♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the newshour tonight, the case against former president donald trump over efforts to overturn the 2020 election that culminated on january 6th. we speak with mr. trump's attorney. then, the loss of thousands of newspapers leaves many american communities without a reliable source of local information. >> one of the things local news does is reminds people that, oh, that person, they may be of the other party, but they're facing the same challenge that i'm facing. geoff: and we delve into the late irish singer sinead o'connor's global impact on music, politics and activism. ♪

>> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> the walton family foundation. working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful

world. more information at macfound.org . and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. former president donald trump it is expected to appear in federal court in washington d.c. tomorrow to enter a plea on charges that he illegally tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and remain in power. those alleged actions, which resulted in violent riots in the halls of congress, are the most grave accusations to date against mr. trump. william brangham starts our coverage with a recap of the historic indictment. william: despite having lost,

the defendant was determined to remain in power. that is page one of special counsel jack smith's indictment. the united states of america versus donald trump. it alleges the former president, and his co-conspirators, unwilling to accept his loss to joe biden in the 2020 election, conspired and plotted to illegally hold onto power. >> this is our. . william: the allegations laid out including the violent riots on january 6 revealed the hallmarks of a coup. >> the attack on our nation's capital on january 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of american democracy. william: donald trump stands accused of four charges of trying to defraud the country, blocking and obstructing an official proceeding on january 6, and denying pple's voting rights. over 45 pages, the special counsel lays out the foundation for those charges as based on

actions taken, not just words alone. mr. trump: if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. william: it alleges trump knew his claims of voter fraud and a rigged election relies, and documents repeated cases where trump's closest allies and advisors told him so. >> all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes. william: it details a scheme to pressure election officials to further his bogus claims of fraud and disenfranchise millions of voters. the indictment alleges an effort to use the department of justice to falsely claim it had found voting irregularities. and a separate effort to encourage so-called for collectors in seven states, to create the appearance of a nonexistent controversy around the election. >> we condemn the violence that

took place here in the strongest possible terms. william: it also details t pressure put on former vice president mike pence to block the formal certification of the election on january 6. and it alleges that when pentz resisted, and violent riots bow -- broke out in and around the capitol, the former president and his allies redoubled their efforts to lie about the election. according to the indictment, donald trump was aided by six others. they are referenced as unnamed co-conspirators, but they are widely reported to include three of the president's former attorneys, rudy giuliani, john eastman, and sidney powell. former high-ranking doj official jeffrey clark, and pro-trump attorney kenneth chesebro. the new york times reported trump campaign advisor or section nine is likely the sixth. no charges have yet been brought against any of these six. >> sce the attack on our

capitol, the department of justice has remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day. this case is -- is brought consistent with that commitment, in our investigation of other individuals continues. william: tonight, trump washed out on social media, accusing the special counsel of trying to interfere with his 2024 campaign. today, trump's republican allies on the hill and even his 2020 for opponents largely came to his defense. >> the reality is a d.c. jury would indict a ham sandwich and convict the hands sandwich if it was a republican ham sandwich. i think americans need to be able to remove cases out of d.c.. william: mike pence, however, describe the allegations as grave. >> probably, the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers who kept telling him what he wanted to hear. the president asked me to put

him over the constitution. william: while vacationing in delaware, president biden ignored a shouted question about the indictment. tomorrow, the former president will be arraigned and enter his plea in the courtroom. appointed by barack obama, the judge has heard multiple cases against those who rioted on january 6, and has issued tough sentences against them. for the pbs newshour i am william brangham. geoff: with that first court appearance tomorrow, we hear tonight about how trump's legal team is planning his defense from trump attorney john lauro. we spoke a short time ago. they for being with us. john: good to be here. geoff: you have described to this indictment as an attack on free speech, on political advocacy. how do you defend that argument when the indictment makes clear that "the defendant had a right like every american to speak publicly about the election and even to claim falsely there had been outcome determinative

fraud." the indictment does not center on what mr. trump said or believed, it centers on what he did allegedly, in trying to subvert the election. john: just the opposite. it attacks his ability to advocate for political position, which is covered under the first amendment. what we saw after the 2020 election were a number of discrepancies. affidavits, sworn testimony from around the country as to irregularities in the election process. we also saw instances where in the middle of an election cycle, the rules changed without the state legislature's weighing in. under those circumstances, president trump was entitled to advocate for a position, whether that meant going back to the state legislatures, whether it meant engaging in court activity or fighting in court or dealing with the issue from a political standpoint. all of that is protected speech. this is the first time in the history of the united states where an existing

