captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good ev judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, high stakes ade-- president ump admonishes china as the u.s. hosts negotiations with to beijficials. then, inside yemen: its people face a healthcare crisis, disease epidemics and chronic shortages of fuel and food amid ongoing war. plus, the economic argument for leting your social media accounts-- why one computer scientist says users should log f and demand change. >> if you ani talk over social media, the only way that can happens if it's for the benefit of a third party who's paying for it. and their only possible nefit is getting us to change our behavior. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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tough words for china as trade talks with a delegation from beijing got underway. the president said china had been "spoiled" by lenient u.s. trade policies for too long, and vowed that the u.s. would no longer be "rippeoff." we'll take a deeper dive intoe the trttle later in the program. in the day's other news, president trump pivoted from words of praise to threats of military force against north korea. meeting with the head o at the white house, the president said hhoped next month's summit with kim jong un would go forward. pyongyanhas threatened to cancel the meeinng if the u.s. sts it give up its entire nuclear arsenal. mr. trump suggested if kim does not make a deal, he could meet a fate similar to libyan leader muammar gadhafi. after giving up his nuclear program in 2003, gaddhafi was deposed and killed in a rebellion backed by the u.s. in 2011. >> if you look at that model

with gadhafi that was a totalde mation we went in there to beat them. now that model would take place if we don't make a deal most likely. but if we make a deal i think-u kim jois going to be very, very happy. >> woodruff: the north has suspended talks with south korea, for continuing military drills with the u.s. north korea's head negotiator blasted the south today as "ignorant and incompetent." the c.i.a. has a new director:co gina haspel wairmed by these te today in a 54-45 vote. she faced opposition fromat demofor her role in harsh interrogations of detainees at so-called c.i.a. "blackses." but today, six democrats voted to confirm haspel. and two republicans, rand paul and jeff flake, opposed her. haspel will be the first woman to lead the agency. today marks one year since special counsel robert mueller began investigating ties between president trump's associates and

russia. that time, his team has indicted 19 people and secured five guilty pleas, some from former high-ranking trump officials. the president railed against mueller's probe on twitter,ar repeating his that it's "the greatest witch hunt in american history." in the democratic republic of congo, an ebola outbreak has spread from rural areas to a city of over a million people. the country said it had confirmed the first case of the virus in the city of mbandaka. the world health organizationed has ru thousands of doses of an experimental vaccine to congo. 23 people have died ouere since threak began last week.rb >> ebola is a very different phenomenon to ruralca ebola e we know that people in urban areas can have far re contacts so that mean that urban ebola can result in anesxponential increase in c in a way that rural ebola struggles to do.

>> woodruff: congo's health ministry ss it will start administering the vaccine early next week.n backis country, a violent eruption of hawaii's kilauea volcano shook the big island today. d it's been spewing ash anocks of ballistic rocks the size of microwaves. today, the plume reached 30,000 feetigh. officials warned of dangerous driving coitions, and urged residents to shelter in place. on wall street today, the dowin jonestrial average lost 55 points to close at 24,714. the nasdaq fell 16 points, and the s&p 500 ipped two points. still to come on the newshour: what's at stake in the trade talks between the u.s. and china. the american birth rate falls to a 30-year low. inside yemen, where war is tearing apart the country's health care system, and much more.

>> woodruff: prospects for seerting an all out trade war dimmed today as thnd round of negotiations between the u.s. d china kicked off in washington, d.c. as yamiche alcindor reports, both president trump and the chinese appear to be digging in their heels. >> we have been ripped off by china, an evacuation of wealth like no couny has ever seen fore. >> alcindor: president trump railed against existindatrade deals he appeared pessimistic about talks aimed to head off a looming trade war. >> china has become very spoiled. omthe european union has b very spoiled. othecountries have become ve spoiled because they always got 100% of whatever they wantedst from the unitees, but we can't allow that to happen >> alcindor: president trump said conversations with chinese president xi jinping have changed since initial talks

earlier this month. today, the president met with xi's top economic advisor, vice premier liu he, hours before the president spoke-- his economic advisor larry kudlow laid out the u.s.'s intentions. >> we have requested that china change their trading practices, which are unfa and in many ways illegal. a indor: there is word the trump administration is demanding a $200 billion cut in china's trade surplus, and more. protections fo intellectual property. last month, president trump threatened to slap up to $150 billion of punitive tariffs onto more than 1300 chinese exports . in turn, china took direct aim at the u.s.' farindustry and threatened 25% tariffs on soybeans along with cars and aircrafts totaling $50 billion. china's commerce spokespersonod said in beijing, his country did not want to see an increase in tensions.

