captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> sreenivasan: good evening, i'm hari sreenivasan. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: as iraqi forces take back the last isis-held town in the country, a new investigation reveals the civilian casualties from coalition air strikes. also ahead, using military training to protect africa's elephants. how one lieutenant colonel is making it her life mission to save wildlife from poachers. >> the work that we do and the skills that we have are such a value in a field that so important and outside of the true military intelligence field. >> sreenivasan: and it's friday, mark shields and david brooks are here. we discuss the sexual misconduct allegations reaching both sides of the political aisle, and the republican's tax bill progress. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these 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. >> sreenivasan: the storm over sexual misconduct is still swirling tonight around a senate candidate in alabama, and a sitting senator in minnesota. lisa desjardins reports on the day's developments. >> reporter: for the women who gathered, the rally in montgomery, alabama this morning

was a show of resistance. kayla moore, wife of alabama senate candidate roy moore, again defended him against sexual misconduct accusations. >> let met set the record straight, even after all the attacks against me, my husband, and family, he will not step down. >> reporter: but neither are moore's accusers backing down. this morning, tina johnson spoke to nbc's "today" show. she told an alabama news outlet this week that moore groped her in 1991, when she was 28. i know people are saying, "it's just a grab." i was vulnerable from the start, and he was in a position of power. >> reporter: alabama governor kay ivey said today she has no reason to doubt moore's accusers, but plans to vote for moore in the december special election. meanwhile, at the white house, press secretary sarah sanders repeated this line about

president trump's view on moore. >> he weighed in and said if the allegations are true, he should step aside. >> reporter: the president himself focused on democratic senator al franken of minnesota. and this photo showing franken seeming to grope a sleeping woman in 2006. that woman says franken also forcibly kissed her. overnight, mr. trump said the picture of franken "is really bad," and "to think that just last week he was lecturing about sexual harassment and respect for women." how does that square with the sexual misconduct allegations against the president himself? sanders responded. >> senator franken admitted wrongdoing and the president hasn't that's a very clear distinction. >> reporter: franken has apologized and expressed remorse. but at the minnesota state capitol today, political pressure from a fellow democrat, state auditor rebecca otto. >> i came out early and i asked for senator franken to resign. it's hard, he's a friend. >> reporter: franken has said he would welcome a senate ethics investigation.

for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. in the day's other news, the chairman of florida's democratic party stepped down after allegations of improper behavior toward women. six former party staffers and consultants say stephen bittel made suggestive comments and leered at them. he apologized in a statement. reverend jaime johnson has resigned from the department of homeland security over racial remarks. he took over the office of faith-based partnerships in april. johnson stepped down thursday, after cnn reported him saying in 2008, "america's black community has turned cities into slums because of laziness, drug use and sexual promiscuity." in iraq, government forces and tribal fighters today took back the last town held by the islamic state group. the military said army tanks rolled into the town of rawa, in anbar province, and routed the militants in just five hours. pockets of isis resistance remain in iraq's western desert. zimbabwe's president robert mugabe has made his first public

appearance since the military put him under house arrest on tuesday. he showed up today at a university commencement in the capital city, harare, even as talks continued on having him give up power. meanwhile, in washington, secretary of state rex tillerson called for a "quick return to civilian rule." >> zimbabwe has an opportunity to set itself on a new path, one that must include democratic elections and respect for human rights. ultimately, the people of zimbabwe must choose their government. >> sreenivasan: zimbabwe's ruling party called today for mugabe's removal. and, plans are under way for an anti-mugabe rally tomorrow. tensions over kenya's disputed presidential election flared today, and at least five people were killed. police in nairobi fired tear gas and live rounds at supporters of opposition leader raila odinga. they'd gathered to welcome him home from a trip overseas. president uhuru kenyatta won last month's vote when the opposition boycotted over claims of fraud. back in this country, reverend jesse jackson announced he

has parkinson's disease. the civil rights leader is 76. in a letter to supporters, he said, "i have been slow to grasp the gravity of it," but can no longer ignore the symptoms. cleanup workers have arrived at the scene of a keystone pipeline oil spill in south dakota. trans-canada shut down the line yesterday after it leaked 200,000 gallons. next week, the state of nebraska decides whether to allow construction of a related project, the keystone x.l. pipeline. the director of puerto rico's power authority quit today, under fire. ricardo ramos was heavily criticized for hiring a small montana company to rebuild a system badly damaged by hurricane maria. the contract has since been terminated. so far, about 45% of the island's customers have gotten power restored. on wall street, the dow jones industrial average plunged 100 points to close at 23,358. the nasdaq fell 10 points, and the s&p 500 slipped six. still to come on the newshour: an investigation showing u.s.

