The World and Everything in It: February 8, 2023

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

President Biden delivered the State of the Union Address last night. We’ll tell you a bit about what he said and what’s next for him.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday.

Also today, World Tour.

Plus the battle between print and digital news and the people caught in the middle.

And machines that know how to write. ChatGPT is here. But does it know it knows how to write?

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, February 8th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Now the news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR:

State of the Union Address »

AUDIO: Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States!

President Biden addressed the nation last night … delivering his second State of the Union speech.

As expected, he led with the economy.

BIDEN: We’re not finished yet by any stretch of the imagination, but the unemployment rate is at 3.5%, a 50-year low.

He noted that while inflation is still quite high, it has grown more slowly each of the past several months.

Biden said he’s working to slash the deficit … though the federal government is still on track to overspend by about a trillion dollars this year.

The president criticized GOP leaders for demanding spending cuts before raising the nation’s debt ceiling, and he drew a chorus of Republican groans with this remark:

BIDEN: Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans, some Republicans want Social Security and Medicare to sunset.

And the room remained starkly divided when Biden called for nationwide abortion rights.

BIDEN: Congress must restore the right that was taken away in Roe v. Wade and protect Roe v. Wade.

He also called for more gun control and police reform.

On the global stage, he vowed to protect the nation from Chinese threats … and to continue backing Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders.

SOTU response » Moments later, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered the GOP response. She pulled no punches, charging that Biden has been weak in responding to China … and has abandoned the US southern border to a state of chaos.

SANDERS: President Biden is unwilling to defend our border, defend our skies, and defend our people.

Sanders said President Biden has steered his administration all the way to the left, forcing Americans to fight for basic First Amendment rights.

SANDERS: We are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight. Every day, we are told we must partake in their rituals, salute their flags, and worship their false idols … all while big government colludes with big tech to strip away the most American thing there is, your freedom of speech.

She said Republicans want to restore fiscal sanity, rein in inflation … and provide school choice to all American families.

Earthquakes update » Rescue teams from around the world are frantically digging through debris in Turkey and Syria … as the staggering death toll from Monday’s earthquakes continues to rise.

At least 7,200 people are now confirmed dead.

Freezing temperatures have set in, complicating searches and threatening thousands of survivors who are without shelter.

MOS: Can’t go home

This woman says her family has nowhere to go after their homes were destroyed … they are staying in a tent city with only a bonfire for heat.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken said Tuesday:

BLINKEN: We’ve deployed now 150 search-and-rescue personnel to Turkey. USAID, the agency for international development, is in the lead of our efforts. We have U.S helicopters that are supporting Turkish response efforts in very hard-to-reach areas.

The U-N has released $25 million in emergency funding.

Trade deficit with China » The U-S trade deficit with China grew for a second straight year. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JS: The U-S Census Bureau reports that the country’s annual trade deficit with China climbed to $380 billion dollars in 2022.

The U-S imported more than $530 billion dollars worth of goods from China… But exported only a little more than $150 billion to China.

The U-S trade deficit with China was roughly $350 billion for 2021

In 2020 the U-S trade deficit with China dropped by about $30 billion from the year before.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

James becomes NBA all-time scoring leader » LA Lakers superstar LeBron James just made history … with a stepback jump shot in the third quarter of last night’s game against the Thunder.

AUDIO: LeBron James a shot at history, and there it is!

The call there from TNT Sports. With that shot, James became the NBA’s all-time scoring leader. His career total now stands at 38,388 points. He broke a record that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar held for nearly four decades.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead on Washington Wednesday, congressional committee appointments.

Plus, coming to terms with changing media.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is the 8th of February, 2023. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s time for Washington Wednesday. And we want to talk about two things generating a lot of buzz right now in Washington:

The ouster of several Democrats from top committees in the House and, of course, the president’s State of the Union address last night.

Joining us now to talk about it is Matt Klink. He is a political strategist and president of Klink Campaigns.

REICHARD: Matt, good morning!

MATT KLINK, GUEST: Hi. Good morning.

REICHARD: Well, let’s start with the president’s speech. The president last night made his case for reelection, though he has not officially announced yet whether he’ll run again. But a recent Associated Press / N-O-R-C poll shows that the vast majority of Americans, including most Democrats do not want him to run again.

