and our jeffrey brown profiled that show and what it conveyed about the man.s an excerpt. >> the court has been my theater and i have the costumes. >> brown: in the new play, "the originalist," the first thing you notice about actor edward gero is his striking physical resemblance to the character he's playing: the real-life supreme court justice, antonin scalia. >> i tell people what they don't want to hear. that's what makes me a monster. that's how half the country see me: combative, law and order conservative. and that's what the other half sees me as a hero. which am i? >> brown: as it happens, both the justice and the actor trace their heritage to nearby villages in southern italy, both are from new jersey, raised in catholic homes and schools. to really "be scalia," all gero had to do was take a short ride over to the supreme court, to watch him in action, to get the mannerisms down. >> he sort of closes his eyes a little bit, and heightens his sense of listening. >> brown: show me. >> well, you know, he will, he'll listen, and then when he hears someth

we don't hate color, we hate oppression. >> we wanted the entire community to follow. >> ifill: jeffrey brown is back with his conversation with the film's award-winning director stanley nelson. >> brown: stanley nelson, welcome to you. >> thank you. >> brown: did this begin for you from a sense that the black panthers were misunderstood, not well remembered, forgotten altogether? what's the beginning? >> i think it was that they were misunderstood. i think that the panthers are well remembered but i think that people don't understand who the panthers were and don't understand how the panthers were thought of back then in the '60s. so i thought it was really right for a new telling. >> brown: given the controversy back then to this day, right, and there's a lot of history to get your arms around. how much do you think you could tell? >> you know, i think it started out as a three-hour project and we realized two hours was about the limit. but, you know, we knew that we couldn't tell every single thing and we knew that we had to stop and start somewhere, so the film really begins with the begi

jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: a community organizer in a burned out building. >> brown: a youngl taking a ballet lesson. photographs of puerto rican life, in new york and around the country. they were taken by a man named frank espada, who died in 2014 at age 83. >> he lived many lives. and he evolved from someone who was working in the streets of east new york, where i grew up, to someone who was documenting the condition of entire people, >> brown: what's it like to see your father's work in the smithsonian? >> surreal. >> brown: martin espada, frank's son, is an award-winning poet, author of more than a dozen books, a former tenant lawyer, and now professor at the university of massachusetts. his new volume, "vivas to those who have failed;" the title comes from a line by walt whitman; is filled with poems that remember and celebrate his father. >> i am the archaeologist. i sift the shards of you: cufflinks, passports photos, a button from the march on washington with a black hand shaking a white hand, letters in spanish, your birth certificate from a town high in the mountai

jeffrey brown visited oscar- nominated film composer carter burwell recently in his new york studio to how he creates the sound tracks to the movies. >> brown: it's one of the elements of film that often goes unnoticed-- unless it's very bad, or in the case of "carol," very good: the musical score. >> you know, i think of that theme as being about the excitement, the heart beating excitement and mystery of seeing someone, feeling that tug. >> brown: carter burwell has been composing music for movies for more than 30 years. and, for the first time, he's been nominated for an oscar for his work on the film directed by todd haynes, about two women falling in love in post-war america. >> i don't want there to be music in the scene, or in the film, just because it's expected, i want it to be there to say something, and ideally to say something that you wouldn't otherwise, that wouldn't otherwise be said. so, you know, carol is a perfect example of this because it's very sparse for dialogue, to begin with, and also it's a love story between two women at a time when that actually couldn't be

thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> sreenivasan: tomorrow on the "newshour", jeffrey brown exams the cause and implications of the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry. >> sreenivasan: finally another installment in our brief but spectacular series. today, we hear from poet mahogany l. browne, who is coordinating a "women of the world poetry slam" running march 9 through 12 in brooklyn, new york. this piece is entitled "black girl magic." >> they say you ain't supposed to be here, black girl, you ain't supposed to wear red lipstick, wear high heels, you ain't supposed to smile in public, you ain't supposed to smile nowhere. you ain't supposed to be more than a girlfriend. you ain't supposed to get married. you ain't supposed to dream that big or dream at all. you ain't supposed to do nothing but carry babies and weaves and silence and families and carry confusion and carry a nation, but never an opinion, because you ain't supposed to have nothing to say, black girl, not unless it's a joke, because you ain't supposed to love yourself, black girl, you ain't suppose

jeffrey brown has our look. ♪ ♪ >> brown: "revelations," a dance set to gospel songs and spirituals:r five decades it's become an american classic. ♪ ♪ and still the showpiece of the renowned alvin ailey american dance theater. it's opened the eyes and minds of many, including in the 1980s, a teenager living in one of miami's poorest neighborhoods. >> i saw myself. i saw possibility. >> brown: years later, robert battle heads the company that helped change his own life. how did you see your task when you took over the company? >> wow, that's-- just to survive! >> brown: first, survive. >> first survive. >> brown: battle is just the third leader of a company that was founded by alvin ailey in 1958 as a troupe celebrating african-american culture. and then led to even greater international heights by judith jamison, a renowned dancer in the company who was tapped by ailey to take over. five years ago, jamison picked battle to replace her. >> i think she chose me because i think she thought that this was right for the company, that i would sort of push the boundaries of what people thou

