attack dogs." But both men are involved in specific attacks against each other with many moons before the Election Day.

Welcome back, we're ON THE STORY.

And it is only going to get uglier. We have eight more months left of this.

HINOJOSA: I know, so what do you think, Suzanne? I mean, these ads that are coming out, that everybody's seen now -- why so soon? Are people going to get really exhausted from this, like, pit bull kind of attack and just say, Oh, God, both of them?

MALVEAUX: There are a couple schools of thought here.

I talked to Bush aides who say, first of all, this is a unique situation because -- well, the whole election cycle was accelerated by the primary process. But the other thing is, they say people right now are paying attention. They have voters' attention. And so they are putting everything they have into this. In the next couple of weeks, you're going to see this -- of course, this whole new set of ads some negative, some positive.

But they realize, when you look at those poll numbers, that Bush is vulnerable on a number of issues -- the economy, when it come to health care. The one thing they know that he's not vulnerable on is this war on terror and they are pushing really hard on that point.

SYLVESTER: I think there's running a little scared, though. Because you've had a few -- it seems like you've had a few misstep and that Kerry machine has just been able to ramp up so quickly, so suddenly.

So how are they responding to that, especially with the misstep -- the latest, the manufacturing are, where they put this guy's name out, and they were about to have the whole official ceremony, and they then said wait, Oh, wait a minute, maybe he's not our -- the best choice.

MALVEAUX: That's -- I mean, that's a great story, because you have this guy, this Nebraska businessman, who was going to be appointed to be the manufacturing czar. You've got all of this concern over manufacturing jobs lost. And before we had an official announcement out of the White House, the Kerry camp was faxing press releases criticizing this guy for his record, saying that there were workers that he hired, that they built a plant in China. The White House, who talked to the White House officials who talked to these guys behind the scenes, and they were just dumbfounded at this. They could not believe that already you had this out there.

And yes, what they had to do -- they had to take a second look. They said, Well, you know, we don't think that these criticisms are fair, but at the same time, you had the guy, Tony Romando, who withdrew his nomination because he realized this is already a problem. This is a distraction for the Bush camp.

HINOJOSA: So is that the Bush people are slow, or is it that the Kerry people are just fast? I mean, is it the -- which...

MALVEAUX: I think both sides are really very fast right now, both sides are firing back and forth. And even just the fact that you have these ads responding to one another. You've got the Kerry camp attacking -- I mean, the Bush camp attacking Kerry. And then just the day afterwards, you've got Kerry coming back, slamming, saying he's misrepresenting me here.

I mean, this is something that we just haven't seen before. You're talking about using the Internet, you're talking about using the television. And these guys are just moving at a pace that we have not really seen in the last election.

SYLVESTER: Who's winning the money war, the fund-raising, or in terms of -- we know that Bush has been very strong. But the Democrats have also been strong raising money through these other groups, these 527s and the like.

MALVEAUX: Now think about. You had like a -- there's a 10-to-1 ratio, a 10-to-1 advantage, President Bush's campaign over the Kerry campaign when it comes to money, because the goal is $170 million, and they're pretty close to the goal. And President Bush is going out, raising money all the time.

But the other aspect of this, of course, is they're looking at these groups, Moveon.org, Media Fund. They're putting their money out there on these ads. And the Bush camp says, Wait a minute, you are -- this is a violation of campaign finance laws because you're not official officially a political party. There are regulations that are in place here. So you've got a whole `nother battle that's going on with the FEC. Should be very interesting to see what happens with that.

But, you know, I mean, there's no guarantee there's going to be a ruling anytime soon on that, and those ads are going to be out there.

HINOJOSA: So, you know, when I talked to people on the street about the election, this is one of things that people say. They say, Oh, my God, this is going to get so ugly. Just this feeling like this is going to be -- who knows what's going to happen? It's kind of like where is the next shoe going to drop? What's the next big kind of accusation?

Is that the feeling that you're getting inside, that this is going to get uglier, possibly?

MALVEAUX: I think it's probably going to get uglier, sure. I think it's going to get uglier on both sides.

