The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. Barbara hope zuckerberg. Charles rosenblum. We try to live in the moment, to not miss whats right in front of us. At mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. Mutual of america financial group, Retirement Services and investments. Additional support has been provided by consumer cellular. And by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Hill good evening, and thank you for joining. President donald trump spent much of today at his virginia golf club, and continued to deny news reports that he has disparaged military service members. The atlantic, citing anonymous sources, reported on thursday that the president called americans who died in war losers and suckers. He allegedly made the comments while on a 2018 trip to france, before a visit to an American Military cemetery was canceled. The administration and mr. Trump say the trip was called off due to a heavy rainstorm. The president denied he made the comments again yesterday, at a Late Afternoon white house news conference. It was a fake story written by a magazine that was probably not going to be around much longer. But it was a totally fake story, and that was confirmed by many people who were actually there. Hill yesterday, fox news corresndent jenner griffin said she confirmed parts of the atlantic story. John, ive spoken with two u. S. Senior officials who were on the trip to france, who confirmed to me key details in the atlantic article and the quotes attributed to the president. My source, a former Trump Administration official, told me when the president spoke about the vietnawar, he said it was a stupid war. Anyone that went was a sucker. Hill mr. Trump said griffi should be fired for this type, of reporting. As the u. S. Celebrates labor day weekend, protests against Police Violence and Racial Injustice continued in rochester, new york and portland, oregon. All people must leave e area hill for the 100th straight night, protesters in portland hit the streets. A gathering near a police union buding was declared an unlawful assembly, and Police Arrested several demonstrators while dispersing the cro. The Fatal Shooting of a man affiliated with a rightwing groulast weekend, and the killing by federal agents of the selfdescribed antifacist sought in connection with that killing, have further roiled the city. In rhester, Police Used Tear Gas to disperse a crowd protesting the death of daniel prude. It was the Third Straight night of protests since the release of video showing his arrest in march. Prude, a 41yearold black man, died a week after police put a mesh hood over his head in a covid19 safety protocol, and then pressed his head into the pavement when he tried to stand. Prudes family said he was suffering from a Mental Health crisis. All seven officers involved have been suspended, with pay, as the new York State Attorney general investigates. In louisville, kentucky, farright and selfdescribed militia members gathered for a rally anmarch this morning. Organizers described it as an event to support police and oppose farleft groups they called domestic terrorists. Hundreds attended, many of them armed, and marched near downtown, after a rally at a city park. In the early afternoon, there were some scuffles with counter protesters. Louisville has been one of the centers of nationwide black lives matter demonstrations, since the Police Killing o 26yearold Breonna Taylor in march. Louisville Metro Police Officers shot taylor while executing a noknock search warrant. Taylor, who was an e. M. T. , was unarmed. A march demandg the Police Officers who killed taylor be arrested and charged is planned for late todayear Churchill Downs race track, where the Kentucky Derby is being run this evening without spectators. In mississippi yesterday, a judge ruled that curtis flowers, who was tried six times for the same murders, will not be prosecuted for a seventh time. Flowers was nvicted multiple times for the 1996 murder of four people in a Furniture Store in winona, mississippi, but all the convictions were overturned. He was released from prison last december after serving more than 22 years. The state Attorney Generals Office declined to prosecute flowers again, citing a lack of evidence and viable witnesses. Two years ago, an amecan public media podcast brought National Attention to the case and included a recording from one of the key witnesses who recanted his testimony. The u. S. Supreme court overturned flowers most recent conviction last year, citing racial bias in jury selection. The court found the prosecutor who had tried flowers each time had unconstitutionally kept black mississippians from serving on the jury. A lawyer for flowers said the case was tainted throughout by racial discrimination. It should never have occurred, and lasted far too long, but we are glad it is finally over. Health officials are reminding americans to remain vigilant about the spread of covid19 on this long holiday weekend. There are now more than 6. 2 million confirmed infections in the u. S. , and more than 188,000 deaths. Globally, the death toll from covid19 has reached 875,000, with more than 26. 