operations kill more iraqi civilians than previously thought. anti-terrorism tactics used to protect elephants under attack from hunters and poachers. mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. and much more. >> sreenivasan: the islamic state group has largely been driven from the cities in iraq and syria that it controlled with fear and terror. a u.s. bombing campaign played a major role in the fight. but according to a report in the "new york times," thousands more civilians were killed in those bombing runs than the pentagon initially admitted. i spoke earlier with one of the authors from that report, azmat khan, about how she and her colleagues conducted the investigation. >> well, we wanted to see how the u.s. coalition air campaign was playing out on the ground. so we did a systematic sample in

three different traditionally isis-held areas near mosul, and we looked at every single air strike in each of these areas. what we found or what we were trying to figure out was which number of air strikes of the total number of air strikes in those areas resulted in civilian deaths or casualties, and then from that to determine which one of those were coalition air strikes so we could get a reliable sense of how effectively this campaign was going, because when you look at the coalition's statements about this, they said this this is tht precise air campaign in the history of warfare. i really wanted to know if that was the case. >> sreenivasan: what did you find? >> we found that might not matter if the intelligence is wrong. of 103 air strikes we looked at, there were 20 civilian casualty incidents of air strikes, and in about half of those, there appeared to be no discernible target nearby, no isis target

suggesting either poor or faulty intelligence some if you don't have the right target in mind and you're conflating civilians with combat combatants, your presayings may not matter. if you're hitting the house, you want, it doesn't matter if it's an incorrect daughter get. >> sreenivasan: you showed central command your findings and the reporting you had didn't and compared them to what, their own youtube videos? >> yes, their own youtube videos, their own previous statement, their own public admissions of what they have acknowledged as civilian casualty incidents. so i went to the combined air operations center in udade, which is where u.s. central command is in the region and where these aircraft take off to bomb in iraq and syria, and, you know, i interviewed many commanders, i interviewed civilian casualty assessment experts. i spoke with legal advisers there, and ultimately i provided them with the coordinates and date ranges of all 103 air

strikes and asked them if these were coalition air strikes. ultimately they denied several of them as unlikely, to which i was able to find their own videos they'd uploaded of military web sites to coalition air strikes to areas where they said, no, that wasn't us, the air strike we carried out was 600 meters or way or a like. so we wanted to check them on how reliable their logs are and thus whether or not you can question their investigative methods when they receive allegations of civilian casualties some are they even able to identify when a strike is their own? the iraqi air force is also carrying out air strikes in iraq. >> sreenivasan: speaking of allegation, you humantize whole story by following one individual who lost four members of his family to an air strike, a civilian. he attempts to clear his name and possibly get reparations. how is that process? >> so it's a unique situation. he's a unique man. he lived in the united states

for several years in the '80s. he went to western michigan university. he is fluent in english, and he's somebody who was also more well off than many of the civilian survivors that i've met. so this is man who meticulously documented what happened to him. he was able to prepare a report. he had relatives, including a professor at yale who was advocating on his behalf who was able to arrange a meeting at the u.s. embassy in baghdad to report his case and bring a file with him. even with all of those reporting mechanisms, it did not result in his family and those four civilian deaths being acknowledged by the coalition. in fact, it took a follow-up from us in november of last year that prompted a process to realize that they had misplaced any original allegation that the coalition may have been looking at, and ultimately in march of this year, they offered him a payment of $15,000. it's a condolence payment, not

meant to compensate him entirely for his home or the losses of rights, but as a gesture of sympathy and gratitude, and in this case, you have him turn down that offer, but this is the best-case scenario. so if it took him a year and a half to get to that offer and that act thojment and still not feel like he's got an good answer, what happens to survivors who haven't met a western journalist who is taking up their case as a point of inquiry, as a point of journalistic inquiry? what chance do they have of this? >> the report is called the uncounted at the "new york times." azmat khan, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> sreenivasan: the trump administration this week reversed an obama-era ban on the importation of trophies from