administration, the biden administration, is criminalizing and indicting and going after a political opponent who previously occupied the office of presidency. and is now a political opponent. this is an event -- geoff: biden doj appointed the special counsel because of the conflict of interest and the special counsel does not operate within the day-to-day supervision of the justice department. to the point about the legislature, the legislature qualified their electors by mid-december. according to the indictment, mr. trump new by november 14, that he had lost the election. he was told that by hordes of republican -- it is spelled out in the indictment, but make your point. john: of course you can believe the indictment or believe in the american system of justice, or you can fight an indictment and prove otherwise. or at least put the government to its burden of proof. in his of a special counsel, the special counsel reports to merrick garland.

merrick garland has the ultimate determination as to whether or not to bring an indictment. . merrick garland is a member of the biden administration. this indictment is by the biden administration, not by some special counsel who has no reporting ability to the biden administration. in terms of the qualification of electors, that is a significant issue. what you had where the electors initially qualified and changes in the system. what president trump asked for at the end was mike pence pause the voting and allow this issue to go back to the states so the state legislatures could ultimately decide on the qualification of the electors. that was a constitutional pathway that was provided for and identified by a constitutional scholar. and mr. trump followed that advice which he was entitled to do. geoff: the former vice president said donald trump was advised by a team of crackpot attorneys, the phrase he used. he said it was not just about pausing the vote, that it was about rejecting votes.

and that would have sent the entire system into chaos. we know from the indictment that the former vice president emerges as a major figure. he provided, as is spelled out in the indictment, notes that provide the underpinnings of so much of the evidence here. how will you contend with that evidence and potentially with his testimony? will you accuse him of lying? john: first of all, i have to say the testimony in its totality, but the bottom line is mr. pentz was also surround -- surrounded by lawyers. president was surrounded by lawyers. some of those lawyers had some disagreement about a constitutional pathway.% there is no doubt whatsoever that mr. trump was advised by a very reputable scholar, who gave him a pathway with respect to the constitutional options he had. geoff: you're talking about john eastman who is an unnamed co-conspirators are -- conspirator. john: the other option was

option d, which was to pause the vote. if you remember, in the speech, that is what president trump asked for. they may have been other options discussed before that, but the ultimate option that was asked was to pause the vote. and what we often have in the united states which is a constitutional debate about issues, but those constitutional debates are never criminalized except in the biden administration. geoff: let's return to this issue of free speech. the special counsel, as he has laid out this indictment, is saying that donald trump could have said, i won the election, it was rigged, there was fraud, joe biden did not win. if he stopped there, that would have been within the round of what was legal. but allegedly he did not stop there. it is alleged he conspired, three major conspiracies. how do you refute that? john: first of all, an indictment is a charge where it is returned by a grand jury. we are not allowed to present

our case. it is a one-sided presentation. you can take the indictment as gospel, which you may want to. but the bottom line is that is not how the system work. we are entitled to our day in court, to challenge the effort -- the evidence, to present our side of the story which is mr. trump absolutely, unconditionally believed he won the election. he took steps to advocate for that position. and that is all protected speech. let me say, this situation has never occurred in the history of the united states where a presidential election has been criminalized because of the free speech rights exercised by a sitting president. geoff: do you believe you can get a fair trial with this judge who was randomly assigned, an obama appointee? john: we expect to get a fair proceeding. problem is in the district of columbia, it is a heavily

weighted democratic city. i think it voted something like 95% for mr. biden. we are taking a close look at changing venue. we would like to see a more diverse, more balanced, a less biased pool. and certainly that will be an issue we will raise with the judge right away. geoff: you have suggested mr. trump will try to seek a later date for the trial. how late? john: we need to see all of the evidence. the special counsel, the biden administration has been investigating this for over three and a half years. to force any defendant, any american citizen, to trial in a railroaded a sort of way is antithetical to our system of justice. the defense is entitled to see the evidence, to look at discovery, to subpoena documents and witnesses. this is a massive case. this trial could last 6, 8, 9 months.