6 million confirmed infections according to researchers at Johns Hopkins university. In india, confirmed infections topped four million today, and the country reported a new record in daily cases. India now joins just brazil and the u. S. In crossing the four million mark. The jump to four million comes just 13 days after india reached three million ces. In australia, there were protests today against lockdowns in the city of melbourne. Melbourne has been under a Strict Lockdown to prevent a spike in infections, including a nightly curfew. The ate of victoria, which includes melbourne, reported 11 deaths and 76 new infections today. And in italy, former Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi is in stable condition after being hospitalized with covid19 on wednesday. In a statement today, his doctor said tre was cautious, but reasonable optimism that the 83yearold will recover. For the latest national and international news, visit www. Pbs. Org newshour. Hill this week, facebook and twitter announced that disinformation campaigns, just like the ones that targeted the 2016 president ial election, are threatening this years election. As more of these sophisticated campaigns persist, many are spreading rapidly online before social Media Companies can factcheck and take them down. I recently spoke with deen freelon, associate professor at the university of north carolinachapel hill, about these potential digital election disruptions. Delivering disinformation in politics and political campaigns is really nothing new. What makes it so dangerous and disruptive . Well, i think disinformation has really been exploding in the digital sphere, right. So, this is something that we saw a lot during the 2016 election and something that were continuing to see now. And i think that in the 2016 election before, during and after this was something that americans were not necessarily aware of, they didnt really see coming, and now theyre a bit more aware of it. But, of course, the disinformation has evolved. So, as it evolves, it sort of remains ahead of americans understanding of it and its perception of it, and thats what really makes it dangerous. Hill its savvier now, would you say . Yes, right. So that if the point of disinformation is to deceive people and to get them to believe or engage in behaviors that they otherwise wouldnt, you cant really be forthright about your identity and what youre talking about. So you have to keep ahead of the media, and, of course, the academics like me that are studying it, trying to get to the bottom of it. And the real problem that we encounter is that so much of this can only really be understood in retrospect. So in other words, its onl after the social Media Companies release the identities of the accounts and the people behind them that we can truly understand whats going on. And thats what really makes it scary, because in the moment, theres really no way to do that. Hill what is the impact, then, of this, and how effective is it . How well does it work . The impact of disinformation should be understood within the broader context of media effects more generally. So i participated in a study that showed that disinformation provided by the Russian InternetResearch Agency really didnt change anybodys minds, right, so it wasnt like shifting, you know, leftwing to rtwing or anything like that. So thats pretty definitive. And other accounts have also suggested this is not the way that this disinfortion typically works, if it has any efcts at all. What it typically does is it pushes people further along the direction that theyre already in. So if youre left, it maybe makes you more left. If youre right, it maybe pushes you more to theight. There needs to bmore research on that. But we know that it does not result in this sort of, you know, major opinion shifts that sometimes is out there propagated in popular accounts of this type of phenomenon. Hill does it have a disproportionate impact of any segment of the population . Yes. So we know that there have been certain segments of the population that have been disproportionately targeted. We know that in the case of the Russian InternetResearch Agency, that white conservatives and black protesters on the left were disproportionately targeted in 2016 and afterward. And this, of course, follows along with disinformation playbook, where you target the most vulnerable and the most populations that are most likely to engage with this kind of content, and where the impact is likely to be the geatest. Hill you said were seeing more of it, savvier now than in 2016. Is more of it also based on stereotypical things . Yes. I mean, this is one of the areas, the fissures in american life, that foreignbased disinformation actors like to exploit the most. And so race has been a major, sort of, flashpoint for that. Your immigration is another one. And so these kinds of hotbutton issues are really ripe for disinformation exploitation. Hill how easy how hard is it to detect . And the reason i ask that is because the New York Times is reporting this week that there is some ssian poll agency, some agent of the kremlin, that has been hiring american freelance journalists to work for something called peace data or Peace Research or Something Like that, and the folks who are being hired dont know that theyre working for the russians, and theyre going out and spreading disinformation. Right. So this is part of that evolution th im talking