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Ethics of a Reporter's Vow to Avenge; Teens Killed Australian for Fun; Fears of a Part-Time Workforce; NCAA: Marine May Play "Immediately"

Aired August 20, 2013 - 09:30   ET



CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM at 31 minutes past, revenge. Glenn Greenwald, this morning, threatening to spill state secrets after his partner was detained at Heathrow's Airport. How dangerous could this be to the United States?

Plus --


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not going to be any good come out of this, because it was just so senseless.


COSTELLO: An Australian student killed by American teenagers. Now there's outrage across two continents.

And, an amazing stunt from a helicopter and into the Hudson River.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And good morning. Thanks so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello. Checking out top stories at 32 minutes past.

More than 1,000 firefighters battling a wildfire near the resort town of Sun Valley. It's already scorched more than 100,000 acres and threatened thousands of homes. It's only 9 percent contained today. Firefighters hoping rain will fall and give them the upper hand.

Filner watch day 30. For a month now the embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has escaped facing the public spotlight, but that could all change today because the mayor's actually expected to return to work in a matter of hours. Efforts to oust him from office are intensifying, though, as more women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment.

There it is, the opening bell ringing on Wall Street. And investors are hoping for a big change. The Dow has dropped four consecutive days, the longest losing streak of the year. One reason, rising interest rates. But things have been pretty good for Apple. Its stock climbing on the heels of new iPhone rumors.

Truth, public trust, and the weapon of revenge. Glenn Greenwald says England will pay. The journalist who first reported on Edward Snowden and Washington's secret surveillance program says British authorities were trying to silence him by taking his partner, David Miranda, into custody over the weekend. Miranda's lawyers are threatening to take legal action tomorrow morning, and reporter Greenwald is vowing revenge.


GLENN GREENWALD, JOURNALIST FOR "THE GUARDIAN" (through translator): I'll be far more aggressive in my reporting from now. I'm going to publish many more documents. I'm going to publish things on England, too. I have many documents on England's spy system.


COSTELLO: But is it really a journalist's place to vow revenge? Here to discuss that, Andrew Beaujon of the Poynter Institute, a watch dog of sorts for journalistic ethics and standards.

Welcome, Andrew.


COSTELLO: Before we get into the revenge factor, let's back up a bit and talk about how authorities at London's Heathrow Airport took Greenwald's partner into custody and held him for nine hours. Have you ever heard of such a thing happening?

BEAUJON: No, not to a journalist. And the fascinating thing about that detention was that they were allowed to hold him for nine hours. They held him for, as I understand it, eight hours and 55 minutes.

COSTELLO: And they confiscated his personal belongings. I know he was -- he was actually picking up documents for Glenn Greenwald from the woman who's working with Greenwald, right? So he had something in his possession pertaining to Edward Snowden and these NSA documents. And supposedly the authorities at Heathrow Airport confiscated those items.

BEAUJON: Yes, it's a little unclear what exactly he was carrying or what he was doing. The home office in Britain this morning said that he was carrying highly sensitive, stolen information. Miranda says that he doesn't know what he was carrying and Glenn Greenwald says that whatever he has is heavily encrypted.

COSTELLO: So is this an effort by the government of England and perhaps the government of the United States to intimidate reporters?

BEAUJON: Well, I think probably from the government's point of view it's - and I'm not terribly surprised that the British government was interested in what Mr. Miranda was carrying. You know they - he -- Glenn Greenwald, and here in the United States Bart Gellman of "The Washington Post," have published a lot of documents from the same source that have embarrassed the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, British intelligence agencies, about the extent of their information gathering. So, you know, it's - it is quite unprecedented, but it's not totally surprising.

COSTELLO: OK. So let's get into the revenge factor now, because Glenn Greenwald essentially came out and said, hey, you mess with my loved ones, I'm going to be much more aggressive in my reporting and, hey, government officials in England, you're going to regret it. What do you make of that?

BEAUJON: Well, I think that that's an entirely human response and something that I'm sure I would feel myself. You know, it's always up to a newspaper or a news organization's editors to decide whether your own quest for justice merits the attention you should be giving it. And I think that --

COSTELLO: But we're talking about possible state secrets that may endanger the citizens of the United States and Britain. We're not talking just about documents.

BEAUJON: Right, right. Well, you know, there are -- you know, the question that I keep coming back to on this is, which of these debates would you rather not be having? Which document that he revealed gave you information that you wish we didn't have? And so far what they've talked about is how governments collect information on us.

COSTELLO: So is Glenn Greenwald right or wrong to be making these statements in a public forum and, essentially, vowing revenge, when he maybe should just be doing his job as a responsible journalist, as he has been?

BEAUJON: Well, I think in these cases, it's always - it's always the job of the editors to sort of tamp down your enthusiasm a little bit and say, you know, go do the best story you can and we'll publish it if it's the right thing. If it becomes a crusade, you know, that's probably problematic, but it depends on what information comes out. He's got a pretty good batting average so far.

COSTELLO: He does. Andrew Beaujon of the Poynter Institute, thanks for having the discussion with me this morning. I appreciate it.

BEAUJON: Thanks so much for having me.