And the one thing -- this could backfire. Both sides realize that. But the one thing they say is that, Look, you know, these ads, and these attacks, and they're really focused on a very small group of people, which is the swing voters, no more than 20 percent, it's 18 states. And they're going to keep hitting them.

And what's going to happen is it's going to ebb and flow. Right now, people are paying closing attention. That may not be the case in two months from now or four months from now. If they see that, Hey this isn't working, they'll pull it; they'll do something else. They'll just kind of in and out.

The one thing that the Bush campaign is not doing is they're not backing down on using images of September 11. They've made that very clear. They feel that they're justified in doing so. They say this is the one area in which the president can show true leadership and we saw that on Long Island, just this past week, at the event he went to.

HINOJOSA: But even though -- even some of the 9/11 families who were there, who were kind of supporting the president, as they were dedicating this memorial, then, when you spoke to them they said, Well, we're kind of uncomfortable about this.

MALVEAUX: There were some family members -- there were those who had lost their loved ones in the 9/11 attacks, who felt like it was not appropriate for the president to be there, because it was followed by a fund-raiser immediately afterwards.

Now, what happened was, the organizers of this event, however, one being the county executive of Nassau County, who is a Democrat -- they said, Look, we knew that he was going to be in town for a fund- raiser, so we decided to invite him to our own ground-breaking ceremony. And so we decided to combine the two. So they were not critical.

But there have been some family members, and there have been some New York firefighters, as you know, who have felt that they have used and exploited that image, that tragedy.

SYLVESTER: I'm really interested about the 9/11 Commission and about President Bush having to answer all these questions. Tell us, where do things stand right now?

MALVEAUX: Right now, he's going to answer questions before the chair and the vice chair. And there was an indication earlier in the week that it's probably going to go a little bit longer than an hour. Initially, they said it was just going to be an hour. And -- well, Senator Kerry and -- said -- Well, if he can spend an hour or a couple hours at this rodeo, certainly he can do more than an hour before the commission. So there is some wiggle room that we're seeing. They're give a little bit there.

But still, so far, they're negotiating over whether or not it's going to be the full commission or just those two top heads.

SYLVESTER: And the pressure is certainly on, at least at this point.

MALVEAUX: Oh, absolutely.

SYLVESTER: All right. Thank you, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

SYLVESTER: From some rough and tumble in politics, to knock-down violence in sports, we're back ON THE STORY of the hockey assault with sports anchor Michelle Bonner after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BERTUZZI, VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Fans of hockey, fans of Vancouver, for the kids that watch this game, I'm truly sorry. I don't play that -- I don't play the game that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks apologizing for attacking Colorado's Steve Moore during Monday's game.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

And joining us from Atlanta is CNN Headline Sports anchor Michelle Bonner.

So Michelle, what does this mean for the sport of hockey? Will this do a lot of damage for hockey fans?

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN HEADLINE SPORTS: Well, you know, at least -- that certainly remains to be seen.

Hockey right now, we should mention, is fighting something else much bigger. They're on the verge of a possible lockout next season where the owners are just asking the player to give up a little bit of their money. They're already giving something like 76 percent of their revenues to players. So they're already looking at much worse.

We've seen incidents like this in hockey in the past with no real, true ramifications. So in terms of what this might do to hockey, that certainly remains to be seen.

HINOJOSA: So here's this guy, and he's saying, "I didn't mean to hurt him." What is he talking about? The guy was pounding him; the guy was down; he continued to pound him -- I mean, I know he's saying sorry, but come on. I mean, isn't it -- these guys know what they're doing. They know when they're slugging someone that's it's -- that, yes, I did mean to hurt him. I mean, to me it sounds just entirely disingenuous.

BONNER: You're absolutely right.

I don't think that Todd Bertuzzi meant to cause as much damage. I mean, you're talking about a broken neck. You're talking about this kid's season being over. Yes, let's go back to the fact that -- we have to mention that the Vancouver Canucks and the Colorado Avalanche had played back in January and Steve Moore, the guy who has the broken neck, who is lying down there right now, he had actually taken out Vancouver's team captain, Marcus Naslund. He hit him hard enough back in January that he knocked him out for three games and gave him a concussion.