at a minimum, every defense team is entitled to look at the evidence, and we expect to do that. we will have a better idea of when we can be ready once we look at that evidence. the haydn signed 60 lawyers and investigators to this case. we don't have a team of that magnitude and it will take time to look through the evidence. geoff: on that point, mr. trump is facing three indictments in three different jurisdictions, potentially four depending on what happens in georgia this month. it is a demanding workload. it is an insanely busy schedule. . how is your team going to manage all of that? how will you choreograph that? john: we are certainly up to the challenge. the bottom line is that all of these lawsuits could attract from the american people want to hear about, which are the important issues facing the country. rather than relitigating the 2020 campaign, which this indictment does.

it is a terrible distraction. it is being brought in the middle of an election cycle by a political opponent. and the american people can make their own judgment as to whether or not that is right. this case could be brought the day after election day, and yet we have a hurry-up offense to bring it almost immediately after very damaging statements were made about president biden in a scandal which is enveloping his presidency now. we are in uncharted constitutional territory. we have never seen anything like this. but mr. trump is entitled to his day in court like every other american, and he will get a very vigorous defense consistent with professional ethics and it is a defense that will be successful. geoff: there is another significant figure who is described in this indictment beyond the former vice president, former white house chief of staff mark meadows, who is not characterized as a co-conspirator. can this indictment or that suggests to somebody has

cooperated with the special counsel, jack smith. how do you see it? do think meadows cooperated? john: cooperation is an interesting word. it often means you go in and talk to a prosecutor. that is sometimes termed cooperation. in the course of a -- of talking to a prosecutor, you can say many favorable things about the defense. we would welcome all of the information from mr. meadows and we will take a look at that. that simply because someone is "cooperating" does not mean that they are simply mouthing the words of a prosecutorial narrative. i need to be clear. this is simply an indictment, which is an allegation. it does not mean the government has this level of proof. we will get our day in court and attack every sentence in that affidavit, and we will prevail at the end of the trial. geoff: you think the special counsel will include things in this indictment that he could not prove? john: i have been practicing law

for 40 years. as a prosecutor and a defense lawyer. and they are certainly things in every single indictment that never get proven. believe it or not, after trial, defendants get acquitted. in this case, president trump will get acquitted. geoff: is there any universe in which your client would accept a plea deal? john: no. absolutely not. in 2016, he ran as a presidential candidate that would not quit. that would fht for the rights of the american people. he is doing that in connection with this case. i'm not just representing the president of the united states in this case, and representing every american that wants to speak freely, that wants to raise his or her voice, that wants to advocate for a political position. this is an instance where, unfortunately, that kind of free speech is under attack. it is under attack in universities, in school boards,

it is under attack on social media. this is the ultimate form of censorship. if you don't go along with what the government believes happened in 2020, you are going to get indicted and prosecuted, and that is plain wrong. geoff: the attorney for the former president donald trump. thank you for your time. we appreciate it. john: thank you. geoff: many of the details in yesterday's indictment were first revealed last year as part of the house january 6 committee's probe of. the attack on the u.s. capitol planning is now is the former lead investigator for that committee, tim havey. think you for being back with us. i want to start with your assessment of mr. lauro's assertion that this indictment is an attack on donald trump's free speech. his ee speech rights. tim: there is a big difference between speech and conduct. the constitution does protect americans rights to free speech. even if that speech is hateful,

even if it is self -- false. if donald trump stood up and said the election was stolen alone, that would not be criminal. what is alleged here is conduct, not speech. he has an alleged to have lied to the american people as part of a multipart intentional plan to prevent the joint session. it was not just the speech, it was with the speech was designed to do. it was the generation of the fake electoral certificates, pressure on mike pence. the key thing to remember about that speech is that it was not informed by evidence. the allegations that he made about voter fraud were repetitively debunked, rebutted, and go directly to the president. that makes them lies. therefore, it demonstrates specific intent that those lies motivate action. i agree with mr. lauro that in america, every defendant is

presumed innocent and gets his day in court. looking forward -- i'm looking forward to the adjudication of this. but the special counsel certainly anticipated this, and has evidence of conduct, not speech. that is why this indictment was brought. geoff: in her john lara say the government had three years to bring this case, and now they want to rush this. he is not the only one who feels that way. there are trump critics, democrats, who agree with him for different reasons. what do you make of the timeline of this case? tim: i think the department of justice at the beginning was focused on what i've called the blue-collar aspect ojanuary 6, the rioters themselves who were there at the capitol committing acts of violence. i think it took them a long time to get to the white collar part of the case, the impetus, the political coup, this multipart clan that has now been alleged in the indictment. i don't know what went on within the department that informed that prioritization.

