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On the Story

Correspondents Discuss Stories Behind the Stories

Aired April 09, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

(NEWS BREAK)
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN and we are on the story. From the campus of the George Washington University in the heart of the nation's capital, our correspondents bring you the stories behind the stories they are covering. Dana Bash is on the story of Congressman Tom Delay's retirement. No apologies or regrets. Ed Henry is on the story of President Bush. Fighting low approval numbers and waning support for the war in Iraq. Kelli Arena covers the nation's first trial about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Jason Carol is on the story of the Duke rape investigation dividing a community. John Calebs is on the story of New Orleans hospitals scrounging for cash. And Internet reporter Jacki Scheckner is on the story of Katie Couric and the future of the evening news programs.

Welcome, I'm Ali Velshi. With me here Ed Henry, Kelli Arena and Dana Bash. Now our correspondents will take questions from our studio audience which is drawn from visitors, college students, people across Washington, people across the country. Well we begin at Capitol Hill where the week began with a bomb shell announcement and it ended with some business left unfinished. CNN's congressional correspondent Dana Bash covered all the action. Let's have a look inside her reporter's notebook.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's about 9:45 on Monday night and I got a call on my cell phone from a Republican source in the House who said you are not going to believe this. Tom Delay is leaving Congress. So then had the immediate challenge that we always have as journalists is we got to find the second source. I luckily found somebody whose boss had just gotten the call from Tom Delay informing him that he was leaving.

We are told that he actually had a conference call that began about five minutes ago with members of the Texas delegation to explain that he is going to do this. And he is actually going to have a formal press conference.

As a journalist, there's really nothing like covering Congress because you really have free rein. You physically are able to run around the halls of Congress. There's really no other beat where you can actually do that. Really get the story just as it's happening and talk to the sources in that kind of direct way.

VELSHI: Dana Bash, as Dana Bash is back in the halls of Congress. Very different experience than what she's been doing for a last while at the White House. You can walk around and ask all sorts of people things. Let's give somebody else that experience of being able to ask whatever they want to. Sir, your name and where you are from.

QUESTION: I'm Ray from Crawfordsville, Indiana. I was wondering in light of the representative's resignation whether you thought that as elections are coming forth in 2006 whether there would be any backlash in favor of the Democrat candidates who were running in the districts that would be otherwise considered safe that the representative orchestrated?

BASH: That's an interesting question. What is so interesting about Tom Delay and sort of his presence and the way he fits into the political narrative this year is that he's the one guy who Democrats actually politically are going to miss because he was the man that they made their boogeyman.

VELSHI: The hammer.

BASH: The hammer, right and so they are going to continue to do that. But on the other side, Ed was probably hearing a little bit of this now at the White House. Certainly he was not very close with President Bush. But they really relied on him big time to get their agenda through. And over the past several months he hasn't been in that leadership role. And they've really missed that. So that's a going to be interesting.

VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE) They used to love him.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No tears shed at the White House this week because in the first term, clearly Tom Delay was the man at the center really delivering legislative victories on tax cuts and all these other issues for the president. But as we noted last few months he's been politically radioactive. And the White House didn't want to touch him. The Republicans didn't want to touch him. So Republicans are happy he's gone. Democrats are unhappy because you are right. He was their whipping boy.

BASH: And that's what was really interesting this week actually. The day after this announcement happened was you saw all of these public announcements from his colleagues praising him saying how wonderful he is. Meanwhile behind the scenes privately you could hear the sighs of relief on the telephone because they just wanted him out of there because they really saw fair or not that he was a cloud over them. And they wanted to just move on.

VELSHI: Now speaking of moving on, this was one of several stories you covered this week and one of the ones that our audience will remember very clearly, you couldn't miss it was the immigration story. Let's get a question on that. Sir your name and where you're from.

QUESTION: Hi. I'm Michael from Brookfield, Wisconsin. Regarding the immigration issue, in a joint session will the House bill or the Senate bill prevail?

BASH: Right now the problem is there is no Senate bill if when you're talking about that. And talk about a dramatic event at the end of the week. It was one of those things where nobody ever thought that they were going to actually get a compromise. Especially something where they said they had 65, 70 senators on both sides of the aisle. And they worked late into the night. I was there sort of wandering around following the senators back and forth as they were negotiating on Thursday night. They really thought they had a deal. And then boom, they just got wrangled up in the process as Ed has witnessed so many times. And that was really, it was all about the politics. So this really didn't happen. And it probably won't happen in terms of the Senate this year at all.