Brad May, who plays for Vancouver, talked about taking a bounty out on Steve Moore. Well guess what? Todd Bertuzzi, obviously, a lot of people are saying that this is retaliation, because the Canucks went back, took him out, knocked him out and did some severe damage.

So yes, they do know what they're doing. But I don't think that the intent, on the most part -- I mean, you -- everyone has made mistakes somewhere along the line and said, God, I wish I could go back and reverse what I did. The thing about hockey though, is that fighting is endorsed, it's condoned. So they know what they're doing to an extent, but causing that much damage, I would have to say that Todd Bertuzzi did not anticipate doing it like that.

MALVEAUX: So Michelle, I guess I got to play devil's advocate here. I mean, I'm not a big hockey fan. But, you know, when you watch hockey and you see these kind of brawls take place, you just think, you know, is it surprising that something like this happened, that it came to this point, if you consider it's all a part of this culture, of this game. I mean, doesn't it seem like everybody has a certain sense of responsibility in this?

BONNER: And that's just it, and it remains to be seen who really accepts true responsibility.

I mean, hockey has talked about cleaning up its image over the years. We've seen things like this. Let's go back to Marty McSorley a few years back when he took a stick to Donald Brashear, coincidentally of the same team, knocking him out. McSorley was found guilty in a British Columbia court, sentenced to 18 month. But the bottom line was that he wouldn't have a criminal record, didn't have to serve time if he remained so-called "good."

We've seen these kinds of incidents happen. But the thing is, you know, I'm a huge hockey fan. I'll be the first to tell you that I love it when there's a good hockey fight. Drop the gloves and go at it. I think to some extent, though, when you see situations like this, it has to be revisited in terms of how much damage you really can -- you know, if the guys keep their helmets on and their gloves on and they're just trying to duke it out with the big pads on, you know, that's one thing. But when you see something, a sucker punch like that to a guy from behind, throw in the retaliation factor, then, you know -- yes, in some ways, I would have to say I'm a bit of a hypocrite because you want that kind of fighting taken out of the game. SYLVESTER: It's odd because, you know, it's like, as you said, a lot of hockey fans sort of see this as, This is what they pay their money for. But at the same time, you know, is there a way of bringing down the level of violence? Can you regulate this in anyway? Or -- I mean, even the referees, they seem to just be sort of standing by.

So what can be done to sort of bring -- is it just changing the culture or what happens?

BONNER: I'm not so sure you can change the culture of hockey, because this is what -- if you go back to the '70s and '80s, this was good, old-fashioned hockey when they would drop the gloves and go at it. That's what hockey fans are truly looking -- it's a blue-collar sport. I mean, people love that aspect.

It is the one sport that does condone the fighting. But you know what? I'm sitting here with three pages -- three pages of stuff that I found of incidents, two pages just in hockey alone, that are very severe incidents, where guys have been taken out, knocked out of the game where no punishment's been handed down.

But here's an entire page of things in sports where guys have done things -- last August, Bill Romanowski of the Oakland Raiders, goes and rips off his teammate's helmet, punches him in the eye socket, breaks his eye socket -- he gets suspended for -- what? Like, a few games and that's it?

The police are -- this is where it gets complicated. The police need to get involved for incidents like this.

HINOJOSA: That's what I was going to ask you, Michelle. Now that you've come clean and you've told us that you like the fighting -- OK, thanks for letting us know, because it's been a long time since I've been to a hockey game, I think, if ever.

But do we need to inspect -- start bringing the police? do charges need to start coming up? Do the courts need to start getting involved? Or is that just -- you know, is that just taking it to another level?

BONNER: Well, it obviously is taking it to another level when you do bring the police and courts into situations like that.

