The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

american legion funding for the newshour with jim lehrer has been provided by all across america pfizer scientists are discovering breaking medicines that the best way to stay healthy is exercise and healthy eating any medicine pfizer will be viewing your doctor ten days the bistros possible ties to be a global accounting organization must have the skills to be able to go the distance and see the big picture what really distinguishes the account is a grand bargain is their passion for the business of a passion for the business of the county it was disappointing hamas lost my shirt when my business at the wall in nineteen eighty four we didn't take a vacation for years of unanswered that helped us find a way back but it's been a long road here are not taking anything for granted me this is who we are this is how we learned and by the archer

daniels midland company and see it and a white woman for hewlett foundation working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to a pbs station from viewers like you think you need thirty five more iraqis died today in surging violence across the country's sunni regions the death brought the total to more than nine iraqis killed this week there were bombings and shootings today in baghdad and at least three other nearby cities and insurgents fought with us troops in the fifth the worst attack happened in a lot south of baghdad a suicide bomber blew up his car during a police graduation ceremony killing twenty people to the north in baku bought another suicide attacker killed six iraqis at a checkpoint also today the us military announced the death of another us

soldier in fighting yesterday iraqi prime minister allowed we insisted today elections will take place on time january thirtieth despite the increasing attacks he told a news conference we will not allow the violence and terrorists to stop the political process we know some iraqis fear voting but we have to overcome those fears a top us army general and baghdad said he expects security there to improve before the election it's i think iraqi people at least in baghdad understand that there will be some danger of going to the polls but they also understand that it's their future and they want to get out the vote the number of attacks in baghdad is going to be and i knew that what i'm in the streets that i cannot guarantee that there will not be any violence in baghdad and during elections in fact we should expect it will be us military plans to have

thirty five thousand american troops in baghdad on election day there were new warnings today that long overseas deployments are hurting us army reserve the baltimore sun published a memo from the commander of the reserve and at lieutenant general james conway said extended tour is an iraqi and afghanistan maybe leave him with a broken force he said the military had ignored his proposals for change the army said it's working on the problem and the tsunami disaster cruz and indonesia began work today on for new camps to shelter victims the camps accommodate happily and people on sinatra twice that many have lost their homes on the island us secretary of state now flew over some of his devastated western coast today later in the hard head on the contrary he said the destruction is beyond the late and war and i've been through a number of hurricanes tornadoes and other relief operations that i had never seen anything like this i cannot begin to imagine

the horror that went through the families and all of the people who heard this noise coming and then had their lives snuffed out by this wave in washington state department officials announced today thirty six americans are now presumed dead in the tsunami that's twenty more than the previous pope a spokesman said another thirty five hundred americans remain unaccounted for people across europe observed a three minute silent tribute to the tsunami victims today flags on government buildings across the continent to at half staff bus and rail service was altered people paused on street corners and in public squares in all nearly one hundred and fifty thousand people are confirmed dead in the tsunami including scores of europeans pledges for tsunami relief topped three billion dollars today australia announced a package worth eight hundred and ten million dollars for indonesia the most by any nation so far that announcement came hours after germany

increased its donations to six hundred and seventy four may in japan has committed five hundred million dollars the us pledged danza three hundred and fifty maybe also today a white house spokesman said president bush has given ten thousand dollars of his own money to the relief effort un child welfare official stuart tsunami refugee camps today amid concerns that such rings will prey on orphaned children indonesia has placed curbs on children leaving the country and officials in several countries are worn some adoption offers could come from criminal gangs the head of the un children's fund said the threat is real is whether these children frankly turning dave child slaves if you elder abuse and exploited people the world many people wrote to see food not children who really care and want to take your children but when you have this kind of element criminal element if you will at play as the motives are not always necessarily the best

and in washington a state department spokesman warned children's agencies to be careful as they handle inquiries we'll have more on the tsunamis aftermath right after this news summary president bush praised congress today to limit jury awards for medical malpractice he visited madison county ellen all an area with a reputation for large judgments against doctors the president said malpractice suits are driving too many doctors to scale back services or to close down their practices leading democrats disputed that claim but more on the story later in the program the president voiced renewed support today for his attorney general nominee alberto gonzales is currently the white house counsel he faces criticism over his role in shaping policies on detainees in the war on terror but white house spokesman said today mr bush firmly support gonzales his confirmation hearings begin tomorrow before the senate judiciary committee winter storms read heavy snow and ice from the rockies to new england a day governors declared