elephants killed in zimbabwe, if the killing meets certain conservation standards. that reversal has provoked a strong backlash. elsewhere in africa, the menace of illegal poaching goes on. it is a daily, and sometimes deadly, struggle. in kenya, modern methods designed to combat terrorism are helping guard these majestic giants. special correspondent jane ferguson report from southern kenya's amboseli national park. >> reporter: searching for signs of wild animals in the african bush, and anyone who would do them harm. these rangers are hunting the hunters. this is their ancestral land, and they know every square inch >> reporter: elephants usually roam these woods too. >> reporter: so how long ago do you think the elephant was here? >> 500 to 600 meters away. >> reporter: it's just a typical day for these men, patrolling for poachers, illegal hunters who would kill elephants for

their tusks. to lieutenant colonel faye cuevas, these men are foot soldiers gathering information in an intelligence war. >> that kind of tactical type of information can have a real strategic significance. >> reporter: now a reservist, faye cuevas spent nearly 20 years as an intelligence officer in the u.s. air force, mostly in special operations. her job involved hunting for signs of terrorists by scouring drone footage of vast swathes of land. it was while searching images of african plains like these, that she learned a devastating fact that would change her life. because of widespread poaching, in 10 to 15 years, elephants in the african wild would be gone. >> which would mean that that before my six- or seven-year-old daughter was able to vote in an election, before she turned 18, that she would not have had the opportunity to see elephants in the wild.

and i think it's inasmuch that, and the fact that we'd be the generation that lost it for them. >> reporter: at the same time, she realized she had the skills to help stop it. >> but we learned quite a few lessons over the course of fighting a global war on terror, and it seemed to me that there was opportunity to apply some of those principles specifically on >> reporter: using some of the same techniques developed to fight terrorism, faye joined the u.s.-based international fund for animal welfare, known as ifaw, where she started an intelligence-led effort to disrupt poaching networks. she and her colleagues collect the data found by rangers and people living in communities alongside the elephants. they then bring together this information, analyze it and form intelligence reports that can help advise kenyan wildlife service agents and police. in the last six months alone, ifaw says faye's work has led to 21 arrests of suspected poachers. and here is what's at stake. the majestic african elephant,

in its natural home. the newshour traveled with faye and her colleagues to amboseli national park in southern kenya where efforts to protect the animals are crucial. >> when you're here and you're with these elephants, it doesn't matter how your week was, or what you had for lunch or how busy you are or how many things are on your calendar for the next day. because to think about those things comes at the cost of this moment. >> reporter: along with the beauty comes the harsh reality of survival. we came across this pride of lions devouring a recent kill, a wildebeest. the park and the surrounding lands are a delicate, perfect network, where all animals depend on one another. >> reporter: james isiche shares the same passion for protecting these wild animals. in the battle to save them protect the wildlife, james has become a crucial partner for faye. >> every animal counts. every individual is so painful

to lose. >> reporter: before joining ifaw, he was a senior warden at another wildlife reserve in kenya. working with a military veteran, an air force officer like faye, brings new skills to his life's mission. >> this is a very, very complicated war. it is a crime that crosses borders, it's a cross-border crime. it crosses continents, it crosses seas. money laundering is involved, and these are skills that your normal wildlife conservationist doesn't have. >> reporter: does it ever get old? >> it never gets old for me. i mean, this is a privilege. but it's a big responsibility. i mean, you lose an elephant, you really feel it. >> reporter: deep down, faye knew she had to be here on the ground in africa if she was going to fight this war. as a single mother of three small children, that would mean their path in life needed to change dramatically, too.

>> i'm with my kids who, at the and said, you know, we have a decision to make as a family, but i think it could be quite an adventure. so i said, how would you like to move to kenya? at the conclusion of that meeting and they said that they were ready for adventure. and i say it was about three months later and we were in nairobi. >> reporter: so the family's new life started this year. part of that adventure for faye is spending time with local communities that share their lands with elephants. amboseli park is surrounded by maasai community land, and the elephants need to be able to peacefully co-exist with humans. the maasai are an ethnic group of people living in kenya and neighboring tanzania. they still live by thousands of years of tradition as animal- herders, surviving off the land. to faye, her interaction with the people who live here must be authentic to gain their trust. >> so, i'm going to do a quick change here into a traditional

maasai garment. it's a sign of, or a display of respect really, with the community. that the villagers really appreciate the fact that we've come in wearing something that's traditionally maasai. the massai, living outside the park, are not allowed to graze their cattle there, instead having to walk further into the savannah to find grass. in hungry times like these, resentment can build, and if a lion eats a cow or an elephant breaks into a village to graze, people can retaliate by killing the wild animals in return. so faye and her colleagues work to keep them on board. many of their young men are hired as rangers, and tourism attracted by the wildlife brings jobs too. poachers, just like terrorists, faye says, need to infiltrate local communities in order to operate.