i do think the facts that the select committee was able to uncover, that came largely from trump administration officials, publicans who wanted the president to win, but did the right thing when they were in a moment of principle. their willingness to come forward and talk to the select committee and the revelation of those facts to them unquestionably was motivating. facts are what matters, not lawyers, but facts. the facts are compelling. when the department of justice they can aware of those facts, they were moved to act. geoff: you were the lead investigator for the house january 6 committee. that committee's work product in many ways created a roadmap for the january 6 -- the special counsel january 6 investigation. when you read that indictment, what strikes you as intensely familiar? and what strikes you as new, as painting a fuller picture of all

that transpired leading up to the insurrection? tim: the vast majority of it is familiar. when i've got, it sounded similar to vice chair cheney's opening statement at our first hearing last year. that was the hearing at which she said this was an intentional multipart plan to disrupt the joint session. and she checked off pressure on state officials, pressure on the vice president and alternately, launching a violent mob at the capitol. that is precisely what this indictment lays out. the facts here have not been hidden or a mystery. there is not much new in the indictment. other than a few direct communications between vice president pence and president trump. we do not have an opportunity to get that from the vice president. we knew the vice president had conveyed his position to the president, but the color and the words, that is new. i think pensive alonee has

given new information that he did not provide us. there is some new vignettes in the indictment. but the court conduct was described in detail over the course of the select committee process. geoff: i want to ask you more about the testimony. by the former president. . how did what he shared and witnessed -- in witness testimony and contemporaneous notes, how did that propel the special counsel investigation, beyond what your committee was able to do? tim: i don't know that it propelled. think it corroborated and provided more direct evidence of the fact about which we had indirect evidence. we interviewed mark short, who was the vice president's chief of staff. i remember specifically asking mr. short, did the vice president convey to president trump's position about the limitations on his authority at the joint session? mark short said yes, many times. we were aware that that was the

position the vice president took and it was conveyed to the president. we have mike pence talking about the words that were used. that is important and more reliable direct evidence than the secondhand account we got. geoff: thank you as always for your insights. we appreciate it. tim: thanks for having me. ♪ geoff: to the days other news, a federal jury recommended the death penalty for robert bowers, the gunman who killed 11 people at a pittsburgh synagogue. he opened fire at the tree of life synagogue in 2018. it was the deadliest anti-semitic attack in u.s. history. prosecutors said the courts tried to deliver justice. >> while today's verdict may mean many things to people, it cannot change what happened on october 27, 2018. it cannot bring back any of the 11 victims.

no verdict can set things right or restore what was lost that morning. geoff: the presiding judge will hear from victims' families tomorrow before formally imposing the death sentence. new findings on july's extreme heat point to a new link to man-made global warming. the science non-profit climate central says it was hotter than normal for 80% of the world's population at least one day during the month. it says climate change was responsible. hardest hit were some two billion people in tropical and desert regions who endured extreme heat daily. the findings are based on a study of 4700 cities. in china, beijing and the surrounding region are awash in severe flooding after days of the heaviest rain in 140 years. a typhoon drunk -- dumped 29 inchesr. it is blamed for 21 deaths and rescue efforts are continuing, with the military delivering aid by helicopter. outside the city, roads are

washed out and crops destroyed. >> this has affected our family. people where i'm from grow corn, and they were all hit by the disaster. this is a total failure of harvest. there's nothing we can do, it's a natural disaster. geoff: meantime, another typhoon battered okinawa and other japanese islands today and headed for china. and, in south korea, an ongoing heat wave pushed a weather warning to its highest level, with at least 22 people killed so far. the u.s. state department says the american embassy in niger will stay open despite the military coup there. but officials would not confirm reports that the u.s. will evacuate most embassy staffers and families. the first french evacuation flights landed in paris today. and in niger's capital, french soldiers registered evacuees as they formed long lines. in ukraine, russian attack drones badly damaged a vital

