♪ e amna: goning. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the "newshour" tonight... the risks of re-opening grow as cases of covid-19 spike across the country. and the centers for disease control faces scruti its pandemic response. then, one on one -- senator trnie sanders race for the white house and former vice president biden's new plan to tackle climate change. plus -- rethinking college -- the ture of higher education remains in doubt for many community college students burdened by covid-19 and structural inequality. >> many of them live their fragile lives and they're oftentimes one paycheck away from disaster. amna: all that and more on "pbs newshour."

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knight fndation. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- ♪ >> in program was made possible by theon corpora for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: the relentless rise of covid-19 cases has dominated another day, in this summer of 2020.e more states tting records for infections and deaths, and more are moving to urb activitiain. lisa desjardins reports on the day's developments. reporter: in florida, the deadliest day yet from the coronavirus, with 132 deaths, a 10% increase from its previous record. republican governor rons has defeoded reopening but he sounded a somber note.

>> people are apprehensive, people are hurting. this virus has affected every floridian's life in one way oro r. reporter: florida is part of a trio of high-population hot spots, along with california d texas. those three states reported 30,000 new virus cases yesterday along. this as local leaders across the country arnk retg their moves to reopen. officials outside houston in fort bend county, texase h decided scoop this fall will opennl withe learning only. >> the virus will teach us what is save -- safe and pursue dents to do. reporter: in california, the same dision with even more many. officials in los angeles and san diego announced classrooms will stay closed. online learning only when school starts. that affects more than 800,000 students. los angeles their erik garcetti. we've never had as many

people infected or infectious. we've ner had asany recorded positive cases each day and we've never had as many people in the hospital as there are tonight as speak to you in s angeles. porter: but there is divide. out of -- outside of los angeles, protesters forand against gathered as the orange county schooboard remmended that classrooms reopen next monthly without m -- alsks or so distancing. on the opposite coast, the city philadelphia mayor, jim kenny events in the city are canceled through february of next year. >> what we are doing here is foming medical advice, which i think every state and city in the nation shod have and we wouldn't be in this situation. reporter: in los angeles where occasions are again mounting, fwovep john bell edwards has mandated mays masks for --

facemasks for everyone in public. meanwhile, the white house's testing cr push backed at some re2012 sent by president trump accusing health officials of lying. >> we may occasionally make mistakes but none of us lie. reporter: dr. anthony fauci, the nation's top disease expert was asked innlne forum whom americans should trust and backedhe experts. >> i would stick with respected medicalho authorities,ave a track record of telling the of giving information and c olympics and recommendations based on scientific evidence and data. reporter: fauci also alluded to good news on the vacce front. the first u.s. test of one did

boost immune systems, a positiv sign but just one of many steps and further tests ahead. abroad, india has seen confirmen ctions ex explode with 1,000 new cases in just four days and in atralia, the government is imposing tougher penalties for people whoviolate quarterfinal teen. in queensland state the penalty for breaking the rules will now for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. ♪ >> i'm stephanie at newshour west. e'll return after the latest headlines. the department of homeland security dropped its directive that international students in the u.s. attend college classes in person or leave country. the announcement came at a federal court hearing in d boston. harvd m.i.t. had sued, with more than 200 other

supporting the lawsuit. the battlever the dakota access pipeline continues tonight. last week a judge ordered the pipeline shut down pending an enviroental review but tonight an appeals counters court granted an administrativta allowing oil to continue to ngflow. the rus a setback for the standing rock sioux tribe. the states held primaries today, amid the "covid-19" resurgence. in texas, democrats were choosing a challenger to republican john cornyn, a three-term u.s. senator.e ate did not require face masks at the polls -- and did not expand mail-in voting. in alabama, former u.s. attorney general jeff sessions faced tommy tuberville for a republican senate nomination. and in maine, republican senator nnsan collins awaited the of the democratic nominating november election.l face in the