emergencies and parts of kansas and arizona airlines had to cancel nearly six hundred flights at chicago's o'hare international airport the weather block roads and snarled traffic in half a dozen states ice and wind knocked out power to thousands in kansas and missouri those same storms hit california hard earlier this week on wall street today the dow jones industrial average lost nearly thirty three points to close below ten thousand five ninety eight the nasdaq fell more than sixteen points to close at twenty nine he was and that's it the newshour tonight now it's on to the tsunami aftermaths and the health challenges the medical liability debate and robert macneil on speaking american right now we have three tsunami reports the first is from pope kept thailand it's about how

tragedy has united people once divided by religion politics or economic circumstances the reporter is ian williams of independent television news it held its own memorial service today more than a thousand buddhist monks leading a chant in memory of those who died here half of them foreign tourists leaders of the island's islamic and christian communities williams who united in grief so as it begins to rebuild too schools are a priority in common a village volunteers work and the flattened remains of the primary school is aiming to cobble back together at least one building older children return next week and a christian charity has launched a three hundred thousand pound appeal to build a new school they're going to rebuild the whole school and a new prize about a thousand meters back

up because the parents instead of another y2k in spite of the widespread panic only two of the school's three hundred children died together with one of the teachers this is all that remains of the main school building strange though it seems they were lucky the wave struck on a sunday at they come a day later this building would have been packed with children most people's opinions who also had a lucky escape a quick witted local official ordering them and their families out of the nearby homes i have a holiday the children are now back at lessons will have to wait until the pumps are dry while we were here a un team was assessing the needs of the school

and the psychological impact on the children many of whom have lost their homes their first impression that the student athletes are in pretty good spirits at the un says it's concerned the small businesses like shops and guest houses destroyed by the way that would come on a local businesspeople have additional worries most the form of sea gypsies whose families have lived on this land for generations but like many in to get proper legal title to it a fear that in the name of reconstruction they may be forced out by powerful well connected businessman tonight and juliet was united as thousands thais and foreigners attended the memorial service ten thousand candles lit in memory of the victims of the

tsunami giant lanterns were released into the night sky hurrying they believe series of the dead to rest in peace our second report is from it ends alex thomson it's about the economic impact of the disaster in eastern sri lanka fly over the affected areas and you'll see settlements first untouched and they are which is over the last three hundred yards of beach which had been devastated but multiple ideas short strip along hundreds of miles of coast and you begin to see the scale of the problem so it is that at ground level you see welles thought was also untouched by it i think just hundreds of yards from disaster where wells contaminated by sea water did read reviews and reports of privilege the street with the no longer existed so outside help arrives in force you

know industry tourism included has been devastated quite like this country's fishing in oliver village almost every family is dependent on the dugouts an outrageous lie around smashed nobody's it's a nobody's going to be for some time with fishermen a frightened believing will be more tsunamis they say the punishment and act of god some police come back to the bridge to begin repairing their nets the first thing that's out of the senate in that region sign up for any possible compensation for lost the boats nets or roses or in many cases all three for now their families are refugees some staying with village friends or relatives others but one of the schools and the risk of epidemics there are real fears of cholera have no confirmed cases so far and their children lots of children on a bill as in every affected village count we start school this is a parent's cannot we start with fishing children on the most effective

by herschel walker children of law students at the last few weeks that will be able to go to school for a few days yet and it is important to lead their children but to skew that we have activities for them in the communities that we keep them in the committees reconstruction and rebuilding the purr you know in so many levels and what they're very important and what this is going to vary reconstructing the fabric of the local school that simple the bassoon sounds of education back to the lessons but also in terms of going back to normality and away control of the government says it can be done where candidates and that's what they're aiming for profit line the blackboard still reach december thirty seconds at the end of the last term the lesson from a lot before the tsunami still survives reporter at it ends than river focuses on the children who survive a tsunami in action problems in sumatra

