♪ >> good evening. i'm geoff bennett. >> on the news hour tonight. a key take away from colleybille kamala harris's and

donald trump's debate and they fact-check a debunk story made by the president. >> an israeli airstrike hits a you in school in gaza while president biden speaks out about the death of an american activist in the west bank. >> judy woodruff tells us the role the social media is playing. >> when we wander onto social media, we can wrongly conclude that everyone is extreme and everyone is sort of out to get everyone else. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by. >> consumer cellular, this is sam. this is a pocket dial. well, somebody's pocket, i will let you know that what consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract.

that's kind of our thing. have a nice day. >> a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's jazz club. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions and the way the you bring pickled together. -- bring people together. >> learn more at kettering.org. >> the judy and peter bloom co. floor foundation, strengthen democracies at home and abroad. the walton family foundation, working for solutions during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t macarthur foundation, committed to building more just and peaceful world. for 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. >> welcome to the news hour. tens of millions of americans tuned into last nights consequential presidential debate between vice president kamala harris and former president donald trump it >> the debate may be the only face-off of the campaign season. vice president harris tried to walk a fine line between being the incumbent and a change candidate while fending off attacks from donald trump. the former president was repeatedly fact-check for inaccuracies. >> kamala harris. let's have a good debate. >> the night began cordially

before the gloves came off. >> will leaders are laughing at donald trump. i have talked with military leaders some of whom worked with you, and they say you are a disgrace. >> she got zero votes, and when she ran, she was the first want to leave because she failed. >> it was their first face-to-face meeting. and their first head-to-head clash on the issues like on the economy. >> i have a plan, $6,000 for young families for the first year of your child's life to help you in that most critical stage of your trust availment. i have a plan. >> she copied biden's plan, and it is like four sentences, like run spot run. four sentences that are just oh, we'll try and lower taxes. >> the former president try to link harris the president biden >> she is biden. i don't know the drama, she says. she is biden. >> clearly i am not joe biden and i am. certainly not donald

trump >> and harris, a former prosecutor, repeatedly baited trump. >> they can manipulate you with flattery and favors. to needling him about the crowd size at his rallies. >> i'm going to invite you to attend one of donald trump's rallies because it is a really interesting thing to watch. you will see during the course of his rallies come he talks about fictional characters like hannibal lector, he will talk about windmills cause cancer. and what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. >> people don't leave my rallies. we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. that is because people want to take their country back. >> for much of the night trump was on defense, not answering whether he would sign or veto a national abortion ban. >> your running mates said that

you would veto it. >> i didn't discuss it with j.d. in all fairness. we do not have to discuss it. >> refusing to say if he thought defending ukraine against russia was in america's national security interests. >> a very simple question, do you want ukraine to win this war? >> i want to save lives that are being uselessly, people being killed by the millions. >> just to clarify on the question, do you believe it is in the u.s. best interest for ukraine to win this war? >> i think it is the u.s. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. >> and taking no responsibility for his role in the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol. >> is there anything you regret about what you did on that day? >> i had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech. >> the vice president use that moment to appeal to undecided voters. >> it is time to turn the page and if that was a bridge too far for you, well, there is a place

in our campaign for you to stand for country, to stand for our democracy, to stand for rule of law. and to end the chaos. >> moments after, harris picked up a superstar endorsement, taylor swift and in a rare move for a presidential candidate, trump went to the spin room afterward. over the last 24 hours in multiple fox news interviews, trump question whether he would do another debate and said abc. should lose its license. >> it was a rigged eal. i think abc took a big hit. to be honest, they are a news organization, they have to be licensed. they ought to take away their license for the way they did that. >> trump and republicans were quick to attack the moderators or fact checking him, including on abortion. >> her vice president of pick says abortion in the ninth

month is absently find any says execution after birth. because the baby is born. >> there is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after its born. >> on a conspiracy theory about haitain immigrants eating pets. one that has been felled by far right activists laura bloomer. who traveled with trump to the debate. >> in springfield, they are eating dogs, the people that came in. they are eating the cats. [laughter] they are eating the pets of the people that live there. >> abc did reach out to the city manager. he told us there have been no credible reports pets being abused. >> when a candidate is -- giving conspiracy theories, that is a softball for a moderator, and it

