Closed captions transcript:

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In

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a wide variety of issues and will be events
not always covered by other media deal

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way. This is the

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way news via remote time Tommy may be
globally health experts say the number of

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deaths is the result of the covert 1000
virus is approaching 240000 while the

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number of confirmed infections is 3400000
in the United States nearly 66000 people

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died from it and the number
of infections make up about

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a 3rd of the global estimate u.s.

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Regulators will allow emergency use of
the 1st drug that appears to help some

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coronavirus patients recover faster u.s.

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President Donald Trump announced the move
Friday after preliminary results from

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a government sponsored study showed that
the drug shorten the time to recovery for

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his hospitalized Kovac 1000 patients the
drug also might be reducing deaths home

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though that's not certain from the partial
results revealed so far and the drug

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maker and deleted Sciences has said it will
donate its currently available stock of

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the drug in its wrapping up
production to make more u.n.

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Secretary General Antonio good terrorises
the covert $1000.00 Democrats causing

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untold fear and suffering for older
people around the world who are dying at

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a higher rate than Especially for those
over the age of 80 you know whose Televisa

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rate is 5 times the global average un chief
says that beyond the health risk the

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Pendennis putting older people at greater
risk of poverty isn't the biggest one day

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push yet to restart their economies amid
the pandemic more than a dozen u.s.

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States let restaurant stores or other
businesses reopen the lifting of restrictions

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on Friday received a mixed
response and much of

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a Colorado people ventured out to get their
haircut and shop at stores while only

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sparse crowds showed up at the newly reopened
malls in Texas protesters and several

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states that are still locked down demanded
that they reopen Meanwhile the 1st drug

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shown to work against the virus has one
emergency approval from the f.d.a.

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This is v.o.a.

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News. North Korean state media say that
leader Kim Jong un has appeared in public

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for the 1st time in 20 days after his
absence triggered global rumors that he may

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be seriously ill if not worse Korean
Central News Agency said Saturday that he

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attended a ceremony
marking the completion of

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a fertilizer factory near Pyong Young other
senior officials including his sister

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Kim junk state media published several
photos of Kim at the factory smiling as he

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looks around the facilities and cuts

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a red ribbon speculation about his health
swirled every missed the April 15th

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birthday celebration for his late grandfather
possibility of high level instability

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raise troubling questions about the future
of the secretive nuclear arms state that

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has been steadily building
an arsenal NASA and space x.

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Are using or urging spectators to stay
home for the 1st home launch astronauts in

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nearly

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a decade because of the corona virus pandemic
top officials warned the public Friday

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against traveling to Florida for this month's
launch of a 2 NASA astronauts aboard

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a space x.

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Rocket it will be the 1st launch of astronauts
from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in

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9 years and the 1st anywhere by

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a private company NASA administrator Jim
Britton Stein says that did send him the

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keep spectators away but the priority is
to keep everyone safe he says hundreds of

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thousands of people used to descend on the
area to watch space shuttle launches.

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Former Vice President Joe Biden is in phatic
Lee denying former staffers allegation

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of sexual assault saying it never happened
mightn't 1st public comment on the

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allegation came during an interview
on Friday and I miss him

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b C's Morning Joe former staffer terror
Reid says that Biden assaulted her during

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the 1990 s. And that she filed

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a complaint in 1903 Biden said he does not
believe any record of complaint exists

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but will last the National Archives whether
it has any such but the Archives says

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any records are under
their control of the u.s.

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Senate and President Donald Trump is
stepping delicately delicately around the

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controversy but aides are
hitting hard by. A u.s.

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Federal judge threw out the an equal
pay claim by players on the u.s.

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Women's National Soccer Team and

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a surprising loss for the defending World
Cup champions but allow their allegation

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of discriminatory travel accommodations and
medical support services to go to trial

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lawyers led by Alex Morgan claim they
have not been paid equally under their

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collective bargaining agreement to what the
men's national team receives under its

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labor deal the players asked for more
than $66000000.00 in damages the district

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judge granted in part a motion
for summary judgment by the u.s.

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Soccer Federation via remotes
and Tommy McNeil feeling news.

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From Washington to v.o.a.

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Present issues in the news.

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Welcome to issues in the news I'm Shana
still in Washington based political and

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national security correspondent and joining
me on the panel be escape are Jay Jay

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Greene national security
correspondent for here in d.c.

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And host of the Target USA podcast
and Richard La time dress t.v.

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a New Bell Canada as correspondent welcome
everyone me here are the issues the u.s.

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Begins to reopen after weeks of the shutdown
we will look at the debate playing out

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over safety concerns lost the President
ordering meat plants to stay open despite

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thousands of workers getting sick but will
work or show up and we're going to get

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a global view of the pandemic where other
countries are holding on the question of

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reopening again I am joined
by good agreement from w p

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o p and Richard like to dress
correspondent for t.v.

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a Nobel Canada we're all talking from our
respective homes are practicing social

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distancing and when we look at those
social distancing guidelines some of the

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states around 2 dozen in this country are
beginning to ease those guidelines they

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are in the process of
reopening even as the u.s.

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Hit just

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a horrific milestone over 60000 people
have died there are over 1000000 confirmed

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cases one of the 1st states to
begin reopening is Georgia j.j.

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Peter tell us how that reopening is playing
out in that state it's playing out very

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carefully but I have to say from the people
I've spoken to and just looking at it

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from

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a security point of view there are some
serious concerns about it actually taking

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place one of the big problems that's been
laid out from the very beginning of this

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coronavirus pandemic is the possibility
for 2nd wave infections or of the

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possibility that it can
set. Really blow up in

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a rural area or in areas that
were previously unaffected on

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a moment's notice speaking
with Dr Jennifer News who is

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a world renowned epidemiologist and scholar
at the Johns Hopkins University Health

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Center this week she mentioned that we
have to realize that the situation with

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Corona virus is this it's
social distancing was

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a pause but it didn't kill the virus it
didn't stop the virus so places that are

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reopening there's

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a possibility that they may reopen too
soon we don't know of course what's

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happening specifically in Georgia we know
certain things have opened gems and I

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think certain restaurants have opened with
certain types of restrictions and there

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are other places as well like salons and
tattoo parlors those kinds of things those

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are going to be watched very carefully but
I can tell you for sure the leaders in

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Georgia are on 2 different sides of this
issue some say it shouldn't happen some

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say it should we're going to be watching
very carefully to see what indeed takes

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place there and to your point about this
year of another spike in cases if the

