♪ amna: good evening. geoff: on the newshour tonight, thousands gather for the funeral of russian opposition leader alexei navalny devine the kremlin and fears of a police crackdown. amna: four years after the first covid-19 death in the u.s. we speak to the cdc director about new guidance. >> we think we found that the balance to protecting the most vulnerable and having a clear and simple way for most folks to

protect themselves. geoff: and i know pal -- and a nobel peace prize winner defends his reputation against corruption charges. ♪ announcer: major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations and immersive experiences. a world of leisure and british style. all with cunard's white star service. announcer: the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the

newshour including jim and nancy and the robert and virginia schiller foundation. >> the john s and james l knight foundation fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ and friends of the "newshour." ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. russian opposition leader alexei

navalny was buried today on the outskirts of moscow two weeks after his sudden death. amna: he was mourned by thousands in the streets on the threats from the kremlin. with his mother and father by his casket out with his wife and children outside of russia, no balmy showed in death that you could still conjure resistance to vladimir putin's authoritarian rule. nick schifrin begins our coverage. reporter: alexei navalny dreamed of a russia that was free and citizens unafraid. today, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands brave arrest -- braved arrest to thank the man who replaced fear of the state with faith in themselves. they chant -- russia will be free. putin is a murderer. no to war. >> we could not not,.

let them see that many remember and many know. silencing will not work. reporter: and yet today was also a reminder of the fate that befalls the kremlin's opponents. of all news open casket overseen by his parents -- no bald knees -- navalny's open casket overseen by his parents moved quickly. but even his last moments above ground even as the last rites said by the priest, he did it his way. the orchestra played frank sinatra's my way the moment he was buried. ♪ and after, the theme song to terminator 2 whose primary message is the future is not yet written.

and that perhaps is his legacy reminding russians that their fate has not been decided and politics requires participation and the will to fight. today, it the risk of arrest was real. police detained dozens of his supporters across the country and before the funeral his boat -- lead my food and spokesperson said this -- >> any unauthorized gathering to in violation of the law. reporter: in russia system he was the equivalent of a terrorist leader is sentenced to decades in prison for extremism. he died of what authorities call natural causes but his wife says he was murdered. >> he was tortured for three years. he was starved in a tiny, a stone sell. cut off from the outside world and denied visits, phone calls and then even lectures. and then they killed him.

♪ reporter: today this video tribute was posted, a love letter to a love song. a wife that lost her husband and a russian opposition that lost its leader. he always knew he could be silenced but he was not afraid of that either. >> my message for the situation when i am killed is very simple, don't give up. reporter: and so today, they didn't. he may have been imprisoned one attendee said today, but he died a freeman. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. geoff: we will talk more about this with the english managing editor at a human rights organization that aims to end political persecution in russia. he has also participated in navalny protests.

as we saw thousands of people lined up to pay their respects at the funeral for alexei navalny despite a heavy police presence aimed at deterring protests against vladimir putin, what should we take of this stunning display of defiance? >> the important thing to know is that despite the horrific risk of showing up on the streets, you could be beaten or imprisoned for many years, russians throughout russia are still willing to show up because they despise the war and they despise what the authoritarian kremlin regime has done to alexei navalny. they have been showing up and protesting. some covertly and some overtly for many years and they continued protesting after the invasion. geoff: officials kept alexei navalny's body for more than a week before releasing it to his mother and she accused them of trying to pressure her into

agreeing to a secret funeral. why do you think they caved? >> that is right. kremlin officials wanted to put his family through a world of hurt. they started doing this for a while now. it did not start with the murdering alexei navalny. they destroyed her business -- they destroyed alexei navalny's mother's business. i think the reason they caved in was a massive public campaign demanding the release of the body. in fact, [indiscernible] our platform gathered over 100,000 submissions demanding the body be released. geoff: isn't the kremlin impervious to outside pressure or at least they are thought to be? >> not exactly. it is quite clear that the kremlin is still concerned about public attention on russia and

that is why it is important that western viewers and western media, that you keep your eyes peeled on what is going on in russia and at the kremlin and especially what is going on with political prisoners of home there is over 1000 in russia right now. it is important to keep attention on them. geoff: alexei navalny was buried to the soundtrack of his favorite movie, terminator two what is the significance? >> his symbolic significance and the meaning of his campaign in russia, he wanted to give hope to ordinary russians. i think the terminator theme, this final shot of arnold schwarzenegger going down with the thumbs up, i think this sums up what alexei navalny would've wanted for the people of russia to know. that he is trying to give them hope even beyond the grave.