Did the president tip his hand last night? And do you think he’s receiving any inside pressure not to run again?

KLINK: What we heard in the State of the Union address was the case that Joe Biden will likely be making to the American public as the reason for his reelection. He is, as the Democratic National Committee meeting earlier last week, he's immensely popular with the party activists. If you have that office, you don't want to voluntarily give it up. And I think that he believes that his pathway is the right choice for America, in spite of the fact that there are some storm clouds on the horizon that he need be wary about.

REICHARD: The president spoke about the need to continue helping Ukraine to defeat Russian invaders. With Republicans now in control of the House, do you think we’ll see continued consensus on that?

KLINK: I think that there will still be consensus on the need to help Ukraine, primarily because they're battling Russia, and we still see Russia as a main enemy of ours. But look, we've spent $30 billion on Ukraine. That's a lot of money. And I think that what the Republicans will hopefully do is they will make sure that Ukraine is held to account, that the money is being spent where it's supposed to be spent. Ukraine has quite a quite a long history of, let's just say, the money not winding up where it is supposed to wind up. So if we're giving them money, and arms and weapons, they need to be used in the fight against the Russians and not being sold somewhere else. So I think with proper assurances, the Republicans will ultimately continue to fund that.

REICHARD: He also talked about what he has termed our “competition” with China—in light of recent events with the violation of U.S. air space. Is he saying the things he needs to say, at least publicly, to project firmness without ratcheting up tensions anymore than necessary?

KLINK: I think that Joe Biden is trying to square the circle here, which is really impossible. Look, it's very clear that China does not take Joe Biden seriously. They don't perceive America to be a threat. And, frankly, our measures have been weak. The balloon just being the latest example. The theft of intellectual property, the aggressiveness in the Indo-Pacific region around Taiwan. Look, all of these things. China just doesn't perceive us as a serious threat. They think that we'll always take a measured diplomatic response. And I think that what they do respect, though, is commitment and determination, and, frankly, a willingness to draw a line in the sand—metaphorically not physically. And Joe Biden has just failed on that test right now.

REICHARD: Biden also touted his handling of the economy. Do you think he changed any minds last night—or can change the minds of Americans who, according to the polls, are not enthusiastic about his economic policies?

KLINK: Joe Biden has a right to talk about some significant economic gains. I mean, the 517,000 jobs created in January, record unemployment. But what he overlooks is the fact that interest rates are skyrocketing, that inflation continues to be a problem, and that wage gains, while they have been made, they're not keeping pace with inflation. So paychecks are going less far than they would. Needless to say, too, there is shortages of eggs, and we have shortages of baby formula and gas is now going up again. So I mean, look, I think that where you sit is where you stand on the economy. Joe Biden will talk about positives that he can talk about, but there are some underlying currents. We could still sink into a recession. The Fed just raise interest rates by a quarter. But the strong jobs report probably means that they're going to raise rates by more than a quarter of a point the next time that they meet.

REICHARD: If you were advising President Biden on how to get his poll numbers up ahead of a reelection campaign, what would you tell him?

KLINK: The most valuable thing that Joe Biden can do, actually, would be to get things done in Congress, to prove that he is what he campaigned to be: a moderate who can work across the aisle with Republicans that are willing to work on middle of the road solutions. Unfortunately, the Republican caucus, it will be very, very difficult to do that in the House. And Joe Biden has proven that he has zero interest in doing that. He has catered by and large to the party. He's left progressive wing, and has no reason to move back to the center. He actually believes that, in spite of the fact that the Democrats lost the House in November, he perceives that he won because they picked up a seat in the Senate, and they have a one seat majority or a two seat now majority in the Senate. So I don't think the Joe Biden is capable of moving back to the middle. He believes he will be a consequential president by running to the left.

REICHARD: Well, let’s shift now to Capitol Hill. Republicans, of course, have ousted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee over previous remarks she made that were widely seen as antisemitic. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell are also barred from the Intelligence Committee for different reasons.

How do committee assignments work? Can the majority party make these decisions about any committee or just the Foreign Affairs and Intel committees?