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state didn't you soon and it's not only
Georgia there are around 2 dozen As I

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mentioned Florida Colorado is also looking
to reopen So Richard the question is if

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there is another spike and
he says and again it's just

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a prediction here but does the
state shut down again or is that

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a bell you can't reach Well this is the
main question at what point do you tell

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people who have been confined for weeks
to you allow them to go out and then you

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tell them no we just go back to what we
at the end hated to do it's going to be

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complicated there's an experiment at the
moment in California for instance where

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the governor allowed the governor of New
some allowed beaches to reopen and they

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were literally invaded by people who just
wanted to be out what to do enjoyed being

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outside and on the beach and they work so
crowded that he's walking this back and

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he's closing. Back to the beaches it's
going to be very interesting to see how

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people are going to react to this and what
is also very interesting is that they

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were listening to the president and yesterday
were Wednesday he said very openly

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that he doesn't intend to extend the social
distancing guidelines so the message at

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the top level is to say we are not going
to extend what the experts think I've been

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very helpful with in slowing down the
virus and so it's also through are

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a lot of people who even if polls after
polls show how people are worried of the

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virus still being around or getting stronger
than it used to be that the message is

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to say I think you should go out I think
things should go back to some sort of

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normalcy I was looking around and even
in Canada where we have been very

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cautious and come back for instance they
are definitely opening elementary school

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and they care starting mean that and because
they want to free people to allow them

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to go to work for the parents so
even in areas outside of the u.s.

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Outside of Republican states for instance
where people have been cautious there is

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just strong push to go ahead even if the
threat seems to be around still Yeah and

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polls are also pretty confusing because
it they show that at the same time

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Americans want to see social distancing
guidelines remain in place for now but they

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also show that Americans are very worried
about the economy and Jaideep you Richard

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was talking about the guidance from the
president what do you hearing from the

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different states about the guidance they
are getting from the president because it

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seems to be we're getting different messages
coming from the president about easing

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social distancing guidelines Well that's
the problem many of the states aren't

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really sure based on the people that
I've spoken to and in all transparency I

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haven't spoken to a lot of
different state leaders just

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a handful of people in various locations
like here. Washington area there are 3

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states 3 jurisdictions and of course in
West Virginia course the New York area and

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a couple of the other hard hit areas
and one of the big problems that I've

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discovered is that the intelligence that's
necessary to inform decisions on this

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virus and what to do about it is lacking
we've known that from the very beginning

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and

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a part of the reason for that is because China
didn't tell us the truth in the beginning

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about when it started and we still have
lots of countries that are not giving up

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legitimate real data about how their countries
are being impacted and as this wave

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pushes across the u.s.

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Are we hearing the right things are we
getting the right information from the

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president from the White House from the
government and do they actually know what

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the best information is the medical officials
that I've spoken to as well have said

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we need

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a better national response and intelligence
gathering apparatus for the disease

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itself but we also need

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a much better international intelligence
gathering process so that that information

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can be fed out to all countries and then
trickle down to the states in each country

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and I can tell you New York that area the
New York New Jersey Connecticut area

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Boston this area there are

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a lot of people that are confused about
what they're hearing and they're just

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taking it step by step putting together
their own panels to discover and discuss

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what they find about it so there is some
reticence to say Ok fine we'll take what

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the White House says and run with it and
see your point about intelligence the

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Washington Post didn't I missed it
with you because I know this is really

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a focus of your reporting that Washington
Post has reported that the president in

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his daily intelligence briefings his p.t.

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Beat was being warned by the intelligence
community about the pandemic even as he

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was continuing to downplay the threat what
do you hearing about this what is your

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reporting on this issue you're exactly right
Greg Miller and Ellen Nakashima didn't

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. Amazing job on that story and I have had
been following that myself and we posted

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a story this week and basically it says
the coronavirus intelligence void is

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impeded the response and
you can find it w t

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o p dot com on my page but I have been
asking national security officials at the

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White House and at the National Security
Council since March what did they know and

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when did they know it eventually I got

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a statement from Hogan Gidley the
principal deputy press secretary for the

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president to the White House earlier this
week was pretty angry response saying

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that it was disgusting that the media and
of course they said the Democrats were

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making this

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a big issue but what I had been hearing and
what I have heard now is that there is

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still significant worry that we're not
getting the complete and full picture not

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because the u.s.

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Intelligence communities professionals
are trying their hardest but there are

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questions about how it's being impacted
politically there are questions as well

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about how it's being impacted internationally
because again China North Korea there

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are other countries as well that simply
aren't being truthful about what kind of

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covert $1000.00 impact what kind of impact
it's having on their country and the

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intelligence that's necessary to make these
decisions simply is not there and yes

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in addition to those dozen or so briefings
that the president supposedly had in the

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p.d. Be there are others there was one
of his closest traded by Cers sent him

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a very concerning memo earlier in the
year there were reports from the National

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Center for Medical intelligence in November
of last year that were sent to the

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White House about this so the warnings have
been there the question is how has this

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information been used and has it been

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a used effectively Yeah we're going to get
you what it China knowing how that might

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impact the future
relationship between the u.s.

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And China later on and show take

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a look at how other countries are fearing
Richard I want to. Q Here in d.c.

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Cases are still rising we don't have

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a clear timeline of when the region is going
to be reopening and yes the Senate not

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the house will be returning to work

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a woman I heard is that lawmakers are
essential workers and like other workers on

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the front lines they should be coming to
work what do you make of that argument

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Richard Well that's the argument the
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is

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putting forward the main point being that
he should lead by example and show that

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the sacrifice that so many central workers
are doing all over the country should

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have some sort of eco here in the federal
capital the war is that at least over 50

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percent let's be clear are over
65 years old so they're very

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a but then troll target
group for the code 19 is it

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a good idea to bring these people
together again even if they they take

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a certain number of precautions we just
don't wish that this happened but if

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anybody gets it exactly the wrong message
it will be sent around the country but

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again like everything now in the United
States everything becomes political and the

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the house is decided not to go forward
on this the House led by the Democrats

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decided not to go forward to bring back
everybody in town so at this very moment we

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are at this point where the Republicans
and the Senate and the Republicans in

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Congress are for good number of them because
there's a sudden certain resistance

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a good number of them are saying we
should not only be Iran but push for

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a reopening of the economy reopening other
countries so let's go ahead with the

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message for the White House wants to bring
forward too many people have been I've

00:16:49
been laid off too many people I've been
filing for unemployment claims this economy

00:16:55
has to restart let's not go in this early
too far in this political lane but the

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president himself dream his briefings at
the White House since. It's constantly on

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the fact that he had according to him and
I quote him the greatest economy in the

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history of the country and he lost this
in few days and few weeks he just wants

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this back to show the Americans that he
deserves being reelected in the right and

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then of course as you've been talking
about you've got this really difficult

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balance governors walking this tight
rope they have to balance keeping people

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healthy and also making sure they are
commies don't create or you've got to get

00:17:30
people back to work at a certain point

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a Speaking of getting people back to work
the president has ordered meat packing

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plants to stay open despite thousands of
workers they are getting sick at least 20

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people have died what do you
feel important here j.j.