i'm sure that alexei navalny would want russians not to despair but to remain hopeful. he believed in a russia that is not just free but in a russia that is happy and beautiful. geoff: with his sudden death, the russian opposition has lost its figure. what does it do now? >> the thing about russian opposition is that it does not concentrate just on alexei navalny's figure. of course he was a larger-than-life symbol. certainly other symbols and figures of russian opposition -- what is important is that we keep our eyes on the grassroots elements of russian civil society. it is quite clear that russian opposition and civil society are not mourning, they are organizing. they are taking all the power they have and trying to carry on

alexei navalny's banner. the important thing right now is to support them. especially for those of you in the west wondering, how can i help russian resistance -- how you can help is by pressuring your representatives and your politicians into providing shelter and platform to russian dissidents and russian civil society representatives that have to flee. so any sort of conversation that western leaders have with russian leaders, that the fate of russian political prisoners is front and center. geoff: dan is with ovd info. >> thank you for having me. ♪ geoff: president biden announced

the u.s. military will begin air dropping humanitarian aid into gaza. he spoke a day after crowds swarmed a convoy and gazan officials said israeli fire killed 115 people. israelis say most of the victims were trampled. the president addressed the issue at the white house. >> aid flowing to gaza is nowhere nearly enough. there are lives on the line. we will not stand by until we get more aid. we should be getting hundreds of trucks in. geoff: the military wing of hamas said seven more hostages taken october have died from is really bombardment. the group claimed that israeli attacks have killed more than 70 hostages. in haiti four police officers have been killed in a new burst of gang warfare. gunmen attacked across port-au-prince and people fled

with their hands out. a leader known as barbecue vowed to oust the prime minister. >> the first objective of our fight is to ensure the prime minister's goverent does not remain in power. geoff: the u.s. embassy warned today of continued heavy gunfire near the port-au-prince airport. the prime minister was in kenya to secure policing help against the gangs as part of a u.n. mission. in this country, a judge in colorado sentenced a paramedic to five years and prison and the death of elijah mcclain. police put maclean in a chokehold during a confrontation in 2019 and paramedics injected him with a sedative and he died three days later. the man sentenced today was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide. texas officials say the biggest wildfire in state history may

have destroyed 500 homes and buildings in the panhandle. drone footage showed more devastation in the town of canadian pure the governor visited the area and said the scope of the loss is stunning. >> when you look at the damages that have occurred here, it is just gone. completely gone. nothing left but ashes on the ground. geoff: fire crews worked to make progress before strong winds returned over the weekend. blizzard conditions raging across the cri nevada with 10 feet of snow forecast into the weekend. snow blanketed california roadways today as the most powerful storm of the season rolled into your people were warned to expect closures. pharmacy giants cvs and walgens will start selling the abortion pill in selected areas this month. the companies announced today they have received fda

certification. they will start sales in a few states where abortion is illegal. the supreme court is considering a challenge of the fda's approval of the drug. on wall street tech stocks rallied. the dow jones industrial average gained 91 points. the nasdaq rose 183 points. the s&p 500 was up 40. the tower of london has a new raven master to care for a feathered flock that protects the thousand year old fortress. bernie will look after a seven ravens that roam the grounds freely by day and kept in cages at night. he says legend has it that if the birds ever leave, england will collapse. still on the newshour, brooks and capehart weigh in on the week's headlines and beyoncé becomes a first lap woman to top the billboards country charts. we will take a closer look.

announcer: this is a pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: the centers for disease control and prevention has changed its covid guidance for when people need to isolate. it is part of the cdc's broader recommendations on respiratory illnesses. it says that people that have tested positive can return to normal activities when symptoms are improving and they have been fever free for 24 hours without medication. it also encourages people with improving symptoms to ta additional prevention methods like mask wearing and keeping distance and public. the director joins me now. welcome back to the newshour. thank you for joining us. this is the first time you have shifted guidance, isolation guidance, since 2021 when it was reduced to five days.