KLINK: No, you can make them for any committee. The Intel Committee, the speaker can just do on his own. He doesn't need the approval of the House. That's why Congressman Schiff and Swalwell were able to be removed so quickly without a public vote in the House of Representatives. Ilhan Omar, though, on the Foreign Affairs Committee, that did require a vote in the House. And I think that it's significant because it showed that Kevin McCarthy can keep his majority together. There were some Republicans that were making waves that they didn't want. Representative Omar kicked off the committee, not because they supported her just because of the precedent that it set. And Kevin McCarthy was able to pull 218 votes to get her removed. Really, the Democrats started this when they removed Republicans from committees, and they failed to allow minority leader, at the time, McCarthy to make appointments to the January 6th Committee. So I mean, the precedent was set. And I know that the Republicans didn't talk about revenge, but part of it in the background is you reap what you sow. And because they removed Republicans from committees, this is a bittersweet pill for them. For them being the Democrats.

REICHARD: Matt Klink with Klink Campaigns has been our guest. Matt, thanks so much!

KLINK: Thank you.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Mali — We begin today’s roundup in Mali, where the ruling junta has expelled the country’s UN human rights chief.

Malian rights activist Aminata Cheick Dicko criticized the junta’s handling of the country’s security at a U.N. gathering last month. Dicko also accused the junta’s new Russian military partners of serious rights violations.

AUDIO: [Announcement]

A national television anchor saying here that the military accused the UN human rights official of subversive actions.

The junta has repeatedly blocked the UN forces’ attempt to investigate reports of abuse leveled against the armed forces.

Chile wildfires — Next, to Chile.

AUDIO: [Firefighters working]

Authorities there have extended a state of emergency as hundreds of wildfires plague the southern region.

Strong winds and temperatures above 104 degrees Fahrenheit fanned the flames. The fires have destroyed more than 800 homes.

Authorities say at least 1,000 people have been injured and at least 26 died. They include a firefighter. Chilean President Gabriel Boric attended the wake of a firefighter in the town of Coronel.

BORIC: [Chilean]

He told people in the town that the whole nation mourned with them.

Authorities have deployed 2,300 firefighters and 75 aircraft to the region.

Denmark protest— We head over to Denmark, where the government’s plan to scrap a public religious holiday has faced backlash.

AUDIO: [Speakers at protest]

Thousands of Danes held up signs and waved flags outside the parliament in central Copenhagen over the weekend. They are protesting the government’s plan to abolish the Great Prayer Day.

The holiday originated in the 17th century initially as a day of fasting, prayer, and penitence. It is now a common date for confirmations.

The government wants to cancel the Great Prayer Day to raise extra funds for its defense budget, citing pressure from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Scrapping it would save the state $440 million.

AUDIO: [Cheering]

The proposal has drawn strong opposition from unions, organizations representing military employees, and the Lutheran Church.

Johannes Gregers Jensen is the dean of the Lutheran Church of Denmark in Copenhagen.

JENSEN: We have in Denmark a long tradition that some of the things who has to do with the Church is decided by the people in the Church and the government shouldn't put their finger into that.

Opponents of the plan have also called for a referendum on the matter.

Hong Kong trial — We wrap up today in Hong Kong.

AUDIO: [Protesters]

The semi-autonomous region this week started its largest national security trial.

Forty-seven pro-democracy figures are facing subversion charges over their involvement in an unofficial primary election in July 2020.

Authorities have detained most of them for nearly two years. They face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

AUDIO: [Speaking]

This woman says the defendants include her friends, and she will pray for them.

The trial is expected to last 90 days.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Super Bowl Sunday is this weekend and it will not feature Tom Brady. Of course, we all know he retired for a second and final time, he says, it’s for good.

BRADY: I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning, I figured I’d just press record and let you guys know first, so.

Yes, a low-key retirement announcement from Surfside, Florida, on a public beach, that the sands of time caught up with the ten-time Super Bowl quarterback.

Now, speaking of sand, did you hear this one? Someone had the presence of mind to go scoop up the sand that Brady appeared to be standing on and it’s going to sell for about $100-thousand.

Everything this guy touches seems to turn to gold.