president trump has weighed in again on racial issues confronting the tion. in a cbs news interview today, he said about the con feds rat flag, "people love it. he also criticized a question about black americans being disproportionately killed by police by pointing out that police kill more white people. also t tonight president signed an order med at china's forts to rein in protests in hong kong. the order strips the territory of preferential financial trletment. meanwchina sharply criticized the u.s. for rejecting most of its territorial claims in the south china sea. beijing accused washington of, quote -- "exing its muscles" gion. erfering" in the e britain has reversed coud will ban chinese telecom giant huawei from its next-generation mobile phone system. the u.s. had pressedor thean . dan hewitt of independent television news reports. >> the u.k. c no longer be

confident it will continue to be able to gue arane future of huawei equipment. by this time next year, we will have removed them from our networks. >> so why hav they done it? the chinese firm is also at the heart of the u.k.'s network and it's their role in the newest technology, 5-g, where the apparent technology securities are worrisome. today the government will ban alltel comes companies from buying huawei's equipment after this year and remove all their technology from the u.k. by 2027. >> wi disappointsed by the announcement. -- announcement. it wasn't totally expected but

the severity and the speed of the implementation we think will be a problem for the u.k. network. it's not good for u.k. consumers. u.k. citizens don't >> we provide communications to 1/3 of the state. >> huawei will can be alled to carry on for britain's 3-g and 4-g networks but thdey admit this will set them back years and costhe taxpayers 2 billion pounds. >> ifr consu will pay for that andlso pail for slower 5- rollout. while this greatest u.k. u-turn will be welcomed in government, attention will turn costs of pulling the plug on one of its bigge names. >> in

>> i language la -- floomeding. the water is flowing in from indiapstream. the monsoon season begins in june and runs but -- through october.rn the federal gont carried out its first execution in 15 years. niel lewis murdered people in 1966 in a plot. the u.s. supreme court limited a lower court's injux. british social listguleaded not ty to luring girls into sexual abuse bill jeffrey the judge denied bail for maxwell and set a trial fort n july.

her long-time confidant epste was facing trafficing charges when he killed himself j inl last august.ha ey weinstein is serving 23 years for remain and sexual assault. ad agreed to pay $19 million but the judge ruled today that the dozens of accusers are two varied to be grouped into a ring? set. supreme cot justice ruth bader ginsburg was hospitalized today with a possible infection. a court statement sa is at jos hopkins in baltimore, after having a bile duct stent cleaned out. she is expected to remain there for several days. ginsburg has had two bouts with cancer and been hospitalized several times in recent ars. still to come on the newshour, bernie sanders discusses the race for the white houand biden's plan to combat climate ange. theenters for disease control faces increasing scrutinsfor

handling of the pandemic. the struggles of community college students burdened by covid-19, structural inquart and much more. >> this is the nbc newshour, and in the west at arizona state university. >> today former vice president joe bideneleased new policy approaches aimed at the climate crisis, his $ trillion plan will increase the use of renewal energy and includes crbon-free car power by 2025. re's what he said in ah spe in delaware. >> i know the climate change is going toefine our northwestern future and it will be a once in a life-time opptunity to jolt new life into our economy,

rength our global leadership and protect our planefrom future generations and if i have the honor of being elected, we're going to make historic investment that will seize the opportunity to -- and moment this moment in history. >> nerus crease -- created in part by joint task forces. the plans -- plans were put together by biden and benchy sanders who joins me now. i want to and you about your team's emplets to move the biden campaign and platform broader. you did move up that timeline to but it's not the green new city detail. you did move him to a new health care option but it's not medicare for all. do you think these policies are enough for your a backers