why these changes in guidance now? >> we are in a different place. it is after a lot of hard work make sure we have the tools to protect each other against covid. what we have been seeing is lower hospitalizations and lower deaths though we saw high levels of virus spread. this last winter we saw in our wastewater data and others that there is a lot of virus spreading and our community but the trends in hospitalizations and death continue to go down. but we are seeing is that vaccination is what is continuing to protect folks so we wanted to going to fight our guidance today not just for covid but across covid, flu and rsv so folks can have practical solutions they could use every day that they can remember and implement across a range of viruses. amna: there were some states like california and oregon that began relaxing their covid isolation guidance as early as

last year counter to your guidance at the time. is this the cdc catching up to where people have already been for a while? >> we were looking at this guidance last summer and seeing if we could move in this direction. and then the virus changed last august. we wanted to make sure that we were through another winter season and that the trends in lower hospitalizations and deaths continued to hold and the good news is they did. we feel comfortable moving forward but like always, the virus is changing. if anything changes in terms of our effectiveness of treatment, we may be back here needing to change guidance. we feel comfortable aligning across covid, flu and rsv for simple solutions like vaccination and staying home when you're sick. amna: the cases of covid have fallen dramatically but the data shows there are still hundreds of people dying every week from covid.

some 20,000 hospitalized weekly. this guidance change has its critics including dr. eric coble . he said the policy change is reckless. he says it will serve to promote more spread of covid and long covid. >> i want to say, remember vaccines and treatment continue to protect folks. this last season at the beginning, we saw that 95% of the people coming to the hospital did not have an updated covid vaccine and 70% did not have the one from the year before. what we are seeing is vaccines can protect us from going to the hospital or having our life be taken by the virus. we have to use those tools. you also know that far too few adults got the updated covid vaccine, only about 22% of

adults. the updated covid vaccine. we need to see folks using that important tool to protect themselves. amna: to be fair, the vaccine can prevent serious illness but it does not prevent the spread of covid. will people isolating for a shorter amount of time add to the spread of the virus? >> when you get vaccinated you are less likely to go to the hospital but you are also less likely to get long covid and less likely to get this virus overall. less virus spreading means we are protecting others. we wanted to give simple, clear kinds of guidance so folks can remember them and it can be actionable. if more people are using the guidance, we think that will benefit everyone. the vulnerable folks were top of mind for us at the as we were thinking about this guidance. we all know someone that is at higher risk.

i have them in my own family. we were thinking about them as we did this guidance. we think we found the balance to protecting the most vulnerable and having those clear and simple way for most folks to protect themselves. amna: you said this week that americans 65 and older should get an additional dose of the latest covid vaccine that spring. do you worry about relaxing the guidance at the same time you are asking people to get a booster is sending conflicting messages? >> the first core strategy that we want to emphasize to folks is about being up-to-date on your vaccines. vaccines are what we continue to see protecting folks. we want to make sure that folks are getting the updated vaccines. i want to preview that we know the covid virus continues to change. we need to stay ahead of it. we have already started the process, cdc and fda, to update the covid vaccine for later this

year. right now, folks should start planning for this fall to get an updated covid vaccine and an updated flu shot. amna: dr. mandy cohen, the cdc director. thank you for joining us. good to speak with you. ♪ geoff: nearly half a century after its birth from a bloody civil war, bangladesh has made significant strides in reducing poverty. one of the best known architects of this progress is mohammed who popularized the idea of micro-finance. but he has run afoul of his country's prime minister. he faces criminal charges. we have this report, part of a series, "agents for change." >> he has won the presidential medal of freedom and the congressional medal of honor. >> make no mistake, mohammed is

a genius. >> yearly a half-century ago this vanderbilt trained economist left a teaching career saying he was called to serve his newly independent and more shattered nation. >> people were dying of hunger. i find myself in a strange situation. teaching economics. those elegant periods of economics have no use for people that are dying. reporter: he did teach -- test one economic theory, lending a few women funds to start a business. >> people are paying back every penny without a hitch. i thought i should have my own bank. reporter: the bank grew quickly, 97% owned millions of its female borrowers. a success that earned him the nobel peace prize in 2006. today he has a large footprint

in bangladesh he society far beyond micro-lending. there is even a nursing school. it's global reach includes a bank that last year lent $1 billion to low income americans. all profits are plowed back into expanding the mission. he has won friends in the highest places across the globe except at home. in january he and three senior colleagues were sentenced to six months in prison for violating labor laws. they were charges he called politically motivated. he was released on bail but this is only the beginning of his legal troubles. he faces more than 100 other charges. what is that like as you go to work these days? >> not very comfortable. reporter: i reached him in his