00:17:45
For us to know especially when we're talking
about the country's supply chain when

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it comes to food and keeping not secure but
also keeping workers safe the 1st thing

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that's important is that there is not

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a food shortage last week I spoke with Tom
Vilsack the former governor of Iowa and

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he was also

00:18:05
a former agriculture secretary in fact I
think he was the longest serving cabinet

00:18:09
member under former President Brock Obama
and he said to me there simply is not

00:18:15
a food shortage the problem is

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a disruption in the supply
chains ability to deliver food

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a good example of that was there farmers
that were dairy farmers because he's the

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c.e.o.

00:18:28
And president of the dairy Export Council
now they were producing milk continuing

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to produce it but when the code 19 pandemic
forced lockdowns and shutdowns here in

00:18:39
the u.s.

00:18:39
a Lot of their users weren't using it the
grocery stores were not ordering as much

00:18:44
milk because what they were doing because
of panic buying was limiting what people

00:18:48
could buy schools shut down so kids weren't
at school drinking milk so they ended

00:18:53
up dumping and this is according to Vilsack
millions of pounds of milk and we've

00:18:59
heard the same about food so the 2nd thing
is going back. To work at meat plants

00:19:06
and places that have the
disease or the virus there is

00:19:10
a very delicate situation the president
wants to reopen these make sure they stay

00:19:14
open and I think he's in an active the
Defense Production Act to make sure they

00:19:18
stay open it's got to be done based on the
people like Bill sack and the medical

00:19:21
folks I've spoken to in

00:19:23
a very very careful way to make sure that
those people are safe to make sure that

00:19:28
the food supply is intact
and there could be

00:19:31
a shortage if that's not done appropriately
but at this point there isn't

00:19:37
a shortage there simply is

00:19:38
a disruption in the way the food is being
delivered and going back to work in these

00:19:42
meat packing plants and other places is
something that's got to be looked at very

00:19:46
carefully right and of course we'll
workers want to return Ok let's take

00:19:50
a break and we will continue this discussion
when we get back issues in the news is

00:19:55
coming to you from the Voice
of America in Washington d.c.

00:19:58
If you would like to download the program
it's free on i Tunes Just click on the i

00:20:01
Tunes tab on B.O.'s website at v.o.a.

00:20:04
News dot com Now back to our panel David
Greene national correspondent for w t

00:20:08
o p and host of the Target USA podcast and
Richard watching dressed correspondent

00:20:13
for t.v.

00:20:14
Who Bell Canada before the break we were
talking about workers getting sick at

00:20:19
these meat packing plants the president
ordering these plants to remain open

00:20:24
because they are critical to the nation's
food supply you know one thing we're

00:20:28
hearing from workers is that they need
to be given access to proper protective

00:20:35
equipment and also they want to see daily
testing and we have seen that testing is

00:20:39
so crucial to slowing down
the virus in the u.s.

00:20:44
Has ramped up testing over 5000000 people
have been tested but some experts say we

00:20:48
need to test 5000000 people to date to
safely reopen the country and on this issue

00:20:53
we are getting confusing signals because
the president told our reporter we get to

00:20:56
that 5000000 number soon and then you had
the administration's testings are saying

00:21:01
that number it's impossible to get that
every day we don't need. We need that

00:21:04
presently to back tracking thing he never
said we would reach the finally number

00:21:08
a day Richard what do you make of all of
these sort of confusing messages coming in

00:21:13
on testing Well I think it shows that it's
very hard to figure out exactly how to

00:21:18
process all of the tests that could be
done but there are differences from one

00:21:23
state to the other for the access to the
testing for the access to the or the right

00:21:28
results from these testing what we hear
from the White House definitely as Dr

00:21:33
Deborah Burke sighs current firm from the
president the task force that the vice

00:21:39
president is about
ensuring that there's been

00:21:41
a definite increase in number of
tests being done and there was

00:21:44
a challenge this week at the White House
and she said that now even if people are

00:21:49
were debating if South Korea were doing
was doing more or less the Americans of

00:21:54
been doing more the problem is definitely
that you just cannot reach the level

00:21:59
where you would want to this said now in
California in the Los Angeles area people

00:22:05
have more and more access to these tests
so the problem again is this will to send

00:22:10
they've positive message
from the White House

00:22:13
a positive message to the American people
that things are getting better that we

00:22:17
are indeed how I think it clearer picture
obviously experts say we do not we have

00:22:22
this over a 1000000 cases in the u.s.

00:22:25
But it's probably far higher than this but
it's simply because of what we get back

00:22:31
from the States and what is sent back from
the White House does not necessarily fit

00:22:36
the same perspective it has for the message
we want to throw back to the right and

00:22:40
as you point out there are likely more than
1000000 people who have the virus here

00:22:45
in the u.s.

00:22:45
And other countries too it appears that
they're underreporting or they just haven't

00:22:49
been able to test to know who has the virus
and who doesn't and jaded to that point

00:22:55
when you look at countries around the world
when it comes to testing what do you

00:22:59
seeing Well it's interesting you ask that
question Shaina because. Just yesterday

00:23:05
and I do this on

00:23:06
a regular basis the daily is engage with
intelligence officials to the degree that

00:23:11
I can overseas and with other colleagues
like Richard and the great work that he's

00:23:16
doing with his outlet and
the Canadians are always

00:23:19
a good source of truth when it comes to
this kind of thing but I was talking with

00:23:23
a friend of mine in Italy yesterday and
the Italian daily. Said I came out

00:23:30
yesterday with

00:23:30
a story indicating that there were 1200
people in Mumbai which is where Milan is

00:23:37
hard hit me lawn in January that had
coated 1000 and this was just days after

00:23:44
China had just said yeah we have

00:23:46
a cluster of cases that are what we believe
pneumonia the bottom line on this is

00:23:52
the story from that newspaper is based
on interviews and based on documentation

00:23:58
from medical professionals in Italy suggest
that the code in 1000 virus was out and

00:24:04
circulating long before the Chinese said
anything about it and long before we here

00:24:11
in the us realized that we had it I think
the bottom line on that is that it was

00:24:16
likely here in the States a
lot sooner and there may be

00:24:20
a lot more people that have had it

00:24:22
a lot more people that were sick didn't
know it because in China there was still

00:24:26
calling it pneumonia and here I think I
heard New York's Governor Cuomo say early

00:24:32
on in this

00:24:32
a lot of people have had this and have
recovered on their own so one of the things

00:24:36
that is really seriously being looked at
overseas and needs to be looked at here I

00:24:41
think there are those that are planning
to do that is just how early did this get

00:24:45
here that's one of the reasons why the
president is continually asked when did he

00:24:49
know and what did he know is when did
this virus 1st touch our shores right and

00:24:54
that's why u.s.