When you look at hockey and the fact that fighting has always condoned. It's a part of the game, it's a part of the culture, as we just talked about. So each individual case has to be looked at differently. But there's a -- one of the cases I was look at, on these, in terms of general sports, Ben Chirstensen of Wichita State, beans an opposing batter who strayed out of the on-deck circle. That, right there, everyone who plays the game of baseball knows that's a no-no -- hits the guy, and is suspended for the balance of the season, but not charged criminally. That is something where he intentionally tried to take out that guy and hurt that guy, and yet -- no criminal charges are filed.

I think each individual instance where you know that some severe harm can be caused, then they have to be looked at, you know, on a case-by-case basis.

Hockey that is a tough, tough, question to answer, because fighting is endorsed. It is condoned.

HINOJOSA: OK. Well, I guess we'll have to see what happened when roller derby starts getting controlled. But anyway, thanks to you, Michelle Bonner.

Now, from sports to health, and why the government is telling us to drop your fork and stay away from those french fries. Medical correspondent Holly Firfer is ON THE STORY, and a check of what's making headline this hour after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Checking the headlines at this hour now -- just within the last 30 minutes word of a shooting at a college in Michigan. The president of Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek tells CNN the school is under a lock-down. He says the shooting took place in a parking lot. Two, possibly three people, have been shot. Their conditions at this time are not known.

In Fresno, California, police are on the scene of a killing of children, trying to sort out what happened. Police who responded to a domestic disturbance call found the bodies of a woman, a teenager, and seven children who are between the age of 1 and 8. Fifty-seven-year- old Marcus Wesson, believed to be the father of most of the victims, is in custody.

Authorities in Loudoun County, Tennessee, are trying to resolve a standoff with an armed teenager. A deputy was shot and killed Friday morning when he responded to a domestic disturbance. Four other officers were slightly injured. Police have identified the suspect in the home as a 16-year-old boy armed with a semiautomatic weapon.

In Spain, as victims are being laid to rest, the Interior Minister says there's no indication Thursday's commuter train attacks were suicide bombings. The minister also said ETA and al Qaeda are both suspects, but the investigation is concentrating on ETA. The death toll in the bombings reached 200 today.

I'm Heidi Collins at CNN in Atlanta. Now back to ON THE STORY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE GERBERDING, CDC DIRECTOR: Obesity is catching up with tobacco as the leading actual cause of mortality in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, warning that fat can kill.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

I'm joined now from Atlanta by CNN medical correspondent Holly Firfer.

OK, Holly. The headline is here -- so we're told so many things that we can't eat, that we shouldn't eat. I mean, we know that Americans are overweight. What are we being told now?

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, we're being told it's basically an epidemic now. Thirty percent of adults are considered obese. And when you're obese, it puts you at risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, a whole host of diseases. And, you know, the concern is, We're burdening our medical, our health care system. And now they say obesity and lack of exercise is gaining and even overtaking smoking as the No. 1 risk factor for disease and death in adults, which is pretty scary.

And even in children, this statistic, 15 percent of kids are overweight. And the numbers of obesity and being overweight has doubled since the 1970s. We're eating too much. We're eating large portion sizes. We're eating too many fatty food. We're not getting enough exercise.

And even on Friday, Secretary Tommy Thompson of the HHS asked manufacturers of food labels to change food labels so that you know exactly how many calories you're getting. If you've ever picked up a food that -- you know, a bag of chips, for instance, that's maybe went for one person to eat. And you read, OK, you know, I'm getting about 100 calories and this many grams of fat. But you have to look at portion sizing. It will say two to three portions. So you have to multiply that. And they say, You know what? We don't want you to do that anymore. We want you to tell you, if you're one person eating this bag, how much am I going to consume? Because that's part of the problem. We're not educated consumers.

MALVEAUX: Holly, it's such a sensitive issue, too. Because you really -- you ask, you know, Well, who or what is responsible for this increase? And I know that on the Hill, just this past week, they passed something that essentially didn't give liability or limited the liability for fast-food restaurants, that if you're obese, you can't turn to them and say, Hey, you know, you didn't warn me about these french fries just being so fattening.

Well, what is happening here, and how are they trying to determine who is accountable and what can we do as a community to really fight this problem?

FIRFER: Well, basically, you know, everybody always looks for that finger to blame. Who can we blame?

