October 28, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

In our news wrap Wednesday, demonstrators in Poland gathered for a seventh straight day over a court ruling that banned abortions of fetuses, even ones with severe abnormalities. The nationwide strike is a rare show of opposition in a country long influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. Also, officials in France and Germany announced new restrictions in response to rising coronavirus infections.

This election year is seeing increased attention and scrutiny regarding social media platforms -- and how they can be manipulated to spread misinformation. But the greater level of awareness hasn’t stopped the practices, either. And the battles over content moderation and censorship are increasingly partisan, as demonstrated by Wednesday’s highly charged Capitol Hill hearing. John Yang reports.

Social media plays a major role in shaping current American political discourse. During a Senate hearing Wednesday, executives from leading online platforms were criticized by lawmakers for their companies’ records on limiting the spread of misinformation. William Brangham explores how that misinformation can be easily transmitted online -- and how it can influence voters’ thinking.

With only a few days remaining before Election Day, U.S. security officials anticipate that millions of Americans will be exposed to even more misinformation online than they already have. Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security, joins William Brangham to discuss the effort to detect and mitigate misinformation.

President Trump has promised to dismantle the federal government’s administrative state -- and made moves in that direction. Now, one of his political appointees has resigned in protest over an executive order that could strip protections from federal employees. Ron Sanders, who worked under presidents of both parties during decades as a civil servant, tells Amna Nawaz why he gave up his job.

In the battle to control the U.S. Senate, one of the competitive contests pits a Republican incumbent, Steve Daines, against a two-term Democratic governor, Steve Bullock. Montana’s Senate race has become the most expensive campaign in the state’s history. Anna Rau of Montana PBS reports on how Big Sky Country has become a center of big political spending -- and even bigger stakes.

With Election Day in less than a week, how is the final campaign sprint playing out across the country -- especially in key battleground states? Judy Woodruff talks to Tom Hudson of WLRN Public Radio in Florida, Alex Samuels of The Texas Tribune and Zoe Clark of NPR member station Michigan Radio, about what issues are resonating with voters and the surge in early ballots cast.

Philadelphia protests over the killing of Walter Wallace Jr. represent only the latest in a year of nationwide demonstrations against racism and police violence. The ongoing movement has captured attention and provided political fodder -- but it also reflects a long American history of organizing against injustice. Amna Nawaz talks to author Peniel Joseph of the University of Texas at Austin.