00:24:56
Officials want to know more from China
because it is being used at downplaying the

00:25:02
virus in Europe. A week not alerting the
rest of the world to what could be coming

00:25:06
to their surest But how does the u.s.

00:25:09
And other nations hold China accountable
when at the same time this is

00:25:13
a global effort where countries need to be
working together to combat this nighters

00:25:18
Jay-Jay I think that's kind of a 2
part thing there and how does the u.s.

00:25:23
And the rest of the world get their arms
around it to go deal with this and I think

00:25:27
you've seen some brilliant examples of
that where countries have been sharing

00:25:32
resources and been working together to try
to come up with solutions and to do the

00:25:37
things that are necessary to do and for all
of its failings on this the White House

00:25:43
has been pretty hard on China because China
really has not been forthcoming in this

00:25:49
is the 2nd part of this China really
has not been forthcoming on all of the

00:25:54
developments on this 1st of all you know
because they were slow and reluctant to

00:25:58
tell the world what was going
on but then after it became

00:26:02
a problem then you see situations like
what's happening with Australia where China

00:26:07
is saying Ok Well we're going to you know
you have problems with us because of the

00:26:12
coronavirus we're going to change our
trade policy with you and with the u.s.

00:26:16
There are threats that they're withholding
or will withhold pharmaceutical

00:26:20
ingredients which the u.s.

00:26:22
Depends heavily on China
for those are 2 parts of

00:26:25
a very complex picture that needs to be
worked out before this can be dealt with

00:26:30
and frankly speaking I'm not sure that
we're anywhere close to working this out

00:26:34
because the Chinese government they're going
to get sued let's just be honest about

00:26:39
it it's going to happen sooner or later
if everybody in the world soused China

00:26:42
that's just not going to work but the
bottom line on it is in that case there has

00:26:47
to be more willingness on the part of the
Chinese government to engage in to allow

00:26:52
officials to come there and to to investigate
and to figure out just what happened

00:26:56
when it happened and where it started
right and honestly this is going to be

00:27:00
a big issue when this virus threat passes
and we can sort. Deal with those issues

00:27:05
Richard you obviously are have

00:27:07
a global view to your your network is
based in Canada what do you see from the

00:27:12
different countries and how they are handling
the virus what's standing out to you

00:27:17
Well what's standing out to me. Is that
I have been following the Francophone

00:27:22
countries French speaking
countries or even

00:27:25
a little closer what's happening in France
and Belgium and Switzerland and Africa

00:27:30
where the virus has not been moving to his
recently as fast as in other places is

00:27:36
the 1st reality is that just like over
here people are worried to go back to work

00:27:42
but

00:27:42
a lot of people need to do something because
their own needs I've been going down

00:27:48
there are needs are still there and they
need to find ways to improve their daily

00:27:54
life so what I've seen As for fighting the
virus itself confinement has been very

00:28:00
heavily respected in most places and it's
very impressive and the same thing as the

00:28:04
us for social distancing intended for
instance and it's just want to use the kid in

00:28:09
an example because very generously
described how the Canadians are becoming

00:28:14
forwards with their information but I was
noticing in New Zealand in Australia

00:28:19
a mother a marker on
friends to people give

00:28:23
a press briefings and press points press
conferences that are rich in scientific

00:28:29
information and social description of what
people should be doing and expecting and

00:28:34
I think that's what's been very helpful
in these places where you've seen I would

00:28:39
say a calming down

00:28:41
a little bit of tension remaining inside
not being able to do one's normal life so

00:28:47
New Zealand is

00:28:48
a perfect example of this reality while
it's been very complicated in Brazil for

00:28:53
instance with President Bush also narrow
sending exactly the wrong messages to the

00:28:59
point where here at the White House even
the president from keeps repeating that

00:29:03
he's

00:29:03
a friend. He's not considering not stopping
flights from Brazil but having passengers

00:29:09
on flights coming from the south America
presented in particular being tested

00:29:14
before getting onto the plane because he
now doesn't even trust his friend in this

00:29:18
album in his fear love
to unpack there we have

00:29:21
a lot to discuss here but we got through
a lot gentlemen thank you so much

00:29:24
a degree national security correspondent
for don't think you eat and the host of

00:29:28
Turkey USA podcast and recollecting
the rest works fine for t.v.

00:29:31
a Few Bell Canada this program is produced
by the Voice of America and I'm Seamus

00:29:36
Heaney Thanks for listening.

00:30:09
From. First comfort us here is your host.

00:30:17
Well thank you press conference USA on
The Voice of America joining me on the

00:30:21
program is v.o.a. T.v.

00:30:23
Senior analyst Jeffrey Young as we on our
World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd we

00:30:28
speak to the president of one of the foremost
organizations that monitors protests

00:30:33
and advocates for press freedom
around the globe Michael j.

00:30:37
Abramowitz is president of Freedom House
an independent watchdog organization

00:30:42
dedicated to the expansion of freedom and
democracy around the world founded in

00:30:47
1941 Freedom House was the 1st American
organization to champion the advancement of

00:30:53
freedom globally according to its website
Freedom House advocates for u.s.

00:30:58
Leadership and collaboration with like
minded democratic governments to oppose

00:31:03
dictators and no pressure in

00:31:05
a vigorous manner it amplifies the voices
of those struggling for freedom in

00:31:10
repressive societies and counters
authoritarian efforts to weaken international

00:31:15
scrutiny of their regimes Freedom House
also and powers human rights defenders and

00:31:20
civic activists on the front lines and to
advance democratic change before assuming

00:31:25
his post as president of Freedom House
in February 27th Michael Abramowitz was

00:31:31
director of the u.s.