so her teammates know the maasai people are valuable allies. >> reporter: still a reservist in the air force, faye travels back to the u.s. each summer for active duty. what do your friends in the military think of what you are doing? >> they think it's pretty cool. >> they think it's pretty cool. i think, you know, from a professional perspective, i think they appreciate the fact that the work that we do and the skills that we have are such a value in a field that's so important, and outside of the true military intelligence field, and you know, this is also not such a bad place to work. >> reporter: she has no regrets. her new life here has given her a sense of purpose and connection to something bigger. >> maybe it's naïve, because it just, i just can't imagine it any other way. i mean, i couldn't imagine not

being here, and maybe, you know, it would've been different if i felt like my kids weren't on board with it. when the kids were excited about it, then there wasn't any turning back. yeah, we were going to come to africa. and we did. >> reporter: when other americans meet colonel cuevas, they ask her the question: "why does she devote herself to fighting poachers?" >> it's the same, for the same reason that people join the military, maybe, or have a call to service. you just do, you do because that's what your heart tells you, what your head tells you, so to not do it would be ignoring all of that. so, yeah, i'm just doing what i've got to do. >> reporter: it is one thing to feel anger and frustration that

wild elephants are so threatened by humans. it's yet another entirely to make it your mission in life to save them. to some, it's simply a matter of duty-- duty to protect the richness of nature. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson in amboseli park, kenya. >> sreenivasan: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: inside washington d.c.'s newest museum, the museum of the bible. microsoft's c.e.o. on a changing work culture. but first, to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. it's a bit like groundhogs day. we're going the cover some topics, sexual harassment and

taxes, and we'll get to some more stuff too, but this week we saw women coming out and alleging sexual misconduct by roy moore, some of them underage, and then we had al franken's behavior in 2006, including a disturbing photograph that nobody can deny. they are not parallel incidents, but the responses have been very different. >> yeah, i mean, i guess it's inevitable, death, taxes, and harassment these days. it seems to me the one failure that we're seeing among a lot of people is how partisan the reaction is, starting with the president. sexual harassment is not a republican thing or it's not a democratic thing. it's just a thing, and it's amazing how many people are reacting, depending on which party the person is, how their reaction is. i personally overall think this is a good thing. our standards are raising. people who have done this conduct are being punished, an we're cleaning out the swamp. alongside, that i think it's important to make some distinctions among the different

levels of sin here. it seems to me what harvey weinstein did and what avik roy roy -- roy moore did are the highest level of vileness, which should be career enders. then setting a predatory environment should be a career ender, whether it's bill clinton or some of the journalists who have been involved. and then i would put al franken so far in a different category frankly, what he did was narcissistic and insensitive and just pathetic, but if it's one time and if he can apologize and then do real penance, my first instinct is that it should not be a career ender for him. >> sreenivasan: mark, oftentimes it's not one time. oftentimes we start to see a pattern of behavior that might be in the background as more people feel empowered to speak up. >> no, and that's what we've found so far in these instances. it's not usually a single solitary event. but i think david makes a very

persuasive point about what we have with roy moore, the reaction and the opening news summary when the governor of alabama says she has no reason not to believe the women, but she's still going to vote for roy moore, that there is a disconnect there, and the only explanation can be just blind, unyielding total part -- partisanship. let's be very blunt. feminists rallied to bill clinton's support during his long, complicated, lying to the american people about a disproportionate power relationship that he had with a 21-year-old intern and adele trows behavior, who rallied to his support because bill clinton was pro-choice on abortion. and there are those who now are

ready to skewer roy moore, i'm not going to deny that he needs skewering, for ideological reasons, and because he used his political position. but if we're talking about behavior and not blind partisanship, i don't think al franken's behavior rises to the level of eviction from the senate or anything of the sort. but for a party based an awful lot of its appeal on identity politics, that we are the women's party, that we believe in women's right, that we respect women and that republicans don't, this is a body blow, and al franken has been a major fund-raiser for democrats, and he has been an aggressive inquisitor on committees, so i think it is

serious. i don't know where it's going to stop, but i think in the final analysis we have to come to grip, it is power, it's men exercising power generally speaking with women, and the women in the position of is is y cant without the resources or the means of protesting or bringing justice. >> first on the clinton thing, i think we just have to look back and say the people who ignored the testimony of kathleen willey and juanita roderick helped set the stage for this. the democrats helped set the atmosphere for what we're seeing for the behavior of harvey weinstein and others. and there is a word for what defenders of roy moore are doing, the people who are vote for him nonetheless. one is idolatry, the other is heresy, because the people who are putting... who are going the