office where days earlier a group of 35 men appeared unannounced to take over and began pad locking the place at the end of the day. >> they said, we are the new management. we went to the police and the police did not help us. reporter: this latest disruption is a dramatic escalation of actions targeting him that began in 2011 when he was removed as chair of the bank. >> government rule does not permit anyone to remain in a government job after 60. i said this is not a government bank. this is a bank owned by poor women. i was forced out. reporter: what is at the root of this antagonism? >> it beats me. reporter: his chief antagonist is the prime minister. >> he calls me a bloodsucker of the people. reporter: the prime minister

recently won a fourth --. she has publicly denounced him as a corrupt opportunist. he toyed with forming his own party. it was at the urging of the country's military leaders he says and short-lived. >> about 10 weeks. after the end of the 10 weeks i said i will not create a party because i cannot handle both things. it is not my cup of tea. reporter: but experts say the prime minister might still view him as a political threat despite pleas from more than 200 global luminaries including former president obama to end the legal harassment, campaigns against him have only intensified. >> this is an example. reporter: a political scientist

at illinois state university says the prime minister has tightened her grip on power. geopolitical realities allow her to resist western pressure and in this case it sends a chilling message mastic lay. >> i have received unqualified support. this is the message to bangladesh. the professor can be trusted. reporter: what might the professor be facing in the weeks and months ahead? >> i'm afraid he might end up in jail. i'm sorry to say -- it breaks my heart to say. but it could happen. reporter: government officials insist the judicial process is independent of political interference. we contacted the bangladesh

embassy in washington for, but did not receive a response. >> i as the chairman of these companies never received a salary or a fee for attending meetings. reporter: for his part the professor continues to assert his and his sins. he says he has received several offers of asylum abroad but has ruled out exile. >> this is where we have worked together for years and years and i don't want to abandon them. reporter: he has a bail hearing on march 3, the same date when an anticorruption commission is scheduled to release what many colleagues fear will be incriminating results from a years long investigation of his activities. for the bbs -- for the pbs newshour. geoff: fred's reporting is in partnership with the under told stories project from the university of st. thomas in minnesota.

♪ geoff: only a few days remain before super tuesday which is shaping up to be a major turning point in the race for the white house. on that and some of the key issues in the presidential race returned to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that is david brooks and jonathan capehart, associate editor for the washington post. both president biden and former president donald trump visited the southern border yesterday as the presidential campaign ramps up over this issue that has confounded administrations of both parties, immigration. how are democrats aiming to boost their standing among voters who increasingly say that immigration is their top issue in this election? >> by pointing out the fact that the sitting president of the united states, in conjunction with the senate majority leader, chuck schumer, along with one of the most conservative members of the senate, i cannot believe i

am spacing -- langford, senator langford from oklahoma, that they sat down and hammered out a deal after the president went before the nation and said everything was on the table. i am willing to negotiate. they came up with a bill and bits and pieces of it were leaking out that were so bad from the president space perspective that they were raising -- saying if it becomes law it will set back immigration policy for a long time but the president said we need to do something. they come up with the bill and donald trump made a phone call or put out some social media post and said, don't do it. republicans refused to take yes for an answer. they gave president biden the perfect thing to go before the nation and say -- i am trying. i was part of this deal.

i gave them everything they wanted and they still said no. those people are not serious. i think if he cameras that message time and time again i think it will break through. geoff: and part of what jonathan described was on full display at the border yesterday. president biden invited president trump to call on republicans to support this by heart -- this bipartisan border deal and then president trump accused president biden of an invasion. it is fairly clear how they are trying to play the issue. >> they preferred donald trump's policy over biden's policy by infinite percent. the simple fact is the democrats have been out of touch on this issue. in 2016 there was a large number of candidates in the primary saying they were for decriminalizing the border.