And if you can believe it, he’ll probably make more in retirement than he did on the field. One sportswriter put it this way: It took the greatest football player of all time more than 20 years to earn $333 million. He’ll rake in $375 million in half the time as an analyst on TV.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, February 8th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything In It: Stop the presses!

Back in the day, that old newspaper phrase simply meant “breaking news is coming” and even though the command was to stop, it always implied getting those presses going again after the update.

According to one journalism school, the U-S has lost more than a fourth of its newspapers since 2005. By 2025, the country is on track to lose a third of its newspapers.

So stop the presses is no longer an exciting phrase that promises more to come. Today, it’s more literal than that.

REICHARD: Another report found that 40 of the largest 100 newspapers in the country publish digital-only versions at least once a week. But as WORLD’s Myrna Brown reports, the online news trend is coming to smaller towns, too. She takes us to one community coming to terms with the end of an era.

AUDIO: [RUTH COLLINS OPENING DOOR, SQUEAKS]

MYRNA BROWN CORRESPONDENT: It’s early Wednesday morning. Stepping carefully onto her front porch, Ruth Collins already knows how she’ll spend the first half of her day.

RUTH COLLINS: On a Wednesday I get up and have my coffee and banana and go out and get the paper.

Collins is 86 years old and leans a bit. So she takes her time walking down her stairs and across her paved driveway. Two boxes are posted at the edge of her front lawn. As cars on the two-lane road swoosh by, Collins walks right by the brick-encased mailbox and reaches instead into the bright yellow one. That’s where her daily delight is delivered.

COLLINS: I’ve never lived in a house where I didn’t receive the paper. I’m serious.

As a girl growing up in rural Camden, Alabama, the retired educator says her mother, father and seven siblings took turns reading the weekly newspaper.

COLLINS: My mom probably looked at it first and daddy glanced at the sports part before he went to work that evening and so after we finished our chores and dinner and all we would struggle over who got the paper first.

Collins says she’s always loved the “funnies.” Dick Tracy and Blondie to be specific. But these days she gravitates to a more sobering section of her local newspaper.

COLLINS: Obituaries because so many folk in my age group that I knew or worked with at some place, show up there and I guess I want to know.

But soon, Collins will have to get used to another way of “staying in the know.” The Alabama Media Group publishes the newspaper Collins reads. And at the end of the day on February 26th, it will permanently stop the presses. After that last issue, The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times, and Collin’s Mobile Press-Register will all go digital. A decade ago, the combined daily circulation for all three of those newspapers was about 260,000. Now it’s down to roughly 30,000.

COLLINS: I thought it was a joke at first and then they continued talking about it. I said what am I going to do? I’m used to reading the paper, shoot. I’m going to have to learn to use that doggone laptop.

According to the Pew Research Center, since 2021, about half of all Americans were already getting their news from social media sites—52 percent. When asked for their preferred news platform, 35 percent chose television, and 7 percent radio. But only 5 percent opted for print. Veteran broadcaster Ron Reams saw it coming.

REAMS: Good evening Mobile and welcome to another edition of WABB BLAB, I’m Ron Reams, news director for WABB….

Reams spent nearly four decades working in Alabama newsrooms - radio, television and print.

REAMS: Back when the Press Register which is our local paper once again, was in its heyday, we had a three story building in downtown Mobile. The news people were on the second floor and was busy, busy, busy.

Reams says people could count on that local coverage until the state’s three largest newspapers formed that conglomeration. He says cutbacks came next and that led to fewer local stories.

REAMS: If there’s something that I am basically convinced of is that people make poor decisions if they don’t have enough information.

Getting news online is certainly convenient. But some researchers insist how we get that information matters: It can impact how we process and retain what we learn.

BARON: I’m Naomi Baron…

Professor Naomi Baron is a linguist and professor emerita of linguistics at American University in Washington D.C. She’s spent much of her 35-year-career doing research on technology and language.

BARON: If you are reading to get information that you want to remember, that you want to think about or do something with, all of the data suggests you’re going to do better in remembering if you read in print than if you read on a digital device.

Professor Baron says one of the reasons hinges on mindset.