enough to back bide season >> given that the alternative donald trump, the most dangerous condition can -- country, i'm is absolutely confident that those proisms proposals not only are a significant step forward are you but are going to win wild support from the progressive opportunity. what joe bindent understands t in order to win in election, we're going to need a large vormente turnouts and to get that, there has to be ergy and excitement among young people, among working clalings people, among -- among w people often do not vote for aie v of reasons and our task force is going to b compromises to bring citement to a large portion of the population that was less enthusiastic about joea you worried those compromises are going to temper some of the excitement? there's awls already been some

criticism even from your former secretary who said the biden plan was mocking disrespect from people with these kind of plans. what do you say to people who >> i don think they go far ugh? enough and the people recommendh progressive community on the task forces don't think so. but the ansr is to elect joe binden and then to strengthen our grass roots movement to make sure that in pel rs the environments, the economy, health care, we have a government that represents all of uand not just a few. but ihink it is very hard for these proposals, whether it's on health care, on the environment or climate exchang whether it's on education, or in the economy and not to see that if these proposals were to be implemented, joe biden would be the most progressive president since f.d.r. 's a significant step garpped

but in truth, not all that i would like. >> during this pandemic, voters' top issues have shifted. things like health care and climate change have moved down the chain. the economy and the pandemic and social issue m haveed up. what do you say to people that the bigger that sfonls gets the more it's going to push america into the red? >> this is what i say. and that is that we areniving in unprecedented moment in american history. we have aandemic and ball trump's inept dude and downplaying this from day one is getting worse in many states in this country. 135,000 people have ready died and that number will grow in months to come. we have an economy which has lost tens of millis of jocks today in vcht and throughout the

countr people are hungry. by the millions, people are worried about being evicted. people in many cases have lost their health insurance. we have got to stand upes and ret the working members of this country who are seeing today more desperation than they've seen in many, many decades and the at activism to not becoming aggressive is to see, in my view, not only unbelievable human suffering but to see this economy held straight forward into a great aggression. how dig -- big do you think that next spending plan shoulenbe >> well, the house passed its bill for $3 trillion and i think the senate should do at least syeeem. we areg now unprecedented suffering in this country. we have tens millions of people who have lost their jocks. many have lost their health care. there are people in my state of vermont, throughout this country who today are worried about

fielding their families. people are worried about being evict victedfrom their homes. wealthiest ica, the country in the history of the world. now is the time to stand with working families. and if we don't d that, not only are we going to see an increase in suffering and death. what we're also going to see is this m country plunging, i view, into the worst economic decline since the great depression. >> as we look back to 2016, it's worth pointing out that most of your supporters back end in ended up vote for hillary clinton but more than a quarter did not. i met with some voters earlier in season whsaid bernie or bust. do you think now that selecting a running mate who more progressive, like bleth warren, would help mr. biden win over some of those supporters? >> well, i think that the biden

campaign -- they're very good polihecians and i think understand that they need a vice prident who h not only wie the right politics for joe biden but is somody he she personally compatible with. i think when you're dealing with a vice president, there has to be a lot of personal chemistry and that's? something i'm sure joe and his team are looking very hard at ray -- right now. >> thank you for your time, sir. >> my pleasure. thank you. ♪ centers for disease control and prevention or the c.d.r.an, is seen as the leading government energy to providing guide during a pandemic. four formeras william brangham

tells us, ur former directors of t agency now say the c.d.c.'s voice has been muted for political reasons. amna, the four former rects, who've served under democratic and republican presidents, have just issued an editorial in the washington post, arguing the agency's voice and crucial guidce has been sidelined. they wrote, quote -- "were seeing the terrible play out in our population. c. willful disregard for public health guidelines is, unsurprisingly, leading to a sharp rise in infections and deaths." one of those formedirectors is joins m now. dr. richard besser is the c.e.o. of the robert wood johnson foundation, which, for the record, is a funder of the newshour. dr. besser,hank you very much for being here. your editorial said we ran the c.d.c. no president ever politicized how has he done so? trumpas.

