The FRONTLINE Dispatch

Behind the Bank Failures

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 08:00:00 -0000

In the aftermath of the second and third-largest bank failures in U.S. history, correspondent James Jacoby joins the FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about Age of Easy Money, a documentary examining the power of the Federal Reserve and our current economic uncertainty.

The film draws on over two years of reporting on the Fed’s so-called “easy money” policies, with Jaocby and team charting the start of the Fed’s economic experiment after the 2008 financial crisis and again during COVID; the Fed’s decision to start raising interest rates in 2022; and what’s happened since — including recession fears, bank market disruptions, and concerns that the fight against inflation will trigger unemployment.

“In some ways there's been this kind of gravitational force at work, this invisible force, and people weren't able to necessarily recognize it,” Jacoby told host Raney Aronson-Rath. “At the root of it is what the Fed has been doing.”

Age of Easy Money is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video App, and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

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A Year of War in Kharkiv, Ukraine

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 09:00:00 -0000

During the early months of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, filmmakers Mani Benchelah and Patrick Tombola documented the lives of civilians and first responders trying to survive in Kharkiv, a Ukrainian city near the border of Russia. Their work became the FRONTLINE film Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack, released in August of 2022.

An updated version of the documentary, released in February 2023, revisits many of the Ukrainians Benchelah and Tombola first profiled and takes us to the present day — a year after Russia’s invasion began.

Joining FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath after their most recent reporting trip to Kharkiv, Benchelah and Tombola reflect on documenting how the region and its inhabitants have been changed by a year of war.

“The new Ukraine is one where everyone is extremely conscious of how close they had come to death,” Tombola said. “Their mindset has dramatically changed, and there's a real sense of having all shared a very defining moment in their life.”

The updated Ukraine: Life Under Russia’s Attack documentary is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, in the PBS App and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

A.C. Thompson on Antisemitism and Right-Wing Extremism

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 10:00:10 -0000

As FRONTLINE celebrates 40 years on the air, editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath is hosting conversations with the journalists and filmmakers behind some of FRONTLINE’s most groundbreaking work.

A.C. Thompson is a reporter for ProPublica who has been a correspondent with FRONTLINE since 2010. He joins The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss his years of reporting on right-wing extremism for award-winning films like American Insurrection and the series Documenting Hate in light of recent high-profile incidents of antisemitism.

“Over time, if you were following the key sort of white nationalist and right wing extremist talking points, you saw more and more antisemitism coming through,” Thompson told Aronson-Rath. “What I think you've seen since then is sort of a quiet but steady uptick in antisemitism and now it's bursting onto the scene.”

Thompson also reflects on the unique investigative collaborations he and FRONTLINE developed over the years, and previews what he’s working on in 2023.

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Behind the Explosive Investigation into Pegasus Spyware

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 11:00:05 -0000

When a leaked list of more than 50,000 phone numbers came to the attention of Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud of the journalism non-profit Forbidden Stories, along with Amnesty International, they suspected the list contained phone numbers potentially targeted for surveillance using the powerful spyware known as Pegasus, which gives its operators access to targets’ mobile devices.

Richard and Rigaud teamed up with journalists from sixteen other outlets, including FRONTLINE, to investigate. What the reporting consortium found, with technical support from Amnesty International’s Security Lab, was explosive: Pegasus had been used on journalists, human rights activists, the wife and fiancée of the murdered Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and others around the world.

Global Spyware Scandal: Exposing Pegasus is the new, two-part series from FRONTLINE and Forbidden Films that goes behind the scenes of the investigation, and chronicles the responses from governments and institutions seeking to govern the largely unregulated spyware industry.

Richard and Rigaud, two of the series’ producers, joined FRONTLINE’s Raney Aronson-Rath to discuss the investigation, what’s happened since, and the threat spyware like Pegasus poses.

Pegasus is “like a person over your shoulder who will read everything that you are reading, even your encrypted messages,” Richard says. “It's a military weapon used against civilians.”

Global Spyware Scandal: Exposing Pegasus is now streaming at pbs.org/frontline, in the PBS App and on FRONTLINE's YouTube channel.

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Putin’s Crackdown on Dissent Inside Russia

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 11:00:05 -0000

In the new documentary Putin’s War at Home, FRONTLINE tells the stories of Russian activists and journalists defying Russian President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on dissent – from a young woman documenting protests and propaganda on TikTok, to a duo of reporters investigating the Ukraine war’s death toll among Russian soldiers.

Director Gesbeen Mohammad joins FRONTLINE’s executive producer and editor-in-chief, Raney Aronson-Rath, to discuss what it took to gather these stories — and what the documentary’s subjects risked by speaking out about the Ukraine war, including arrest and imprisonment.