port today in another blow to grain shipments. the port sits on the odessa region along the border with romania. it is part of a key route for the grain trade. after the attack, crews worked to douse major fires, the latest such attacks since russia ended a deal allowing grain traffic through the black sea. pope francis has arrived in portugal and rebuked the nation's roman catholic clergy after a damning report on sexual abuse of minors. the pope said the church must purify itself and listen to victims. he arrived earlier at the presidential palace in lisbon, to attend the first catholic world youth day since the pandemic. it's his first major trip since intestinal surgery in june. wall street had its worst day in months, a day after the u.s. credit rating got cut. . the u.s. average -- walls 1% to close at 35,282. the nasdaq fell 2%.

the s&p 500 slipped 1.4%. still to come, judy woodruff explores the connection between the decline in local newspapers and the nation's political divides. and a look at the lasting influence of the late irish singer-songwriter sinead o'connor. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: over the past few decades, more than 2000 newspapers across the country have closed. leaving many communities without a reliable source of local information. researchers say this crisis in journalism driven by changes in technology is fueling the country's political divisions. judy woodruff recently visited on community in north texas as part of her ongoing series america at a crossroads. judy: tucked away in the texas

panhandle, in an isolated pocket of the country long dominated by ranching, drilling, and the railroad is the city of canadian, population 2300. but since march of this year, a longtime fixture of this community, something residents say had bound them together through good times and bad has been missing. >> it's just got a kind of a hole in it, you know, a vacancy right now. >> i just don't know who's going to be sharing all of the champions and the good news in our community. >> it's almost like a death in the family. we don't talk about it a lot. we just go, oh, i can't believe we don't have it. judy: earlier this year, the city's weekly newspaper, the canadian record, stopped printing. these days its bracket sits empty. but for decades, laurie brown would put up a flag outside her office each thursday to let the town know that the newest edition was available. the record was a family affair that became her life's work, and

in its pages brown documented the city council, school and hospital board meetings. the impacts of droughts and wildfires, the babies born, football games won, and residents lost. she lobbied for the construction of a new assisted living center, mesa view, and for the installation of a blinking stop sign at a three-way highway intersection that had seen too many fatal accidents. >> i tell people we've sometimes helped good things happen and we often stopped bad things from happening. and it's not because we're so powerful, it's because information is powerful. and we're making sure the community, the people who care about these things, know about them. we had probably five or six pages of classifieds. they're pretty much down to one 1, 1 and a half now. judy: yet after so many years of holding the paper together as

classified ad purchases dwindled, and reporters left and were not replaced, earlier this year, brown made the difficult decision to suspend publication. >> we were already working on sort of a shoestring. and i just didn't see how i could do it. i needed a break, and it was the hardest decision i've ever made. and i still lie awake at night wondering whether it was a good decision or not. judy: what's happened to the record here in canadian is not unique. across the country, over the past two decades, more than 2200 weekly newspapers have closed down, and tens of thousands of reporters have been laid off. and researchers say that not only has profound effects on the practice of journalism, but also on the country's civic health. >> local news is something that

reminds people of what they have in common, both their challenges and their shared identities, their shared culture, their shared community. judy: johanna dunaway is a professor and research director at syracuse university's institute for democracy, journalism and citizenship. she says the broad decline of local newspapers nationally driven largely by plummeting revenue, as advertising moved online has contributed to the rising polarization now seen across the country. >> national news, for all of its many benefits, it tends to frame politics in america through the lens of the major conflicts between the two parties, right? for those americans or those citizens who are only watching the national news, they often only get this sort of game-frame style coverage that it's almost like sports reporting with democrats on one side and republicans on the other. >> facing a growing showdown with republicans over america's

ability to pay off its debt, president bidespeaking -- >> mccarthy is putting the blame on joe biden here. >> we are both old enough to remember when republicans were going after democrats for defund the police. >> one of the things local news does is reminds people that, oh, that person, they may be of the other party, but they're facing the same challenge that i'm facing. >> we have always reported the news that is the most important to the people who live here. judy: in 2017, documentary filmmaker heather courtney began following laurie brown as she covered this largely rural, conservative community that voted overwhelming for president trump in 2016 and again in 2020. >> what happens if nobody is doing this? judy: highlighting her complex relationship with her fellow canadians, who relied on brown and her reporting even as they often disagreed with her