00:31:32
Holocaust Memorial Museum Levein Institute
for Holocaust Education 11 museum

00:31:38
genocide prevention efforts and later
oversaw its public education programs

00:31:43
previously he was national editor and
then White House correspondent for The

00:31:48
Washington Post newspaper Michael is

00:31:50
a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations and former fellow at the German

00:31:55
Marshall Fund and Hoover Institution
We'll talk with Michael Abramowitz about

00:32:00
continued threats to press freedom globally
and how the coronavirus pandemic has

00:32:04
exacerbated that trend in both democracies
and. Authoritarian regimes alike so in

00:32:11
keeping with social distancing measures
in the age of the coronavirus pandemic

00:32:15
we're coming to you via Skype and Michael
Abramowitz joins us via Skype Welcome to

00:32:20
the program it's great to be here and I'd
like to welcome my colleague Geoffrey

00:32:23
Young also via Skype Well Michael Abramowitz
Let's 1st talk about the coronavirus

00:32:29
pandemic and any effect it is having on
press freedom which is already been in

00:32:34
retreat as both

00:32:35
a talk with these and even some fledgling
and established democracies use the

00:32:39
pandemic to either play it down or censor
information or even crack down on civil

00:32:44
liberties in the name of combating the
pandemic Well I think certainly the pin

00:32:49
Demick is exacerbating some very concerning
trends that we've seen of Freedom House

00:32:55
with regard to the press freedom in
particular and more generally pressures on

00:33:00
democratic freedoms more broadly for
the last 10 to 15 years we've seen and

00:33:06
documented at Freedom House

00:33:08
a steady decline in press freedom and
I think it's fair to say that the

00:33:15
coronavirus is going to exacerbate
those trends hopefully just for

00:33:18
a short period of time but it's definitely
putting pressure on core tenets of press

00:33:24
freedom I'll start by saying the flipside
though that you are seeing through the

00:33:29
incredible reporting of the free press in
many different countries including our

00:33:34
own the exposure really terrible government
toll incompetence in responding to the

00:33:41
crisis to the extent that governments
are actually trying to improve their

00:33:44
performance with respect to the virus is
often in response to exposé is by the free

00:33:49
press we have to remind ourselves
that the press is playing

00:33:52
a very important role in helping the
whole governments to account in doing

00:33:57
a reasonable job in responding to the pen
Demick that said you do see around the

00:34:03
world examples of different governments
using the pen Demick kind of as cover. To

00:34:08
crackdown on traditional press freedom
we you know we all expect that in

00:34:12
a crisis particularly health crisis that
we're dealing with now that there will be

00:34:17
some restrictions on freedoms in you know
in the name of public health things that

00:34:21
perhaps free societies would not accept
during normal times but people understand

00:34:25
you know lockdowns and so forth
are necessary to cope with

00:34:28
a pen Demick But you're seeing governments
go too far in like one particular

00:34:32
examples you see governments using the pen
Demick to actually crack down on press

00:34:37
critics that are raising concerns about
the government of performance exhibit

00:34:42
a there is what happened in China which has
cracked down on the bloggers and others

00:34:46
who have highlighted the problems of China's
response to the pen Demick let me just

00:34:51
quickly ask you before I turn to my colleague
Geoffrey about the declining global

00:34:56
freedom this is now the 14 consecutive year
of decline in global freedom as Freedom

00:35:01
House reports which is
very unfortunate it's

00:35:05
a terrible trend What are some of the key
regions where press freedom has been

00:35:10
backsliding and why it will as you say we
track not just press freedom but many of

00:35:17
the core freedoms that we think are
essential to free societies whether it's

00:35:20
freedom of assembly freedom of expression
freedom of religion the rule of law the

00:35:25
concept of free and fair elections and
what we've seen of Freedom House is that

00:35:29
over the last 14 years every year the more
countries that have suffered declines in

00:35:35
basically core civil liberties core
political rights than those that had

00:35:39
improvements and we had that again in 2019
this is happening all over the world is

00:35:46
happening in every continent it's happening
both in traditionally authoritarian

00:35:50
regimes think of countries like China
Russia but it's also happening in countries

00:35:55
that you know we've thought
of into a relatively recently

00:35:58
a thriving democracies an example there
would be hungary and with respect to press

00:36:02
freedom in particular you have the same
trends going on that each year over the

00:36:07
last 10 years. There's been

00:36:09
a decline in the press freedom scores that
we track at Freedom House and this is

00:36:13
happening both in authoritarian settings
so again think China but it's also

00:36:18
happening again in traditional
democratic countries you know

00:36:22
a very good example of that would be Hungary
which is the 1st country in the e.u.

00:36:27
That according to Freedom House corps
has been labeled partly free we grew

00:36:31
countries into 3 categories free partly
free and not free and hungry as moved in

00:36:36
the last several years from free to partly
free and with respect to the press we've

00:36:41
seen the feed is party which has been in
power for most of that period you know

00:36:46
really perfecting the use and abuse of
market forces to take over media and has

00:36:50
really consolidated the media in pro-government
hands and use that consolidation to

00:36:55
extend its political power in the process
and I think this is an important point

00:37:00
that control the press attacks in the
press take traditional forms which is you

00:37:05
know throwing journalists in jail that's

00:37:07
a tactic for instance in Turkey or in or
in China but it's also using market forces

00:37:13
to erase whatever the remaining vestiges
are of an independent press and now those

00:37:18
market forces are being exacerbated by the
pressures brought on by covert 19 Let me

00:37:22
now turn to my colleague Jeffrey Young
I think one of the major issues that

00:37:28
confront journalists right now
is the use of technology against

00:37:35
journalism what I mean by this is online
surveillance of what journalists are doing

00:37:41
even tracking them by their mobile phones
there are countries where just walking

00:37:47
out the door with your phone on and
getting in your car and driving someplace

00:37:51
somebody is monitoring you they are
keeping track of where you are going and

00:37:55
perhaps who you are beating etc Tell me
about Freedom House your efforts to fight

00:38:01
the adverse use of this
technology Well that's

00:38:04
a very important point Jeffery and as
you say the. Rise of these surveillance

00:38:09
technologies you know make it very very
difficult for reporters to pursue their

00:38:14
stories in an independent way without you
know oversight from state authorities one

00:38:20
way that we've tracked this is through our
freedom of the net report I discussed

00:38:24
our freedom of the World
Report but we also have

00:38:27
a corollary project which we've been doing
for about 10 years called freedom of the

00:38:31
net which examines the way that all
countries use technology to restrict