>> what we're seeing, william, is a clash of messages. we hear every public health leader in the nation talking about how serious this pandemic is, talking about the steps we need to take as individuals and as a nation to ensure that we minimize the damage to peose's lind then we hear politicians, starting at the whithouse, talk about how there's nothing to worry about. how public health ivelaying this. and the injection ofolitics into a public health response is extremely dangerous for the nation. c.d.c. is the nehing tation's publico -- nation's publi health agency and their guidance ensures what states do and by undermining the trust in that guidance, it put people's lives at risk. >> what are some of the real-world effects of this

politicizing of that science? >> the biggest challenge for c.d.c. is that they're not having daily press conferences. they're not able to talk to the public flurt media about what they're doing and learning. months ago c.d.c. talked about masks and the importance of health care workers not wear away -- wearing masks but talked to be general public not needing masks. iandall emergency response at c.d.c. for four years and during every response, what you don't know early on fa outweighs what you do know and you use science to drive the direction of your sfonls. so as k. -- c.d.c. leae,ed m they changed their combination. america wear mask and the ne in reason is because a lot of people can transmit this infection before even knowing they're sick. the c.d.c. had no opportunity to make t case to the public assignment looked like a total

flip-flop. without bringing the public build here's no way t the trust that is absolutely essential during a response. >> as i quoted, you write that the willful disregard of scientific expertise is leading to ireasing cases and depths. do you really believe that this interference has cost american lives? that people would have s turviv hs interference not occurred? >> i do and i also think that's part of the reason we're seeing such dispratt impt on black americans, latino and native americans. so many of whom are essential workers. if you're an essential worker and the people you're asking having contact with aren't earing masks, you'reutting nose essential workers at risk. maybe their health f ise and they'll do well with this infection by a -- but a higher

proper portion of latino and blac americans live in multigenerational house holds so they're bringing it that cost liveses. the fact we're seeing smany young people around the nation going back to their social lives,he feeling that's nothing to worry about here. that is a total undercut of what public health science is saying to do and w need our public health science and political cal leaders to be on the same page, the page of soigs. >> as you know from your time at the c.d.c.,ha the to walk a fine line. be close enough to th administration so that their advice is taken but also separate eo ugh se public sees them as a neutral arbiter of public health situation. how grave nk give you're describing the circumstance that the c.d.c. rector dr. redfield should have stepped forward more

forcefully and said no, i don't think we're on the right path. we need to do different limb. >> i think every leader, every c.d.c. director has to know what their line in the sd is and recognize that if they're forced to step over that, they're going to take alaska the -- action. it is essential that the public trusts the information coming from the c.d.c. that's the best evidee. whenever c.d.c. puts a guidance forward, it goes through it's shared with other agencies, theired with -- shared with the white house. that's where you have science and policy interacting so it can go guard away unied front but after guidance comes out it's been unpress debilied to see political leaders undercutting the guidance, telling people ee they don't to follow it. that it's overdone, too expensiv the ideahat we can open our schools this fall if we' dt have this under control and if

we're not pviding our schools with what they need so that our staff and students and teachers are safe, we can do as a nation but has to be driven but that roadap that public health is laying out clearly. >> as you know, the c.d.c. has ald a few missteps. their ini environmental steps misfunctioned. at a ti tmey seemed to be double counting antibody and environmental tests. do you think some of those may have been used as the am niings used to shoot athem now? >> it's definitely ammunition but i worked at c.d.c. for 14 years and ledts emergency s for four. there was never an emergency w responsere we didn't make mistakes but we had an opportunit every day to talk to the public. to say here's what we tried. it di't work and here's what we learned from that.