second, the biden policies have not worked. same with our a silent system, it was created after world war ii. i was a long time ago. there are 40 million people in the world facing that kind of persecution. we cannot take that many people. we can have a policy that prioritizes those that are breaking the law. the main issue is not necessarily immigration but chaos. biden has to do the thing which i think the british have done which is to say, we are going to stop the asylum process until we can digest all the people in the system. that will try to impose some order. geoff: that would be a great thing to do but there is no money. one of the things about the senate bill was that it was getting funding to allow the customs and border patrol to do the things you were saying. the chaos will continue, not

because the president is not doing enough but because the senate cannot pass a bill that would make it possible for the president to do what he wants to do but also for republicans to get done what they say needs to be done for years now. geoff: the president is wearing some executive action absent congressional action that would allow him to tighten asylum rules. if there is a problem and both sides say there is one at the southern border, and he has the authority to tighten the asylum rules, what is he waiting for? >> does he really have the power? you should have asked me that question beforehand so i could make some calls to the white house to see what they are doing. the president has made it clear since or before the bill was made public or just after that he is willing to do that. why he has not done that, i wonder if they are trying to determine the legalities of doing it. geoff: we have super tuesday and

the state of the union next week. more than a dozen states are set to hold presidential nominating contests. this is a milestone. the results might be anticlimactic. we will learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of donald trump and joe biden. >> how soon nikki haley drops out as she gets crushed in every state? nikki haley is 52 and she has a long political future for herself. she is damaging the party that i presume she wants to be a part of by staying. i imagine she will drop out. and the other thing to look for is how much softness there is in the biden coalition. there were some noncommitted voters and michigan. for all people upset with joe biden, they are not rushing to dean -- to jean phillips. that leads me to believe that people are nervous about joe

biden losing. >> yes. [laughter] the things i will be looking for will be the percentage spread between donald trump and nikki haley. it has been growing since iowa. the fact that she lost her home state in south carolina, find but 40% of the vote is a sizable chunk of the republican electorate that says, we are not down with this guy. will that replicate itself in the super tuesday states? and when it comes to the democratic side, if there are states that have noncommitted or uncommitted or dean phillips, how much support they get. and i suspect that they will not get a lot of support at all. geoff: perhaps the biggest story was the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell saying he would not seek another turn -- term as

a republicaneader. i want to get your reaction to his announcement and your assessment of his controversial legacy. >> he made it clear, i am out of touch with the party. in the 1930's, the republican party was a pessimistic and inward-looking party that shut down the borders and trade and was isolationist. that was a republican party the 1930's. that party lasted until 1952 when dwight eisenhower took an inward party and turned it to an outward party. that ike led party lasted 60 years. we could say we are returning to the 1930's republican party. isolationism and protectionism. geoff: on that point, i was talking to a top number cry and he said he never thought he

would be in a position -- to a top democrat and he said he never thought he would be in a position to say that he was going to miss mitch mcconnell. >> let me give edge mcconnell his flowers. -- let me give mitch mcconnell his flowers. he is widely and cunning -- wily and cunning. no one knows the rules like mitch mcconnell. he even made up some rules. he stole a supreme court seat from president obama. fast-forward to the death of justice ruth bader ginsburg a month before the election. three days before the election he turned tail and said, we must have a new justice. and justice amy coney barrett got onto the supreme court

stealing a conservative -- ceiling a conservative super majority. another thing he did was remake the federal judiciary in the image he wanted it to bn. young and conservative. a pipeline of federal judges, young federal judges some of dubious quality, who would then rise up and fill higher benches in the federal judiciary. and last but not least, senator mcconnell, when he was majority leader, voted not to convict donald trump in his second impeachment trial for his role in the insurrection of january 6. if he had voted to convict donald trump, other senators would have followed along and donald trump would have been convicted and we might not be in the position we are in today. what made his action even more galang was after he cast the

vote he stood in the well of the senate and gave a fire and brimstone speech that was right thing to say. unfortunately, it did not match the vote he gave pure while i will give him his flowers for being a mastermind, a master political genius for what he wanted to do, i think he is renaissance of all for a lot of the problems that we are facing right now in the country and in our democracy. >> those are not very nice flowers. geoff: [laughter] thank you to you both. ♪ amna: this week beyoncé continued her reign at the top of the country charts. last week she became the first black woman to head number one with her banjo infused bop, texas hold 'em.