But what manufacturers are saying and foodmakers are saying, restaurants, fast-food restaurants are saying -- we're not forcing you to eat this food. We're not forcing you to eat here. And most are offering alternatives, healthy salads or low-carb sandwiches, that we now see. Basically it's your hamburger without the bun, but saying that you need to be an educated consumer and make a good choice.

And that is why they're putting the owness on people and their doctors. Doctors and health care providers should be telling people, Here is what you need to eat, here is what you need to do to exercise. But nobody can hold your hand.

Just this week -- you know, we're still looking for that perfect, magic pill. On Monday, we heard about Robonimant, which is a new so- called superpill, which helps people stop overeating and stop smoking. It's in its final phases of study right now, and so far, it looks promising. Basically it shuts off the so-called canabanoid system in your brain, the one that makes you crave food. They found, you know, marijuana smoker will say, you know, I'm ravenously hungry after I've smoked marijuana. And this targets that system and basically shuts it off so you don't want to overeat and you don't want to smoke.

But still, doctors will tell you, That's great. That's a good, quick fix, but it's not a cure. It's a healthy lifestyle. You've got to make lifestyle changes. And it's becoming a serious epidemic, as we see more people having heart attacks and stroke and developing cancer.

SYLVESTER: Holly, let me shift gears just a little bit.

I know another story that's out there is dealing with women's reproductive health and some of the new challenges there. There are lots of women out there trying to have a child at either a later age, they're putting off having children.

What can they do? What sort of new medical things are out there for them to turn to?

FIRFER: Well, one of the reproductive specialists we spoke to said, You know what the problem is, is that women's reproductive health takes a backseat. There's not enough funding, there's not enough money, and we're not making advances very far. Talking about infertility, he said, You know, if this was heart disease, we'd have it solved. We'd have it fixed. We'd be out there talking about.

We know in-vitro fertilization is the gold standard. It's what most people will do to have a child. But it's very expensive. It can be thousands. I think the average is $12,400 in the United States for one procedure.

And it takes an emotional toll. We met many couples who say it was tearing their marriage apart, the pressure to have a child.

And there's some experimental treatments out there as well. But the FDA says, You know, we don't know enough about them. Are they dangerous? Is there a future danger to a child? So, therefore, we can't approve them. We're going to have to ban some of these.

And women are traveling overseas. We met a woman who went to Lebanon to have a procedure to try to have a child because you just can't do it in the U.S.

HINOJOSA: You know, Holly, it's interesting because when I went through this -- and I wrote about it in my book, so I know about -- I mean, people know what I went through, and having two miscarriages. I mean, you really do -- you do get to a point of desperation. And I remember I was getting family members who were sending me teas from Mexico and saying, If you just take this, You're going to be OK.

But I think that there's also something that needs to be talked about, which is, you know, you work yourself up so much about this, and that doesn't help either -- you know, the stress about it.

FIRFER: It's an emotional, psychological issue as well. And many fertility specialists will recommend couples also get therapy, because, as I said, it can tear a marriage apart. And as you know, it is an emotional strain.

One of the women said it's like a disease. It's with you 24/7 and you can't get rid of it.

But they are, you know, slowly making advances. But that is a concern that -- these teas, you don't know really what you're drinking, what you're taking and can it interfere with something else if you're also trying in-vitro fertilization or taking Clomid or any other fertility drugs?

So, you know, we need to be careful. People need to make informed choices.

SYLVESTER: All right. Thank you, Holly Firfer.

What's ON THE STORY for you in the coming days?

FIRFER: Basically, we're looking at -- next week -- well, that's a good question. You put me on the spot.

Asthma -- asthma and allergies, asthmatic allergies. We know that's coming up next week. The most -- the cities where your highest risk of asthma are and we'll tell you about that next week.

SYLVESTER: Sorry to put you on the spot like that.

FIRFER: That's OK.

SYLVESTER: I didn't mean to do that.