the c.d.c. didn't havthat portunity here. there's so much talk about the mistakes c.d.c. made. if they were in front of the perez everyy, the press asks the touch questions and makes re c.d.c. doesn't have blind spots. they're not getting there. not only are they able to share and build trust, their sfonls is not as good because they're not interacting directip. >> dr. richard besser,. c.e of the robert johnson foundation and former director of the c.d.c. thank you very much f your time >> thank you, william. ♪ amna: now, the first in a ospecial serireports about rethinking college during covid. many students, families, and, of course, colleges and universities, are reconsidering what this fall will be like as the pandemic continues to dramatically reshape the

education landscape. our series begins with community colleges, which educate about 40% of undergraduates in the u.s. many were already strched thin before the pandemic but surveys indicate enrollment is and workers shift plans.ents correspondent hari sreenivasan looks at how one community college and its students are coping. >> myland's montgomery college, just outside d.c., is eerily quiet these days. during a typical july, the school's three campuses would be bustling with summer schoolud stents but like so many colleges and uniforms. around theountry, learning here has shifted from classrooms and labs to bedrms and living rooms. [singing exercises] >> good. >> montgomery college is oneth country's most diverse tles in a county with poets of poverty and wealth. about 55,000 students ordinarily

attend for accredited degrees like workforce development. the school was one of the first in the area to announce it will continue remote learning in the fall with a limited number of lab classes. it too early to know how many will enroll but the soom is already seeing an uptake in interest. >> we'll probably be about 20% up compared to lastea >> marion is staying focused on current students, ma w ofm were struggling before the pandemic. >> our sdents yauven tim are hungry. they were taking care of multiple generations at any given time. they're trying to figure out how to get to school. many of them live very fragile lives and are oftentimes one paycheck away fromister. >> in march that disaster struck when businesses began tolose. many students and their families lost jobs and some struggled

with the move to online learning. that was the case for a -year-old graphic design student kayla. she says technology issues and distractions at homeade it difficult to stay focused on school. >> the byige, absolutely aferocious at my -- if i -e - th by if i, absolutely atrocious at my house. there are five of six talking someone else >> kaylaays she managed to get from straight a's last semester but she's been struggling looking for work and it's be hard to pay for things like clothes and fooled. >> up to p thisint where i was like i don't know how i'm going to be able to juge more than i already have and then i turn around and i see more senseless killings of my people and as aa black w i fear for so many

people that are important in my fe, it becomes an overwhelming eeling of what can i do? can i not study for classes or go to the scoreithout any life being in danger? >> montgomery college h districted for than $3.5 million in emergencyid money from the federal cares act, private donors, established emergency funds and $400,000 the school saved from cancelednd of the year ceremonies. early on, local companies donated laptops and free food was handed out to student in the surrounding community, yes unemployment has jumped up to nearly 9%. >> ourn' students top pape in for eight or nine months of the year and live in a resident hall and go back to where they came they live here, they work here, they raise families here. the wealth andhealth of our community is a drict reflection of the health of our community

college and vice there's a mutualty to that that demands we wise up in these moments. requires thoughtful engagement to ad racism. faculty and statue have been having can did conversations. >> we lilt rally watch the murder of people o consistentl television over and over and over again. that not only dehumanizing to the personal but it desensitizes us to what the value of that is. >> in some faculty like ajuppingt professor a exploring students to explore either nicety in new ways. >> i think it's so important to make students comfortable, to talk as.ut these iss i think there's a lot of doing the thing. r or saying or >> but outside of the classroom, some wonderow well montgomery

college and other communities colleges will be able to moment the challenges of these times. >> communities colleges have been systematically defundedor f years and they were already in a tough situation whitcomb to resources andnstructional support. >> this is a professor of soldier medicine. she and her colleaguesrecently released a survey that found that three of across the country have experienced a loss of basic needs during the pandemic. course offerings and the current job market may make it more difficult. >> kneels students are at very high risk of ing to college leaving because they had very little choice. people used to work their way influence colge in the 1970's and 19 80's. they've always done that but now