>> ( translated ): regarding tot visit, we doant to see the escalation of the trade frictions between china and the u.s., of course we are also we will resolutely safeguards ur own intereand will not trade our core interests. >> alcindor: china has countered by asking the u.s. to lift the ban on giant chinese telecom equipment maker zte corporation. the company halted operations after the u.s. government restricted u.s. coanies from selling manufacturing components to zte last month. it was caught illegally shipping goods to iran and north korea. on sunday, the president tweeted he would help zte "get back into business, fast." and added "too many jobs in china lost." his tweet drew bipartisan outrage as critics slammed president trump for helping chese jobs before american jobs. naday, the president defended himself and said c president asked him to look into it. >> the one thing i will say, they also buy a large portion oh their parts fophones that

their making. they're the fourth largest company in terms of that industry. they buy those parts from the united states, that's a loof business. >> alcindor: but this round of talks began amid deep divisions tween u.s. treasury secretary steve mnuchin and mr. trump's trade advisor peter navarro. navarro, a china hard-liner, reportedly clashed with the more "free trader" mnuchin during the first round of teaks in beijing rlier this month. little progress came from those discussions. but mnuchin, who's leading this round of u.s negotiations, has signaled he's eager to cut a deal. r the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: the tensions over oe u.s.-china relationship are certainly a big pathe trade picture but that's not all. the esident had wanted to renegotiate nafta, and get it approv by congress, before the mid-term election. the prospects ofeeting that timeline seem increasingly unlikely. let's zero in on wt's at issue with china. david lampton is director of the china studies program atohns hopkins university's school of advanced international studies.

and he joins me now. david lampton, welcome back to the newshour. gso we-- od to be with you. >> woodruff: we hear these comments from the president. we read there's this tension, and yet, they're still meeting. upw do you siz right now the state of u.s.-china disadcussios on t >> well, i think for-- unless you're involved diectly in the talks, there are a lot of moving parts. we have to admit there's a lot we don't know. but i think the two sides ae very far apart. and the aims that the united states has as a mtter of broad policy are really rather diametrically opsed to china's desires. and they may end up compromising and just agree to buy more in the short ru. but i thk we're very far apart on the fundamental issues. >> woodruff: so we start out very far apart, and you're questioninwhere we go. you were telling us before, we were talking about this, that you think president trump has identified correctly some problems with the chinese and

their approach. but you were saying you think he's used some of the wrong tools. what did you mean? >> well, i think the trade deficit is a problesebect reflects barriers to u.s.' most competitive industries. cyina, in effect, has an industrial pohat identify key sectors for the future-- artificial intelligence, electric autos, higspeed railroad-- and it's subsidizing firms in tho yirlz. it is creating protections to keep out competitive firms. it's financing research and development to a verfy hety amount. and the u.s. feels in the aggregate that's a disadvantage to us that geeflected in the tray deficit, and membership of our most competitive firms feel they have a level playing field at all operating in china. >> woodruff: i think what's confusion to many people is the eesident started out, as mentioned, saying we're going to

impose these tough tar against china. china turns around and, in effect, punishes some of the s. agriculture an other sectors of our economy. >> right.dr >> wf: so, you know, it's hard to see how we're moving toward coming together. >> right. i ink you remember the president said trade wars are easy to hen, and i thin believed chine's more dependent ed states, than we are on them. but the fact is the chinese think capacity to tolerate pain because we're a democratic society is muh ss. and they've targeted their retaliation precisely on those parts of the politmal spect that are most vulnerable and most important to president trump. >> woodruff: they've gone after states, even congressional districts, where it's clear the president needs political support. let me ask u, david lampton, about the president, out of the blue, tweet, state over the weekend that he wanted to do whatever he could to help this giant chinese telecom company,

z.t.e., which had earlier been identified as a company the u.s. should worry about because ofia poteespionage. how are we to read that? >> well, i think this isl confusing to amost everybody who's looked at it for trying to find an unioderlying ratle. the fact of the matter was weon sanc z.t.e., because it had violated export controls ton irannorth korea, among other places. we had reached an agreement, and the chinese firm violated that. hiis was an enforcement act against specifics, really wasn't part of the trade action. apparently, president xi and president trump talked. he made a requestth ann the president sort of seemed to rhetorically fold his hand, which then raises will the whole issue of how serious is he? you wouldn't think you'dment to make a major concession or what could be construed as a

signaling a concession in the midst of thehtalks. so ik almost everybody was confused. it sent a bad messa on law enforcement. >> woodruff: and it's still unclear, i guess, where that'sp going to end >> right. >> woodruff: just remind us, david lampton, what's at sta here for u.s. agriculture and for some of these big sectors, like aircraft, ca, and son? >> well, firms like boeing, for example, they assemble planes in one location, but parts come from every state in the union practically. and so, when china targets those industries, it's tarting a very broad swath of american society. else is at stake is prices in walmart, in target, for g consumods, which will most affect many of the people at the lower part income spectrum. and so, i think the-- you've got an inflationary impact. also, it will cost jobs becweaue