“People were very, very afraid to speak to us,” Mohammad told FRONTLINE. “But I guess that's what makes all of our interviewees and contributors so unique in their braveness.”

Putin’s War at Home is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video App and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

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Uncovering a Pattern of ‘Strategic Violence’ by Russia in Ukraine

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 13:39:24 -0000

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, FRONTLINE and the Associated Press have been investigating mounting evidence of war crimes. The two organizations’ recent documentary, Putin’s Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes, found that in many instances the violence was far from random.

AP Global Investigative Reporter Erika Kinetz, the documentary’s correspondent, joins The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about this months-long collaborative investigation. From reporting on the ground in Ukraine, to piecing together hours of CCTV footage and audio intercepts of Russian soldiers’ conversations, Kinetz spoke with FRONTLINE’s editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath about working with FRONTLINE producers to trace the story of one woman’s loss to a larger pattern of strategic violence in Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs.

“Victim after victim, survivor after survivor would ask the same question, which is: ‘Why? Why did this happen?’” Kinetz said. “It didn't actually dawn on me until near the end of our reporting that there were actually patterns at play in the violence that we were seeing, and there were actually strategies motivating a lot of the violence.”

Putin’s Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video App, and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

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Evictions and the Pandemic

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 08:00:12 -0000

As COVID-19 swept the country in 2020, millions of people in the U.S. were out of work and at risk of being evicted. An unprecedented federal ban on evictions and billions of dollars in rental assistance helped keep people in their homes — but some people were still evicted.

In FRONTLINE and Retro Report’s documentary “Facing Eviction,” director Bonnie Bertram and a team of filmmakers from across the country examined why — finding that the effectiveness of pandemic housing protections depended almost entirely on how local officials enforced them.

Bertram joined FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath for a conversation about where tenant protections stand now, the process of making “Facing Eviction” and filming with people on the brink of losing their housing.

“We started to chronicle these people's lives and, as the months unfolded, saw the desperation and just the precariousness of their situation and this dreaded knock on the door that impacts all parts of their life,” Bertram told Aronson-Rath.

Facing Eviction is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video App, and FRONTLINE’s Youtube channel.

How American Democracy Reached a Moment of ‘Existential Crisis’

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 08:00:00 -0000

As the midterms draw near amid continuing false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, FRONTLINE examines how American democracy reached this point. Veteran filmmaker Michael Kirk joins host Raney Aronson-Rath, FRONTLINE’s editor-in-chief and executive producer, for a special live recording of The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss what FRONTLINE’s season premiere, Lies, Politics and Democracy, reveals.

The two-hour documentary, structured as a countdown to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, illuminates critical decisions that have profoundly undermined faith in the electoral process, leading to what journalist Tim Alberta says in the film is an “existential crisis for the United States of America."

Kirk discusses a series of "inflection points" in which Republican leaders embraced the rhetoric of Donald Trump even as warning signs mounted.

"This was the leadership agreeing to be silent,” Kirk says, “agreeing to think they were gonna manipulate him, and then being manipulated themselves."

Lies, Politics and Democracy is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video App and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

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The Disconnect: Season 2, Episode 1: The Toll

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 10:01:01 -0000

In the first episode of Season 2 of The Disconnect, a podcast all about the Texas blackout of February 2021 from FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative partner, the Texas Newsroom, and Austin public radio station KUT, host Mose Buchele and colleagues examine the blackout’s impact on one Texas family, and the accuracy of the state’s official death count.

The Disconnect Season 2 is a project of The Texas Newsroom, the collaboration among NPR and the public radio stations in the state. It received support from FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Investigating the Texas Blackout

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 10:00:01 -0000

In February 2021, a powerful winter storm led to power outages — and an official tally of more than 200 deaths — across Texas. The Disconnect, a podcast from FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative partner, the Texas Newsroom, and Austin public radio station KUT, investigatess the aftermath of the storm and the state’s response.

KUT’s Mose Buchele, Senior Correspondent for Energy & Environment, joins The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about the state’s unique power grid, the deadly consequences when it failed and trying to hold officials accountable.

“At the end of the day,” Buchele said, “this is a system that seems sometimes intentionally set up to diffuse responsibility.”

Season 2 of The Disconnect, which is supported by FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative, is available at KUT and other streaming platforms.

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Searching for Afghanistan’s Missing Women

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 10:00:01 -0000

After U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan last year and the Taliban swept into power, FRONTLINE correspondent Ramita Navai and colleagues traveled the country, investigating the Taliban regime’s treatment of women. The resulting documentary, Afghanistan Undercover, revealed the harrowing realities women faced in Afghanistan.