VELSHI: And something that you know that I think a lot of people don't know is you get these big announcements and they work late and there's sort of a lot of flourish. There's a process. That's not the bill as our audience member pointed out. There's a Senate bill. There's a House bill. If there's a Senate bill. And then they have to come together. And then there's a whole other process. Who knows --

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Can they really touch immigration in an election year?

BASH: That's the big problem. That is what is happening right now. Is that this is so hot. This is so red hot, this issue. And it's something that divides Republicans which was what was so remarkable this week is that Republicans actually for the most part were able to come together and Democrats as well. And then you know, it's the way the Senate works. Just a few senators on both sides can just stop the process. Now there were a lot of name calling, a lot of wrangling about why that happened. But the bottom line is they say it's exactly what you just mentioned Kelli is that it's election year politics.

HENRY: And the president started the week really trying to prod the action along all throughout the week and he ends the week without a bill.

ARENA: He doesn't want it in his lap either, does he?

HENRY: You're right in the sense it will be a difficult one. But I think coming out of the port deal where that split the Republican Party as well and the president was left empty handed. I think he wants a legislative victory obviously and this is one where he was really trying to prod the Republicans along. As Dana noted, the Republicans sort of came together and then the Democrats sort of threw a monkey wrench in there.

BASH: And I can tell you, that's been one of the most interesting things. I was on Capitol Hill several years ago and I left really just after they passed the war resolution approving the war in Iraq. And What a difference it is being in those halls of Congress, the Republican Congress back then when President Bush was the gold standard. He was it. They would do whatever he said and now, wow. It is so different.

VELSHI: It is so interesting that, you know, you talk about the ports deal. The ports deal they galvanized people about it. It was clear where you stood. I don't know how you guys how you did it and how you worked there and they talked about immigration today like the topic came up last week. This has been the problem -- the ports deal just showed up as a problem. Immigration was there for a long time. But we'll have lots more to discuss about the White House and the capital coming up from the Congress. We are going to take it to the White House where CNN's Ed Henry is on the story of President Bush who took some tough questions from the public and didn't back down. That's just ahead.

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VELSHI: We are on the story from the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, DC. President Bush stood firm against criticism on several fronts this week. But CNN's Ed Henry caught him in a lighter moment on the White House south lawn. Have a look at Ed's notebook.

HENRY: This is one of the fun parts for the president and one of the fun arts for the White House correspondents. It's when the NCAA winners come in. And there's so much news breaking this week, new developments in the CIA leak case. The president faces this big confrontation during one of his speeches in North Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You talk about freedom. I see you assert your right to tap my telephone.

HENRY: And this is the kind of day where you really want to get to the president, you want to ask him a question.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The women swimming team kindly brought me a -- I'm not going to wear it.

HENRY: But even in a lighter moment here where he's welcoming in some of the college sports champs. You don't get a chance to get to him. It's such a carefully controlled, carefully staged event. But it affords the president, for him, it gives him an opportunity to maybe have a lighter moment at a time when he's under fire on so many fronts.

VELSHI: Ed Henry, the president had another moment which we sort of alluded to in there which wasn't fun and light but it was -- it seemed a little unscripted.

HENRY: Absolutely. It's the speech in North Carolina on the war on terror. Dana has heard this speech 150 times probably as many other reporters have. And there are very few unscripted moments. But he took questions there. You saw that gentleman.

VELSHI: That question...

HENRY: It went on for a while and yet was very assertive in saying --

VELSHI: Did you all hear that? Could you catch some of that coverage of that question?

HENRY: The person essentially said look, I'm ashamed that you are the president something to that effect. The president to his credit basically laughed it off in a sense, took him seriously but said, I guess you are not one of my fans. Should we put it that way?

VELSHI: But he let him finish.

HENRY: He left him finish and there were other people in the audience, Bush supporters who were trying to shout this man down. And the president said let him finish. I want to hear it. And it's interesting because the president says he doesn't watch the polls. And obviously the polls are saying, a lot of people are not happy about the war in Iraq. He's very unpopular right now. He saw in action right there. I wonder whether someone can penetrate that bubble. This person did and he heard him out.

VELSHI: Your question and where you're from.

QUESTION: I'm Laura. I work here on the hill. I just had a question about the CIA leak case. If anything is going to happen to the president or our vice president as a result of Libby's revelations yesterday. And if there's going to be talk of resignation or any sort of impeachment talk?