the village of empire doesn't exist anymore three quarters of its residents are dead only a few coconut trees remain standing they now provide shade for twelve hundred refugees among them coffee cup for a half years old and now i'm all for a distant cousin is caring for that she asks for her mother doesn't cry she just watches and whites caught numb and she doesn't understand what's happening but somehow staying with total strangers at just ten years old and was found wandering alone in the rubble the three also from above or from the churches a warning in real danger when you just read we turn to dust that means and it leaves them very vulnerable to all sorts of dangers such as trafficking that's it's critical that we identify them as soon as

possible and then to give them a safe place to stay does the menu i was ordained at retention visit here has a harrowing story of molson believe everyone here has suffered unimaginable trauma but none will start and the children who lost their parents these children from another company a bike lance the army's eleven when the tsunami hit he and his family was swept away but somehow survived it and that it's difficult to talk about what that scene mother father two younger brothers announced that he only survived by clinging to a football which boy into the surface of the tsunami came his role his loneliness is overwhelming

and now to race war era for a look at the medical challenges for survivors and relief games in the aftermath of the tsunami basic infrastructure is in ruins and millions of homeless relief workers are fighting huge obstacles and caring person high priority one distributing clean drinking water to avoid the spread of diseases like cholera makeshift hospitals have sprung up in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami is this one in a public all in them all these islands in the indian ocean as international medical teams made their way to outlying regions field hospitals are finally treating neural survivors and their many wounded is this one just off the airstrip in bond it treats ailments ranging from pneumonia the tents in india doctors are vaccinating children against tetanus another infection threat of water borne illnesses ever present there and around the region as pools of stagnant dirty

water breed mosquitoes carry diseases like dengue a fever i think has done hospital in one dot jay on the indonesian island of sumatra recent conditions were dire and supplies running short surgeries are performed without anesthesia much needed medicines we rely on hygiene products at the onslaught of the other things is heavy painkillers painkillers are using rhino is the aspen an endless flow of wounded continues to overwhelm hospitals still in operation broken limbs or homicide wounds infested with maggots another thank you feeding the city's another problem some day the australian army recently

arrived and set up operation in a deserted wing of a hospital but it's a long way to go aid continues to trickle in to watch a province helicopter crews from the uss abraham lincoln varied supplies to the decimated region and today in indonesia and sheer deliver much needed food and medicine to cull out of town ninety nine percent destroyed for more on the effort to deliver medical assistance we're joined by katrina shoulder hillen of doctors without borders that group has dispatched teams to each of the affected countries and is now focusing efforts on sri lanka and indonesia what's the latest you're hearing from doctors without water teams so on the ground where we have sent some feedback from the teams especially and i'd say we're finally dead the possibilities to go outside of one that's in the teens have organized two helicopters have been able to go both down the west coast and direction of mina

bow and to the eastern areas of cd so we have feedback on regions that haven't really received any aid until now and i've seen hospitals our medical structures if they're still standing over floated with with patients been a wit established teams in the different sides in seagate amenity menacing the hospital now and have been doing operations the seven operations of and patients to day and ten now scheduled for tomorrow and so that deep the actions of any of the operations are really going on and what is most needed at this time is to deal with they ought to offer medical care to the patients that have been without care for days because nobody has been able to reach them and also of course drinking water and food as a major issue in these areas is it your sense that the scale of this disaster is an even fully understood because you're first getting to places like these coastal regions that you describe

well but this gate of what we see it in in a certain way it's as absolutely dramatic because as was and as was previously said as as we saw in the images the areas that are most affected by the tsunami especially in upstate and up to her up to three quarters of the population eighty percent of the population has actually died in the initial impact of off the wave and off the floods so in our dealing with a population that has sued the awards but that was of oil is severely traumatized people are afraid that i want to go back two to wear the houses used to be and we need to reach out to them and find them in the different displays pecans in the era of cd is about sixty different displaced camps with the small settlements with people we need to reach out to them to provide food to make sure that the water supplies adequate and to offer medical assistance in all of those areas well what does a population with trauma present them in the way of a challenge is it