is glaring if you do not address them. >> she said harris was not immune from critique for leaving out finer details, but it was trump who. required fact checking. >> he was repeating conspiracy theories that were known to be false. it is easier to call those out in real time. >> at ground zero today, disagreements were put aside. [bell] president biden and vice president harris stood feet away from former president trump and j.d. vance. as the nation remembered the nearly 3000 lives lost on this day 23 years ago. the former president and vice president harris even shaking hands. at the remembrance. but tomorrow the race is back on with less than eight weeks to go before election day. >> laura joins us now alongside lisa desjardins covering the trump campaign. thank you both for being here. the harris campaign feels good

about how last night went, both in terms of harris's performances and the degree to which trump lost his composure. how does the debate in their view help her position in this campaign? >> well, the campaign feels as though it helps her immensely. the momentum she had since she jumped into the race, they feel as though it is going to be furthered by the debate. and that is what a lot of democrats i. they feel as though it is totally different than how they felt after that june debate between president biden and donald trump. they particularly pointed out direct appeals that they feel harris was wise to make to women on abortion and appealing to centrist and undecided on january 6 as we reported and -- also a direct appeal to 800,000 polish americans in pennsylvani in defense of ukraine. i spoke to one of the

republicans back in and he said that harris is making it hard for levelheaded republicans to vote for trump again and is giving them a strong permission to vote for him. >> donald trump is touting his performance and he said it was his best effort. it would be news if he did not say that. but lindsey graham, one of his top allies said it was a missed opportunity. how are other republicans talking about his performance last night? >> the former president said he won the debate and he said that to vice president harris's campaign idea, for another debate he said it is a sign that she lost because she wants a rematch. but you're right. from other republicans there are three reactions. one, silence and that is the majority reaction that i found even talking to members of congress pick today and trying to reach out to their offices. the other reaction, some are saying, there should've been more details from harris, maybe the moderators, finding other things to talk about. but there is a significant amount like senator lindsey graham who are saying this was a

missed opportunity. and it is significant to understand what the problems might be for them here let's look at the polling that we have from our pbs poll this week about where the generic congressional ballot would go. it is split almost down the middle. but look at it, 8% undecided. the race for congress can really still swing peer the undecided number for the race for president in our poll 1%. all these members of congress and republicans know that this debate could affect who runs congress. >> what are you hearing from voters about their initial reactions to last night's debate? >> we sat in on two focus groups run by never trumper. one were swing state voters who backed trump in 2016 and voted biden in 2020 and they praise how harris conducted herself and one georgia voter in particular justin said the debate impacted his views about harris. >> i wanted some answers which in the beginning kamala did not

seem like she was going to get. but she was very presidential and she got there. i feel like i got all the answers from kamala harris. trump just sat there taking her bait and not answer questions i feel like she was the clear winner. every time i watch trump get on tv and rail and go nuts about a topic, it pushes me further and further towards the democratic party. i was born and raised republican. >> in this group of swing voters, they were asked if the election were held today who would they vote for and all nine of them said it would be harris but the election is not today. there were a few of them that said they still wanted a bit more time to think about it. in trump another group of people who voted for trump in 2020, they were not as enthusiastic about either candidate. some expressing frustration with kamala harris saying they still wanted more policy details from her. >> what have you pick up from voters over the course-- >> a spoke to two republicans

who are undecided and now leaning more towards harris today. >>t he harris campaign agents, they spent the day in wilmington huddled, trying to figure out how to strategize on this momentum. what are they telling? >> democrats say they do not want to make the mistakes of 2016, she needs to run like an underdog. and, you know, to the point earlier about the fact that she is trying to appeal to the centrists, two lifelong pennsylvania republicans and those focus groups said the recent endorsement from cheney is pushing them more towards harris parish she will be hitting the ground in pennsylvania, north carolina in the days to comes. tim walz will be in michigan and wisconsin. they are not taking any breaks now. >> i have to ask you question but what is happening on the hill because house republicans have a new problem, we are weeks away from a funding deadline. >> today, house speaker mike du johnson pulle the funding