(CROSSTALK)

SYLVESTER: From health to a healthy economy and why jobs continue to lag. I'm back on that story in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Our economy is expanding. Productivity is strong. Unemployment has been falling. InClones are rising. And we're going to stay on this path of growth and prosperity in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: President Bush in Cleveland Wednesday, speaking to women entrepreneur, predicting, maybe claiming a little credit for growth and prosperity.

Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.

MALVEAUX: Now, you hear a lot -- an awful lot about the trade deficit and how big a problem this is. And also, you hear a lot from the Bush camp, saying that Senator Kerry is an economic isolationist and that some of these trade agreements are in danger.

But we haven't really heard that he's going to -- he's going to review these, NAFTA and others, but we haven't heard there's going to be anything new in terms of pulling them apart. What is happening now in terms of changing our relationships with other countries?

SYLVESTER: Well, we've actually been moving towards -- in the direction -- and the United States just traditionally has been a free- trade nation. We've promoted free trade in other countries, and we've been moving even more in that direction. We've had free trade agreements with Australia, with Chile with Singapore, all of these within the last year.

I mean, these aren't a lot of things that are talked about a lot. But altogether, all of these markets, these new markets, are great for your multi-national corporations, and the argument is that they would be able to send more exports to these countries, which, in turn, will help the United States.

On the other hand, you have those arguing that essentially free trade is not necessarily a good thing because over the long haul, because of what it means in terms of the trade deficit. It was 43 -- a record, $43 billion in January. And if you think of it in terms of your personal economics, essentially, you are spending more than you're receiving. You are -- you've got less revenue come in from other countries and such, you are buying, buying, buying. But people will say, that's kind of the American spirit. People like to have things in this country. We are a country of consumers.

HINOJOSA: Right. But you know what? At the same time, if you look at it on a global kind of perspective, when you're talk about free trade, there's also people who say, Well, if you're going to have free trade, you've got to have free movement of labor. And earlier this week, President Bush was meeting with Mexican president Vicente Fox. A lot of people were saying it was just kind of a "make nice" because there have been problems in the past. President Fox, from Mexico, was against the Iraq war.

But let's talk about what happened in that meeting. There was an agreement...

SYLVESTER: Well, one of the things that Vicente Fox and President Bush last week are and what they were able to agree on, is that -- the border crossing cards, for instance. These are --- they're also called laser visas. These are 72-hour passes that people from Mexico can come into the United States, they can go back and forth. It's used for business and shopping, to visit relatives and so forth.

HINOJOSA: Because that area, people need to understand, is so fluid -- I mean, that border area.

SYLVESTER: Right, I mean, you're talking along the border, you've got people who have got family member on both sides of the border.

So what President Bush and Vicente Fox is they reached an agreement in principle so that Mexicans coming across the border would not have to be fingerprinted or photographed.

You'll remember with U.S. visit, that took affect this year for airports, and it's supposed to take effect later on this year for land borders -- anyone requiring a visa to enter the United States has to be fingerprinted and photographed.

Well, consumer groups were saying, Wow if you have to require everybody who comes in from Mexico to be fingerprinted and photographed, you're going to have a long backlog of cars waiting to get through and so forth. So they said essentially that they were going to wave that requirement for Mexican visitors.

But on the flip side of that, there are groups that are opposed to that because they say that you're essentially letting -- you're changing the rules for Mexican visitors and not for other visitors.

MALVEAUX: One thing that didn't pass, though -- and I know that Congress really isn't very excited about doing this, is moving forward on the workers program. You have the immigrants, illegal immigrants who are already here. And he wanted to go ahead and smooth away so that they could obtain work legally. And I know that's -- that's pretty much been shut..

SYLVESTER: That is such a touchy subject, because, you know, President Bush announced this -- this is one of those programs that -- you know, you're going into an election year and the fact remains is no one likes the plan. I mean, the plan essentially would allow -- would match a willing employer with a willing employee. So if you have people coming in from other country, and as long as you have an employer who says, Yes, there's no American who wants this job and we do have a willing employee from another country, we're going to allow them -we're going to allow them into the country and give them a worker visa, essentially, and let them stay in the United States for, I believe it's up to three years.