ifaise the tariff on supplies such as steel and aluminum, then other countries that don't have those tariffs against those imports, will have cheaper prices for their goods. and so i thi nk we areing to lose some employment here. >> woodruff: and we've seen the issues with american allies through all this too,. >> right. >> woodruff: just quickly, what do yothink the prospects are at this point? could it be through fits and starts or stumbles of one sort or another that they come to some kind ofeful agreement on trade or not? >> well, i think thewill reach some agreement, but it probably won't be dealing wh the fundamental issue. and that-- the fundamental issue is are we going to level the playing field so ameca competitive firms have access to china? and that's what the business community really wants. e easiest thing that china can do is just use some of its foreign exchange and buy goods without fundamentally changing the terms on which it's doi

trade. so my guess is that we'll see some b number for wht china is going to purchase, but we won't make as much progress on the fundamental structural issues, the level playing field that we need mak >> woodruff: david lampton, thank you very much. >> good to be with you. >> woodruff: birth rates in the u.s.a. dropped to their lowest levels in three decades, falling for nearly every group of women, and part of a longer decline that dates back to the great recession. amna nawaz looks at some of the reasons why this may be happening. >> nawazmore than 3.8 million babies were born in the united states last year. but last year's drop in the nation's birth rate, about 2% overall, was the largest drop in a single year since 2010. the rate even fell slightly for

women in their 30s. and the teen birth rateam continued its ic nosedive since the early nineties, down 55% since 2007. last year, the only group to see a higher birth rate was women in their 40s. all this, amid some concerns about america's aging population. hans peter-kohler who studies fertility and birth rates in this country and many others atn thersity of pennsylvania. dr. kohler, thank you so much for taking the time. let me ask you aboue numbers: the lowest number of recorded births in 30 years. the largest single drop since 2010. it paints a pretty grim picture. is i >> thi report is big news, and the other not all that suthrising. u.s. stood out among high-income countries as one that had relatively high fertilt y. and the grecession changed that, and across many high-income countries, the recession resulted in declining fertility rates.

the really surprising part is that we've now been quit some years through the recession and unemoyment rates is very l and that trend hasn't changed. so these lo rw-fertilites, despite relatively good economic conditions, are really surprising. i wouldn't argue that they're a disaster or particularly worrisom i would argue that the u.s. demographics in general continue to be relatively healthy, at least compared to many other high-income countries. >> let's talk about the economic anxiety. obviously a lot of people point toward that as a theory why the birth rate declines. as you mentioned, we're out of a recession now. how do you look at these numbers? how do you explain this decline? >> so, presumably, a big part is driven by a delay of child bearing. there have been big declines in teenage fertility rates, and that is good news, because that presumably is a decline in unintend pregnancies, and across fult ages, a day of child embargo resultinom, on one

hand, a desire to have charnt later ages, ofn perhaps pressured by economic stress in rly adulthood or high housing prices, or desires to invest in child quality so these trends combine into a pattern where fertility and parenthood is going to be increasingly later. that's going to be across the board. and the u.s. shas this across many high-income countries. >> a lot of people sometimes float a theor beimmigration playing a role in birth rates increasing o declining. tell me abouthat. >> imitant fertility adjusts anlatively quickly to the u.s. native fertility i don't think changes in immigrati policy, immigration flows had a big contribution to these recent declines in total fertility rates. >> so, dr. coaler, tell me why we care so much about birt rate? obviously, people will pay attention to these numbers.

they'll noteseheeclines. what do the numbers say about the health or trajectory of america right now? >> many would see the number of dildren as an inicator of the well-being of the adult population from the notion that individuals e satisfied with their life and havely relatiood economic prospects are more likely to have children. the other reason we care abouts thishat children born today are, oioly, the workers 25 years down the road. and retirees, some 60, 70 years down the road. the number of birth is going to shape the overall size and structure of the u.s. population, and that has a magitute of implications on the economic ac situation of the united states. so in the long term, if this trend persists, they're going to have profound implication. and the annual number of birth probably has relatively small implications. >> dr. kohler, you mentioned these numbers not terribly surprising to you. they're not terribly worrisome right now.