HENRY: Well, some Democrats have talked about impeachment. I still think that's a stretch at this point. I think the development this week in brief was basically that there's testimony that emerged that Scooter Libby has basically said that the president is the person who authorized -- basically declassified information. There's a dispute over whether it's really a leak or not but declassified information about the war in Iraq to refute critics. It does not show that he leaked the identity of the CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. But it suggests the president himself was right at the center of this campaign to push back against war critics. And that seems to contradict the president's public statements over the last couple of years where he has been against these kinds of leaks. And I think that the point is - in terms of what kind of jeopardy the president may have, I think it's more political jeopardy than legal jeopardy at this point. But it does now raise the specter that the president himself could be called as a witness in Scooter Libby's trial January of 2007. We knew the vice president was likely to be a witness. But now the president himself and that's interesting.

BASH: I mean, this is like the last thing they need right now is when the president is not been doing well at all. And it fits into what Democrats have really been punching on, which is that his credibility is bad and it's all about their...

VELSHI: But you and I -- eight weeks ago it was the last thing they needed. When the vice president shot someone and something else happened. Things are not going this guy's way.

HENRY: At that sports event too there was like an archery team or something. The president had another joke where he said I might want you to come back here and teach the vice president a thing or two about aim. So he even had a lighter moment on that.

VELSHI: Your name sir and where you're from. QUESTION: My name's Tony. I'm from Los Angeles, California. My question was -- if the president was involved in CIA the leak, what does it say for the future and (INAUDIBLE) Republican Party?

HENRY: Well, I think as Dana was noting, when you put it together with the Tom Delay situation which has wrapped up his ethics problems, wrapped up and Jack Abramoff the Republican lobbyist, that scandal that's been unfolding. The CIA leak case has been almost a ticking time bomb. I think the short answer though is that since Scooter Libby's trial does not start until January of 2007, hint, hint, after the 2006, November 2006 midterms, that's a big sigh of relief perhaps for the Republicans whereas the Jack Abramoff trial seems to be at least the early stages, not the trial yet but the legal maneuvers are playing out now. And other shoes keep dropping. And that's hanging out there. And I think there's just a lot of anxiousness for Republicans. And Dana sees it on the Hill where they are wondering what's going to happen next? And when you look at the poll numbers, they don't see it turning around. And the Republicans though in their defense keep pointing out, the Democrats haven't really put out a real alternative to take advantage of it.

VELSHI: And the interesting thing here about what we all do is that you are sitting and covering this trial which we are going to talk about in a minute which is central to so much of this administration. And it's almost like a back story to all this politics that's going on. The one thing that's happening is -- we are going to have to hear -- we have to be reminded that there's the trial of someone who has been identified and alleged to be a terrorist is going on.

ARENA: And it is the core of what the Republicans think they are strongest on which is national security.

HENRY: But there was one poll this week that showed that the president, not just that his numbers overall were in the mid 30s. But that basically only 40 of the public supports him now and his performance on the war on terror. That used to be the saving grace for Republicans in the last two elections.

VELSHI: We are going to talk about that war on terror. Coming up, the White House. We're going to leave that and go to the Federal courthouse where the horror of 9/11 is still fresh in the mind of witnesses, including the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani. Kelli Arena is back on that story in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Welcome back to ON THE STORY. In a Federal courthouse, jurors in the nation's first trial about the 9/11 terrorist attacks revisited that day, hearing emotional testimony from victims' family members and from the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani. CNN's Kelli Arena was on that story. Let's take a look inside her reporter's notebook.

ARENA: This new phase of the trial is what is particularly painful for the families because they are being forced to relive that day. To hear Rudy Giuliani give you a firsthand account of what he did and what he encountered and what he remembers from that day is amazing. In opening arguments today the prosecution promised some very emotional and painful testimony. And I'll tell you, they certainly delivered on that score. Moussaoui is quiet so that he gets to stay in the courtroom. But he laughs when he sees the most gruesome images. This week alone it was -- God curse America. Go to hell, he does this. After the jury has left, after the judge has left. And so it is for the benefit of all of the journalists in the room, all of the spectators and unfortunately the victims' family members who hear these outbursts.

VELSHI: How do you maintain the ability to report that story, particularly in the later parts of the week where those videos were shown? Things that I think most of the American public has not sort of seen.

ARENA: Oh, look, I've been covering 9/11 for 4 1/2 years. And I've seen a lot of pictures and video. And there was stuff that I hadn't seen. I mean close-up shots of people falling, jumping out of the World Trade Center. Body parts on the street as rescue vehicles were trying to get around. It was horrible and it was very, very difficult. Lots of people in that courtroom broke down, reporters among them, definitely family members, some members of the jury. It was really hard.