the song has brought a new audience to the genre. reminding enthusiasts of country music's deep african roots. ♪ >> like many looking for connection during the pandemic, 47-year-old marie told her love of dance to tiktok despite the protest of her daughter. >> i got tiktok after my daughter told me not to because it was for the younger generation. reporter: mother and daughter soon teamed up online. tell me about the typical dances you do. >> for me it is the upbeat and funky, move your body in this rhythmic fashion, old-school kind of 90's hip-hop. reporter: but last week the duo stepped into a new genre, a country song courtesy of beyoncé. >> i said, we are doing country now, beyoncé? reporter: the song is one of two

new country singles that she released off her new album. >> why not country? i started thinking about my mother and my grandmother who were all in texas who gave me an upbringing of summers in the country. >> a cowgirl attitude. reporter: can i tell you my favorite part of your dance? the finger pedestals. -- the finger pistols. >> i don't know how you dance to country music so i made it my own like a lot of people are and had fun with it. >> ♪ this ain't texas ♪ reporter: jasmine jennings is a professional dancer and she created her own line dance which now has over 10 million views. >> it blew up pretty fast. i was surprised that a lot of people enjoyed what i did. someone asked me to make a less

complicated version of that so i did. and that one blew up a little bit. and then someone said, ok, do a musical theater version. i had never done musical theater. i had to do a little research on that one. it is just kind of growing. i've seen people bellydancing, river dancing. it is sparking a lot of creativity and challenging people to move to music that they typically would not. reporter: while some beyoncé fans turned to country through her new tracks, longtime country music fan vinny was drawn to texas hold 'em's opening cords played by his favorite instruments. >> the first thing that stood out to me was the banjo intro. i recognized that right away. i was fascinated to hear it especially from beyoncé. reporter: he shared the songs on a country music subreddit, a message board devoted to the

genre that he moderates. he said most of the response was positive but some questioned why beyoncé would step into country. would you expect to see some backlash? country music is overwhelmingly white and largely male. >> there has been a little bit of backlash which is more gatekeeping than anything. there are always people that think, she is intruding on the white space music as a black woman and i have seen a few posts like that. >> without black influence, country is folk music. reporter: alice is largely recognized as the first black woman to cowrite a country song. >> since the beginning of the genre, the banjo has a long and complex history and the history begins in africa. the kind of open footed singing

that we here in country where even the sound of the steel guitar, these sounds how their aesthetic origins in africa. reporter: randall spent over 40 years as a songwriter in nashville. her new book unpacks the erasure of countries black roots and the industry's exclusion of black artists for decades. even today a country music radio station in oklahoma initially refused to play beyoncé songs. >> beyoncé has blasted through the intended and unintended boundaries. the cultural redlining. and she has ascended to a height that no other black woman has ascended to in country. this is a tribute to her own genius and it spots -- and it spotlights the genius that came before. reporter: a path forged by trail blazers like charlie pride and more recently, darius rucker,

palmer and brittany spencer. work that randall argues allows the music to reach a larger audience. an audience that, thanks to beyoncé, now includes marie and patience. >> we have been digging into country music. people are sharing more country artists. reporter: will we see more country dancing on your tiktok? >> i was just about to say that we got our country hats and boots. we are ready. ♪ ♪ geoff: we will be back shortly. amna: take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it is a chance to offer your support which helps the programs like ours on the air.

♪ ♪ geoff: for those of you staying with us, we look at one man's extraordinary efforts to return neglected or misplaced family mementos to their owners. this is an encore story. ♪ reporter: they can show everything from life's big moments to snapshots of the every day. but these videos all share the same purpose, to find out just who these memories might belong to. it is a task undertaken by a man dubbed the sherlock of tiktok. >> any photograph is my first priority but i'm looking for anything that is technically a lost memory. reporter: the search often begins at a thrift store. >> it can be a home movie, a diary, letters, photo albums and

even memory cards. reporter: during the early days of the pandemic in 2020 was looking for a project when he stumbled across a bucket of old photos. >> immediately i thought if my family photographs were in there, i would want someone to flip over the back and read my family name on it and try to find me online. i thought i might as well start doing that for other people. >> i found this strip of film at a thrift store in new york. reporter: he turned to social media creating the popular museum of lost memories. there is more than a million followers. >> this is just some of the stuff that i have collected over the last few years. reporter: he is a social media manager for a health-care company i day brings his fines home to digitize and post to his accounts hoping the social media platforms will help him deliver what he finds to their original owners. is there any commonality in the ways in which these items have

ended up in places where you i found them? >> i think most of the things i find, from either a move or after a family member passes away. a lot of them items just get misplaced. people don't know what they are getting rid of. ♪ reporter: so far only 10% of the materials has made its way back home but whether a return happens or not, he believes the offer is worth it. >> i think it is extremely important. i think people deserve to have their memories back and i think that every day life is important to be preserved. reporter: just a month and a half after starting the museum he was able to make as first connection with this tape. >> i found this at a thrift store in long island. the clues included that it said africa. it was a vacation from africa. and then there was a shirt, he