at what point do you start to get worried? >> well, if we compare the u.s. to other higuh-income cntries, we could see that fertility could drop a lot lower. so total fertility rates drop to rate like 1.2 in many southern european countries. they're at the levels in south korea, and we're at somewhat higher levels in japan. so on one hand, there's quite a bit of possibility for further declines in fertility, and on we get to very low fertility-- or what i have called lowestow fertility at some point-- then the kind of implications of rapidly aging populations and possibly declining labor force become very difficuag to man through social policies. dr. peter-kohler from the university of pennsylvania, thank you for your time. >> you're most welcome. >> woodruff: stay with us, comi up on the newshour:

now, we return to our series: inside yemen. tonight a look at a failed state, collapsing because of tions by humans. war has raged since 2015, between shiite houthls, backed by iran, and yemen's government, backed by a saudi- led coalition.ro the houthis colarge areas of yemen, including the capital, sana'a. their conquest reached as far south as the port city of aden. they were forced froaden by the coalition, which includes the u.s. and the united arab emirates. tthe emiratis still contr city, which creates friction with yemen's government. meantime, the vast majority of yemen's 29 million pple suffer from critical food shortages, a lack of fuel, and a health care sector in crisis. tonight, again in partnership with the pulitzer center on crisis reporting, special correspondent marcia biggs reports.

>> reporter: here in the neo- natal ward of aden's al sadaqqa hospital, mothers take tur looking after their babies, filling in the gaps of a broken health system and a skeleton staff. so you have 43 babies and how much staff do you have? >> three. >> reporter: ines mohammed aklan runs the ward where vital electricity to power incubators and oxygenators comes and goes. dr. ines says she loses almost a quarter of the premature babies thatrrive to her ward within hours. this baby was brought in just a week ago, premature, his lungs aren't fully formed yet. he's in severe respiratory distress, he's just over three pounds. today he has oxygen. reporter: today, today you have electricity. >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: but tomorrow? >> don't know. >> reporter: less than half of yemen's health facilities are functional amid a healsis that has seen epidemics of preventable and largely eradated diseases, like cholera and diphtheria. public hospitals exist on few resoces, relying on international aid groups for supplies. all of these mications came from outside.

what would you have ifou relied only on the ministry of alth? >> empty, empty place. >> reporter: it would be empty. >> empty, yes. >> ( translated ): it feels like pl're begging. everything comes from n.g.o.'s: sups, teaching. the government is doing nothing. >> reporter: yemen's entire infrastructure was badly broken en the war against houth rebels began in 2015. now it's on the brink of collapse.al a bankrupt cenank means thousands of public sector workers: doctors, teachers, go with little or no salary for months on end. civil services have ground to a ndlt. gas stations sit aed, leaving people to rely on fuel bought on the black market to run their cars and generators. "this city is supposed to be liberated," this man shouts, three years and nothing has changed. there is no government, we don't geanything from them.ad in this en market, we meet fisherman nabil ahmed,ho has

had this shop for eleven years. >> ( translated ): without gas, none of us can go to the sea to fish. if i buy gas at these prices, i have to sell the fish at a high price. sometimes we have to close. don't work. >> reporter: more deadly than lack of fuel-- lack of food. a sai blockade on yemen's houthi controlled north late last year det a heavy blow to a country which relies on imports for 90% of i food. 17 million yemenis, over half the population don't have enough food to survive. so here in aden it's a big city, there is food availa the problem-- the prices. we're going to go talk to some shopkeepers. the previous price was 20, now it's 40. bashir salam says he had to double some of the prices in his shop. >> ( translated ): we used to give normal people goods on credit, th would pay at the end of the month. now we can't. we tell them, you have to pay in

cash so i can have cash and keep things running. >> reporter: kifah abdul kafee says high prices make feeding her family a daily struggle. who do you blame? >> ( translated ): the government. who else would we blame? a very corrupt governmen there are people who are dying hunger inside of their houses, they don't dare to go out, they don't go out to ask for help, even for medicine. this is too much to handle. >> reporter: life here is a grind. y everywhe go in aden you see destruction like this. there's been virtually no rebuilding.n trash piles upe street. there are open sewage lines. they may have driven the houthis out of this part of the country, but the official yemen government is massively fractured. the result a failed state. ahmed bin ahmed al maysary is yemen's interior minister, a cabinet member of embattled and exiled president abdo rabbo mansour hadi. what do you say to the people who are paying double at they used to pay for food, who don't have fuel, who say yemen is a failed state?

>> ( translated ): yes we are suffering, but it's nothing to compare with what the situation was when houthis were here, we are still in the negative, soon we will reach zero point and we will go to positive. they have to be patient if they want the truth. >> reporter: but patience is in short supply. in january of this year, a separatist group backed by the united arab emirates stormed the streets of aden, claiming corruption in the cabinet and hemanding that it disband. three days of clleft scores dead, including seven men assigned to protect maysari. he says the attackers were puppets of the u.a.e., controls the south, as part of a saudi led coalition formed to fight the houthis. >> ( translated ): we don't regret that emiratis are here, they helped us, but... you can't go to the port without permission from u.a.e., you to the airport without permission from u.a.e. , you can't enter aden from the land ports without the permission of u.a.e.st i, as the mi of interior, i don't even have authority over the prisons. s my value as the minist of interior?