HENRY: How do you then go out and do a live shot and try to explain it clearly to the public but deal with your own emotions because it's pretty...

ARENA: With that face that you saw. I was -- I mean I literally got lots of messages from people asking me if I was OK because they saw how affected I was by what had happened. And you are running right out. Boom. You get a break and you run out of the courtroom to do -- a quick briefing. And you have to go back in. So you don't really have time to regain your composure. So -- I was not looking my best that day. You have a question?

QUESTION: Hi, I'm Nadine, I work here in Washington. And I was wondering, how do you think the prosecution is going to connect the witness testimony from 9/11 victims to Moussaoui even though he was already arrested on immigration charges and in jail at the time of the attacks.

ARENA: Well, they actually did that at the first part of the trial when they laid out all of the connections and what he knew. And of course you know that Moussaoui got up on the stand himself and said, not only did I know about the September 11th plot, but I was supposed to be a part of it and the jury bought that and the jury did hold him responsible and said that he could be executed because he could be held responsible for at least one death on 9/11 by not saying what he knew, by lying to investigators. So now what they are trying to do is say well look at what he caused as a result of that. Look at the pain and the tragedy that was caused. If only he had spoken up, if only he hadn't lied about what he was doing here, we would have never gone through this. And so at this phase, they just decide do we execute him or do we put him in prison for the rest of his life? VELSHI: What do you -- how do you understand his role when you realize that he's definitely -- there's some things he's done as you said to be a bit of a showman? What part of him seems to legitimately be connected to what he knew? How much of that is believable, because he does seem at times to seem a little disconnected from reality.

ARENA: You know he's changed his story a lot. You know, first he said that he wasn't supposed to be part of 9/11. He was supposed to be part of a plot later. Then of course he stands up in front of that courtroom. I think the one thing that we all know for sure is that he hates Americans. That we know. That doesn't make him part of the plot. And I think that he did talk about it, had some very intimate knowledge of the training camps, the al Qaeda training camps and some knowledge of who those hijackers were. So he was playing with the big players of al Qaeda whether or not he was meant for this part. But that's not -- what the prosecution says he's part of the larger conspiracy.

HENRY: He was going to fly a plane into the White House.

ARENA: That's what he says.

BASH: You talked about Rudy Giuliani and some of what you heard this week. Next week you are going to hear even more?

ARENA: They say it's going to be even more horrible.

BASH: The judge sort of obviously recognizes this is tough stuff.

ARENA: She does and she's really been very careful. She tread very carefully on Thursday. And she took breaks before -- you know earlier than usual. And she even put a stop to the prosecution was showing some really gruesome pictures. And she said OK, that'll be enough. We don't need to see anymore of that. And I was like thank God. Who needs to look at this stuff?

BASH: Next week it's going to be what?

ARENA: Next week, it's going to be the emergency 911 calls, the calls from people on their cell phones. We heard a little bit of it. And we are going to hear more of it. And it's just - it's not going to be good. You are standing, waiting patiently.

QUESTION: Yes. My name's (INAUDIBLE) I'm from Stockholm, Sweden. My question is how can in a case as infamous as this one, how can you possibly have an untainted jury?

ARENA: Well, you know, it's a very good question. The judge has given them very strict orders which they say they have followed. Not to talk to anyone about the case, not to watch any media reports. They have to keep themselves completely out of the loop on all that's going on. Now obviously this isn't a jury that came in. They weren't living under a rock. We've all heard about Moussaoui before. But they do have very strict orders. And you know what, it's like any other jury. You just have to have faith in that they are doing what they say they are doing and not listening or talking outside of that room.

VELSHI: Well, coming up we are going to talk about another story that's been in the news a lot, rape allegations exposed student divisions in a southern college town. Are student athletes given special treatment by the media? Well, we'll ask our audience when we come back on the story. But favorite a look at what CNN reporters are covering this week around the globe. Have a look elsewhere.

JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even while their leaders were in talks with the politicians, French students were blocking railroad tracks and roads to keep up the pressure on the government. It was a clear reminder that students and unions want the repeal of a controversial employment law by April 17th. The beleaguered prime minister Dominique de Villepin and several members of his cabinet insist they will continue in office and continue the battle to reduce youth unemployment.