work as disappeared. this is not a temporary challenge. when they drop out of college, they're going totruggle for at least 10 to 15 years to repay the debt they owe. >> pollard tries to steer the college into what could be a frockyl. >> if students do come to us they would need financialai the statement and even the freshman government mavenlts be able to provide as much as -- as much because they're trying to raise an economy back up there's a lot of uncertainty but we've en here before. a communities college has a deep extentcy of trying to react to . these setbac >> the school's campuses will remain quiet for the foreseeable classes.ut they'll have online ♪

amna: from landmark decisions on immigration and lgbtq protections to virtual oral arguments amid the pan the supreme court costluded a term eek that is certainly one for the history books. we take a deeper look into the roberts court and s blockbuster term with marcia coyle, chief washington correspondent for the national law journal. paul clement, former u.s. solicitor general during the george w. bush administration. and neal katyal, who served as the acting solicitor general under president obama. welcome to you all and thank you for beingere. neal and paul, between the two of you, you havergued almost 150 cases before the court. neal, i'm going to start with you because i want a sense of how you're looking back on this term. earlier in june, there was a sense that this is court leaning quite liberal. within a cup of weeks theyul workers can't be fired for being gay or transgeneraledered.

they stopped president trump's bismed to end daka and they struck doubt -- down an abortion law in louisiana. was that an outright win for progressives? >> there have been ant outri number of wins the progressives have had. the tax rurn case, daka, the hgbtg cases. in all of then donald trump lost and i'm not aware of another reesident other than xon whose term faworse at the court. paul and i both know ts, we both represented presidents in the supreme court. it's pretty hardo lose if you're representing the president. you have to kind ofry like failing a class at yale, you have to work at it. but here here they've managed to lose a lot. it i don't thin the falmts of the lawyers but outlandish

position a process but -- by the trump administration so what look like liberal results are really just basic rule of law results. particularly to the tax return cases in which president trump's own appointetotally rejected his position of absolutely immunity. paul, what's your take on that? >> i think that on a number of cesees you really do have to look at the context of what the court is specifically wrestlingwi. those tax return cases were vern ecedented cases and i think in some respects, it is not that unprecedend for a president to lose big, even with his own ninees when it comes to executive power. president clinton sort of famously lost clinton against jones 9-0 and lost h two o nominees along the way in this case so i think it really depends a lot on the nature oft particular issues and i think that if you look two weekr

ago b the ends of the term it was liking quite liberal but the end of the term -- much more nuanced story in the end. >> when yo look at the abortion decision, for example. in that case there were four liberal jges who voted to strike down the law and it was chief justice johnberts to sided with them. talk to me about the role thberts has played o court. at the same time he was presiding over the impeachment proceedings. >> that's right, it was antr rdinary term on many let's but as far as john rockets go i'll take the maybe 30,000-mile view of the term and they -- say that this was a term that began with aumber of cases farm fraught with political and partisan implications and i ink the scoumplet emerged

unzavepted- inscathed or untarnished by either of those because of john roberts. he was able, by forming oss-ideological majorities, to steer the court through those cases and to sort of confirm that he has been trying to tell the public in some rare public statements, that the court. is anndependent institution. certainly a number of conservatives didope that with the confirmations of justices kavanaugh and gore such that this would be a rock-solid majority of conseatives on the court and that is not the case. the nature of the cases that come before that. but i thinkhat if you wanted to look at winners and losers in th term that just ended, y would have to say that the winner was theco u.s. sments because it did emerge unscathed from so many of those ccoes that

d have painted if there had been 5-4 dnsecisn the normal ideological split, could have been painted as a partisan institution. >> i want to get back to some of those cases involving religious freedom because there were a few andto seemee somewhat of a trends. there was one shielding religious schools fr lawsuits another one upholding the trump administration's ruling that a assistance on aborgs. >> in every one of those cases, that got to chief justice roberts, some of those cases were more in the u 2epartment. one of the most consequeial the espinoza case about school