amthe coalition originallyto fight houthis with us so wherever there are houthis, the saudis and the u.a.e. must be there. but once an area is liberated, the legitimate government should be allowed to rule it. >> reporter: do you feel occupied? am i not correct, it sounds like occupation to me. >> ( translated ): it's undeclared. we have a lot of indicators on the ground that support what you just said, but we still think good of your question will come in the next few months. it's either that the coalition countries prove that they came to support the legitimate government, and they enable us to do our work. or they will prove the thing you just said and i myself will go and say it in a press conference, but not now. >> reporter: but these women will say they feel occupied. how old is your brother? >> ( translated ): 65 years old. >> reporter: mohamed saleh iss one of hundrlieved to be held in secret prisons run by the u.a.e. and its proxy forces. he was taken six months ago from his home by police allegedly on

ges of terrorism. and disappeared without a trace. his sister miriam comes everywe to protest with other family members desperate for information. >> ( translated ): we go to the coalition offices and we're not even allowed to ask about our family members. did they come to help us get rid ofouthis or destroy us? this is a crime. 're humans, not animals. >> reporter: we asked the representative of the newly re- igopened ministry of humans, about the status of the detained. >> ( translated ): the courts have been closed for 2.5 years because of the wre and they just pened six months ago. and because they are open things will get better. the coalition security ud to say they can't release any suspect because there could not be a trial. >> reporter: did you hear anything back? the u.a.e. officially denies their use of secret prisons. but the minister of interior tells us otherwise. he says he was in talks with the u.a.e. on behalf of these families. but the attack on his government

in january shut down communication. hanan's husband rami has been detain for over a year and a half. >> ( translated ): the yemeni government has no control er yemen. this is our country, the coalition treat us like slavesry in our cou they are occupying us. they have helped us once, we thank them but they need to leave.er >> reporter:in the south, the silence of stalemate is a far cry from the scream of aitrikes in the north. and life goes on amid the bble yesterday's war with little hope for tomorrow. for the pbs newshour, i'm marcia biggs in aden, yemen. >> woodruff: for the past few weeks we have been reporting on the spread of junk news on social media.

and last night, miles o'brien took a look at what facebook is doing to crack down on what he calls junk news. tonight our economics correspondent paul soln talks to a silicon valley visionary who thinks we should do away with social media entirely. it's part of our weekly series "making sense" which airs thursdays on the newshour. >> reporter: computer scientist and virtual reality pioneer jaron lanier doesn't mince worde when it to social media. >> anything you do on facebook is fundamentally hopess. so i won't go on it myself.>> eporter: lanier, who's also an off-beat musician, has been sounding a discordant note abouo social ns for years. his latest book is "tenle arguments for ng your social media accounts right now." his core concern is an economic one. >> the economic problem is very simply that we've designed a society where if you and i talk over social media, the only way that c happen is if it's for

the benefit of a third party who's paying for it.on and thei possible benefit is getting us to change our behavior. se reporter: to get us to buy, that is: goods, rvices, but most perniciously, ideologie >> so it becomes a society based fundamentally on sneaky manipulation. everybody has hired a hypnotist who ey don't know, who's bei paid by people they don't know, for purposes they don't know. there's sort of the cognitive extortion raet now where the idea is that, "you know what, nobody's going to know about your book, nobody's going to know about your ore, nobody's going to know about your candidacy unless you're putting money into these social network things." >> reporter: all that information we share about ouueelves online, lanier args, is not only used to sell us stuff but to manipulate our civic behavior in uncivilly destabilizing ways. just look at the spread of fake news and the cambridge analytica scandal. >> in the last presidential election in the u.s., what we saw was targeted nihilism or

cynicism, conspiracy theories,no pa, negativity at voter groups that parties were trying to suppress. the thing about negativity is i, comes up fast's cheaper to generate and it lingers longer. so for instance, it takes a long time to build trust, but you can lose trust very quickly.r: >> reporlways easier to destroy than to build. >> so the thing is since these systs are built on really quick feedback, negativity is more efficient, cheaper, moreef ctive. so if you want to turn an election, for instance, you don't do it with positivity about your candidate, it with negativity about the other candidate. >> reporter: lanier sand smart phonesmart speakers are now being used to modify our behavior on a titanic scale, without our informed consent. >> what you see is being calculated carefully based on measurements about you. about your interests, th timing. the companies claim they can a te kinds of things about your psychological state, your state of health, all kinds of things.