editorials. >> they didn't want me to report it, that biden won that election. by god, the electoral college has voted and joe biden will be our president, and i'm going to make sure it is in the newspaper. >> she says in the film that her politics don't match the politics of this town. but at the same time, the people here are very still very much supportive of the paper. and they'll go and they'll talk to laurie about whatever they might disagree about in her editorial. and i think that that's something that has broken down in most places around the country. judy: steve rader is a rancher who lives 18 miles outside of canadian, in the adjoining county. hi, there. >> there is rose. judy: for him, the record was a lifeline to the community, and to his past and its loss has been especially hard. >> our paper spoiled us. they did so much work and it was

so colorful and beautiful and they celebrated our successes and our tough times. judy: feels personal. >> yeah. yeah. that paper was part of our life. people from hundreds of miles away came and supported our community. judy: in 2017, a wildfire burned more than 300,000 acres, including 12 sections of grass on rader's ranch, four trailers, equipment, and 85 cattle. >> but if the paper hadn't told about it, nobody would have known. and people responded. people we didn't even know from all over the country sent us hay and feed. a lady from new mexico sent us ten cows to replace the ones

that had died. and the paper, not that we were whining or needing attention, but it brought it to the forefront and documented what happened. judy: laurie, the editor, who t her own opinions as editor in the paper. did you always agree with what she was writing? >> no. no. but she always made me think. i hate to say it, judy, but her family opposed the vietnam war in the 1970's and they received a lot of flak over that. and looking back, i think they were totally right. we need to have other opinions. that's the strength of america , thank god for that. >> i don't want to live in a place that has echo chambers everywhere, where everyone thinks the same. judy: wendie cook is the executive director of the citadelle art museum, a collection housed in a former baptist church downtown. she moved here from dallas years ago with her husband, who grew up in canadian. in addition to the museum, she

works as an interior designer, and for the past six years, has served on the city council. without the paper, she worries that a level of accountability in local government will be lost. >> [00:17:50]i have a concern -- >> i have a concern about who is telling the critical pieces of information. the city is facing a bond election. who is giving the factual information about how that bond election is going to fund? right now, without the canadian record, i fear that our voter information is coming from our stuffed mailboxes, from candidates or from pacs, who by their very nature are providing biased material for our community. >> right now, if there's a name that pops up on a ballot for one of the elections and you do not know them, you really don't have no means of finding out, who are they? where did they come from?

are they married? do they have kids? judy: john julian operates a water-well construction business in town and he agrees with wendie cook. >> it kind of leaves me at a 50-50 flip of a coin. do i vote yes or do i vote no for them. if you don't know. and i don't like to be in that position. if i'm going to make a vote, i want it to be an informed, educated vote. >> people don't feel comfortable voting when they know virtually nothing about the people running for office. judy: johanna dunaway, of syracuse university, says that in addition to the loss of shared identity, when a local news source closes, there are potentially a number of other impacts, including more corruption and irresponsible spending, more straight ticket voting, less competitive elections and lower turnout. >> and then it is just more of a cycle. the legislators or city council people or mayoral office folks

realize this, and so why would they cater to the people who are not going to vote for them? so then they're only sort of behaving in lockstep with the preferences of the people who do vote. and those are the citizens who tend to have very strong partisan preferences and tend to have the most extreme policy preferences. and so then you get more polarizing behavior on the part of both the voters and those holding office. judy: do you think that our country can stay strong, that our democracy can stay strong well into the future with, frankly, you know, hollowed out local journalism? >> i worry that it can't because i worry that we are more susceptible to this kind of tribal attitude and behavior that sometimes political elites at the national level on both sides, they try to use that to sort of for their own strategic advantage for elections or for

what have you. it's usually short-term. they are not doing it with people intend, they are doing it so they can stay in office and make policy. i think it makes the problem worse. judy: back in canadian, laurie brown continues to post occasional stories and updates on the canadian record's website and facebook page, which has grown since the paper stopped publishing. but it is a shell of what the paper was. >> we are still sort of checking that pulse. trying to decide what's the best way to communicate and how to do it. that said, you know, it's not a great revenue model and i've got people working here who aren't getting paychecks right now, so i'm not getting a paycheck. judy: no paycheck. that's not sustainable. >> not sustainable. i have good people who work with me and they care as much about

this newspaper as i do and this community. look at this. look at this. you're writing stories about people's lives that they will remember forever. judy: brown says she hopes to find a new owner of the paper someone to continue her family's legacy, telling the important stories of this place and its people. >> information is the key to our democracy. facts. truth. good information. and also just that conversation that we enable. it's essential. and so i worry all the time about it. i want deeply to continue the life of the canadian record. i just am not sure how to do it. judy: in a coming story, we will look at moves to help address the crisis in local news and whether they can fill the gap.