harder to provide medical services to people who were in this state are they less able to help themselves and help you yes i've i think what you say all for less they wanted to help themselves is probably one of the key issues a population that is are people there that are traumatize people that walk alone were in shock children they bit it's very likely that they are very disappointed that they might even if there's water hand and food available not realize that this is really needed so you get them in the hell structure you see them in the concentration the dehydrated that hurt themselves or not not wars that didn't necessarily come from the tsunami that followed wandering around you know stepping into a nail or something and ended just those so disoriented that that once they come to the medical structure you can actually reach out to them they might be in a state that's relatively precarious from a health point of view even though they haven't had a direct impact from the tsunami itself a few moments ago we

heard a doctor talking about the shortage of anesthesia of surgical tools of sterile or materials at yet at the same time we hear about the world trying to pour aid into into this region it a coordinated and make sure that the things you need to get to the places you need well the the way of a set of doctors without borders works when we working in teams that have both have the medical capacity and logistic capacity and we have but olen supplies obviously in the field and where will it coming now medical structures are overstretched to have a lot of patience and a have huge needs we have at the moment being able to get much material into vote sri lanka and i'd say and i were to provide the transport is an issue the fact that we now have two helicopters that we all grazing on that under an assaf has helped to create a bridge with teams go into areas with medical material and with food

items america consultation and then do a quick assessment around the area and go back the next day with more often needed material and set up a team inside if it's necessary but the logistics continue to be a challenge as many places that when there's rain the helicopters cannot go down and wrote communication is very handicapped in it so the rain even with a helicopter has has made it impossible for you to go someplace as we know there are people in need yeah for example a couple of days back the helicopter couldn't land in the library and you have to imagine what the ground looks likes if you have if you're not if you don't have a solid spot where they had a helicopter can go down and you know it would sink into the monster doesn't it can't land well doctors without borders attracted a lot of attention in the last couple of days by talking about the it's needs for responding to the tsunami already being satisfied and asking people to work to send their aid else we got a lot of attention to what you mean by that why did you put out that call many i could quickly

go go back in time and say when it when the tsunami disaster hit we had we had medical teams working in just about every country that was hit by the tsunami and as it has made the project in over seventy countries in this world and they were most most of the places where the tsunami had set a very early stage were able to dispatch un personnel medical logistic us now from the country's to go to the specific areas that have been affected and we have had important feedback form on the team's on local capacity on local agencies intervening into the disaster and into the needs that were still existing so we're now at a time a week you know at the end of last week we felt that we were at a moment where we had a pretty good idea of in this first in this initial phase of the emergency what would be the key operations that an assaf would undertake which were very much concentrated patchett and she loved and some other countries but with mine operations at the same time we have

received an incredible generous outpouring of aid in very few days and we have seen also they did general commitment of being special committee to support the efforts so what we and attended by businesses was to inform the donors that support and seven you know support us to even be able to god in such an emergency and an act right away to inform them that we considered that fall the plan before the actions that we could just have foreseen now we had already received sufficient funds and that we did not you know we wanted to inform them that over and donations over and above that would not be sure that we could actually use them in operations of tsunamis have somebody was really really really wanted to contribute to the tsunami and we can't you know we cannot over and above the donations that we've gotten they're sure that they will be used and tsunami so we said either you can support us in the general emergency fund that will be used and tsunami if we have additional needs all in

other areas with much need such as the fog the democratic republic of congo are many other countries want somebody really wants to support tsunami then time to organizations that have a you know have a different mandate was stayed longer term amazon is a medical emergency relief organization our interventions are in this initial phase of the emergency there will be many medium and long term means there have to be addressed for the population for the people have been hit by this crisis and other organizations have added other tasks and will still need a lot of support to train children who eventually being with us thank you still to come on the newshour tonight the medical liability debate and robert macneil on speaking america the malpractice