bill to have a stopgap measure. he could not get vote enough votes to make it through, tested that was the republican save act which would require a national i.d. voter law. there were many different reasons, groups of republicans opposed to this. we've seen this play but before. they just cannot get to 217 votes. >> no vote today because we are in the consensusbuilding business. in congress. with small majorities, that is what you do. make sure our elections are free and fair. . and that is what we'reworking on >> consensusbuilding is not going so well right now. they only have six to eight legislative days to make the september 30 funding deadline. democrats expect to have another measure. but we'll see. >> we have seen this movie before. thanks so much. >> as you just heard, donald

trump donald dahlen on unsupported claims that haitian immigrants are abducting and eating people's pets and the small city of springfield, ohio. william visited springfield where he spoke to city officials and members of the haitian community. he joins us now. good to see you. we heard donald trump repeat those assertions to tens of millions of people who watched the debate last night. there is no factual evidence for those claims. so what is actually happening in springville? >> three weeks ago, a wonderful producer and i were in springfield doing a story about what is going on there. and springfield is like a lot of midwestern rust belt cities, had a declining population for a long time. but in recent years, they have had an influx of haitians moving to that community. this is part of the way of people that are fleeing violence in haiti. tens of thousands of people have left that country as it has fallen into chaos. and about 12,000 have ended up in springfield. and they are here illegally

under a temporary protected status program. but their arrival in this community has been rocky. there was an accident that killed a young boy last year. but in addition, if you just grow a city's population by 20% in a few years, that causes strain. we talked to the mayor about this. here is what he had to say. >> the infrastructure of the city, our safety forces, our hospitals, our schools, springfield is a close community and has a big heart, but we have had this influx that is taxed all of the services. >> while we were there, we heard there had been these facebook rumors of ducks and geese being taken by haitians out of city parks. a county commissioner said there was no evidence of that. but then this pets rumor that was amplified really took off when the senator from ohio, j.d. vance put out this tweet."

reports show the people of had their pet abducted and eaten by people who should not be in this country." again, we ask the city manager, and the city manager like in many cities is like the ceo and he again reiterated there are no credible reports that immigrants had taken pets or harmed pets in any way. on some level there is a logical question we have to ask -- if you believe that your beloved pet had been stolen and killed and eaten by someone, who would you first contact, the police or your local senator? a local senator j.d. vance argues he has received multiple calls about this. the local official sake they have received none. even today, after the debate, they double down saying all of this things are "rumors that have been spread by misinformation." >> these very ugly rumors do have some historical context we should get into. how have these kinds of claims been used against other groups in the past? >> that is exactly right.

researchers who study this field say that rumors like this are often used to demonize people who are seen as different, whether you are from another country, speak another language or something look different. mary and i talked to cynthia miller idris at american university. >> there has always been this idea of a threat from the other, from immigrants, from people of color to the nation, to white, families , to civilization itself. this idea that is some terrible threat coming that has to be defended against, and then as evidence of that, this idea that your beloved pets are being stolen and eaten, which is patently false. there is no evidence whatsoever that that is happening. and it is the kind of thing that makes people scared of "the

other." it dehumanizes. >> so, even though there is no evidence that immigrant communities in america commit violence at greater rates than nativeborn americans, the former president and his running make keep leading into this argument that we are being invaded by a hoarde and it is not true. . >> great reporting from you and our producer. thank you so much. >> you are welcome. ♪ >> i'm stephanie sy with news hour west. here are the latest headlines. dangerous weather is affecting two parts of the country tonight to hurricane francine is making landfall in louisiana, as a category 2 hurricane. meteorologists expect a major storm surge and widespread flooding. meanwhile, out west, scores of

large wildfires have prompted tens of thousands of evacuations. >> in the los angeles area today, crews foughts to contain massive blazes racing towards foothill communities. some long time residents told reporters they had never seen fires like this before. >> this was the biggest one so far in 33 years. >> three large wildfires are barely contained for the bridge fire to the north and the line fire to the east and the airport fire. the line fire's location has complicated suppression efforts. >> very difficult terrain, some inaccessible areas for crews to reach to fight this fire aggressively and safely. >> the airport fire ignited by a spark from heavy machinery used by public workers quickly exploded in size. >> we hardly had any time. >> some residents evacuated as

the fire reached homes. >> we had a packing list. we have done us a couple times so we got all the stuff we needed and it is in the car. >> the bridge fire destroyed dozens of homes and a ski area in wrightwood. but no state is battling more will large wildfires than oregon, with 24 blazes burning right now. idaho is dealing with 22. while tinderbox conditions plagued the west, the south east, particularly louisiana, is bracing for an onslaught of water from hurricane francine. >> for days now, we have been prepping for the storm. we have high water vehicles, boats, you name it, extra deputies on patrol right now. until this has concluded. >> n ow they are hunkering down for a storm forecast or say could bring up to 12 inches of rain and a storm surge as high as 10 feet.