for the pbs newshour, i'm judy woodruff in canadian, texas. ♪ geoff: irish singer-songwriter sinead o'connor's death last week at the age of 56 came as a shock to fans worldwide. in the days since, an outpouring of love from fans and fellow artists has painted a fuller picture of o'connor's legacy on music-and on irish culture and politics. jeffrey brown looks at o'connor's impact for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: she was known for her powerful voice and outspoken stances. and it began with the music. >> ♪ nothing compares ♪ jeffrey: sinead o'connor's 1990 rendition of prince's nothing

compares 2 u became a number one hit and the album it appeared on, i do not want what i want, won the 1991 grammy award for best alternative music performance. o'connor boycotted that award ceremony, criticizing its commercialism. but that was nothing compared to the uproar in 1992 after she ripped up a photo of pope john paul ii during her appearance on "saturday night live," to criticize child abuse in the church. in 2018, o'connor publicly announced her conversion to islam. since her death, fellow musicians have paid tribute to o'connor through her music. >> ♪ i do know ♪ jeffrey: alanis morissette sang the 1987 song madinka with the foo fighters over the weekend. and brandi carlile sang anothing compares to you at a pink concert. meanwhile, o'connor continues to mourned in her home country of ireland, where the mayor of dublin said he hopes to stage a tribute concert soon.

and joining me now is una malali. she's a columnist for the irish times in dublin. thanks for joining us. so the reaction, especially in ireland, clearly goes beyond the music. how do you explain what you've seen since sinead o'connor's death? una: it's quite hard to explain what's been happening in ireland. the loss is being felt really profoundly for people in ireland. i think sinead o'connor goes beyond music. as you say, she's more of a cultural figure. she looms very large in the irish psyche in terms of her activism, her politics, her actions. and so the loss is being felt really profoundly. it's almost as though it's a large political figure or even a spiritual figure who's been lost. so there have been vigils and gatherings and people are extraordinarily upset.

i don't think i could really think of another person that this has happened with in my lifetime anyway. jeffrey: you have written that in ireland she was a revolutionary figure. she was also a very controversial figure. what did you mean by revolutionary? una: i think because of the context that she came from, particularly in the 1980's and 1990's in ireland, when the moral authority of the catholic church was still quite strong, she really preempted an awful lot of that collapse with her actions on saturday night live and with her constant attempts to highlight issues of child abuse and childhood trauma. she equated the entire. -- the entire social psyche of ireland to that of an abused child and was trying to somehow remedy that through asking to be listened to, to speaking out against these various spiritual ills and also through her music. so in that way, she inspired an awful lot of people as well, who

didn't necessarily have the bravery in quite an oppressive society to speak out against various authorities and not be afraid to get in trouble. and she repeatedly questioned this lever of shame that is constantly pulled in irish society and sought to unseat that or at least make it disjointed. so that those kinds of actions were and remain revolutionary. and an awful lot has changed that in irish society that has really vindicated her. jeffrey: and that outcry that hit, the controversy, did she ever get past it? did people, the ones who were upset with her, did they forgive her? una: i'm not sure she was asking for their forgiveness. i think she was asking for more of a seismic shift in our society. her career continued very successfully in ireland and europe. her albums were lauded. her tours were always sold out. she was very highly regarded. her memoir in 2021 was a best

seller here. there was a documentary out about her last year that packed cinemas. so that kind of torpedoing of her career really only occurred. -- only occurred in america for different cultural reasons with regards to america being a more puritanical place, i guess, and more -- has a tendency to kind of go the full length with controversies and really silence people in that way. the irish context was quite different because she was speaking to so many people who ultimately supported her point of view. jeffrey: what about the music and especially her voice? i mean, what, when you think about it, what so captured you and so many others? una: i think there's so many different things about her voice and her music. i mean, her voice is singular. anita baker once described it as cavernous and i think that's a really good description. she sung in her own accent at a time when a lot of irish rock