story susan dancer of our health unit begins with this report on the day's events the unit's a partnership with the henry j kaiser family foundation president bush traveled to southern illinois today to blast what he called a medical liability crisis and tell his prescriptions for sweeping legal reform supporter filing baseless suits against hospitals and doctors less just apply for america for a simple reason they know the medical liability system is tilted in their favor jury awards and medical liability cases have skyrocketed in recent years is a system that says not for its costly for the doctors it's costly for small businesses is costly for hospitals it is really costly for patients if the

president described illinois madison county reviews is an epicenter of the crisis due to aggressive local attorneys and courts over the past two years the liability crisis as forced out about a hundred sixty positions in madison and st clair county alone when doctors move her closer practices guesses about the patient's the people live in to get gas and as for the world pregnant women have to travel longer distances for checkups accident victims lose critical minutes and chants of faraway emergency rooms no residents that we're gonna get to come and live in your communities have a hard time finding doctors willing to do it except extra patients and that causes the quality of life for your community to deteriorate the president called on congress to enact legislative reforms that would create a new federal standards for a medical liability cases those traditionally have been governed by state law the legislation the president has

previously backed includes tight limits on the fees they can be charged by plaintiffs' attorneys and a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar cap on so called non economic damages those are compensation for pain and suffering awarded in a given malpractice case caps on non economic damages or it's a good idea and the congress ought to adopt them the president's preferred reform legislation also includes limits on so called punitive damages aimed at punishing doctors or hospitals and especially egregious malpractice cases these would be capped at whenever number is greater two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or twice the amount is so called economic damages awarded for medical costs and lost wages and for lawsuits involving medical devices and prescription drugs punitive damages would be prohibited altogether that would especially benefit pharmaceutical manufactures like more the company now faces a multi billion

dollar legal liability roberts formerly bestselling painkiller vioxx it's off the market now due to heighten risks of heart attacks and strokes this week the nation's premier trial lawyers who charged the president with manufacturing of faith malpractice crisis and the advocacy group us action aired this anti reform commercial featuring a wisconsin malpractice victims lynn and do the main singing and ten lawyers it was lawyers who switched my tests and told me i had a certain amputated both of my brain is president bush's former military what are you trying to take away my rights following the president's speech today republican leaders in congress said they would take out medical liability reform soon and that one either now to news on the reasons behind soaring medical costs dr robert hamilton the past president of the madison county medical society attended the president's speech today he

retired three years ago in part he says because of rising the practice premiums and you went to our show is the executive director of the center for justice and democracy a consumer advocacy group they oppose president bush's plan dr hamilton the president said today that the medical liability system is tilted in favor of lawyers he called defensive medicine is that defensive medicine has it been your experience well because of the high risk of being sued for anything that could possibly go wrong bunny many of us in fact all of those were practicing defensive medicine all the time and it's become so ingrained in that many of the things that we are doing today that we think we have to do i'm sure that subconsciously we don't even stop to think that really what we are doing is practicing defensive medicine and the cost of that is strictly high and has mostly innocence or lyft or show how high is the risk and how high the cost well there's

an awful lot of malpractice sadly that goes on and hospitals up to ninety eight thousand people die every year in hospitals do the medical errors and that's just the people that die there are hundreds of thousands of injuries and that looked at the white house yesterday released a report that it had commissioned which basically said that its incompetent doctors a small number of incompetent doctors that are responsible for most of the malpractice and of those factors were simply weeded out of the system not only with malpractice incidence of malpractice be significantly reduced but lawsuits would come down to sit there ways of dealing with this problem without taking away the rights of patients dr hamilton let's talk about those root causes that ms dora show i alluded to are we talking about a small percentage of doctors who are not practicing the profession as well as they could be or we talking about small percentage or a large percentage of very litigious patients were just waiting for an opportunity to have to work to see you well i think it's a small number of patients who are waiting for an opportunity to sue and they had this has plummeted

by an aggressive full plate of smart attorneys osborne's to get sued i think you have to look at who's paying the most malpractice premiums malpractice premiums are assessed on the basis of rats who pays the highest premiums neurosurgeons obstetricians and a sleazy aldous orthopedist people saw general surgeons that resurgence people who do the most high risk proceeded as people that are being sued most often not the incompetent the incompetent those physician often finds a way to skirt about those around the more difficult cases and they really there are occasional cases well that's where that see a competent for the physician who's part of the problem but even the most serious risks are those assumed by the best physicians of the most highly trained ms dora show at best a president at this is as you have argued that this is actually a phony crisis and how is it that