>> extreme weather is also causing havoc across the globe in vietnam. where the death toll from typhoon yagi has climbed to almost 180. more than145 others are still missing. the storm brought heavy rains and flooding when it made landfall over the weekend. as the strongest typhoon to hit the country in decades. thousands of residents have reportedly been evacuated. others have been forced to wade through floodwaters to salvage their belongings amid ongoing rates. the u.s. is sending $700 million in new humanitarian aid to ukraine to help the country's energy grid. the announcement came as secretary of state antony blinken and the new british foreign secretary traveled together to ukraine. the u.k. is providing hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance. president zelenskyy has been asking for permissionto use west supplied weapons to strike deep inside russia which the u.s. has

so far denied. at a press conference today, secretary blinken said he would take the issue of missiles back to washington to brief the president. >> we have adjusted and adapted as the battlefield has changed. and i have no doubt that we will continue to do this as this evolves. >> alberto fujimori, the former president of peru, has died at the age of 86 in lima. alberto fujimori won election in 1990 on an anticorruption campaign steering the country's economic growth through privatization. he won broad support for defeating a guerrilla movement that threatened to topple peru. but he governed with an increasingly authoritarian hand and was later convicted of human rights abuses and jailed. u.s. inflation reached a three year low last month thanks largely to cooling gas prices. today's report showed consumer prices rising just 2.5% in august compared to the same

month last year. down from july's reading of 2.9%. today's report comes as federal reserve officials prepare to cut interest rates next week for the first time since early 2020. and a passing of no. singer songwriter frankie beverly who fronted the group maze has died. in the 1970's, he brought the soulful sounds of his hometown philadelphia to the music scene. the group climbed the r&b charts and ebony magazine dubbed them the black america's favorite band. ♪ >> ♪ before i let you go ♪ ♪ ♪ >> anthem like before i let go played at countless summer cookouts and family reunions over the years. his friend be on site covered the song -- his friend beyonce cover the sun. frankie beverly and his band finished a farewell tour earlier this year. he was 77.

commemorations have been held across the country to mark 20 three years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. which killed 3000 people. the day started in new york where flowers were laid in tributes paid for the lives lost in --when two planes hit the twin towers. then around midday, president biden and vice president harris visited the site where the hijacked flight 93 went down near shanksville, pennsylvania. [playing taps] ♪ and this afternoon at the pentagon, biden and harrison joined lloyd austin to pay respects to the 185 people killed their. still to come, a look at how donald trump's proposal to increase tariffs on china could affect biden u.s. consumers. president biden responds to israel's claim that the killing of an american in the west bank was unintentional. and how social media has fundamentally changed the way

americans engage in politics. ♪ >> this is "pbs newshour." from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. tariffs are a hallmark >> of former president trump's economic agenda >>. but there are still key differences between trump and vice president harris when it comes to how large and wide ranging they should be as economics correspondent paul salmon reports, the impact of proposing more terrorist was debated on stage and is very much on the mind of some voters in battleground states. >> other countries are going to finally after 75 years pay us back for all that we have done for the world. >> last night former president trump began by defending his aggressive tariff policies, both

from his first term and what he would do if he wins again. that includes a 10 to 20% tariff on all foreign goods and is 50% tariff that is import tax on goods from china. it was a very first policy spat in last night's debate >> my opponent has a plan that i call the trump sales tax which would be a 20% tax on every day goods that you rely on to get through the month. >> trump responded in part. >> the tariff will be substantial in some cases. i took in billions and billions of dollars from china. in fact, they never took the tariff off. >> almost anyone would dispute that explanation, but one thing is true -- the biden administration maintained most of the tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of goods and added another tariff of items from steel to medical supplies, including a 100%