sacrifice morality for politics are making an id.l. out-of-politics. they're saying politics is higher than morality. if you're putting politics above personal morality, above the way we treat each other, above the nature of your own souls, you're just making an idol out of it. that is the ultimate in heresy. and i saw a tweet from franklin graham, billy graham's son, defending moore, you know, sort of oh, they're a bunch of hypocrites up there, it's just appalling. it's almost mindboggling that people who, especially people who have been steeped in any faith could make this kind of fundamental error, which is warned against again and again in the bible. >> sreenivasan: then there is the president. he on capitol hill when he was there for some press conferences earlier in the week, he had several questions shouted to him about this, which he did not... he chose not to adepression, and senator sanders as we saw

earlier in the program said he does feel if, in fact, the evidence is true against moore, that moore should step aside, but at the same time, while there has been kind of a consistent talking point for a while that the people of alabama should decide the fate of roy moore, the president comes out with a tweet late last night about al franken, and it says, "the al frankenstein picture is really bad. speaks a thousand words." does this at this point open him up to a line of criticism saying, well, if this is what you're going to say about this person that was accused of misconduct, what about the 15 or so women who have publicly come out against you? >> well, like i said, it's simple. just treat everybody the same regardless of party. it's not complicated. and so the president is open to hypocrisy on this particular issue. it seems to hold him back not. >> i guess i should not be surprised that somebody who found a friendly family

podiatrist in 1968 to avoid military draft and not serve his country in vietnam and then went on the attack and disparage the heroic service of john mccain, who spent 5.5 years as a prisoner of war and saw no inconsistency in that hypocrisy, indefensibility, morally about what he did. i shouldn't be surprised that he, facing charges... having pledged that he was going to sue these women who had accused him of sexual harassment, sexual molestation and worse, and never having initiated any kind of action, never responded to them, would go after al franken and duck the roy moore matter. why he'd want to... it just invites the replaying of the access hollywood tape and his own how-to manual on how to

molest women and how if you're rich and powerful women are indefensible to what you do. so i guess i shouldn't be surprised, but still he does surprise me from time to time on his shamelessness. she's a shameless man. >> sreenivasan: let me ask you if you are surprised about something else that's happened this week, the progress of the republican tax plan. do you think that... what do you think happens in the senate? >> i would say, first of all, i think that paul ryan, who i've criticized, certainly did perform. he got it through. he rallied the republicans mostly to it. there are just a couple things about it. i've been going to republican conventions since 1976. i have heard the party time and again solemnly pledge in its compact and covenant with the american people that we will support and fight for a balanced budget constitutional amendment. i hope that never appears again,

because they have proved they don't care about that. all the tax cuts is cutting the concern rat rate from 35% to 20%. that's all it is. everything else is window dressing. and usually when there's a tax cut, some behavior is required, for a charitable deduction, you have to give a donation to a charity. for a childcare credit, you have to have a child, and there has to be... there is nothing required of these corporations. there is not a nickel they have to spend in investment. there's not a nickel they have to spend in retraining. there's not a nickel they have to spend in anything for their own workers. and the idea that they're going to pass this on an increase wages goes back to john galbraith's theory of economics, which is if you stuff enough oats into the horse that eventually a little will pass through to the road and the

sparrow will be fed. and i just find it absolutely mindboggling. the only other aspect to it that i found fascinating is the republican party that has stood for states' right, and the states that have taxed themselves to improve their education and to improve their healthcare are going to be punished. they're going to remove that. >> sreenivasan: so there's that analogy of trickle-down economics. >> following the biology of that. i wish it was only a concern rat tax cut, because i think there's a lot of good economic evidence that if you give corporations taxes and cash in the hand, they do invest and there's a fair bit of data on this. so i wish it were there. and i think there are other good things in the bill, capping the mortgage interest deduction is a good thing. i think maybe adjusting the state and local taxes is a good thing because 90% of the benefit goes to people making over $100,000 a year. the problem is first it explodes the deficit.

second, it is a raw piece of political exploitation, taking the tax code and benefiting our people at the expense of blue states. we shouldn't turn the tax into a spoils system. and third a tax to the universities and non-profits is unconscionable. so i'm against it. if they fell back the a concern rat tax cut, which had sympathy in the obama administration, it would be happier story. >> mark shield, david brooks, thank you both. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: a new private museum opens today in washington, d.c., not far from the public smithsonian institution. the massive "museum of the bible" is devoted to an enduring subject of debate, and the museum has found itself at times the subject of scrutiny prior to the opening. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: it's a museum dedicated to a book.