in madison county isn't st clair county we're back to hamilton practiced that the president said again today that there were one hundred and sixty physicians who left the practice in the last ever moved away in the last year or so in order to avoid these kinds of premiums well we're not saying that there is no crisis the crisis is with the insurance company's insurance rates that they're charging doctors the excessive rates it just so happens that illinois has the weakest insurance regulation of any state in the country the only way you're going to solve that problem bring down rates for all doctors including the specialists is to get control over the insurance industry through certain reforms there are other states like california have enacted caps on damages don't work they don't help doctors in terms of bringing down a deer insurance rates time and time again states have tried to do that have only seen their rates go up so we strongly advocate regulation strong regulation of the insurance

industry is really the only solution to help doctors of the situation dr hamilton wants respond to not only the question about regulation of the insurance industry but also about whether a capping malpractice awards is is the solution yes if the problem for the insurance companies taking advantage of the physicians and of the patients that i have to ask why do all of the almost all of the insurance company's lee this area they left this area because the risk of being sued the number of suits being filed the pie awards being given in the high settlements required to keep these cases out of court where we would have to face judges most of whom are heavily heavily favored the trial attorneys be a plaintiff's attorneys wanted all of these so companies label i think the obvious answer is obvious they're in business they can't make they can't make a profit in this area like this isn't just madison st clair county where we've lost over a hundred and sixty physicians we lost four in alton last week

it's all over the country hits of the chicago is not far behind says are several other country counties in illinois illinois is not the worst state in regard to malpractice a risk and how to says he's made hard as capping that the map that's actress award a judgment sort of the ability to how does that solve the problem well as as though president bush explained so well today none of us i don't know a soul doesn't feel that if a person sustained say a two million dollar injury and that's the market it's going to cost to repair the injury to sustain them through any further loss of income those kinds of things people should receive full compensation for that it's the non economic awards there become astronomical and for example a five million dollar verdict the estimate on now a neurological a damaged child with when they added in the non economic awards turned into a twenty million dollar award and it's that they actually literally

no one after started responded that that that sounds like a lot of money well look they've been that the captives being proposed is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to take care of a child i'm brain damaged child in a way in a wheelchair for the rest of his or her life and by the way that's the same amount of money that was just asking his fat cat donors in france to pay the party with him on inauguration weekend this is an extremely low level that would be catastrophic for brain damage children and their families that are trying to take care of these children for the rest of their life it's not it's not anywhere near a sufficient amount of money and what you don't want is some politician in washington telling a local judge or jury who listens to the evidence in the case is the only one here is that what when it went at the chatham that situation needs to be compensated for for the rest of their life back hamilton why does this have to be a federal case who commits a fourth

wall a completely misses the point of that child is not going to receive two hundred and fifty thousand dollars they would receive five million or seven million or whatever they estimate was going to be an economic need in the theater plus two hundred fifty thousand dollar economic award not economical war now why does need to be federal law we have six states in the united states who have passed effective malpractice or tort reform california new mexico colorado we see hanna wisconsin and indiana the rest of the states are in varying degrees of crisis this is something that affects every state it's a situation that was addressed ironically by james madison in the fifty first essay of them of the federalist papers in which he explains that the structure of government should be such that when injustice exists at a lower level of government the there must be redress at a higher level of government in states that have legislatures and governors and supreme court who who are of

heavily biased towards the plaintiff's bar it's impossible to get relief and yet those people in that state need care just as in the other states that we're last words have been airing radio lab rat you know being there is actually i've no reason for the federal government to be involved in this law in fact because of the massive intrusion into state power ways with congress telling local jazz a judge's injuries what to do it's an incredibly hypocritical for anybody who supports states' rights to be supporting this kind of legislation but the main thing is that the solutions being proposed here to take patients rights away and the real issue here is that insurance industry out of control and insurance industry that made more money last year than ever in its entire history that is virtually unregulated and most every state that's the culprit that's what congress or the states need to look at factors think i have the debt we can can focus on patients and legislators can cap damages all they want it's not been up that uses not to bring down the regime is the