tariff on chinese electric vehicles. >> we are fighting for middle-class families. >> and vice president harris supports tariffs, too, so long as they are smaller and targeted. what's so striking is the protective tariffs were once a partisan point of star conflict but now both candidates are in favor of tariffs, which has obvious appeal to workers afraid of losing their jobs. many of them swing state voters in import threatened industries. the best-selling byd chinese ev goes for $16,000 in china. they are not sold biden here but even with biden's 100% tariff they would still be a bargain. despite a plunge in chinese consumer demand, manufacturing activity across all sectors remain strong until just recently. resulting in a glut of chinese goods being offered on websites like temu at unbelievably low

prices. i bought this by swiss artist paul klee for $25 some time ago. this one from china for grandson will $1.69, free shipping. small wonder that out of detroit, teamsters union local, there is plenty of support for protective tariffs. >> short-term discomfort for long-term relief. >> i think it is a good thing. one way to ensure the jobs are going to be at least starting back here in the united states. good paying jobs. jobs that they outsourced overseas, it is not something that will happen immediately but over time it's probably something i think that will be very effective at bringing jobs back to our country. >> but there were skeptics as well. >> it probably would not happen right away. so i might not benefit from it. >> this professor worked for the biden administration and has studied the impact of past and future tariffs as an academic.

>> our trading partners may retaliate with tariffs of their own, which hurts our exports. >> so, when the trump administration slept tariffs on imports from multiple countries including china, it did spur some domestic reduction. trump's team cites a rise in median household income as evidence of success before the pandemic but overall -- >> when you take a hard look at the data, they really are not worth it for jobs, and they raise costs for consumers. >> how much would trump's latest proposal cost a year? >> for a median family in the middle of the income distribution to be about $1700. >> how do the workers like them apples? >> $1700 is not going to kill me. if it is enough to bring jobs back here, i'm willing. >> dan is a democrat and so is jared. >> some things do take time. and if that were to work, i don't know what other

repercussions would come from that and stuff. i'm all for. >> but the $1700 will mainly and really hurt low income households. >> what's really driving the fact that tariffs hit lower and middle income people harder than those that are well up as a fact that low and middle income people are going to the store and spending most of their money every week and every month. >> 1700 is the low estimate. >> this is really an underestimate because it is just looking at the fact that when imported prices go up, consumers take that hit. but imagine you are going to buy something like a bottle of wine, the french wine and the spanish wine are more expensive and that gives the california wine growers the opportunity to raise prices, too. >> kamala harris argued last night the impact of trump's terrorists could be even larger, as much as $4000 a household per year. but are we to do nothing about the tsunami of cheap chinese

imports? a former u.s. trade representative has written that we have to take action. "in circumstances where the exporting country trade distortions are systemic, broad tariffs may be the only way to offset them and reinstate market forces." well, not broad tariffs says this economist. >> i think you can reach those industries and those trade practices that you think are unfair with much more targeted, careful and strategic tariffs, but i do not think there is any reason or any argument to have such broad-based across the board tariffs. >> and that is what the democrats are proposing. >> i don't think that means you want to unilaterally disagree to never have a tariff because as our trading partners in europe and elsewhere we are allies, that is important to have tools at your disposal and other countries are doing unfair trade practices. >> this tax expert says there is a basic problem with all tariffs

that most people never think about. >> if you put on a tariff, it increases the value of the dollar. and that makes it harder to export. >> why does the value of the dollar go up if you impose tariffs? >> we have less demand for foreign currency now. >> stick with us here. that is because we need to buy foreign currency in order to buy foreign goods. we buy that currency with dollars but if we buy fewer foreign goods. >> we are not buying foreign currency and so the dollar gets stronger. >> as an inevitable result, dollar price american goods become more expensive and thus american exports will go down. >> it is a tough argument but it's true. >> moreover. >> even in those heartland regions where you would expect people to be pro-tariff the job losses from the retaliation and the shocks were higher than gains do protection from the tariffs. >> these are tough