00:38:37
freedoms and what's been particularly
interesting there are different ways that

00:38:41
regimes do this one is again the traditional
way where like in Vietnam if you're

00:38:45
a blogger that's been critical of the
government you might get thrown in jail but

00:38:50
you also have the ability to monitor
journalists and I think also

00:38:57
you have the ability to really support
favor journalists and really undermine the

00:39:03
economic viability of independent
journalists and so you've seen princes in

00:39:08
a variety of different countries governments
withdrawing advertising from media

00:39:13
organizations the don't toe the line
so the mechanisms of repression and

00:39:17
restricting press freedom of gotten much
more sophisticated as your question

00:39:20
implies I think is also an issue of access
and this plays right into what you just

00:39:26
said and some people even bring this up
here in the United States they say why

00:39:32
aren't the journalists who go to the briefings
why aren't they more confrontational

00:39:39
why don't they stand up and say Excuse me
Mr President or Mr Prime Minister what

00:39:44
you said is untrue we know for a fact
that x. Equals y. And it doesn't equal z.

00:39:51
Why did you just say that and of course
we know that in almost any country Access

00:39:57
is the vital essence of the press because
if they don't have access they have

00:40:01
nothing to report because they can't see
it they can't hear it so we have an access

00:40:06
issue and access is being used. As

00:40:08
a weapon I wanted to get your reply Well I
certainly agree with you that access can

00:40:13
be used as

00:40:14
a weapon but I also think journalists are
very resourceful group of people and they

00:40:19
can figure ways around government restrictions
I think it's very very difficult you

00:40:23
know even in

00:40:24
a closed society like China you know to
keep bad news from surfacing that over the

00:40:29
last 10 years there has been you know

00:40:32
a lot of reporting about you know corruption
among the communist elite in China

00:40:36
there's been

00:40:37
a very good reporting about the Chinese
abuse of the weaker minorities in China Jon

00:40:43
province you know it's interesting to
me is that journalists have really

00:40:48
a lot of ways now to try to get information
and they're being forced by the trends

00:40:53
that you identified to be more creative
in the way they approach this you're

00:40:56
listening to Press Conference USA on The
Voice of America our guest who joins us

00:41:02
via Skype is Michael Abramowitz president
of Freedom House that's an organization

00:41:06
based here in Washington dedicated to the
expansion of freedom and democracy around

00:41:11
the world I'm Carol Castillo
along with senior t.v.

00:41:15
Ad alist Jeffrey Young will be
back with more of our show in just

00:41:19
a moment how will the
coronavirus spenda make

00:41:22
a fake Russian President Vladimir Putin's
plan to stay in power beyond 2024 the end

00:41:28
of his current term 2 leading
experts on Russia and the u.s.

00:41:32
Russian relations talk with host Carol
Castillo about how the pandemic is of

00:41:36
bending President Putin's domestic and
international political ones for Asia this

00:41:41
Saturday and Sunday on Encounter on
The Voice of America we're discussing

00:41:46
challenges to press freedom and democracy
around the world as we commemorate World

00:41:52
Press Freedom Day and this
is a reminder that our p.c.

00:41:55
USA podcast is available for free download
on our website at no news dot com slash

00:42:01
p.c. USA me also follow us on
Twitter at Carol Kathy l.v.

00:42:06
Or connect with us on Facebook but here's

00:42:07
a shout. To the huge Twitter fan to John
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00:42:14
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Please like us and follow us on Twitter

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00:42:23
p.c. USA at v.o.a.

00:42:24
News dot com So Michael let me get back
to you and let's follow up on maybe some

00:42:29
potential bright spots you know we've
seen protests in parts of the Middle East

00:42:34
like Iraq Lebanon on course we're seeing
that in Algeria and even Sudan recently

00:42:40
had

00:42:40
a revolution do you see any bright spots
there were perhaps you can mention any other

00:42:44
countries short I think it's a
great question and I think it's

00:42:47
a very healthy reminder that we have
to not be consistently negative that

00:42:52
experience shows us that the press is
very resilient it can rebound from even

00:42:57
lengthy stints of repression when given
the opportunity and that the basic desire

00:43:02
for access to honest facts about government
is you know can't be extinguished and

00:43:07
it's really never too late to continue
to advocate strongly for the rights of

00:43:12
journalists and I think you know I am very
heartened just by the courage of citizen

00:43:17
journalists in China who really you know
brave their lives to document reporting

00:43:22
covert 1900 s.

00:43:23
Toll in spite of the government's heavy
handed censorship and silencing tactics you

00:43:28
mentioned Sudan another country in
Africa that I think has been a kind of

00:43:33
a bright spot if you will has
been Ethiopia they've had

00:43:36
a new prime minister in the last 2 years
he actually won the Nobel Prize this year

00:43:41
or last year and he's opened up the country
as one of the most repressive countries

00:43:46
in Africa or for many years it's still has
problems but you know he's invited civil

00:43:51
society back into the country release
political prisoners and allow more commentary

00:43:57
by independent media outlets so I think the
point that you're making is completely

00:44:01
right that this is not just

00:44:03
a negative thing and that the press is
surprisingly maybe not surprisingly is very

00:44:07
resilient. In the face of these kinds of
repressive actions Well I'd like to pick

00:44:12
up on

00:44:12
a point that my colleague made with respect
to the United States and of course you

00:44:16
know Michael in the United
States has been considered

00:44:19
a leader in press freedom one of the foremost
defenders of democracy but President

00:44:23
Trump has shown

00:44:25
a certain amount of disdain for what he
called the mainstream press calling it fake

00:44:29
news how has this attitude undermined u.s.