only way to do that is focusing on the insurance industry joined orszag robert hamilton thank you both very much finally tonight a preview look at a new documentary on how americans speak american jeffrey brown reports twenty years ago when he was still co anchor of the news hour meal told the story of england and nine part series on the development of the language to a time and place now robin is back with a new question of the language in our own time and eleven states today when you rise barriers question was disbarred for every hour television trick tumbling a linguistic map of america is suing

issues of national and regional identity social mobility american humor and much of the new book the company's the series robin and i talked recently in his new york office robin this story of english was a journey through a lot of time this one is more of a snapshot of our own time so why did you want to make this journey ever since we finished the story of english which is twenty years ago we wanted to come back and look at more detail at american english and in the twenty years since then it's just become more interesting linguistic research which has blossomed in the second half of the twentieth century especially social linguistics the the intersection of language and society has come up with so much interesting material which is a little inaccessible to the general public that's one

reason and another is that in the last twenty years american english has become even more obviously the engine that is driving the language worldwide footage of find is that is there how much variety is still out a huge amount of variety and in some dialect areas it's that right is increasing in other words instead of a modernizing our language which many people believe the media are doing different regional versions of american english are becoming more unlike each other you have to when customers come from understood would be one of the villagers and noble moment a time an out at this is why i think you know i'll be on the all right all you need are

one three words more story in many days thank you you know one sees very clearly in the film that american english is a life you want one big question is whether it's alive and well but that's a very big question which is disturbs many people and it disturbs them because it's become part of the culture wars in a way a little sort of side la in the culture wars in this country with the linguistic for temperamental conservatives believing that the language is going to hell in this generation some

people on the other hand believes the american language is not only healthy but it's going through a period of creativity not unlike the time in shakespeare because we invent words so we're no good judges you get at this debate to two characters and once a conscious john simon and jesse shows right now john surman who's the theater critic of new york magazine a very acerbic fellow was described some years ago by william safire as the prince a pre scripted lists pre script of us are those who want to prescribe rules for language and make a survey the years how it works in years and yet and on the other side of the descriptive lists and they include most dictionary makers incidentally going back to samuel johnson and jesse's scheidler is the american editor of the oxford english

dictionary american english is so creative the augusta oxford needs an office in new york to keep up with only creativity and the language anyway he isn't the script of missed content to describe the language as it changes and they have quite a set to and descriptive linguists are a curse upon the race who of course thinks that what the people say is the law and by that they mean the majority they mean the uneducated i think a society in which the uneducated lead the educated both of those is no evidence is what do you say to people like john simon who were really angry about what they see as a serious decline in linguistics dan well i think they're wrong and i think they're misguided language change happens and there's nothing you can do about it i mean maybe change is inevitable baby

baby dying from cancer is also inevitable but i don't think we should be helpful you're saying that this this debate has always been what it seems to be greater than a yard it's been around for three hundred years and malcolm writers like mark twain and walt whitman's wrongly believe that our language is at its most creative and best when it's free it's that this was part of the american character in character and german and that language should reflect the whole american character i mean americans are great creators of slapping slamming sullivan is discarded somebody passes into the language is a thousand pages the packages themselves there's a segment that i found fascinating was a group of fifth graders in los

angeles playing jeopardy in which they were translating what they called african american language into mainstream america what we don't know oh my it might create the real impetus behind this is that language has been one of the obstacles to kids in inner city schools when the teachers aren't sympathetic to what they are

rife with intrigue treated as jabril shore or as as just mistaken english and regard some kids as image a griddle and it becomes a huge obstacle to their learning to read to the point where the dropout rate among urban blacks are so much higher than it is among other groups this may be a way of while relieving some of that some of that social mobility and this is another example where we see how language is fraught with so much history with so much meaning of the social meaning for a long time where we live what we do who we associate with what jobs we get there john barr joins us from detroit to demonstrate an experiment he's been talking for years about how americans react to different accents it's called linguistic profiling first egypt the rental housing section in the city paper towels problems that are advertised for red