about. So, primarily in 2016 and immediately after, it was mostly russian agents, people who were sort of russian speakers at least we know that that were engaging in this. And so, the recruitment of actual americans is really the next evolution of that. And, you know, who better to pretend to be americans, or who better to represent foreign interests, than americans themselves, right . Theyre less suspect because theyre some of us, right . And so, absolutely, i think this is part of that next evolution that i was talking about, making it much more difficult to detect even the people that are carrying these messages forward cant detect it. They dont know necessarily that theyre engaging in it, theyre just collecting a paycheck. And of course, at the moment of economic precarity that were at, you know, there may not be too many questions asked about where that money is coming from, if youre desperate to get some of that. Hill in 2016, i remember i was presented with something that someone apparently got from facebook. It was about Hillary Clinton and the child trafficking and all that stuff. And then i asked, okay, where did that come from . And someone told me the source, i immediately did not recognize it as anything worthy, anything credible. So that then raises the question for me then, how do we, as the targets of these disinformation campaigns, how do we separate fiction from fact . Part of the issue that weve run into is, it is extremely difficult to do so until after the fact because we have to rely on these social Media Companies to disclose the identities, or at least the social media handles, of these information actors. But one thing i tell my students is that you really need to understand that disinformation plays upon your preexisting political biases, right . So it plays on confirmation bias, motivated reasoning. Which means that when people are really trying to appeal to you with disformation, theyre going to try to say things and do things that are going to attack people that you already dont like and support people that you do like. And so, that, i think, is where people should really pay attention. When its something that seems to be too good to be true, its attacking someing you dont like, whether its in support of somebody you do like, that raises the possibility that people are really trying to to engage in a disinformation style attack on you. And this maybe from somebody that you know or an organization that youre aware of, or from a source that you are not familiar with. But when its really going overboard in support of your political beliefs, that raises the possibility. Its not definitive proof, but it really should put people on high alert that they may be on the receiving end of a disinformation attack. Hill associate professor dean freelon of the university of north carolina, on disinformation in our political system. Professor, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks a lot. Hill this past week, new york citys metropolitan museum of art and the museum of modern art reopened to the blic. Its a positive development for one of the economic sectors hit hardest by the covid19 pandemic. According to the brookings institute, since the pandemic hit, the Creative Economy has lost 2. 7 million jobs, nearly a third of its workfce. But as restrictions are beginning to lift in some places, the arts are also starting to return to life. Newshour weekends Ivette Feliciano visited one area in western massachusetts where patrons are experiencing the arts inperson for the first time in almost six months. Reporter its summer in pittsfield, the largest city in berkshire county, massachusetts, and tonights audience is about to see something they probably havent seen in months live theater. Oh, yeah oh, bless the lord, my soul oh, ess the lord, my soul reporter since the covid19 pandemic hit, the stage actors union, actors equity association, has only approved two theaters to resume Live Performances in the u. S. Both of them were in the berkshires. The first was barrington stage company, which staged the oneman show hay clark in early august. The second, berkshire theatre group, is now performing the musical godspell through september 20. For that companys artistic director, kate maguire, the show marks a bright spot in a chaotic year. The normally vibrant Theater Community here has been in turmoil since massachusetts shut down nonessential workplaces due to covid19. We closed up on march 11. Everybodwent home. And then we recognized that were in the business of putting on live theatre, and that our industry is at a complete standstill. Reporter the actors in berkshirtheatre groups godspell talk about their dilemma at the beginning of the play. The covid19 pandemic took away everything i worked my whole life for. I felt alone, abandoned, unessential, and just completely unnecessary. My entire business relies on human connection. When theater shut down, so did i. I dont know how our industrys going to survive. Is there going to be money from the federal government, from the n. E. A. , to the state Arts Councils . How are we gng to survive this . We cant do any of our work at all. Reporter thats not just a problem for Theater Companies here. The berkshires relies heavily on the arts to help drive tourism, which in 2018 brought in over 467 million and