Still to come in the NEWSROOM, he was in the United States to attend college, but now he's dead in what police are calling a thrill killing. We'll hear from the young man's family.


COSTELLO: Three teenagers accused of killing a college student from Australia are due in an Oklahoma courtroom later today for a hearing. Police say the teenagers killed Christopher Lane because they had nothing else better to do. Oh. Lane was shot in the back while jogging last week. CNN's Zoraida Sambolin is following the story for us.

Oh. Good morning, Zoraida.


It's very disturbing. A random and senseless act of violence has left a promising 22-year-old baseball player dead, a family devastated, and two countries across the world rattled. Christopher Lane was gunned down allegedly by three teenagers while he was out jogging. New details reveal the suspect's chilling motive. They say they just wanted to kill someone.


SAMBOLIN (voice-over): Shock and grief spread across two continents over the death of Christopher Lane. The 22 year old from Melbourne, Australia, was in the U.S. attending Oklahoma's East Central University on a baseball scholarship. In the typically quiet town of Duncan, Oklahoma, three teenagers allegedly shot Lane in the back for fun and sped away in their car.

CHIEF DANIEL FORD, DUNCAN, OKLAHOMA POLICE: There was some people that saw him stagger across the road, go to a kneeling position, and then collapse on the side of the road.

SAMBOLIN: Nearly 10,000 miles away where the shooting is making front- page news, Lane's family is struggling to cope with what happened.

PETER LANE, VICTIM'S FATHER: There's not going to be any good come out of this, because it was just so senseless. It's happened, it's wrong, and we just try and deal with it the best we can.

SAMBOLIN: Three teenagers, just 15, 16, and 17 years old, arrested and expected to be charged with first-degree murder. In an interview with an Australian radio station, the police chief revealed the teens' shocking motive.

FORD (voice-over): Just -- they decided that all three of them were going to kill somebody.



UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody. Anybody.


SAMBOLIN: Lane's girlfriend, Sara Harper, posted an emotional tribute on FaceBook today, saying in part, "you will always be mine and in a very special and protected place in my heart."


SAMBOLIN: Now, Carol, police sources say the three suspects had plans to carry out a second killing on that very same night, but they were caught and they were stopped by police just hours later. And that, thanks to security cameras from local businesses that were able to capture their car as they were attempting to speed down the street.

Also, you know, because of their age, we don't know yet whether they will be tried as juveniles or whether they will be tried as adults. So, you know, just a really, really difficult story.

COSTELLO: You got that right. Zoraida Sambolin, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a push toward part time? The latest jobs report and some big businesses say, yes. Is Obamacare to blame? We'll talk about that after a break.


COSTELLO: A nation of part-timers: it's a real fear thanks to Obamacare or at least that's what many Republicans say. They point to companies like Forever 21, a company that's demoting full-timers to part-timers, or many of them, anyway.

Obamacare critics say that's to avoid paying health care benefits required under Obamacare. Papa John's has also threatened to cut hours. So conservatives are urging Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham to keep their promise and defund Obamacare now.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Graham, conservatives don't need a chicken when it comes to Obamacare. You said it yourself. Well, now it's become a big "f-ing" mess for the Democratic Party and the country as a whole. Avoid the mess, be a leader who will fight to defund it now. Call Lindsey Graham and tell him, if you fund it, you own it.


COSTELLO: Just to make clear on what we're talking about, beginning in 2015, companies with 50 or more full-time employees will face penalties if they don't offer health care. Full time means 30 hours a week or more.

So, is it true? Is Obamacare pushing the United States into a nation of part timers? CNN business anchor Christine Romans and "The Wall Street Journal's" Stephen Moore both here to talk about that. Welcome to both of you.



COSTELLO: Good morning.

So Christine, in the latest jobs report 65 percent of new jobs added were part time. Is that because of Obamacare fear, or not?

ROMANS: Well, the fact that we're moving toward a part-time nation has been happening since before - before these recent deadlines for Obamacare. To be clear, Obamacare has been pushed out a whole another year to 2015, so that companies have more time to adapt to it. But what we have seen is restaurants, bars, we've seen local governments, movie theaters, right down the line, a lot of different kinds of companies have been saying that they are moving to part-time work and some of them are saying it is because of Obamacare.

Now one thing to say about Forever 21; Forever 21 says about 196 of its employees will be converted to part time. Forever 21 says it's not because of Obamacare but it's just because of the way the business is going and the kind of demand they are seeing.

But Carol half the jobs created over the last years have been low-wage jobs, half of them. Part-time workers now 2.8 million people working part time but want to be working full-time can't find full-time work. This is a very -- whatever the cause, this is a very serious trend.

COSTELLO: Ok so Stephen could it just be because you know of good old fashioned capitalism and companies just want to make more money and it's really not about Obamacare at all?

MOORE: Well Christine is right. This is a trend that's been going on for the last two or three years, you know. When you've only got half of the jobs that are full-time you've got a real problem on your hand. My view is, Carol that Obamacare, the incentives in that law have actually encouraged this trend to accelerate. I talked to owners of franchise owners of Burger Kings, McDonald's, Wendy's, White Castle Restaurants and they are telling me in anticipation of this bill.