argument as is the argument for tree trade -- for free trade. workers feel threatened by foreign competition or as this trump enthusiast says, >> i want to have a job and that is what i think president trump is going for his protecting american jobs. >> does jim not sympathize? >> your heart goes out to people who lose their jobs because of competition from foreign imports. it absolutely does. i am not saying there should not be assistance for those people and those industries in those communities. i think there should be, but if the question is should we adopt bad economic policies, thinking you can by doing so we are helping american workers, that is just confusion. ♪ >> it was a violent day across

gaza. palestinian state israeli strikes that hit united nations school turn shelter till dozens. six of the u.n. staff died. in israeli soldier died when a truck rammed the bus stop and israeli raids killed at least five. nick schifrin looks at the ongoing violence in gaza. nick: at this school turn shelter today. the aftermath was too much to bear and too graphic to show. survivors collected body parts and whatever they could carry after a bomb gutted the bedroom that had once been a classroom. israel said the target was gemma most militants planning attacks. palestinian set among the dead, displaced women and children. israel has pushed the displaced woerle yesterday, first responders dug through the crater left by a bomb. by day, craters 40 feet wide,

suggest that israel had dropped large farms on what they call a safer zone. tents that lead to the sea and have become a sea of humanity. the bombs blew through campus and left behind the artifacts of the families displaced lift. mohammed is 12 years old. >> it was like any other night here and then we heard rockets coming down next to us. i found myself 1.5 meters under the ground and dirt above me. i was not expecting to be saved from under the dirt because i could feel the weight of the ground above me and how strong the attack was. i did not think i would be saved. thank god for those who helped my dad to work to get us all. >> people for digging for what is under the sand. and there was at least more than 20 tents that were gone. >> he works for the international medical humanitarian organization. before the war, he was a

dentist. since october 7, he has been displaced four times. >> the fact that we left gaza city seeking safety and heard that gaza is not safe anymore so we went to the yellow area they called it a more humanitarian erica at the same time, we were not safe even in the humanitarian area. why did i take the decision of evacuating the first place? >> but israel says the targets were three senior hamas commanders involved in october the seventh, and embedded inside the humanitarian zone. >> israel is trying his hardest, more than any other nation on earth, more than any other army has in the history of armed conflict to get civilians out of harm's way and to go for the terrorist targets even though they embed themselves in civilian areas. >> but it's the death of an american civilian in the occupied west bank that has added tension between the u.s. and israel.

on friday israeli shoulders shot dead a 26-year-old born in turkey who traveled to the west bank to protest israeli settlements. ♪ >> israel says the bullet that struck her was a ricochet aimed at the " instigator of the riot." an excellent nation the president biden endorsed yesterday. >> apparently was an accident that ricocheted off the ground. got hit by accident but we are working that out now. >> but today president biden said the shooting that led to her death is totally unacceptable. there must be full accountability and israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happened again. and vice president harris said she was peacefully protesting standing up against the expansion of settlements when her young life was senselessly cut short. >> but today her family said the statements were not enough. an accused president biden of "

complicity in israeli occupation and whitewashing the killing of an american." for more i am joined by julia and kelsey, their friends. thank you to both of you. welcome to the new czar. let me start with you. tell me about your friend. >> so, i met her a couple years ago on a trip to istanbul in turkey. she was such a breath of fresh air and such a light in any room she walked into. i knew immediately i would be friends with her when i was introduced to her because of how silly and goofy she was. after a few conversations we became super close friends. >> what do you remember? >> i met her at the university of washington. we both graduated this past june. she with a bachelors in psychology and a minor in middle eastern cultures and languages. she was an incredibly hard worker. she was a very staunch activist.

she was a community and a campus organizer. spanning many different movements and programs across the seattle area. it is up or from that we are feeling our community -- in our community and profound loss for the american public in general to lose such a staunch american human rights activists. >> why did she travel to the occupied west bank? >> as you just heard, she was a staunch activist and she knew that anything that she could have done here on the ground between -- and going to protest and advocating for the liberation of the palestinian people, she knew that going and being on the ground and observing the suffering and observing and witnessing what the palestinian people were facing would be good for her self conscience and also because she felt comfortable going in being part of that community. >> you were talking to her until the end. what did you understand, what do you understand today about what happened? >> i talked to her on monday