jeffrey brown has more. >> brown: the winner was something of a surprise: "spotlight," a film about oneown institution, the "boston globe," taking on another, the catholic church. director tom mccarthy: >> we made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable and for the survivors whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration to all we have to do to make sure this never happens again. >> the numbers clearly indicate that there were senior clergy involved. >> brown: the film recounts how "globe" reporters and editors tracked down cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, and the cover-up by the church hierarchy that allowed guilty priests to stay in their positions. the paper's "spotlight" team tracked over 900 active and retired priests, finding some 250 had molested children over several decades. >> we need to focus on the institution, not the individual priests. practice and policy. show me this was systemic, that it came form the top down. >> brown: actor liev schreiber played the "globe's" editor, martin baron. >> when tom

and to jeffrey brown. >> brown: harper lee was a little known writer living in new york when "to killockingbird" was published in 1960. the book would win the pulitzer prize a year later, sell more than 30 million copies in 40 languages, and be read and loved by generations. its fame grew with the 1962 film version starring gregory peck as atticus finch, father of the young narrator "scout," and a lawyer in a segregated alabama town who defends a black man against a rape charge. in a 1964 radio interview, lee said this about "mockingbird's" enormous success: >> my reaction was not one of surprise but one of numbness, like being hit over the head and knocked cold. i never expected the book to sell in the first place. >> brown: but in the decades that followed, lee did little or no talking: it was news when she went to the white house in 2007 to accept a presidential medal of freedom. instead, she lived quietly most of her life in the town of monroeville, alabama. and, while readers waited, no other books came... until the surprise this past summer of "go set a watchman," a book describ

from arena stage, i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour. >> sreenivasan: on the newshour online right in 1995, newshour's margaret warner profiled a brash young congressman from ohio, who was charged with coming up with the plan to balance the country's budget. yesterday that same republican surprised everyone in new hampshire with a second-place win. watch that original report on john kasich, on our homepage. and don't call them ghost towns. these massive chinese cities are just too new for anyone to live there yet. see the empty skyscrapers and the birth of a new metropolis in a photo essay on "art beat." all that and more is on our web site: pbs.org/newshour >> sreenivasan: and that's the newshour for tonight. on thursday, tune in at 9 pm eastern. gwen ifill and judy woodruff moderate the pbs newshour democratic presidential debate in partnership with facebook from the university of wisconsin, milwaukee. i'm hari sreenivasan. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pr

and jeffrey brown spoke with the writer, nicholas schmidle, earlier this week. >> brown: nicholas schmidle, welcome. >> thank you. >> brown: first of all, how do you describe what t.m.z. is and does. >> sure. t.m.z. is a celebrity news site. it is kind of -- it's in the same vein as the "national enquirer," but what they are doing is much more sort of documentiary reporting. >> brown: meaning what? videos, pictures, court documents, doing stories about celebrity news and celebrity gossip that are sort of unimpeachable. in the past, a celebrity news report might have come out and a celebrity might have been been able to say that's not true and dismissed it and has publicists standing in the way. t.m.z. comes to you with the video and says this is what we're running a few hours, do you have a comment. >> brown: and you say nothing new in this kind of gossip and celebrity journalism, but they have changed the game, upped the game, a lot of it, as you show, through some old-fashioned reporting. >> right. there is a shoe-leather reporting aspect to it. they've dedicated more resources to court

jeffrey brown has our first. >> brown: last week came a strong argument that "the biggest banks continuepose a significant, ongoing risk to our economy;" and it came from an unusual source. neel kashkari is a former investment banker; he started his career at goldman sachs, then joined the bush treasury department in 2006, later serving as a key player in the government's response to the financial crisis as administrator of the t.a.r.p. program, which helped bail out the big banks. in 2014, he ran for governor of california as a republican, losing to incumbent, jerry brown. he's now president of the federal reserve bank of minneapolis, and joins us now. and welcome to you. so still too big to fail, you're saying, this is in spite of dodd-frank, in spite of all we've seen, you are suggesting a crisis could still happen and big banks would still need bailing out? >> yeah, unfortunately that's true. dodd-frank has made a lot of progress. the banks are stronger. they have more capital so they can withstand bad things happening. but if a big shock were to hit the u.s. economy, i'm afraid the