The problem with that, though, is you have pro-immigration groups saying, Well, look, we see this for what it is. You know, it's an election year, You're making these promises, but there's no incentive at the end of the three-year period. We come into your country, we work for you and we want to have something to gain at the end of that. And what they want is citizenship.

On the other hand, you have the anti-immigration groups saying, Oh, this is amnesty in disguise.

So it's one of those policies where they put this out there and it's not winning President Bush points from either side at this point. HINOJOSA: And an interesting report, just before we end up, that undocumented Mexican immigrants now are dying at the highest rate ever because they're doing the most dangerous jobs and there's no one there to protect them and there's no recourse at all.

SYLVESTER: One of the reasons why President Bush announced this plan was, you know -- and pro-immigration groups have been focusing on this, is they want to bring those workers from out of the shadow. Because the reality is -- and everybody will say this -- we know the workers -- there are undocumented workers in the United States. It just is a reality. So the question now is what do you do? Do you give them legal recognition, which would mean that if they had a problem, they could sue in court, they could do some other things.

But on the other hand, again, very, very controversial for that reason, because there are groups that don't want to give more right and privileges, they want to give less rights and privileges.

HINOJOSA: Just a little controversial.

SYLVESTER: Yes.

HINOJOSA: But anyway, from the concerns of the national economy to the efforts of -- well, one liar and plagiarist to convince people to pay attention to him. I'm back ON THE STORY of Jayson Blair after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAYSON BLAIR, FMR. NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER: Some people, you know, it seems to me, would like me to crawl into a hole and disappear forever. That's just not in my nature.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: No, it's clearly not in Jayson Blair's nature. Disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair says he's sorry for the lies, for stealing other people's work and for just making stuff up. Now he's back in the spotlight.

And we're ON THE STORY. Welcome back.

SYLVESTER: So it looks like he's going to have his 15 minutes of fame and then he'll crawl under the rock and go away.

I mean, how much sustaining power can he possibly have with one book? And who's going to hire this guy? And that's the problem. You do one book...

HINOJOSA: Well, he's going to become a novelist. I mean, it's actually -- what's interesting is, like, you know, you hold up the book, when I've taken it out -- and I've been to a couple of media organizations just in the past, and I take it out and everybody was like, Oh my God, there it is. They want to see it, but then they say, But did you buy it? And I said, No, I didn't. It was actually bought by my producer.

But that's kind of people's reaction. They're just, like, they want to know, but they don't want to buy it. And actually, the last I checked on the Amazon list, he was way low.

So that's kind of his problem, is that people want to know, but they don't want to endorse him at all by buying it.

And, you know, when were talking to people at the Times, they just said, You know, he should become a novelist, because he can obviously write. So become a novelist where you do make everything up.

MALVEAUX: And there's been some reports, some reviews that some of the stuff in the book is made up. I mean, why do we even care about -- I mean, I can understand, you know, because of our own business, we say, You know, this is about ethics.

But I don't really care. I don't really care about this guy.

HINOJOSA: You know what? I think there are a lot of people who, when they hear about this, they are -- they just kind of glaze over it. I mean, out there -- even in New York, when I was in the bookstore, there were a lot of people, who were like, Jayson Blair, I don't know.

On the other hand, if you're in our business, you do want to know. And there was a charge -- there was a charge that came up on a Web site that said that he had actually lifted a paragraph from another story about him and that he had put it into this book and then he quickly had to respond and say, No, no, no, no, no, that's not true.

But, you know, essentially, people -- they just -- I mean, what I kind of hoped -- just, you know, full disclosure here -- I just wish he would say, you know what? I'm a pathological liar. I have lied from the time that I was able to speak and I'm going to continue to lie. And therefore -- and there's no pill you can take, there's no anti-depressant, there's no nothing. I'm a pathological liar and I'm going to try to get better.

But there are a lot of people who have problems when he continues to bring up the issue of race. And I was doing this because, you know, I was a black man at The New York Times. And then even on "LARRY KING," you know, 10 minutes later, he said, Well, you know, I was lying before I was at The New York Times. It's like, Well, so what is it?

