tamara keith and amy walter, thanks, as always. ♪ geoff: nobel peace prize laureate and investigativet maria ressa has long fought for global press freedom. her book "how to stand up to a dictator" detailed her experience running the news site rappler under the increasingly autocratic regime of president rodrigo duterte in the philippines. she recently sat down with amna nawaz to discuss parallels she's seeing between the philippines and the u.s. under president trump. it's part of our new series on democracy, which focuses on the laws, institutions and norms that have shaped this country and the challenges they face today. amna: maria, welcome back to the "news hour." thank you so much for joining us. maria ressa, ceo, rappler: thanks for having me. amna: so there's been a lot of concerns you have seen about president trump's continuing attacks on the press and concerns about a loss of press freedom. i want you to start by just comparing what you lived through, what you documented, what you covered under duterte with what we have seen in the first several weeks of this second trump a

amy walter, tamara keith, great to see you. thank you. ♪ geoff: and we will be back shortly.ent to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like this one on the air. ♪ >> that story, the subject, life in contemporary america, both tragedy and triumph. see that in the works of the decade. not only my personal reflection on contemporary society, but my active participation in contemporary america. jeffrey: these days valdez splits his time between houston and los angeles, where he has a studio filled with large-scale paintings in progress. on this day he was working on something smaller, a portrait of one series of grandparents and on a series of drawings based on kurt vonnegut's novel slaughterhouse five. the murals, you get the enormous scale, the kind of storytelling. clearly that impacted you. >> tremendously. it struck me like a thunderbolt. it has to tell a story, it has to utilize storytelling as a way of communicating to the world around you, with the world, and to go one step further, it has to be an opportunity f

amy walter, tamara keith, great to see you. ♪ and we will be back shortly.ke a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like this one on the air. ♪ for those of you staying with us, an encore from an artist capturing parts of his own history, and ours. senior arts correspondent jeffrey brown spoke earlier this year with vincent valdes, who currently vincent valdez who currently has his first national touring exhibition. the story is part of our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: the paintings are often large in scale, almost cinematic. the imagery confrontational, packing a punch. 120 works now at the contemporary arts museum in houston by artist vincent valdez. this is art as provocation? >> it's art as truth, truth the way i see it, truth based off my recollection and observations, my heart examinations about life in the world beyond these doors. jeffrey: the exhibition, titled just a dream, presents 25 years of work. series of paintings are what valdez sees as chapters that look at p

still to come, amy walter and tamara keith break down the latest political headlines.der successfully touches down in a new feature for privatized base exploration. and the notable moments from last nights academy awards. ♪ >> this is the pbs news hour from the david rubenstein studio at weta in washington and from the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism from arizona state university. geoff: as president trump gets ready to address congress for the first time since reentering the oval office, our latest poll offers a new look at what the american public thinks about the actions his administration has taken in these first 43 days. lisa desjardins is out those super scream to walk us through the numbers. big picture, what do the american people think about president and the changes he is making? reporter: the approval rating -- 45% approve of the job done by donald trump as president. i want you to remember that 45%. more americans disapprove but just barely. why is this 45 so significant? this is his approval rating up and down over time. here we are right