jeffrey brown has our newest addition to the newshour bookshelf. >> brown: as a neurosurgeon, paul kalanithi was used to dealing with life and death issues. he was, by his own account, a driven man, who studied literature and philosophy before turning to medicine-- earning five degrees along the way. he was near completion of a rigorous residency at stanford when, aged 36, he got a diagnosis of lung cancer. he would live just 22 months more, have a child with his wife lucy, and write an indelible memoir, "when breath becomes air." he had thought that he would have a long career as a neurosurgeon, neuroscientist and then maybe a writer. >> brown: he had planned on all this, right? >> that's right. and he said, "you know, i think i may be years into my retirement, now," you know at age 36. so what do i want to do? and the answer was write. >> brown: lucy kalanithi is also a doctor. the two met at yale medical school and were married nine years before paul's death in 2015. he was sort of a perpetual learner and seeker and somebody who was very interested in understanding kind of what it is to b

jeffrey brown has more. >> brown: richard pryor at the academy awards in 1977: >> i'm here to explain no black people will ever be nominated for anything. >> brown: chris rock, 28 years later. >> we have four black nominees tonight. it's kind of like the "def oscar jam" tonight. >> brown: in some ways, hollywood's lack of diversity is an old story, but as rock prepares to host his second oscar ceremony... and for a second straight year, no actors of color were nominated, the stakes and anger have risen, including calls for a boycott of the ceremony. >> i will not be at the awards and i will not be watching. >> brown: the academy of motion pictures, the group that oversees and votes on nominations, announced new rules to develop a younger, more diverse oscar voting pool. the aim: double the number of female and minority members by 2020. but many see the problem as much deeper. >> it goes further than the academy awards; it goes back to the gatekeepers, people who have the greenlight vote. >> talent is everywhere but opportunity isn't. talent can't reach opportunity unaided. >> brown: i

before i get to our pamela brown. jeffrey toobin, he kept saying that tonight should be about the man. understandably. in many ways, it's about remembering this man. can you just talk to me about justice scalia professionally and also what we know about him personally. oftentimes, the public doesn't know that much about him outside of the bench. >> right. the unusual thing about justice scalia compared to the other justices is, you could get to see what the man was like by watching him in action because, you know, he transformed oral arguments at the supreme court when he joined in 1986. he -- it used to be a pretty sleepy place. the lawyers would talk and there used to be a question and answer here and there. justice scalia was always in their face. he was like, what about this, what about that, what about this hypothetical? and he did it in a classic and often sarcastic way. he had a real personality on the bench, which was his personality off the bench. i mean, this was not a shy and reclusive person. the job of supreme co

jeffrey toobin. thank you. pamela brown, thank you. >>> next, chris rock. chris rock's hollywood take-down. >> well, i'm here at the academy awards. otherwise known as the white people's choice awards. >> and that was just the beginning of that opening monologue there. much more on tackling the controversial issue there head on from that stage. also ahead, more from those fiery protests that just erupted at donald trump's rally today there at radford university in virginia. these protesters here, demonstrators, holding hands, chanting "black lives matter." see what happened next coming up. pet moments are beautiful, unless you have allergies. then your eyes may see it differently. only flonase is approved to relieve both itchy, watery eyes and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. when we breathe in allergens our bodies react by over producing six key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. most allergy pills only control one substance. flonase controls six. and six is greater than one. complete allergy relief or incomplete. let yo

they say jeffrey turner went missing around 10:00 yesterday morning. he is just more than 6 feet tall with brown hair and blue eyes. turner was last known to be driving a black toyota pickup truck similar to this one. if you see him, contact the office. >> jay: a victim of a local ponzi scheme is speaking out about losing thousands of dollars, 64 year-old barry taylor from franklin pleaded guilty last month to two federal charges. the criminal bill of information states taylor solicited investment funds from at least 18 victims. that added up to more than $2 million. one of those victims lives in simpsonville. he says he and his wife invested about $10,000 over two years, but ended up out nearly 9,000. >> we knew this was high risk. we knew we could lose it all. >> reporter: once their five kids were out of the house, steve hall and his wife got a late start on saving. >> it was hard to save for retirement because it was fairly important that we eat. >> reporter: so investing their money into the foreign country exchange market, known as 4x, was something they had talked about before meeting bar

jeffrey toobin. scalia's biographer also joins us, she is reuters' legal affairs editor. cnn's carol costello joins us and pamela brownnd fairway edward beck are with us as well. jake, this is an important day in american history because he was such a powerful figure on that supreme court. >> there are three ways that justice scalia really touched the lives of people in this country. first of all, in this town he was somebody whose friendships in not dictated by his personal believes. everybody knows that he and ruth bader ginsburg, one of the liberal justices on the court, were, in her words, best buddies. he pushed away the modern convention that you're not allowed to be friends with people of differing political views. second is his keen legal mind. i know jeffrey and joan will have more to say on that. third, for conservatives he was truly a beacon for three decades, somebody whose views of the law and the constitution they could follow and admire. and while liberals and conservatives and democrats and republicans came and went in this town, he was always there. >> you can't exaggerate how important he was. >> tha