all of this is used to place ads and content in front of you that will have some predetermined effect on you. >> reporter: but i get these ads all the time for chas that my wife had looked at a while ago, or singl, i get all these ads for singles. and i go, please, it hasab lutely no effect on me at all. >> we're dealing with statistical effects. so let's say i take a million people, and for each of them i have this online dossier that's been created by observing them in detail for years through their phones.ou then i senmessages that are calculated to, for instance, make them a little cynical on election day if they were tending to vote for a candidate i don't like. i can say without knowing exactly which people i influenced. let's say 10% became 3% less likely to vote because i got them confused and bummed out and cynical. it's a slight thing, but here's somethout slight changes. when you have slight changes

that you can predict well and m you can use thhodically, you can actually make big changes. >> reporter: so the people w are sending me pictures of chairs because they saadthat my wifeought a couple, they wouldn't be doing it if some peopleeren't responding. >> it's even a little sneakier than that. because for instance, they might be sending you notifications about singles services because statistically people who are in the same grouping with you get i le annoyed about that, and that engages them a little bit more. >> reporter: oh really. >> sure, absolutely. >> reporter: and i am annoyed. so you mean they're having the desired effect? >> it might have caused you to click a little bit further and then see some other ad that had an influence on you. it might actually be having its desired effect. now i want to make something clear. there's nobody sitting at a cubicle in facebook or twitter anywhere who's saying, "oh we're gonna get that paul with a singles ad." this is all statistical. it pulls you in a little bit more.

have you ever known someone who is always just on the edge of annoying you but you can't quite understand them, and in a way you're drawn in more and more to try to get that person? >> reporter: yes, i had a very good friend like that. >> that's facebook. reporter: annoying but compelling. >> because your brain is trying to solve the puzzle. this is the magic of inconsistent feedback. it's not a simple matter of the dog hits the button and gets the candy, hits the button, gets the candy. once in a while, a clever trainer actually withholds the candy so the dog becomes, "wait, what do i have to do to get the candy?" >> reporter: social media, says lanier, have turned us into trained dogs. but he thinks we'd be bett off as cats, who prize the independence. >> youan put a cat out somewhere and they'll fend for themselves. and that sense of integrated modernity with independence i think what every person seeks, and is harder and harder to get at, but cats have it. >> reporter: so, how to become a cat?

lanier has long argued that we have to force the cial media business model to change, insisting companies should be paid by users instead of third party advertisers-- subscription instead of supposedly "free" tv. >> we have services like netflix, amazon prime, hbo. tv got better by almost universal acclaim when peopleli were w to pay for it. and so what's going on here is that when the user is also the customer, all of the sudden, what that user gets is better because they're the customer. >> reporter: but is this for everyone? as facebook chief operating officer sheryl sandberg argued to judy woodruff recently, internet advertising is essential for a massm. >> it's what enables us to makeo thisct available to people all around the world for free. two billion people use the product. if it weren't advertising-based, most of those people would not be able to. >> reporter: lanr's retort? >> this idea that you allowing the whole society to bby a manipulative scheme is the only

way to not be elitisnehas got to bef the most cynical and sort of cruel-minded arguments going right now. i mean, it's ridulous. >> reporter: which is why lanier vows not to have a sial media account until he can pay for it and says you and i shouldn't either. please forgive me, then, for not having checked my making sen$e facebook page in weeks. for the pbs newshour this is economics correspondent paul solman in berkeley, california. >> woodruff: it was a moment that changed america. 55 years ago this month, thousands of african-american w childrked out of their schools and began a peaceful march in birmingham, alabama to protest segregation. they were met with attack dogs and water hoses.ng the disturmages shocked the nation and became the catalyst for the civil rights

this moment in history has now come alive for a group of studts who traveled to birmingham. special correspondent lisa o starour partner education week, went along with them. >> everywhere i went thiis what i always saw-- colored and white. >> reporter: these 5th and 6th graders are mesmerized. >> our restaurants, our dentist office, our doctor's office, s everywhere we went, thisat we saw when i was your ageoh >> reporter:alexander and charles avery grew up in the segregated south >> my dad asked me what is your greatest ambition in life son? i said to drink out of that water fountain, talking abou the white water foundation. i just wanted to know what it taste like. >> reporter: for those listening, the stories are now much more than just a chapter in a history book. here's amari and avion. >> they used the word i as in,

their, themselves, so you're actually looking at the pers >> we get to hear their perspective on it, because nobody can tell their story better than the person who actually experienced it. >> we believe in the power of immersion and the powe bringing history to life for our students. k iseporter: francesca p the director of culture and character for the pola charter academy in chicago, a school with an in-depth curriculum that stresses first- hand learning. >> let's come, immerse ourselves, let's come experience it, let's co to the primary source and get a feel of what it was like to live at that time. >> reporter: these chicago 5th n d 6th graders traveled 10 hours and more t0 miles, from illinois to alabama. >> welcome to birminghies and gentlemen, give yourself a round of applause, we made it! >> reporter: birmingham, the site of e 1963 children's crusade: thousands of young