SYLVESTER: Do people -- are people feeling sorry for him? Is that what the book is trying to do? To kind of get the sympathy factor from people?

HINOJOSA: You know what? Howard Kurtz, who's actually going to have him on his show, on "RELIABLE SOURCES," said that the problem with the book is that, once you're done reading it, you still don't understand why he did it. You just get no clue why he did this. And he seems to be wanting to point blame at everyone and not able to say, It was just me.

And he did say that in the interview with the "LARRY KING" people. He said, You know, I realize now that I just made bad choices. But he said that kind of after the book came out.

MALVEAUX: I think the problem is too is that people think the public makes -- you know, that the media make stuff up anyway. You know, that this is one of those things -- they look at this example, and say, Oh, well, you know this just proves what we've suspect all a long. I mean, I think that in some way it does affect, it does damage the credibility of what we do.

Beyond that, I -- you know, who -- who cares why he -- why he even did it?

HINOJOSA: Well, the interesting thing about it is that, you know, the work we do in television, you know, we really can't -- you know, we have picture to match. We can't just make this stuff up, and there's always these checks and balances.

What I'm amazed at is that you could have a reporter like Jayson Blair who is having -- who was making mistakes and The Times would have to go in and put a correction, continually. I mean, if we made mistakes like that, we'd be fired. How is it this guy could be making mistakes at a place like The New York Times and they just go in and make a correction and they didn't say, Wait a second, time out, we need to stop and figure this one out?

SYLVESTER: He should have become a novelist to begin with -- I mean, and saved everybody the trouble.

HINOJOSA: Well, you know, there are just a lot of people who, they literally -- they hear him name and they're like, Ugh.

So you know what? Even if he was a novelist -- unless he writes an extraordinary novel, that's just fabulous, I think the guy's going to have to like really switch it out and maybe become what he said -- he says he's been doing a lot of work with AA. Maybe he becomes, you know, a social worker, a drug counselor, or something like that.

But I don't think he's going to have...

(CROSSTALK)

HINOJOSA: ...because it's not going to happen in the media world at all.

SYLVESTER: All right. Thanks, Maria.

Stay with us. We're back ON THE STORY after this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Television start Jennifer Garner made headlines this week. What's her story? More when we return.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Jennifer Garner -- what's her story? Known for her role as Sydney Bristow in the hit television series "Alias," Jennifer Garner has a new role this week: CIA recruiter. The agency launched a video this week on its Web site featuring the actress.

JENNIFER GARNER, ACTRESS: The CIA serves as our country's first line of defense in the ongoing war against international terrorism.

ANNOUNCER: The agency says, although fictional, Garner's character portrays what the CIA is looking for in its officers: integrity, patriotism and intelligence. She received no fee for her work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: And with us (ph) is one of the interesting things right now.

There I was walking through, strolling through National Airport and what did I see? Lo and behold, it's a picture of Suzanne Malveaux. This is on the Washington Flyer magazine. She is just looking absolutely fabulous. There's a nice, lovely little article that talks about all...

MALVEAUX: Lisa is my new agent. I've decided. She's a good promoter her.

SYLVESTER: I just -- it's a beautiful picture and kudos to you.

(CROSSTALK)

HINOJOSA: Honey, you work hard, OK? You deserve the cover of a magazine.

MALVEAUX: I am so surprised that you even got a copy of that, because my parents have been scouring every single airport with, you know, bags of these magazines. But thank you very much.

Thanks to all of my colleagues, particularly you, Lisa.

SYLVESTER : I'm going to get the autographed copy. Coming soon to eBay.

MALVEAUX: And thank you for watching. We'll see you back ON THE STORY next week.

HINOJOSA: All right. I want to see.

MALVEAUX: And still ahead, "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS," focusing this week on America's idols, Rubben Studdard and Clay Aiken and musician Carlos Santana. At 12 noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific, CNN live Saturday. At 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, CNN's "IN THE MONEY."

Coming up at the top of the hour, a check of the top stories.

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Aren't There More of Them?; Jayson Blair: Media Star?>