but not just any book. the new $500 million "museum of the bible" in washington d.c. is grand in scale. filled with some 3,000 biblical texts and artifacts; immersive, walk-through exhibitions of biblical stories; and a variety of hands-on and other displays. there's an exhibition called "washington revelations," that simulates "ride," taking visitors to government sites bearing biblical scripture. the elevators envelope the visitors in heavenly scenes, and the restaurant here is called "manna." a lot to take in. but according to people involved, a simple and clear focus: not to proselytize or present religious doctrine, but to raise public awareness of the centrality of the bible. >> here's a book that had an impact on our world, foundational to our government, so the question is, why has there not been a museum to the bible? we just think that people ought

to know it better. >> brown: the museum was the vision of steve green, who serves as its chairman. he's also the billionaire owner and president of hobby lobby, the arts and crafts retailer that successfully challenged on religious grounds the government mandate for businesses to provide contraception services to employees under obamacare. his involvement, and that of other prominent evangelicals, raised questions and concerns about the museum's mission, especially set as it is just several blocks from the capitol. to place a museum of the bible here, is that not a political statement in any way? >> it's not intended to be, but it also does not mean that we wouldn't be interested in our congressmen and congresswomen to come here, and to learn about the bible. so, while that wasn't the primary purpose, the primary purpose was, where would this museum be most attended? the idea was always to have a non-sectarian museum, which means it's not about a faith

tradition, a church, or denomination, it's simply about a book. >> brown: one floor tracks how the bible was transmitted through time and translations into many languages. videos feature actors as leading historical figures, such as martin luther, and a young guide taking viewers around the globe. another floor presents "stories of the bible," and includes a re-creation of nazareth with scenes of everyday life. ( birds chirping ) and a vista of the sea of galilee jesus might have taken in. a third floor is dedicated to the "impact of the bible," with an emphasis on american history: leading political and other figures. the bible cited by both slaveholders and abolitionists, its power in the civil rights movement. even its presence in popular culture: including hip hop recordings, and fashion. but perhaps just as interesting

as what's here, is what you don't see. >> we don't talk about the bible being holy, or, we don't talk about it being inspired. >> brown: gordon campbell of the university of leicester, serves as an advisor to the museum. >> we tell the stories that are in the bible, but they have no theological spin. so, christians believe that the garden of eden is a story of original sin, but one of our jewish advisors said the garden of eden was hardly perfect-- it had a snake in it! so we say nothing about "original sin." we don't read it theologically. what people will be seeing is a correct, but neutral, view. >> brown: i think a lot of people would question is it even possible to present the bible neutrally? >> ah, we've just done it! >> brown: also notable, the museum studiously avoids hot-button political issues such as abortion. seth pollinger, director of museum content, says the intent is to get the bible "in the

middle of the conversation." he cited the nearby science pavilion. >> we really haven't gotten into the issue of evolution, partly because as a museum, we're not looking to take a position on, you now, how was the world created. >> brown: you're not? >> we would rather just raise actually a different issue, which is, what's the relationship between the bible and science? are they at odds or are there some compatibilities? >> brown: but some outside scholars, including jill hicks-keeton of the university of oklahoma, see a clear message in the artifacts and layout of the museum. >> the story i see being told is one that sees the protestant bible as the end goal. and so, there is a recognition of diversity here with multiple canons used by different faith traditions, or religious traditions, but the protestant bible stands front and center under the illuminated "book of book." >> brown: hicks-keeton doesn't believe a "neutral" presentation of the bible is possible, and the one here presents a

pre-ordained, positive march from judaism to catholicism to an ascendant protestantism. do you have to be a scholar to see it? >> i don't know if you have to be a scholar, but you definitely need to be made aware of how museums function, and to made aware that the bible can't speak for itself, that it's always being interpreted i don't think anyone would deny a faith community the opportunity to present their faith claims about the bible. but biblical scholars want them to be candid about the faith perspective that's informing the organization of the material. >> brown: in addition to the museum's mission, its holdings have also been subject to widespread scrutiny. in a new book called "this dangerous book," steve green describes how he set about in 2009 to acquire biblical artifacts, a collection that grew to more than 40,000. this past summer, hobby lobby paid a $3 million fine and forfeited thousands of artifacts after the justice department said items had been