and pop acts gravitated towards this mid atlantic twang. there was an awful lot about ireland and specifically about dublin in her songs. so she was capturing not just the emotional landscape, but the literal landscape in her music as well. and that voice is undeniable. she had that. but what she was channeling was something really authentic. and i think it's her creative integrity that really remains. jeffrey: i understand you met and you interviewed her a number of several times. what was she like in that context and did you see changes over the years? una: i've always found her to be extraordinarily sweet, a very down to earth, chilled out, very cool, very, very funny person, massive sense of humor. but also fragile, you know, and she was very vocal about her own struggles with mental health because of the context that she came from, because of the things

she experienced throughout her life and indeed throughout her career. jeffrey: you have written about now there being a deep collective grief, you called it in ireland. how would you assess her legacy? what do you think it will be? una: i think that's something people are struggling with because i think that there's a tendency to isolate cultural figures and icons as if they're people from afar. i think what people are kind of trying to grapple with is how do we diffuse her stance and the things she stood for within ourselves? she didn't just demand to be heard, but to be listened to. and i think that there's an awful lot that artists in particular. but also women, also the lgbtq plus community, all of the people who felt like they didn't necessarily fit in or were living in opposition to society. how can you actually create your own pathway and how can you kind of get support for that and not

be ostracized or criticized? so i would hope that her stance -- and i think people are thinking quite deeply about those lessons that she gave. particularly because of how ireland has changed so much. jeffrey: the life and legacy of sinead o'connor. una malali of the irish times. thank you very much. una: thank you. ♪ geoff: brandon kazen-maddox is an artist, filmmaker, acrobat, and an advocate for deaf artists on the stage, screen, and beyond. tonight, kazen-maddox shares their brief but spectacular take on blending the worlds of art, asl, and accessibility. brandon: i am a grandchild of deaf adults or a goda, which means that my first language is asl, sign language. i was raised in a family of deaf and signing people. for me, my hands are storytellers and my words are just along for the ride. so that means that i primarily

think in asl, in sign language, and i make sure that my hands follow what the concepts and images and memories and feelings that my heart and that my mind are expressing. growing up, my family would always eat around the dinner table. there was such an amazing mixture of communication. and i grew up watching all of that and participating in it. my grandparents would express themselves in sign language. if we brought friends and other relatives to the table, we wanted to make sure that they understood the conversation also. i bring that into my work as an artist. the reason why i talk and sign is because i want everyone to understand everything i'm saying. when i was about 16, i was driving with my grandma and in the deaf community, we have, we

turn on the dome light at night because we have to be able to see each other sign. when i first saw in the rearview mirror, the red and blue lights, i immediately was very afraid. i had to make sure to keep myself and my grandma safe at that moment. and sign language is not always something that people are accustomed to. so the cultural facilitation and linguistic facilitation was pivotal at that moment. i'm a co-founder of a company called up until now collective. we develop and produce new multidisciplinary work that focuses on intimacy, empathy, and connection, and centers our work on stories that have been traditionally left out of our mainstream narrative. our mission is to challenge the

status quo and build new structures for creating art. when someone who signs or a deaf person or someone in a wheelchair has everything that they need to be on stage and shine, that's my goal with the work that i do. my name is brandon kazen-maddox and this is my brief, but spectacular take on blending the -- melding the worlds of art, asl and accessibility. geoff: you can watch more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. that is the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. thanks for joining us. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- with the ongoing support of

these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including jim and nancy build murder, and kathy and paul anderson. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. funding for america at a crossroads was provided by -- and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made

possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪ >> you're watching pbs.

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one giant leap for mankind. ♪ ♪ hello and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. ukraine takes the fight to russia with another drone attack on moscow. but is russia digging in for a bigger war? we take the long view with analyst alexander gabuev and former state department official karin von hippel. then saudi arabia will host ukraine peace talks without russia at the table. could this mean more global por for ukraine? i ask patrick gaspard, former u.s. ambassador to south africa. also, as foreign nationals flee niger, what will a coup mean for africa and the world? and it wasn't until i stumbled on women in uniform i got a sense of the scope of women's