black students left eir classrooms to march again segregation. these students are here to examine and record their own thoughts on what transpired back then, and why. this class trip to birmingham isn't a field trip. it's field work. it puts the students right at the heart of their ownistory research project and it comes after a year of preparation in the classroom, of studhe civil rights movement. >> they were singing one word over and over: freedom, freedom. >> reporter: they have watched documentaries. >> don't worry about your children, ey are going to be alright. >> reporter: analyzed photographs. >> what are they trying to accomplish?g >> they're try accomplish their freedom, the freedom they fought for. >> reporter: dissected- hand accounts, and studied the arc of civil rights history. polaris charter academy is largely african-american and low-income. the school'sission includesng

instilli sense of activism and social justice. >> it's not just thachildren are critical thinkers and that children are producing high quality work and that theyre of great character, but really that they see themselves as agents of change in their community. >> reporter: so they're here re- tracing steps child activists took 55 years ago, visiting the 16th street baptist church, where marchers gathered. >> being inside of it made me k fed of excited, because martin luther king was in the same exact spot, that same exact place and he could have been i >> reporter: studying the memorials in the park, where authorities decades ago unleashed dogs and water hoses against the protestors. >> i feel kind of angry. >> tell me more, why? >> obviously the white people want the dog to bite humans and they're not treating humans as humans. >> they teach people in kindergarten that everyone is

equal and to just be kind. t the fat they were so brutal to african-americans is not okay. >> reporter: they'reonfronting some of the most frightening symbols of the time. and meeting men and women who were young students themselves when they marched for equal rights. janice kelsey was 16 during what became known as the children's crusade. >> we sang we shall overcome and we walked out in pairs and we were stopped by police officers who told us you stayis line you're going to jail. i had already made up my mind i was going to jl, and that's where went for four days. >> so all this is holy ground, all of this young people. all of this is where it all happened. >> reporter: raymond goolsby was 17 at the time and recalls his fear waiting in the 16thtreet baptist church, to begin the march. >> my group was the first group

out, i'm sitting there shaking like a leaf on a tree in the building before we walked out. and i say, man i don't know whether i want to do this. e,all those billy club pol standing there with those billy clubs. >> reporter: the stark images from that time, now memorialized, shocked the nation, leading to a fierce backlash. birmingham leaders buckled, releasinthe students from jail, and agreeing to begin desegregation. >> i feel thankful for the people that went through all this.o if they hadn'trough it- i would have had to went through it. i wouldn't be brave enough to do what they did. >> reporter: four months later, angry white supremacists would place a bomb at the 16th street baptist church, killing four young girls, including cynthia wesley, janicefrelsey's close nd. >> because s gave up her life for things i believe in agreed to talk about it to young

wople so you'll know what it took to get to wheare. se>> reporter: today of co birmingham is a very different city. the nation, a different place. but these students are encouraged to connect the past - with t present. we are here to ask the question, how do members of a community affect change? if you guys could march today, what would you march for? >> well one, i would march for gun violence, and i would also march for justice. >> reporter: what about you? >> i would march for the same things as lance-- peace and gun violen people could stop killing each other. >> reporter: many of these students live in neighborhoods touched by violence. >> you know like, we need to make a differejue, but it's, like, can one person make a difference in the world. le>> like, i think some pe don't believe that kids could actually made a change, but ie belids can make a change. >> reporter: with encouragement from those who have come before. >> what you got to do is study

hard and you've got to be able to compete for whatever you want to do. the sky's the limit with you young people. the sky's the limit. >> reporter: a future shaped by thung civil rights activists. >> i'll definitely remember it, becae it's a part of my history. because it's a part of people who are like me. it's our story. this generation, thehave to decide on whether they're going to make a story like that generation did. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour and education week, i'm lisa stark in birmingham, alabama. >> woodruff: next, another installment of our weekly brief but spectacular series, where we ask people about their passion.g monicaness and aaron rodriguez spent two years traveling 80 miles to a hospital in oakland, california so their eight-year-old son devin could

receive treatment for cancer. they share their experience with us tonight in hopes that other >> devin is my son. he's eight years old and he the brightest little boy ever. it was beginning of april, it was about a week. >> before the hospital. >> before the hospital trip. he was having-- i got out of the shower and i see him trying to use the restroom and it was hard for him. and then i told her, "make a doctors appointment," because i thk he has a u.t.i. they did the ultrasound and that's when... >> they found the mass. >> they found. >> but they didn't know likewh the mass was until we went to children's hospital oakland by ambulan and then we stayed the night there and then the very next day they told us devin was going to go in for a biopsy and you know, he went for hisbi sy and after that they let us know that devin was diagnosed