RAM RAMGOPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The morning after he announced he was stepping down, (INAUDIBLE) bids good-bye to his supporters and moves out of government house. Sadness among the so-called (INAUDIBLE) and for the anti Taxin (ph) demonstrators, the taste of victory.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dubbed the on- fall (ph) campaign, it stands as one of the greatest atrocities of Saddam Hussein's rule. It is estimated that more than 100,000 Iraqi Kurds were killed in the late 1980s. Now Saddam and six co-defendants have been indicted over the on-fall campaign. And the charges for the first time include the crime of genocide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

VELSHI: Welcome back to ON THE STORY.

Duke University is in the center of a police investigation after allegations that several members of the school's lacrosse team raped an exotic dancer. The issue has ramped up racial tensions on campus and around the town of Durham, North Carolina. The accused players are white. The alleged victim is black.

CNN's Jason Carroll was ON THE STORY.

Let's have a quick look inside his notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: You can't run, you can't hide...

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the mood at Duke University is really there is a lot of hurt. There is confusion here, as well. And I think a lot of the students are looking for some answers.

We have heard from a number of students who are very resentful of what may have happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want the members of the Duke lacrosse team to come clean.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They haven't been convicted, but -- but 30 something kids are remaining silent.

CARROLL: You know, there are other students who don't want to go on camera who would say they support the lacrosse team and want to wait for more of the facts to come out.

We were out here last week and one guy yelled, "Get the hell out of here!" Look, I understand where that emotion comes from. It is intrusive being here. All we can do is try to explain to them why we're here and what we're trying to accomplish.

For me, the biggest challenge is just trying to be as fair as possible.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VELSHI: Thanks to Jason Carroll for his report.

He's been pulled away on assignment, so we're going to pick up the discussion right here.

And this is a different story in that it's about student athletes.

And I want to start by asking our audience how many of you think that student athletes receive special treatment from the media, special, good or bad, but special treatment from the media?

OK. That's a lot of you. That's most of you.

How many of you think that they don't? How many of you think we treat those stories the same way that we treat any other stories? OK, far fewer of you do.

Let's talk a little bit about student athletes and whether that wall of silence that Jason talks about has something to do with that. And I saw somebody here -- you, you felt that there is some special treatment.

Stand up and tell us what you think.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, at my university, there was a case of one of the football players, an alleged drunk driving incident where he actually rammed his car into an old folks home. And within a week, he was heralded as, you know, obviously scoring a football -- or a touch down -- and it was, the case was over. It was very sad at our campus.

VELSHI: It was decided because he was -- he was a star?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a star. VELSHI: All right, thank you.

And somebody over here, you had a -- you had a question on the other side of it.

Stand up and tell us what your question was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, students do very admirable and very horrible things on campuses all the time. And so my question is are they treated differently or are they just covered more extensively?

VELSHI: All right, that's a -- that's a good question.

So both of these topics -- and we have to make these decisions every day about how much coverage you give to someone, what kind of special coverage it is -- Kelli, this is -- this, also -- I mean we all cover stuff that's tough to cover. But, Kelli, you probably face the largest collection of folks who don't give you answers or are not as forthcoming and you have to make decisions -- is it special treatment? Do you not cover them as a result?

How do you do it?

ARENA: I mean I think -- I mean, you know, this cone of silence, I mean, you're going to find that cone of silence in any sort of group of people that -- that sticks together. Police forces, you know, are notorious for that. FBI. You know, I mean people, you know, they -- they sort of -- they're proud of what they do. They're proud of that camaraderie and they -- and they'll believe the best about their co- workers. And so, you know, I think, though, in this situation, you, you know, there are so many other facets.

You have the school administration that's involved. You have the coach. So there are a lots of different layers and these are young men, you know, as well. And there are some privacy issues that are involved.

So, you know, I think that the best -- the best you can do is what Jason says. I mean you go, you see him knocking on the doors, and that's what you have to do, you have to keep knocking on those doors and try to get people to understand what it is that you're trying to do and that you're not looking to pin anybody, you're just looking to get the story.

And, you know, when you convince people of that, they're more likely to talk to you than if they think you're out to get them.

BASH: It especially seems hard in this kind of an environment where there is obviously -- there are obviously two worlds in one there in that area. You have the school and then you have the local community. And there does seem to be, even just from listening to Jason's reporting, there does seem to be a major rub that has sort of come to the surface with this -- with this issue and with this incident.

The, really, the clash between the kids at the school, who perhaps, you know, come from all around and perhaps are maybe a little bit more affluent and the locals, which is not unique to that -- to that particular area. I mean I think that's -- you could probably find that on college campuses all over the country.