00:44:33
Credibility around the world in an arena
for which we have been renowned vibrant

00:44:38
green press Well let me just 1st start by
saying that I do think truth for cars to

00:44:44
say that the United States has

00:44:46
a very very vibrant press till if you just
think about all the kinds of things that

00:44:51
are said by the president good and bad
ugly the criticism the praise in some

00:44:56
quarters you know the hard accountability
journalism about the administration which

00:45:02
has been very strong from newspapers like
The Washington Post The New York Times

00:45:07
and others there is an incredible ability
and in my country to say what you want to

00:45:13
report and what you want and to document
to play the role that Jefferson saw the

00:45:18
press playing in our country which is as
an accountability function for democratic

00:45:23
government I mean he said famously he'd
rather have you know the press with him and

00:45:27
paraphrasing here but
essentially he'd rather

00:45:29
a free press than almost anything else in
terms of democratic institutions because

00:45:34
he saw that the free press is really crucial
to that accountability function that

00:45:38
said I think you've seen some negative
trends over the last number of years I

00:45:44
wouldn't say that it started in the last
3 years but it's certainly accelerated

00:45:48
a really very harsh what I think is you
know relatively partisan attacks on the

00:45:53
press that are really designed to really
undermine the credibility of the press in

00:45:58
the eyes of the American
people and there's

00:46:00
a very specific political agenda
behind those attacks and I'm

00:46:03
a former White House reporter I'm used to
the press being criticized at the. That

00:46:08
kind of goes with the
territory people have to have

00:46:11
a thick skin but I think what we've seen
in the last 2 or 3 years has gone beyond

00:46:15
what I've been used to in my experience as

00:46:17
a former journalist and I think you do see
some impact of this already overseas not

00:46:24
this year but in the previous year I think
part of our freedom of the net study we

00:46:28
looked at the explosion of laws around the
country around the world rather that are

00:46:35
aimed at restricting the rights of journalists
restricting access to information in

00:46:40
the name of combating
fake news and there's

00:46:44
a reason that those laws are are taking
place because I think countries feel

00:46:49
emboldened to do what they probably want
to do anyway but I think they're feeling

00:46:53
emboldened by the kind of rhetoric that
we hear out of some of the leaders in

00:46:57
Washington and that's regrettable and sad
to me let me pick up on what you just

00:47:02
said an adult little bit more on those
and that is the weaponization of social

00:47:07
media once upon a time when social media
1st opened up it was supposed to be

00:47:12
a social beating place where you could
talk to people say Hi whatever you know

00:47:16
trade recipes I'm being simple
but that's the point now we have

00:47:21
a highly politicized
social media and we have

00:47:25
a social media that is filled with this
information we saw what happened in the

00:47:29
2016 election we saw that there were
foreign entities that created social media

00:47:34
accounts and used what are called bots
robotic computers to spread this decision

00:47:40
from Asian and it's specifically designed
to undermine confidence in elections

00:47:47
confidence in

00:47:48
a democratic system many things let me
hear what you say on this well you're not

00:47:54
going to get disagreement from
me on that I think that that's

00:47:56
a very valid point you know my the 1st thing
that comes to mind is just how rapidly

00:48:03
the environment around news has changed in
the last say 10 to 12 years. As so when

00:48:09
I was

00:48:09
a reporter covering the White House just
to give one example you know if I wrote

00:48:13
a story that was on the front page of the
paper or that was on the home page of the

00:48:19
website and someone did like the story there
would be attacks but it might come in

00:48:24
the form of comments right there 10 or
12 comments sometimes or some stories or

00:48:29
become 100 comments now you know if you're

00:48:33
a White House journalist or if you're
covering the Kremlin or becoming so where are

00:48:36
you covering if you write something
that goes against the grain of

00:48:40
a certain political faction it's very
possible indeed very likely that you're going

00:48:44
to get attacked in a very
vicious way online in

00:48:48
a way that may or may not be fair or
accurate and that is really really

00:48:54
debilitating to I think journalists
willingness to kind of you know press their

00:48:59
reporting in a very strong
way I mean I think it's

00:49:01
a credit to journalists that they're
able to do their jobs under this kind of

00:49:05
withering environment that you're outlining
I remember reading about the Saudi

00:49:10
journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered
obviously by the Saudi authorities in

00:49:15
Turkey more than

00:49:16
a year ago and in the months before show
he was murdered he was the victim of

00:49:22
a just

00:49:23
a vicious coordinated online attacks by the
Saudi authorities of their allies that

00:49:29
were really aimed at

00:49:31
a very vicious way of him personally and
it was very debilitating him emotionally

00:49:35
and he found it very hard according to the
story about him not to really deal with

00:49:40
it and I think you have to think about
this happening all over the world to many

00:49:43
journalists around so I think journalists
today have to have very very thick skin

00:49:48
because they're really going to come under
vicious attack for the reasons that you

00:49:52
outlined and in certain cases something
that is in your latest recommendations for

00:49:58
democracy that struck me that I wanted to
bring up is this one require social media

00:50:04
companies to report foreign efforts to
spread online. This information and

00:50:10
propaganda critic Well I think I think the
point that we've been trying to make to

00:50:14
stress is that there's

00:50:16
a lot that we can do in terms of transparency
the issue of how do you deal with

00:50:22
this information is very complicated and
you want to make sure that in some ways

00:50:29
the cure is not worse than the underlying
condition and you don't want to be so

00:50:34
aggressive in trying to police the speech
that you crowd out you know legitimate

00:50:39
political speech and freedom of expression
so the very complicated balancing act

00:50:43
that's going on here but I think one
point that we make is that one thing the

00:50:46
platform companies can be is very transparent
about you know labeling content about

00:50:53
making sure that people know who
is behind this content if it's

00:50:58
a foreign media source to make clear
that it's coming from you know

00:51:02
a source associated with a foreign
government I think this is

00:51:05
a lot we can do to be to make the Internet
more transparent and that would be very

00:51:09
healthy I think Michael let me get in

00:51:11
a question in for you speaking of this
information how worried are you about

00:51:16
China's increasingly aggressive profit
Ganda efforts according to one of freedom

00:51:20
houses reports quote over the past decade
top Communist Party officials have

00:51:26
overseen

00:51:27
a dramatic expansion in efforts to shake
media content in narratives around the

00:51:31
world affecting every region and in
multiple languages yes yes that's really an

00:51:36
important point we actually did a
major study on that very subject

00:51:40
a few months ago that came out which is
really the basic point is that the Chinese

00:51:44
government particularly the Chinese Communist
Party and its proxies you know are

00:51:48
rapidly expanding their influence over
media production and the dissemination of

00:51:52
media abroad and so it's really trying not
only to you know censor views and media

00:51:59
inside the country which we kind of
expect to do the so-called Great Chinese

00:52:03
foreign wall but it's also trying to enhance
its ability to interfere aggressively

00:52:08
. In other countries and so there's

00:52:10
a number of strategies that they pursue you
know one of them is that you know they

00:52:13
manage their own content delivery systems
whether it's Chinese broadcast outlets

00:52:19
that are existing in other countries you
know whether it's the kind of inserts that

00:52:24
you get sometimes who if you get the
Washington Post or other American newspapers

00:52:30
you know these are sponsored by the
Chinese government these inserts so these

00:52:35
efforts are quite interesting and quite
concerning really and they really could

00:52:41
have

00:52:41
a potentially negative impact for years to
come and let's lesser checked I suppose

00:52:45
we just have to be aware of that in people
around the world need to know that when

00:52:49
they're listening to something that's
coming from China that they have to be very

00:52:53
skeptical as to the truth then integrity
of those messages and I guess Russian

00:52:58
propaganda Russian media is the same
we even have I think much of our t.v.