BARON: Reading a Facebook or Twitter post doesn’t take a lot of energy and we somehow assume that if we’re reading on the same kinds of devices, whether they’re phones, tablets or a computer screen, if we’re reading on those devices something serious, probably it should be just as easy as reading that Facebook status update, but it’s not.

Professor Baron’s research includes a survey of both middle school and university students around the world.

BARON: And if you ask them what they like most about reading in print, I like the feel of paper. So we have a sense of navigation and geography and that helps us remember things.

And that, she predicts, is why print will never fully be replaced.

BARON: Vinyl records came back. People didn’t want to hear everything digitally. But I think there will be enough people who really relish reading a print newspaper that the genre will not disappear.

AUDIO: [COLLINS READING NEWSPAPER]

Ruth Collins is praying that Professor Baron is right.

Back at the Collins house, Ruth sits across from her 90-year-old husband, Donald. He’s reclined in his favorite chair, reading the sports section. Ruth goes straight to the Obituaries and then backtracks to the front page news. Both seem oblivious to the mindless chatter coming from the television in the corner of their tiny family room. Instead, Donald puts on his glasses, folds the paper twice, and leans in. Both seem to savor what Ruth calls unhurried time with an old, trusted friend. She says she can’t decide what she’ll miss most about her newspaper—the scent, the sound or the anticipation of the next page.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Whistler, Alabama.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, February 8th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Maybe you’ve heard about ChatGPT. It’s a new artificial intelligence resource for writers. WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney experimented with the program for herself and she has some thoughts on the rise of the machines.

JANIE B. CHEANEY, COMMENTATOR: Thirty-odd years ago, I engaged in therapy with a machine: a plain-text program designed to help depressed users work through their issues. Glowing letters on a blue screen asked, “How can I help you today?” I made up a problem, and every subsequent statement from me generated a question or an encouraging prompt, such as “Let me restate the issue,” or “How do you feel about that?” It was easy to imagine a therapist on the other side of the screen patiently drawing out my responses, until I realized we weren’t getting anywhere.

To anyone anxious about the rise of the machines, I have sort of good news and maybe bad news. A language model called ChatGPT has been causing waves of concern in faculty lounges and newsrooms across America. ChatGPT writes better than your average college freshman. It can churn out essays, editorials, articles, and project reports in grammatical, workmanlike prose: just give it an assignment and watch it work. Who needs writers?

ChatGPT is available free to the public while developers work out the bugs, so I checked it out on the Open AI website. The documentation explains, quote, “We’ve trained this model using Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback”—that is, over thousands of hours, the model absorbed paradigms of verbal interaction well enough to imitate it convincingly. That ability, combined with a world-wide web of information at its disposal, makes ChatGPT a word-juggling, essay-spewing, homework-dodging bad boy.

I began my session with a straightforward request: “Explain the debate between Athanasius and Pelagius.” The debate between Athanasius and Pelagius was a major controversy in the early Christian church that centered on the nature of human free will, original sin, and the role of divine grace in salvation, etc. Not bad. A personal question like “How can I persuade my girlfriend to marry me?” produced boilerplate endearments that would have melted any young lady halfway inclined.

But artistry and humor are beyond it. “Make a pun” yields a lame riddle and a definition of “pun.” The model’s notion of “witty dialogue” leaves Oscar’s Wilde’s reputation unchallenged. When it comes to creative thinking, ChatGPT doesn’t know anything and can’t leap from fact to application. It can only get there by coded pathways. What’s missing is the spark between synapses, the light-bulb brightness of an idea that echoes the mind of our master Creator.

The good news is that, however sophisticated its performance, AI will never have an original idea. The bad news? It might be able to fake it. I fear generations of students skipping over a vital discipline in order to lean on versions of ChatGPT. Writing is thinking: speaking for myself, I don’t think clearly until it’s black letters on white. I learned by trial-and-error with a pencil, not a program. Will outsourcing thought to a machine result in thinking like a machine?

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: a report on efforts to reduce human trafficking in Cambodia.

And, fighting Fentanyl.

Also, who’s behind the evangelistic media campaign “He Gets Us?”

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: “Woe to the world… for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! (Matthew 18:7 ESV)

Go now in grace and peace.

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