HENRY: And when you're trying to get politicians to talk, too, sometimes in an investigation -- a much different circumstance, but when there's a legal situation -- we were talking about the Jack Abramoff scandal -- a lot of the politicians we have been trying to get on camera to talk about their own role in that scandal and their lawyers advise them not to talk to us. And, you know, we get frustrated and we chase them down. And there sometimes are confrontations.

Again, much different circumstances, but the same principles apply. You try to respect privacy.

VELSHI: Well, the circumstances...

HENRY: You try not to go overboard...

VELSHI: ... being what they are, I think the obligation or the debt we owe our viewers is do we -- what choices do we make in covering it differently?

ARENA: But I think it also comes down to an interest. I mean how many of you are interested in the story?

HENRY: Yes.

ARENA: I mean how many of you have actually read about it or watched it and wondered what happened, right?

VELSHI: A lot of college students here. It's...

ARENA: I mean, this is something that people are talking about and that's another thing, you know? And I think when it comes down to story selection and the people that you cover...

VELSHI: Yes.

ARENA: ... athletes are people that people are interested in.

VELSHI: Celebrities, athletes, politicians...

ARENA: Right.

VELSHI: ... fabulously wealthy people. Yes, we do make some choices on that.

All right, thanks very much for all of your participation.

Thanks very much again to Jason Carroll, who remains on assignment.

Well, too many patients and not enough doctors -- it is a prescription for a major crisis in the Gulf Region. Sean Callebs is back on that story in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Welcome back to the George Washington University and to ON THE STORY.

Well, as the Gulf Coast region continues to rebuild, CNN's Sean Callebs discovers that the hospitals are struggling not only to treat the local population, but just to remain open in the first place.

Let's have a look inside his Reporter's Notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We talked to the CEO of East Jefferson Hospital and asked him, if your hospital was a patient, would it be stable, would it be guarded, would it be critical? And he said it would be guarded bordering on critical.

East Jefferson Hospital had a cash surplus of $255 million before the hurricane. Now, because of debt, because they're over burdened by patients, but they're seeing a lot more indigent patients, their cash surplus is down to $50 million and dwindling.

DR. MARK PETERS, CEO, EAST JEFFERSON HOSPITAL: We also have to look at the long-term stability of our hospital. And we'll do nobody any good if we're not here.

CALLEBS: Their concern is the state funneled a lot of money to Charity Hospital and Memorial Hospital. They want to know where that money is.

These doctors say they're also working as lobbyists right now. They're talking to state lawmakers, they're talking to federal lawmakers. They want people to understand they're not being alarmist. This is truly a crisis in the making here. They know the hurricane season is coming up and if it's going to be as bad as experts predict, then things are only going to get worse in terms of health care for this region.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VELSHI: Sean Callebs joins us now from New Orleans -- Sean, let's take it right to the audience for questions.

Sir, your name and where you're from?

JOSHUA: I'm Joshua from Tucson, Arizona.

And I was wondering, as the new hurricane season approaches, what the major issues facing New Orleans' residents medically are?

CALLEBS: Facing the -- well, medically, it's just getting treatment. There were 11 hospitals in New Orleans, in the area, before all -- the storm hit last year. Right now there are four hospitals that are open. So everything -- people just going to the E.R. right now the hospitals that are open, their E.R.s are simply overburdened. People have to wait hours. And if it's not something that's very serious, perhaps life-threatening, then people wait a long time.

Then, once they do get admitted, patients stay in the hospital longer than they have in the past because the hospital doesn't want to release somebody and send him home to a FEMA trailer.

So just getting care is a big problem.

The Orleans Parish Medical Society estimates that, get this, about 40 percent of the doctors in this area have simply left. They've gone because they're worried about the future here. They're worried about the long-term viability. So doctors are leaving here.

VELSHI: Sean, you made a comment about indigent patients, people having trouble paying for things.

Would it be the same for you? I don't want to put you in a tough spot, but if something happened to you and you needed treatment, would you feel the fact that there are only four hospitals left?

CALLEBS: We would feel the effect...

VELSHI: Is it two double, two tiers?

CALLEBS: Well, we would feel the effect that it would just take a long time to try and get a doctor unless it was something really serious. I mean we have insurance through our company, Ali. You're aware of that. And we can go through a hospital and we can get care.