intentionally mislabeled and smuggled out of iraq. deborah lehr heads the antiquities coalition, which works to stop looting and trafficking. >> it put a very bright spotlight on the museum, there's no question about it, and so in that sense, there are lot of archeologists and governments around the world now focused on the bible museum in ways that they were not before. >> brown: they're watching carefully. >> they're watching very carefully. >> brown: the museum has some 300 pieces from the green collection, with the rest of its holdings acquired in recent years or on loan from institutions and private collectors. gordon campbell says the museum is working hard to check the ownership history, or provenance, of every item. >> there's a normal transition between an amateur collection and a professional museum. amateurs begin as just that. they sometimes take bad advice, they take bad advice and they make mistakes, and we made mistakes. but as we became a museum, we

professionalized. but that said, we have a backlog of things that were acquired early on, that we're working very hard to establish the credential of. the aspiration is to be totally transparent about it. >> brown: one example we saw: a label asking if these "dead sea scroll fragments" are real? deborah lehr has met with museum officials and believes they're taking the issue very seriously. but, days before the opening, she added: >> what we're going to be looking for is how they've labeled these items and which ones they have on display. there are certain items that we are aware of, that have come into question, because we've been approached by some of the middle eastern governments raising concerns. >> brown: so you'd rather see them not display it right now? >> that's right, we would rather see them not display any items that are under question. >> brown: as the new museum opens, there is much excitement and many questions. i asked steve green what he hopes visitors will take from

their experience here. >> we would hope that they would be inspired, once they leave, to engage with it, because our mission is hopefully to inspire all people to engage with the bible. >> brown: it's not hard to look around the world today and s a lot of problems, right? do you think that the museum opening will have an impact? >> i think that the timing, i leave to god. ten years ago, we would not imagine that we would be on this this book helps answer some of the problems that mankind faces. hopefully, it will bring some unity and peace and hope for people, if they would consider this book. >> brown: for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in washington. >> sreenivasan: the 430,000 square-foot, non-profit museum suggests but does not require a $15 entry donation.

>> sreenivasan: finally tonight, we hear from a leading c.e.o. about changing the culture of a successful company, and how his own personal experiences helped inform his approach. judy recorded this conversation for the "newshour bookshelf." >> woodruff: most c.e.o.s who write memoirs and leadership books do so after they finish their career, but the chief executive of microsoft, satya nadella, is out with one now about his ongoing efforts to reinvent microsoft and make sure the tech giant stays relevant in fast-changing industry. it's titled "hit refresh." the company has had its share of critics over the years, and it's sometimes adaptedded slowly, but it has long been hugely profitable. in the last quarter alone, it earned more than $24 billion and its market value has jumped by $250 billion since nadella took over more than three years ago. among other things nadella is trying to make sure microsoft is adapting to the era of cloud

computing. the book is also a part memoir of his own experiences, including his early years in india and coming to the united states. satya nadella joins me now. welcome to the news hour. so as we were just saying, most people don't write a book while they're still in the middle of work, but you did. why? >> right. most business books in some sense are either mostly look-back, either at grand successes or grain failures. i wanted to reflect as a sitting c.e.o. on the hard questions and the answers to that while you're going through the process of or the difficult process of transformation. so it was not meant to be actually something that is a look-become after having reached some destination or declared some victory. >> woodruff: you said at one point in the book originally you concede this as a collection of meditations from a c.e.o. in the

middle of transformation. if it's not that, then what it is? >> it is that. it is that sitting c.e.o. meditations of the transformation that we're going through then versus having reached any destination. the thing that i realize is that this process of change is not something that is a one-time process. it's this continuous journey of pushing yourselves to renew, and the difficulties of doing it, because the one thing with change is it's easy to talk and hard to do, and so that's the metaphor, even this hit refresh, the trick is not to say, let's cange everything, because the browser when it hits refresh, it knows what to change and what to keep, and that's what successful companies have to learn to do continuously. >> woodruff: you also write about your own personal story about how you and your wife, your first son was born with serious cerebral palsy. he's now 21 years old. and you write about how that

changed you, how it took you longer than it took your wife to sort of come to grips with that. talk about that. >> my wife and i were the only children in our family, and we were very excited. the entire family was very excited. i was 29 years old before zane was born. even a few hours before perhaps if you had asked me, you know, what are the thoughts going through my mind, they were mostly concerning things like will the nursery be ready, will my wife go back to work, and, of course, everything changed that night. there was complications and zane was been with brain damage and that resulted in cerebral palsy. maybe for two years, maybe even longer, i went through this phase where i was mostly reflecting on all the things that happened to me, all the plans we had and i had are no longer valid. why did this happen to us? why did this happen to me?