Now look, Christine is right, you know, that it's not going to be until 2015, but remember it was only announced a month or two ago that they were delaying this for a year, so a lot of companies had put this in motion already.

I'll give you one example, Carol. I talked to a guy who owns Wendy's restaurants and he was with the guy who owns Burger Kings and they have an arrangement where the workers work 20 hours work a week in the morning at the Wendy's and then they go across the street and work 20 hours a week at the Burger King in part to get around this law. So yes I think it is having an impact.

COSTELLO: But Christine let's just make this clear. We're talking about companies who are not losing money. They make a lot of money. Is that fair?

ROMANS: Well they did a lot of money when you look -- sometimes you look on the franchise level, they say we are small business owners actually. And our margins are very, very thin.

And there are others who point out that the kind of work that's being done -- I mean these aren't careers in many cases. These are stepping stones to other kind of work but you have people who are because there aren't other jobs are making a career out of two part-time jobs and they just don't pay well. That's why you're going to see -- look you're seeing fast food workers take to the streets quite frankly organizing even more protests about the kind of quality of these wages.

But you've made a couple of points about how it's the conservatives or Republicans who are complaining about this but there are union chiefs who have written a letter to the White House saying we're really concerned about the fact that the unintended consequences of health care reform could accelerate this trend.

It could really push people to have a lot of part-time workers at the very time you don't have full-time employment that you can move into. You know the quality of the jobs and the quantity of the jobs is something we're really going to have to contend with. Health care reform or not that's a real serious problem in this recovery.


MOORE: You know could I just make one point about this Carol.

COSTELLO: Ok yes quickly though thanks Stephen.

MOORE: Ok you know the average franchise of a Burger King, or Wendy's, they -- those firms, those companies, make about $50,000 to $100,000 a year. We're talking the little restaurants not the -- not the major corporations that run those firms.

So you know you add those extra costs it really cuts into their profit margin. It's going to mean either higher prices for the food or as they're doing now moving towards more part-time work to cut costs.

COSTELLO: All right. Stephen Moore of "The Wall Street Journal" and CNN business Christine Romans -- thanks as always for the great discussion.

MOORE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll be right back.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, a big day for Bob Filner he's in mediation. He may show up for work and his supporters are finally speaking out.


UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's for more than sloppy kisses. Let the judge be the judge and let the mayor be the mayor.


COSTELLO: Also, Dick Van Dyke's narrow escape -- his Jaguar up in flames. The actor pulled out of the car just in time.

And a second dog for the first family.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: After quite the uproar, the NCAA has reversed its decision regarding former Marine Steven Rhodes saying that he can play football after all.

Andy Scholes is here with "Bleacher Report". Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: And good morning Carol. Middle Tennessee State hits the field for their first game in nine days. Former Marine Steven Rhodes will be in uniform thanks to the NCAA finally realizing how ridiculous their initial ruling was.

Originally they said Rhodes is going to have to sit out this season and that he would have only two years of eligibility all because he played in a recreational league during his five years in the Marines. But after relentless criticism, NCAA reversed the ruling yesterday and said Rhodes can play immediately and he will all four years of his eligibility. Rhodes was obviously thrilled to hear the news.


STEVEN RHODES, FORMER MARINE: I was ecstatic. You know I found out in the middle of practice. And they had me, ever since, it was a blessing. God works in mysterious ways. And I mean he worked things out.


SCHOLES: Well if you happen to be gazing out at the Statue of Liberty yesterday, you might have caught this cliff diving sensation Orlando Duke jumping 75 feet from a helicopter into the Hudson River.


SCHOLES: The Red Bull diving -- it was a publicity thing. He's going because he's going to be diving in the World Series of diving that's in the Boston Harbor this weekend. So he went to the big Apple.

COSTELLO: But he could be radioactive now.

SCHOLES: Yes you never know what's in that water, right, Carol? We'll see. Hopefully he's available this weekend in Boston.

Well in the buzz section of today you can read about the richest female athlete in the world, Maria Sharapova. She's reportedly wanting to legally change her name to Sugarpova.

COSTELLO: Oh come on.

SCHOLES: Yes Carol she wants to do this for the duration of the U.S. Open to get some pub for her new line of candy which as you may have guessed it's called Sugarpova. U.S. Open begins next week. Sharapova plans to have her name revert back to normal after the tournament.

COSTELLO: I'm going to change my Costellopops.

SCHOLES: Are those coming out soon? COSTELLO: Those are coming out soon. What could you be? Andy Scholesman.

SCHOLES: Andy's candy. Sugar Scholes. A lot of good recommendations.

COSTELLO: Loving it. Thanks, Andy.

SCHOLES: You're welcome.

The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM after a break.


COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM. Exit strategy.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mitigation is ongoing and we're not going to comment on it.

GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIMS' RIGHTS ATTORNEY: The mediator has asked us not to comment.


COSTELLO: Closed lips and closed door negotiations. It is day 30 of Filner watch. Will the people of San Diego get what they've been asking for?

Record rains hurting farmers. And you're going to feel it at the grocery store. Plus --