supported almost 4,000 jobs. And it isnt just theaters being affected. Museums, like the Clark Art Institute in williamstown, massachusetts, also closed its doors imarch. Nevertheless, museum staff continued working. Olivier meslay is the clarks director. Part of the staff went to work on different sorts of tasks. Some of them were, for example, helping to redo the website, when, in fact, they were supposed to welcome the public. Some others were preparing reopening very, very early on. Reporter and then on july 6, massachusetts entered phase 3 of its reopening plan, which included museums. Less than a week later, the clark opened their doors again. For now, visitors and staff Must Wear Masks at all times. The museum has also reduced admission to 25 capacity on their 140acre campus, and all tickets must be purchased in advance for specific entry times. We are now at 300 people in a day. Its also easier to keep them scattered all over the museum if you have less people. Reporter live outdoor performances are now also allowed in massachusetts. With the approval of actors equity, unioactors are now performing in the berkshires, even as broadw remains dark. Oh, dear lord three things i pray the actors quarantined for two weeks before they came. They got tested right before they arrived here. We went to new york with vans and picked them all up, so they were all together. Theyve been in what we call a bubble ever since. They all live in the same house. They dont ever leave their bubble. Reporter artistic director kate maguire says godspell is particularly relevant during the pandemic. Its about a group of people that come together. Theyre all in different places of chaos, asking the question, how did we get here . How are we going to get through this period in time . And by the end of the play, theres some connection and understanding of, essentially, what it means to be human. God save the people reporter to protect the audience, the Company Spaces the seats out in groups of two or three. The audience is under this tent, all in masks, socially distanced. Theres 25 feet from the first row to the artists on the stage. And, as you can see, theres partitions up on the stage so that when the actors are singing, those partitions are moved so we eliminate some of the spray from reaching out. Reporter not everything has gone smoothly with the reopening. In early august, due to an uptick in covid cases, Massachusetts GovernorCharlie Baker lowered the limit on outdoor gatherings from 100 people to 50. Because of this, berkshire eatre group had to reduce their seating capacity. Despite the challenges, both meslay and maguire are committed to an inperson experience with art during this time. There is the wind. There is the sun. There islenty of sensorial aspects of art that are embedded in an inperson visit. I think the inperson aspect of the relationship, the experience with art, is essential. When you are in front of the work of art, there is a moment, there is a pose,here is something which is very unique. And its very different from being virtual. Its a completely different experience. People go to church, or theyre sitting out on front lawns of church now, to be together, to experience their faith. And ive always said that my church is here at my theatre. Repter maguire says that giving people that experience is important now more than ever. Artists lives are being destroyed around the country right now. I mean, for so many artists, at least when theyre not working, they can wait on tables. They cant even wait on tables right now. So we need to remember the artists and how they impact our wod, and what would the world look like without art. You better start you better start you better start to learn your lessons well hill thats all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. For the last news updates, visit www. Pbs. Org newshour. Im michael hill. Thanks for watching. Have a good night. Captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org pbs newshour weekend is made possible by sue and Edgar Wachenheim iii. The Anderson Family fund. Beard and denise schwartz. The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. Barbara hope zuckerberg. Charles rosenblum. We try to live in the moment, to not miss whats right in front of us. At mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomrow can help you make the most of today. Mutual of america financial group, Retirement Services and investments. For 25 years, consumer cellulars goal has been to provide Wireless Service that helps people communicate and connect. We offer a variety of nocontract plans, and our u. S. Based Customer Service team can help find one that fits you. To learn more, visit www. Consumercellular. Tv. Additional support has been provided by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Youre watching pbs. Narrator this program was made possible in part by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Ken burns is a national treasure. Hes been working with pbs for over 35 years making films that changed the way we look at our history, films that challenge us, start conversations and help us prepare for the future by better understanding our past. It is all made possible because the Financial Support of viewers like you. To say thank you, we are taking a look back across kens many