it was only by observing my wife and what came naturally to her, in fact, i remember that as she recovered from the c-section, she would, in fact, drive zane from therapy to therapy, trying to give him the best chance he could get, and by me observing her, i realized nothing had happened to me, something really had happened to zane and it was time for me to get over the fact of what happened to me and really start seeing the world through his eyes. and that realization, which i use the word empathy for it, is not sort of an innate capability i had. it's life experiences like this one that helped shape that in me, and that, of course, is something that carries forward in who i am at work. >> woodruff: you are candid, satya nadella, in talking about

early mistakes you made. one was a comment you made in 2014 about women shouldn't be pushy in thinking about asking for a pay raise. you learned from that. you have talked about how it made you think differently about women in the workforce. how so? >> yeah, for example, at this grace harper conference a couple years ago, when i went there, i went there to learn, and i did learn for sure, because the question that was asked was around women and pay, and i gave an answer which was sort of nonsense based on sort of my own personal experience, and the woman interviewing me on stage was kind enough to correct me right there. but even subsequently when i went back even to microsoft, i met with some of the senior women who work with me is when i really understood in a deep way all that is wrong with our system, so for me to go to a women's conference and say, trust the system, is to

disjointed from the reality. that's when again very similar to sort of zane's birth, it was a moment where i was able to see it through their eyes. but more importantly understand my responsibility as a c.e.o. my job is to make sure that i'm pushing to create a system that not only has representation but more importantly it helps everyone have the opportunity to contribute and get the reward for it. >> woodruff: as a public policy issue, you've also been outspoken about that. and this is immigration. you've talked about the virtues of immigration. you have been outspoken in advocating for those young people who came to the united states without documentation but with their parents, to so-called daca program, the dreamers, and you have expressed that you hope the trump administration and the congress sees fit to do something about that. why is that a concern, a worry for you? >> i look back, i'm a product of

two amazingly unique american things. one is american technology reaching me where i was growing up, allowing me to dream, and then american immigration policy letting me live that dream out. and when i think about both of these, i think that that's where our competitive advantage comes from. so i don't think immigration is something that you do that is somehow disjointed from the broader advantage it brings to our society, to our economy. and quite frankly, it's not just about skilled immigration. because one of the other things that gives us a tremendous amount of soft power in the world is america is a beacon of hope for everybody needs it the most. and that is an invaluable position to have in any global order. so i do hope that we see immigration without, by the way, ignoring the fact that equitable growth for people who are

already here in the united states is a super important agenda, but if you don't pick these -- pit these two things against each other, but recognize america's own interest in having an immigration policy and attacking the equitable growth inside the country, i think we should really step up both in the legislative as well as in the private sector. >> woodruff: satya nadella who came to the united states at the age of 20. >> 21. my 21st birthday. >> woodruff: now a c.e.o. of microsoft and the book is "hit refresh." thank you very much. >> thank you so much. >> sreenivasan: on the newshour online right now: as we remember gwen ifill this week, we revisit some of her wise words on the importance of listening, and why she loved the musical "hamilton." look back through her "gwen's take" columns on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour.

and, join robert costa on "washington week," which airs later tonight here on pbs. bob, what's coming up? >> tonight, we go inside the tax talks on capitol hill. look at the continuing fallout surrounding alabama judge roy moore's past as his potential future as a u.s. senator. plus the bombshell accusations of sexual misconduct by democratic senator al franken. that's later tonight on "washington week." >> sreenivasan: tomorrow on pbs newshour weekend, fearing a pandemic flu, researchers are anxiously working to develop a universal flu vaccine. >> sreenivasan: that's tomorrow night on pbs newshour weekend. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm hari sreenivasan. have a great weekend. see you tomorrow. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> collette. >> supporting social

entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these 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 sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh

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>> rose: welcome to the program. tonight an inside look at america's most honored television news program. part one of a two part conversation with jeff fager, the executive producer of "60 minutes." his book is called 50 years of "60 minutes" the inside story of television's most influential broadcast. >> if you ask me what a worry about it's just that we get caught up in the television business the way typical chasing ratings. when that happens, it goes against what we are about. and what's interesting about that dynamic is that we don't pander to particular oddances but we're by far the most wanted television show in america. >> rose: 50 years of "60 minutes" when we continue.