cross first using an african american accent this monday movement liberalism wisconsin thousands of a little speaking with women to see yes it calls an imperfectly new true american accent which is in fact how he really talked about a result of actually getting some mixed results today but generally speaking the minority dialects did not fare as well and particularly in the affluent communities is that race or economic class it's about everything in society shows up in the language are different attitudes to gender variations are different attitudes to the role of women in society the end of of overt and and legal racism in the society has only enormous

inventiveness of the society in this culture and its search ended all shows up in the language now robin this was at its core at a road movie i like to count all the vehicles that you are and i gave up that there was a convertible there was a jeep there to convert you're on a boat you're untrained ear was it was a tough on assad to the country in more detail than i never seen before and there is nothing more enjoyable and going around the country and just talking to people in the stars and fascinated by how differently people talk and the humor in that in the sense of personality that comes from animals and local identity was really fun roben thanks a lot about it's a pleasure is that american airs tonight on most pbs stations please consult your local listings for the time in your area and again the major developments of this day thirty five

iraqis died in a series of attacks but prime minister allowing insist elections will take place this month as scheduled and us officials announced thirty six americans are now presumed dead in the tsunami will see online and again hear from our evening i'm jim lehrer thank you and goodnight major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer has been provided by or neither the scenes

it's based in business and by pfizer ramp and smith barney and william and flora hewlett foundation making grants to provide access to a high quality education for students everywhere this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your radio station you is likely to frankly ms banks it's been to

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semrau good evening i'm jim weill on the newshour tonight the news of this date a tsunami aftermath reports from indonesia sri lanka and thailand and a look at the medical challenges facing those who have come to help them and debate about president bush's renewed push for medical liability reform and some words from and about robert macneil is pbs special do you speak of america major funding for the newshour with jim lehrer has been provided by all across america pfizer scientists are discovering breaking medicines that the best way to stay healthy is exercise and healthy eating any medicine pfizer will be this new intern after attending the bistros possible ties to be a global accounting

organization must have the skills to be able to go the distance and see the big picture what really distinguishes the account is a grand bargain is their passion for the business of a passion for the business of the county it was like this really mean hamas lost my shirt when my business at the wall in nineteen eighty four we didn't take a vacation for years a financial guy opus find a way back but it's been a long road here you're not taking anything for granted me this is who we are this is how we learned and by the archer daniels midland company and see it and a white woman for hewlett foundation working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world this program was made possible by the

corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to a pbs station from viewers like you yankee thirty five more iraqis died today in surging violence across the country's sunni regions the death brought the total to more than nine iraqis killed this week there were bombings and shootings today in baghdad and at least three other nearby cities and insurgents fought with us troops in the fifth the worst attack happened in a lot south of baghdad a suicide bomber blew up his car during a police graduation ceremony killing twenty people to the north in baku bought another suicide attacker killed six iraqis at a checkpoint also today the us military announced the death of another us soldier in fighting yesterday iraqi prime minister allowed we insisted today elections will take place on time january thirtieth despite the increasing attacks he told a news conference we will not allow the violence

and terrorists to stop the political process we know some iraqis fear voting but we have to overcome those fears a top us army general and baghdad said he expects security there to improve before the elections i think iraqi people at least in baghdad understand that there will be some danger of going to the polls but they also understand that it's their future and they want to get out the vote the number of attacks in baghdad is going to be a good idea what i'm in the streets that i cannot guarantee that there will not be any violence in baghdad and during elections in fact we should expect it will be us military plans to have thirty five thousand american troops in baghdad on election day there were new warnings today that long overseas deployments are hurting us army reserve the baltimore sun published a memo from the commander of the

reserve and at lieutenant general james conway said extended tour is an iraqi and afghanistan maybe leave him with a broken force he said the military had ignored his proposals for change the army said it's working on the problem and the tsunami disaster cruz and indonesia began work today on for new camps to shelter victims the camps will accommodate happily and people on sinatra twice that many have lost their homes on the island us secretaries faith owl flew over some laughter