before she arrived in the west bank and i just know that she was so honored to be able to be in the west bank in a land where she understood the complex and horrible conditions that the palestinians in the west bank face, at the hands of the israel i military and illegal settlements. she was so honored to be able to experience and then come back and share these stories and help create a stronger movement here in the united states. >> kelce, as you know, the israeli military says it has -- it is not defending illegal settlements and is in fact trying to crackdown on what they call it a legal outposts. as you've seen, the israeli military has said that she was not the target of this bullet. that the, what they called "the instigator of the riot" was the actual target and it was a ricochet. what is your response to that statement? >> i think what is important

here today is that anyone should have the right to peacefully protest and peacefully observe a demonstration from an illegal settlement. i do not think there was any right to have live ammunition at that type of place. as we know, they were peacefully having their friday prayer and peacefully demonstrating against the occupation of farmland in the region. and now they are saying that it was an accident, which is completely deplorable for my best friend. >> juliet, what is your message, what is the family's message as well to the biden administration today? >> so, for me personally, i think that the biden administration statement today was incredibly shameful -- to comment and support the evidence that the israeli gave without conducting an independent investigation over

the killing of an american citizen is very shameful and i do not accept that. i don't accept that we will accept the israeli military's proof. what i want to see and what the family wants to see is the independent u.s. investigation. she was an american citizen. she was an incredible person, and she deserves justice, her family deserves justice. and they won't get that without an investigation and without the evidence they are requiring. >> kelsey and juliet, thank you very much to you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. ♪ >> half of all say they sometimes get their news with social media and almost two thirds said they have -- they view social media is a bad thing for democracy. what responsibility does social media companies bear for our

divided political climate? judy woodruff explores that question as part of her ongoing series america at a crossroads. >> social media was my sad little life. i was a far right radical, crazy young person who was a jerk. my personality was not pleasant. judy: less than a decade ago, katie was a prominent figure in the online world of far-right extremism. she was a writer and editor at the conservative publication breitbart where she was especially known for her vitriolic tweets. >> whenever i was saying the vile racist things, you would find other people on social media and if you follow each other, you boost each other, and then the network expandss. and you say outlandish things to push the conversation that way. so you have the real-time interaction, real-time radicalization. >> she has since rejected the far-right.

today she worries about her address being revealed, which is why we agreed to interview her in this hotel room. some of her viral tweets are still well known. "funny how europeans assimated unlike third world or is demanding well for a while rapking, killing americans." >> yes,we believe. they are taking our money, people of color rape white women. judy: it is important to keep families together. we must deport anchor babies along with their illegal alien parents. >> the dehumanizing language i was using. they are alien and they are dangerous and they are existential threat. that's what you believe on the right. judy: and that is what you believed? >> yes. strongly. judy: and then the day came when you tweeted this, " there would be no deadly terror attacks in the u.k. of muslims didn't live

there." >> and that was the tweet that got me fired and that was in the best things that happen to me to give me out of that environment. >> most of the things we try to do to discourage this tiny group of people who go on the internet have very limited impact. judy: chris is the founder of duke university's polarization lab. his research focuses on how social media can be a driver of and a solution to political divisions. he says these posts get outsized attention. >> when we look at people who are highly politically active on twitter, we find that about 70% of the content about politics is generated by5% of people, and those 6% of people are disproportionately very liberal or very conservative. so, when we wander onto social media, we can wrongly conclude that everyone is extreme and everyone is sort of out to get everyone else. judy: contrary to popular

belief, he says the problem is not echo chambers, online bubbles were people only have their views reinforced. >> we recruited a large group of republicans and democrats using twitter, and we thought, if we can just show them some messages from the other side, that surely they would come to realize that there are two sides to every story. unfortunately what we found at that time was that exposing people to the other side made them a little more polarized, not less. judy: which is fascinating because that has been the common assumption. >> think about the last time that you saw message from people you don't agree with. did it produce a kind of calm, rational deliberation about whether the idea had merit or did it make you mad? judy: he says the incentive structure on social media platforms leads to more extreme content rising to the top. as algorithms promote what gets high engagement, reactions, comments and shares. >> we have made it all but

impossible for people to gain status for sharing and voicing moderate views that many of us think our country needs right now. >> i have seen one too many post talking negatively about black women. i'm like, this is where we turn this off. judy: she's a mental health counselor in raleigh, north carolina. with expertise in serving people of color and members of the lgbtq community. she struggles with what she sees online. >> if there is a lot of negative comments made about black women, if there is a lot of negative commentary being made about the lgbtq community, it is one of those things where i am disconnecting and blocking those pages so i am not costly being fed with that. judy: but she says social media has also helped her connect with her community. >> anything having to do with black indigenous people of color, and also lgbtq rights, different things happening within the lgbtq community.