oice and the role of state constitutions in limiting school choice. i think it was a 5-4 decision and a big victory for religious liberty so i think thosees c underscore that -- john roberts is not a liberal or even a moderate what it comes to some issueles and i think it depends on the nature of the iues that come to the court in a particular term. >> quhab you? when you look at those specific case including the one on religious freedom, who you do you -- how do you look back on this term? >> paul is right. the recommendation freedom cases show the so called conservatives won a lot and i have to agree, you have to look at the overall context. when the trump administration in position lost is pretty sfrooled. maybea said the scoumplet is the winnern the last term. a foot note is i think the rule

of is also a winner. our public iso s bitterly politely divide and would because of chief justice roberts' ability to sere theur points to a different way. a way of mutual reect, a lot way in which we can listen to maybe forge agreements with them. ti it was a maj thing to behold. i don't think the chief justice is liberal. at. 2:00 a this morning he cast the last vote to ecute the death penalty. everyone should be careful when using liberal or conservative with respect to the crt,. >> ruchte bader ginsburg is back as you look ahead to the next temple, tell me about how we should be thinking some of the cases ahead and some of the general concerns aboutthhe hef those justices?

>> i think when you look at the ages of some of the justices, you have justice ginsburg berg -- ginsburg, now 86, i believe. justice brier, now 81. several other justices are over 65 and areha inage group that is most vulnerable to thei covid-19 that you have to take pause and wder if next term there could be some changes the court personnel on the bench. ayso that very well be something to watch closely. i know tha the trump administration is hoping once again to make the court an issue in the presidential election. right now, though, i don't think that this is ing to figure into how the justice deliberate at all. don't counts justice ginsburg out. she has been remarkably resilient. >> it is a courts t watch and i'm sure we all wish justice

nsburg speedy recovery. thank you so much for being with . >> my pasure. >> thank you. >> thank you. ♪ amna: in the wake of protests against systemic racism in america, many industries are re-amining past practices, and facing questions about their own racial biases.ut one new efforta spotlight on the world of publishing. here's jeffrey brown's race matters report. that is part of our ongoing arts and culture series, canvas. >> it began as a storable media callout, #publishing paid me. a request for authors to reveal the advances they'd been paid for their books. the result, based on responses from o hundre writers, a clear disparity between black and nonblac authors.

the hashtag was starts build l.l. mckinney, a writer of fantasy novels for young adults. >> in advance has lot to do with how well the publisher thinks the story will do, and lot of it has to do with this idea of a universal story. a story is more universal then more people will have access to it and in highlights what publishing views as the default for the universal story. >> the callout struck a nerve and many prominent black authors weighed in, including novelist jasmine ward who wrote of how she fought and fought for a $100,000 advanc for her third novel, sing on berry sing, even after her second had won the national book award for fiction. by contrast, linda keysling, who isro white, of heaving a -- receiving a $1 -- 200,000 vaps

for her literarydebut. a writer who won theugo award three years in a row said she received jus $25,000 advances for each of the books in her award-winning broken -- trelling. >> you have an award-winning author who is bloove beloved by so many, right on up to versus some people who we've never heard of becau the book doesn't earn out or it flops but then that person can turn around and get a second advance and a second chance. >> i knew that there was a i didn't realize how large the disparity was. we knew it washere and big but we didn't know it was that big. >> a influence novel jynnine cupens has opened up a debate

about race privilege in publishing. >> earlier the year the publishing industry came under fire under issues of pay and representaon f. novel "american dirt yes, a story of mexica brie migrants written by a non-mexican author, jeannine cupens who reportedly received a $70,000 advance. for l.l.mckippy, all these issues were personal. >> i was a kid who loved science fiction and fantasy but science fiction and fantasy did not love me back.if i was on the page, i sassy best friend or i was the enemy or i was the help or the gangbanger as a child, i didn't have the arvocabulary tic late what i was seeing and feeling but now they do, that's what i wantto change for the readers of today and those of the future.