with stage four embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. he took, took of the diagnosis, i guess, very well.'t i guess he doeeally, didn't really understand he just knew he was gonna be, you know, >> he knew he was sick. >> that he was sick and he was going to get bald. >> it was really serious that he couldn't, he could actually die from it. and it was the hardest thing to tell my son. >> he's got quiet. >> he-- >> and just, just took it all in. >> yndh. >>e's a really strong little boy. >> he is. >> and he took it to heart and that's the day he started fighting. it was very hard. just to see my son in that. just when i thought cancer all i heard was death. >> his first qstion was, "is my son gonna die?" >> that was because everybody hears cancer and evethinks death. we spent his birthday, new years, christmas, halloween, y, birthdaysy holi we spent at the hospital. t

y really made him feel comfortable which made us feel at ease as well because when devin is feeling good, we are feeling wod t do you have to say to other parents who are goingat through ou went through? >> i can handle it one way and as you can see i'm a cryer and she holds back >> and plus you can't really find somebody silver lining foro them, you knowcan't say, "everything's going to be okay" or they're going to, they're resilient, you know, we as orents don't wanna hear that. this our, this child. he shouldn't have to be going through this. he should be playing little league, and he should be going to school instead of having to take the year off to g chemo, you know, so i would say to try to explain to all of your loved ones and family members and friends what exactly childhood cancer is and what you go through as parents. >> as of, as of three weeks ago, devin is with no signs of cancer. he's back at school, he's doing really good, fighting with his brothers and sisters, you know. getting on our nerves. >> getting on our nerves. it's changed my life by appreciating my kids or devin even in the bad times when he's

on my nerves because i missed that the whole time when he was going through treatment. >> my name is monica mcginness. >> my name is aaron rodriguez. >> and this is our brief but spectacular take... >> on childhood cancer. >> woodruff: you can watchef additional but spectacular episodes on our website, pbs.org/newshour/brief. the naon's largest youth development organization, 4-h has been preparing young peopler for cain agriculture and farming for over 100 years. as part of the newshour's student reporting lab series "making it work," alexis lesher and a team of students at cedar crest high school in lebanon, pennsylvania report how one hard working 15-year-old turned ato swine project profitable business. >> reporter: if you happen to stop by grumbine's berkshires

and farm, you'll be surprised at who greets you. business oer dakota grumbine is only 15 years old. he started the business as a 4-h project when he was just eight, but it didn't get off to a smooth start. >> when i first started off, i didn't really have any luck as far as the breeding standpoint goes. i couldn't get pigs settled, they just didn't work out. so it took me a while to get a sow base built up. >> reporter: dakota now has 20ou sow,boars, and almost 200 customers. he breeds pasture raised, berkshire pigs which command a higher price, over a dollar more per pound than regular commercial pork. >> there's a lot more management involved. i knew all the sows off the top of my he and everything.ches now i've goto write that down or keep track of it somewhere because i can't remember allma

that inforon anymore. >> reporter: dakota created a website about his product and sells butcher shops and restaurants. he has traveled as far as illinois, iowa and ohio to learn more about the business. his father has also helped him usiness and says that it's very beneficial that dakota started so young. >> the younger you are when youe start ing, the easier it is to pick it up. i see other kids don't enjoy certain opportunities such asak public sg and talking to strangers. he did that stuff at such a young age that now he doesn' even really think about some of those things that hold a lot of kids back. >> reporter: he goes to school seven hours a day for five days a week like any other student, but when he gets home as to do his homework while still keeping enough time to manage his pigs. he has a head start on his future.

>> dacoat's business is paying off financially, too. >> even if i don continue raising hogs for the rest of my life, i still have this experience at a young age of coming home every day and having i can walk away with a lot of differenassets as far as nagement and time management, money management, you name it.fa thing industry and especially the hog industry enatmpasses a lot of things i'll be able to use later on in life. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour student reporting labs, this is alexis lesher in lebanon, pnsylvania >> and what an impressive young man dakota is. on the newshour online right now, the matrimony of prince presidentee lead layer, rudy giuliani, says mueller's team is narrowing possible questions r mr. trump, and says the prospect

of talks look more hopeful than it did a day s ago. that and more is on our website, that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tom ght. dy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> knowledge, it's wegre innovations. it's what leads us to discovery and motivates us to succeed. it's why we ask the tough questions and what leads us to the answers. at leidos, we're standhind those working to improve the world's healthsafety, and efficiency. leidos. >> kevin.

>> kevin! >> kevin. >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or re information on babbel.com. >> and with the ongoing suort of these institutions >> this program was madee possible by thrporation for captioning sponsored byws ur productions, llc

gwen: we'r the history detectives and we're some untold stories from america's past. elyse: this week: did this beat-up old boat play a vital role in the invasion of europe during world war ii? tukufu: are these fascinating photographs ra evidence ri of a vic mail-order bride business? d wes: andid this flag play a pivotal role in the campaign to abolish slavery in america? ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ i get so angry when the teardrops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he'got no heart ♪