that is really where my focus comes on social media. >> i remain an optimist that on balance the tech knowledge, the developments we see will make our lives better. judy: he was the head of global positive element of facebook until 2019. he's now the director of university of north carolina center on technology policy, which receives funding from facebook's parent company meta, among others. >> i was never in a meeting where someone said, here is something we can do that is good for the world. here's another approach that is going to be good for our bottom line that will make us money. and people said, let's just do the money approach and not the good for the world approach. judy: is there an inherent conflict here in you have, these are for-profit companies that want to grow audience, they want to increase engagement and what their mission is is not always going to be consistent with promoting accurate information. >> i agree with, with what you

are hinting at and your question but that is not necessarily aligned with the public good. it might not be good for the world. that is a good rationale for smart regulation of the tech industry where there are those kinds of market failures that produce harm. judy: i asked him about meta's decision to reinstate former president trump after he had been banned for praising people involved in the january 6 2021 attack on the u.s. capital. >> it is not clear to me that censorship results in stronger outcomes down the road. president trump did not disappear because his content was not hosted on meta. he has lots of followers on his own social network and he posts their regular. >> there is the truth and there is your opinion. so, people have muddied that. judy: becky lou hobbs chairs the wake county north carolina chapter of the conservative advocacy group moms for liberty and she says she has gotten hateful messages after her group

called for removing school library books that include descriptions of sex or discussions of gender identity. >> there's a difference between not liking a statement i make and making somebody angry versus somebody wishing harm, death on you, a family member. judy: is it your sense that the people in charge of content at these different social media platforms should do a better job of policing themselves, monitoring themselves? >> it gets really slippery when some bot or programmer tries to determine without true thought was is offensive and what is not. that is not a free platform. >> at the end of the day, these are businesses. these are corporations. and even though many of us don't like the fact that corporations are now in charge of democracy public square, it is to factor what has happened. judy: his polarization lab has

developed tools they think could reduce conflict online, including an a.i. powered assistant. >> last year, next-door, the social media platforms that allows nabers to connect to each other came to us and said, we have got a lot of >> how can we identify solutions that are good for society and profitable? judy: his team helped next door employ a.i. to suggest less divisive language to its users. >> this resulted in a 50% decrease of toxic language. these are real solutions that i think could be implemented with minimal cost to social media companies. judy: these are things that companies would have to be persuaded would raise revenue, right? >> yes, of course, they care about revenue. they are beholding to shareholders, much as i may not like that and many people might not like that, that is the

reality. >> these social media platforms, disinfect -- they are dis-incentivize from cutting down the right wing rhetoric, racism is very profitable. judy: to help her work through pain, katie reached out to counselors who help individuals leave hate groups and move beyond extremism. >> i was very lucky and blessed to have people who i trusted completely help me extricate myself from everything. and i described it as pulling shrapnel out of your brain. what i believe was vile and i did not want to be that person anymore. having that community in place stops anddefuses so much of the hatred because a lot of the isolation will cause that. >> one way to understand what social media does is it gives angry people a platform. and i worry that if we point all

of the blame at social media and do not do a little bit of introspection, that we will be unhappy with the result. judy: for the pbs news hour, i'm judy woodruff in durham, north carolina. and that is the news hour. >> on behalf of the entire news hour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour, has been provided by -- >> on a american cruise line jury, travelers retrace the route forced by lewis and clark. more than 200 years ago. american cruise lines fleet of boats travel through american landscapes to historic landmarks where you can experience local customs and cuisine. american cruise lines. proud sponsor of pbs news hour. >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the news hour,

including jim and nancy biltner and the robert and virginia schiller foundation, the ford foundation, working 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 by 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 studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

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