>> also now think --ing of those readers, dana kennedy, newspaper aointed plush -- publisher of en and shupter -- schuster. she becomes the first black person to he would a major accomplishing house. dana kennedy joins me mow from -- now from new york. dana kennedy, welcome. that put a superintendent on black writers being paian less therefore their sense of being valued less.yo what d see? how do you respond to something like that? >> i think it's going to be my job to make sure that doesn't happen at sim and shuster and hopefully to be able to influence the larger publishing community as well. there's no excuse for that. i woulr't have stood it when i was writing my book. thankfully that didn't happen to me but as a lear i this industry now, i want to hear from folks who have had those

experiences and figure out how we can solve it. >> many chump institutions are re-examining themselves in light to have black lives matter protests. in in what specific ways -- publishing has largely been seen as insular and largely white in its makeup. in what i ways shouldt change? >> it's very funny to me wen people say that publishing fits m.o. because you could be talking about law or really anyther sort of city. -- industry. i think industries in general need to look a temses -- themselves,ublishing included and i for many years headed up initiate kives -- initiatives at "the new york times" as part of senior newsroom leader. but i think for simon and schuster specifically, i don't have the answers quement yes.

i need to stahert job, get in there, roll up my sleeves and see what they're doing and what -- where there are opportunities for growth. i will get in there, talk to the staff and the learship and figure o where we go. we will have -- and they may ready, but we will have a comprehensive approach to diveity of all kinds. i just need to get into the we need to go and then i don't think it's enough as a leader in this strip who happens to b a person of color to just look at simon and schuster. i want to influence the entire publishing community it's a little early to answer how but i willu nd n check back with me in a year, hold me "able. >> hope we'll -- we'll get a chance to do that i mentioned e case, the detective around the novel "american dirt." yourself. ieder, a lot writer

when you look at the world of pub accomplishing, do yo see a lack of opportunities for writers of color, a lack ofvo es being heard? >> i think that's changed in recent jeers and there's more opportunity than ever before historically and not even in the very distant past that's been the case. i do tnk it's changing and will continue to because of the movement that's taxicab hold in this country. i also th wk that's i'm fwoin to have tremendous influence to bring in different voices. both esortablished au but emerging voices that can be important. we have a lot of work to do. i'm one person in one company but i think there are some opportunities for leaders across publishing houses to put our heads together and figure out how we can influence this issue, subject matter, pay equity for advaoies, thes and the authors that get highlighted.

all of that provides, i my view, an exciting opportunities to improve things and i will do that. i will, as best i can. >> we just have 30 seconds but i read that your son calls you, what, wordered in? i knowou love books but why take this job? what sit you home to do and why >> well, i think it's a tremendous opportunities to mebody i admire greatly. jonathan carp, one of the best mis in the business. i admire him and i also think i can influence things in the way and also i ussed love words. this is like a dream job. >> dana kennedy, thank you, and good luck. >> up the. thanks for havin me. ♪

amna: and tonight on the pbs newshour another episode of our podcast america, interrupted. as the u.s. grapples with how to aopen and contain the coronavirus, we oss the pond to the u.k. to hear about what we might learn from how brits are handling the pandemic. listen on our website, that's pbs.org/newshour, or wherever you get your podcasts.ws also on the ur online, "citizen" by claudia rankine is our july selection for "now read this," our book club with the new york times. it's a colction of essays, images and poetry that consider how collective expressions racism play out in contemporary society. rankine recentlyold the newshour about how a natural disaster, hurricane katrina, on race in america us her work and that's the newshouror tonigh i'm amna nawaz. join us online and again here tomorrow ngeve for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> when the world gets complicated a lot goes through demrou mind. withid felity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can recommend changes to your life. >> consumer cellular. johnson and johnson. financial services firm raymond james. carnegie corporation ofyo new , supporting invasions in ucation, democratic -- innovations in education, democratic engaget and the security. t of peace and and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by critics to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> this is pbs newshour west from weta studiosn in washing and from our bureau at the walter con -- cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

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