But we have a doctor, CNN provides a doctor who comes through here once every two weeks, once every month. And if someone needs something, we call that doctor in Atlanta. We don't see somebody here unless we absolutely have to, because it is not easy to get in and see a doctor. There simply aren't that many here right now.

VELSHI: Your name and where you're from, ma'am?

NATALIE: Natalie from Milton, Massachusetts.

And my question is this, with so much federal money being pledged to address the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, why is there such a health care crisis in New Orleans?

CALLEBS: Well, that's what the hospitals want to find out because, you know, billions of dollars have been earmarked toward the levees. Billions have been earmarked trying to build, to rebuild this area, to get people back in, to get businesses up and running, to try and repopulate this area.

But basically what the hospitals feel the state government is doing is saying look, the hospitals that are open, they've been economically sound for generations. We know you have cash in reserve, so we're going to let you operate on your own for a while. Well, the hospitals are saying we can do that for a matter of months. But you know what? We're running out of money. And once we start cutting services, miserable health care is only going to get worse in this area.

We should also point out there are a number of military surplus tents that have been up since after Katrina and a lot of people are going there for emergency care, as well, and mostly the indigent patients. But can you imagine that, going into some basically dusty military canvas tent? Right now it's in a mall that has been flooded out. They were in the convention center, but now that the convention center is reopening, they've basically set up shop in a washed out mall.

BASH: Sean, I saw you talk to the administrator of the hospital.

But what did the doctors and nurses and health care providers who actually have stayed there, I mean what's their -- what do they feel like? I mean, what is their demeanor like?

CALLEBS: That's a great question, because a lot of them are frustrated. They thought by now the calvary would have come in and the state, the Feds would have gotten money to bolster the health care system and it would begin to rebound.

Well, they think the health care system is actually getting worse and worse and worse.

We mentioned that nearly half the doctors could have left this area. Those who are here, they say that they're getting reimbursed by insurance companies at a much slower rate. The way Medicaid -- Medicare operates, if you're in the hospital for a procedure, they have a fixed formula. They'll pay so much for this procedure.

Well, because people are staying in the hospital longer, they don't get more money. They only get the certain amount of money. So they're not making as much money as they were in the past. They're worried about their futures, as well.

Also, a big nursing shortage here. They've had to have traveling nurses come in. Some of those people are paid up to $85 an hour.

VELSHI: Sean, good to talk to you.

Thank you so much.

Sean Callebs joining us from New Orleans.

Now, while we're on the story of Hurricane Katrina, CNN received a special honor this week. A George Foster Peabody Award for its coverage of the hurricane and its aftermath. The network was called "the go-to channel for essential, up to the minute information about the disaster."

So kudos to all our colleagues in the Gulf Region and throughout CNN who worked so hard and continue to work on this important story. Well, coming up next, Katie Couric and the future of network news.

What are you watching when you're not watching ON THE STORY?

We'll find out what Internet reporter Jacki Schechner sees on the story online.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Welcome back to ON THE STORY.

Katie Couric made headlines this week as she jumped from one network anchor chair to another, which makes us wonder how relevant the evening news, with so many alternatives out there, actually is.

Digging into this question is our Internet reporter, Jacki Schechner -- Jacki, I took another informal poll of the audience a moment ago and they're not as interested in this story as we are in the industry.

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: In the Katie Couric story.

VELSHI: In the Katie Couric story.

SCHECHNER: Not in my segment in particular.

VELSHI: They're very interested in your segment.

SCHECHNER: So what I wanted to do, Ali, was take a look at where people get their news, television news versus the Internet. And basically TV still wins in terms of sheer numbers. But we have to say the landscape is definitely changing. And with the announcement of Katie Couric taking over the CBS Evening News, we took a little bit of a look back at how that chair became vacant.

And we go back to September of 2004, when there was something called Memogate or Rathergate, when the blogs helped discredit some memos that showed up on "60 Minutes." Eventually Dan Rather stepped down and that's where we get Katie Couric stepping up.

So we want to take a big picture look at all of this and bring in a guy named John Hinderaker.

And he blogs at Powerlineblog.com.

He's joining us via Web cam from Minnesota.

John, thanks for being here.

First of all, what does this all say about the vulnerability of the monolith that's the mainstream media? JOHN HINDERAKER, POWERLINEBLOG.COM: Well, I think you have to see this as a decision by CBS to move in the direction of entertainment rather than hard news. And if you remember the pride that the networks took in their nightly news broadcasts a few decades ago and how seriously they took them, I think that's pretty remarkable.

But the fact is...

SCHECHNER: So you think this is a...