was wearing a shirt that said wesley and university. reporter: the shirt was the key that ultimately helped identify jonah markets. >> at first i thought it was spam. in 1989 marcus was 23 years old when he and his parents went on a safari. his mom brought a camcorder and captured this footage that would be found more than 30 years later. >> we did not really lose track of it like we lost it. it just gets buried in the stuff. my father died around seven years ago. and when my mom moved house, it is a little cassette tape so it got lost in there. reporter: lost until the post went viral and a team of volunteers started chipping in to try to find out who this family was. >> this woman julie sent me a link and i looked at it in

disbelief. sure enough, my mom and dad and i were on tiktok. tiktokers decided to do some internet sleuthing and found me. reporter: marcus is now 56 and lives in bethesda, maryland posted another video on tiktok re-creating the footage with his wife and children. he said it struck a chord with people during the pandemic. >> i think it presented opportunities for people to finally feel themselves, let go and not be scared. ther are a lot of tiktok posts of people crying when they see it. and part of it is a very simple family on a safari. and i think the ending with my father and then showing that he had passed, that as an ending

really hit a lot of people. reporter: since then he has made several more connections including with the freeman, a jewish family that lived in vienna during world war ii and lost these photos taken and 1943. he was able to track down their relatives and discovered they had likely fled to new york. >> we were able to get in contact with that family and return those memories to them which they had never seen before. it was the perfect story from start to finish having 1-2 clues and having so many people participate in trying to find that family and then finding them in the end. reporter: with the viral success of his posts, people from all over the world have begun sending him materials and hopes that the museum can help find the original owners. >> people are finding things in jordan and south america and from all over the world. reporter: we watched as he

opened one package from the united kingdom. >> look at this one. it looks like a group of miners. reporter: it contains a picture and a letter written ink cursive and it begins with birthdays keep coming along and it is nice to think we are remembered. >> if i could give any message it is to preserve your own family history. scan your photographs. write names on the back of them. if you are young and your grandparents are around, sit with them and interview them and get their story on video. convert the dhs tapes. all of this is going away and the sooner you have it preserved the better. reporter: he believes it is an effort that will pay off for generations to come. for the pbs newshour, christopher booker from new york. ♪ amna: before we go, we want to

celebrate the man who has been one of the guiding forces and unseen heroes of this program. our formidable director joe camp is retiring after 50 years at w eta. geoff: joe's career started in the early 1970's as a stagehand and cameraman. he was a camera operator for the watergate hearings during pbs's gavel-to-gavel coverage that eventually led to the mcneil lehrer report which later became the newshour. amna: in 1983 he became a director for washington week where he worked closely with our dear colleague and one of his biggest fans, the late when i fall. geoff: and for the last 15 years, joe has been directing the newshour with jim lehrer as anchor and then judy woodruff and now us. he has led our team and countless newscasts, election nights and congressional hearings, breaking news and live

shows from around the world. amna: to our team he has been a seady, wise, generous leader who has made what you see at home better. to me he has been the calm and firm voice that i hear in my ear. joseph, we will miss you so. geoff: joe, thank you for your steady hand in the control room, your camaraderie, good humor, dedication to the craft but above all thank you for being an unwavering source of support. we wish you a retirement as extraordinary as a legacy you leave behind. amna: here is to you, joe. [applause] geoff: the gold standard. [applause] amna: we will miss you so. and that is at the newshour. geoff: thank you so much for

joining us and have a good evening and a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> it was like an aha moment, this is what i love doing. early-stage companies have this energy that energizes me. these are people who are trying to change at the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs, it is the same thing. i'm helping people reach their dreams. i am thriving by helping others every day. people who know, know bdo. ♪ announcer: and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so

people and nature can thrive together. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ ♪ and friends of the newshour. ♪ ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ ♪

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. israeli forces open fire in gaza as hungry palestinians rush towards rare aid trucks, and a deadly stampede ensues. i speak to mark regev, senior adviser to the israeli prime minister. and i get an american perspective from a stormer state department official. then "burn book." long time tech journalist kara swisher talks about lifting thevale on silicon valley in her new memoir,