00:53:04
Russia today is still on the airwaves
in the United States but it's

00:53:09
a pure propaganda channel
yet I think that's

00:53:11
a very valid concern and you have essentially
propaganda being dressed up in kind

00:53:16
of the dressing or the clothing of you
know the traditionally you know impartial

00:53:22
you know American approach to this not
all news organizations but of many news

00:53:28
organizations So yes I think I think the
kind of the exercise of this kind of you

00:53:34
know soft power both
by Russia and China is

00:53:37
a is of great concern I think that you
know one thing that we have to be careful

00:53:41
about again is making sure that the cure
is not worse than the actual bite you know

00:53:47
it's interesting you know about

00:53:48
a month or so ago there was kind of this
reciprocal action between being the

00:53:53
Chinese government or the u.s.
Government where the u.s.

00:53:56
Government booted out of America you know

00:53:59
a number of people working for the
Chinese operations here it was

00:54:04
a response some actions the Chinese had
taken and I think you know on. One level

00:54:09
the action was you know completely justified
in the sense of you know some of these

00:54:13
people you know are not really true
journalists in the sense of you know what you

00:54:17
or I would consider

00:54:18
a journalist but that action with that
followed up by the Chinese government

00:54:23
booting out of China you know the the the
American journalists who work for some of

00:54:28
the major news organizations like The New
York Times in The Washington Post and

00:54:32
that was really significant action by the
Chinese government in that it really

00:54:35
deprived you know viewers around the world
or readers around the world of some of

00:54:41
the most important sources of impartial
accurate information about what's happening

00:54:44
inside China so this is

00:54:46
a very complicated challenge to manage
properly that's for sure at the very point

00:54:51
Jeffrey Well I think we also have

00:54:53
a gaping problem right here in the United
States who could forget the congressional

00:54:59
testimony of Mark Zuckerberg
the head of Facebook

00:55:03
a few bones back when he was asked the
question if you are handed an advert an

00:55:09
advertisement that you know is patently
false would you still write it and he just

00:55:15
simply said we don't make those judgments
if they pay for it we run it now with

00:55:20
that kind of credibility tossed out the
window and almost anything that someone

00:55:26
pays for being put in front
of the public it's not just

00:55:30
a matter of China doing these things we can
look right in our own neighborhood Yes

00:55:34
I Why do I think this goes to the point
Jeffrey that it's these are very

00:55:38
challenging and new situations for us
right then I think you know when I was

00:55:43
original as we really didn't have
these questions to worry about and if

00:55:48
a politician or someone else approached
the Washington Post or c.b.s.

00:55:54
News with an advertisement it was
understood that you know that the news

00:55:58
organization would have you know some
leeway to reject ads that they felt were

00:56:03
demonstrably untrue but you know part of
the question here is you know truth is

00:56:07
oftentimes in the eyes. Holder and you and
you also could really be worried about

00:56:11
a situation in which unelected bureaucrats
are making decisions about you know that

00:56:16
you know the effect many billions more
people in terms of the reach of these

00:56:20
platforms than the traditional news
the newspapers the pad so it's

00:56:23
a very challenging balancing act to strike
and Michael I'd like to close maybe

00:56:28
hopefully on a higher or

00:56:29
a more upbeat note and allow you to discuss
the very specific tools and resources

00:56:34
that Freedom House has at its disposal
to achieve its important objectives of

00:56:40
amplifying the voices of those struggling
for freedom in repressive societies Well

00:56:44
thank you for the opportunity and it's
really been great to talk about these issues

00:56:47
in the 1st thing that I would certainly
say is that our website is fantastic

00:56:53
w dot Freedom House dot org And if you
go to the website you can get all the

00:56:59
reports that we've got freedom of the
world freedom of the net we've got other

00:57:03
special reports freedom of the media
nations in transit which is the study of

00:57:09
freedom in the former Soviet bloc there
that we just actually redid our whole

00:57:13
website and it's much more easy now to
search for information that you want to

00:57:19
compare and contrast different
countries we've just started

00:57:24
a new page on covert 19 of the pandemic so

00:57:29
a lot of really great information tracking
the infringement not just of press

00:57:34
freedom but of all kinds of freedoms
that are now taking place under cover of

00:57:39
covert 19 so the 1st thing I would say to
your dear listeners is to really you know

00:57:44
come to our website we have a really

00:57:46
a an amazing amount of information about
the state of freedom in the world you know

00:57:51
Freedom House in addition to doing research
we're also an advocacy organization and

00:57:56
we're an operational organization you
know we support human rights defenders

00:58:00
journalists and others working around
the world in the frontlines of these

00:58:03
countries in many different ways and that
work. Sometimes there is quite in certain

00:58:10
places and other places is
more open but we are both

00:58:14
a think tank in some ways in the do tank
as in other ways and you know they kick in

00:58:19
for now close to 80 years and we welcome
supporters and we welcome people using our

00:58:24
content it's one of the most touching and
and meaningful things to me is meeting

00:58:30
she would rights defenders around the world
when I have when I was able to travel

00:58:34
who tell me how important our reports
are to their ability to lobby their

00:58:40
governments to make change and that's really
what we're trying to be after here at

00:58:44
Freedom House well we'll certainly remind
our listeners about your website will

00:58:48
make it available on our social media
platforms but we want to thank you so much

00:58:53
for speaking with us Michael Abramowitz
is president of Freedom House an

00:58:58
organization dedicated to the expansion
of freedom and democracy around the world

00:59:03
Michael once again thanks for sharing your
insights with us in on or of World Press

00:59:07
Freedom Day We greatly appreciate it it's
wonderful to be here and just to say

00:59:11
a shout out to be a way
itself which is also

00:59:14
a beacon of information for the world we
appreciate it very much what you do it

00:59:18
Freedom House well thank you so much press
conference USA on The Voice of America

00:59:22
was produced in Washington with technical
assistance from Garry Jaffe and recount

00:59:27
Alayo And joining me on the
program was v.o.a. T.v.

00:59:30
Senior analyst Jeffrey Young I'm Carol
Costello join me again next week for another

00:59:35
press conference USA from
the Boy Scouts of America.

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