HINDERAKER: ... that they haven't been doing so well at the hard news lately as the Memogate story illustrates.

SCHECHNER: So you think this is a statement they're making in terms of bringing in someone like Katie Couric, who's known for "Today Show" and a lighter -- a lighter sense of things, versus someone like Dan Rather, who was known to be very serious?

HINDERAKER: Yes, I think so. I mean, you know, the paradigm for the network news broadcasts has been Edward R. Murrow. And they've always tried to build up -- to build the show around the anchorman and to build up the anchorman as a real reporter, a real newsman. And, you know, I think they're clearly getting away from that in hiring Katie Couric.

VELSHI: Because of being -- because of her pedigree as a morning person or because there's a -- because she's a woman?

HINDERAKER: Well, obviously, being a woman puts a different spin on it.

But the fact is that she's been doing soft news for a long time. I mean this woman had a colonoscopy on camera, you know? And people associate her with perkiness. That's the word you always heard -- hear. They associate her with soft news. I don't think you can put that to one side.

I think CBS is going for entertainment value here.

VELSHI: Let's go to an audience question.

Ma'am, your name and where you're from?

DEBBIE MOLESKI: I'm Debbie Moleski (ph) from Eaton Rapids, Michigan.

And it goes on with what he's saying. It's a very lofty and serious position to be anchor.

Can her perky, perky reputation lend enough credence to the position?

VELSHI: Well, yes, I know around the desk I'm getting -- there's some puzzled looks going on -- Kelli. ARENA: You know, Katie has a hard news background. I mean, I know that she's been doing "Today Show" for a long time. But she started in hard news. I mean she covered the Pentagon, you know, for a while. And I think once a journalist, always a journalist. And I think that -- I know that I adapt. I mean, look, when I'm talking about a terror trial, you know, I'm not smiling and, you know, and doing what I'm doing now. I mean, I'm very serious.

But I think that, you know, people can adapt and rise to the occasion and cover things.

BASH: And she doesn't -- and she doesn't only do on the "Today Show." She obviously -- because of the format -- she does a lot of what, you know, the fluff, as you were saying. But she also interviews world leaders. She interviews presidents and she, you know, she does very hard news, as well.

VELSHI: Jacki, what's the feeling that you've been seeing as you've been trolling around the blogs?

SCHECHNER: Well, I have an interesting question for John.

The bloggers tend to be very critical of mainstream media and of news anchors in particular.

Do you anticipate, if stories come out where people don't agree with Katie, they might go back to her "Today Show" days or her lighter days and use that as an example of why she's not qualified or why she doesn't know what's going on?

Do you suspect that maybe they'll dig into some of this stuff to use it to discredit her?

HINDERAKER: Well, I won't do that. I mean there's a lot of snarkiness on the Internet, as you know. I'm sure some people will do that, you know, if they're disagreeing with Katie Couric.

But, look, I think the real story here is that network TV news has been getting steadily less important for a long time because of cable TV news, talk radio, the Internet. The audience for network TV news is aging alarmingly.

And so I don't blame CBS for trying to inject some entertainment and trying to get a higher profile by bringing in somebody like Katie Couric. And I think that's what they're trying to do, is to restore some relevance to the nightly news.

VELSHI: John...

SCHECHNER: Well, John, thank you.

VELSHI: We'll pick this up with you. It's a good conversation.

Thank you for that.

Sorry, Jacki. I didn't mean to interrupt you.

SCHECHNER: No, I was going to thank John, too. And I was going to say this is a true wait and see story. We're just going to have to wait and see how it shakes out.

VELSHI: We'll stay on it.

Our Internet reporter, Jacki Schechner.

Thank you so much.

We are back with what we are predicting will be in the news next week on the story.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right, let's have a quick look ahead ON THE STORY.

What are you working on?

HENRY: The White House is going to have to deal with the CIA leak case again because Wednesday "Scooter" Libby is going to have another court filing. Look for that. It'll make some more news.

ARENA: The Moussaoui trial.

VELSHI: We'll keep on following that.

BASH: Congress goes away two weeks for spring break, so we're going to go to the beach.

VELSHI: No beach for me. I've got to keep an eye on that Enron trial. Jeff Skilling is testifying this week. We're also going to keep an eye on those Delta pilots who are threatening to strike.

Thank you to my colleagues and our audience here at the George Washington University.

Thank you all.

Thank you for watching ON THE STORY.

We are back each week, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon.

Stay tuned. A check on what's making news right now.

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