In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, Navai talked with FRONTLINE executive producer and editor-in-chief Raney Aronson-Rath about reporting a story the Taliban didn’t want told, including secretly filming on the grounds of a prison in Herat, Afghanistan, where women said they were being held without trial.

“We needed that evidence,” Navai said. “We heard what was happening. We needed to see it for ourselves.”

Afghanistan Undercover is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video App and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

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J. Michael Luttig and Adam Kinzinger on Democracy and January 6

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 16:20:20 -0000

Congressional hearings into the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have concluded for the summer after weeks of testimony. Among the key witnesses to appear before the committee was J. Michael Luttig, a former federal judge and renowned conservative legal scholar.

On this special edition of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, listen to excerpts from an extensive interview with Luttig, as well as with U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), one of only two Republicans on the House select committee investigating January 6.

The interviews with J. Michael Luttig and Rep. Adam Kinzinger are available online in full as part of FRONTLINE's Transparency Project.

These interviews were conducted by producer Mike Wiser and the Kirk Documentary Group for FRONTLINE’s upcoming documentary Lies, Politics, and Democracy.

Coming soon: The Disconnect, Season 2

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 12:26:33 -0000

Coming August 4, 2022 from FRONTLINE's partners in the Local Journalism Initiative, KUT/KUTX Studios, season two of The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout. In February 2021, days-long blackouts in Texas left millions of people shivering in the dark. Hundreds died. And it exposed the failures of the nation's only independent power grid. More than a year later, the lights have stayed on, but problems persist. So how has the Texas grid changed? And how has it changed how people think about this infrastructure that used to be invisible to them? Available August 4th on KUT.org and wherever you get your podcasts.

Maria Ressa on Journalism and Democracy in the Philippines (re-release)

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 20:50:00 -0000

On June 30, 2022, the Philippines inaugurates a new president: — Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of the former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who ruled for a time under martial law and was overthrown in 1986. Marcos Jr., also known as Bongbong Marcos, was voted into office in a May 2022 landslide victory alongside vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte, daughter of the outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte.

In 2021, as the race was heating up, FRONTLINE executive producer and host of The FRONTLINE Dispatch Raney Aronson-Rath sat down with Maria Ressa: a winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, founder of the independent Philippine news site Rappler and the subject of FRONTLINE's January 2021 documentary "A Thousand Cuts." Along with the documentary’s director, Ramona S. Diaz, Ressa talked about disinformation, the importance of press freedom, and what she and Diaz were seeing on the ground in the Philippines during the historic campaign season.

"A Thousand Cuts" is streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel. Explore more reporting related to the documentary on FRONTLINE’s website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/a-thousand-cuts/

Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/dispatch-newsletter-subscription/

A 1967 Murder and a ‘Reckoning’ with the Truth

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 11:00:05 -0000

American Reckoning, a feature-length documentary from FRONTLINE and Retro Report, traces the life and death of Wharlest Jackson Sr., a 'foot soldier' of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The film explores the history of Black resistance in his hometown, Natchez, Mississippi, as well as his family’s decades-long struggle for justice.

Host Raney Aronson-Rath sits down with Dawn Porter, her fellow executive producer on both the American Reckoning documentary and FRONTLINE's Un(re)solved initiative, as well as American Reckoning directors Brad Lichtenstein and Yoruba Richen. Un(re)solved is a multiplatform investigation that tells the stories of lives cut short and examines a federal effort to grapple with America’s legacy of racist killings through the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. Along with the documentary American Reckoning, Un(re)solved comprises a web-based interactive experience, a serialized podcast and an augmented-reality installation.

You can watch American Reckoning and experience the rest of Un(re)solved here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/unresolved/

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Covering Minneapolis in the Wake of George Floyd

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 10:30:00 -0000

Since the murder of George Floyd two years ago, FRONTLINE's local journalism partner the Star Tribune has chronicled the aftermath of that pivotal event — from the protests that spread globally, to documenting the trial and murder conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin, to ongoing struggles for police accountability and reform in Minneapolis. The new documentary “Police on Trial,” from FRONTLINE and the Star Tribune, draws on unique on-the-ground reporting and filming to examine the police department at the center of the story.

In this new episode of "The FRONTLINE Dispatch," Star Tribune Editor Suki Dardarian in Minneapolis joins FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath to discuss the newsroom’s Pulitzer-winning reporting and “Police on Trial.”

"Police on Trial" is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/dispatch-newsletter-subscription/

Pulitzer Winner Corey G. Johnson on Tampa’s Lead Problem (re-release)

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 19 May 2022 11:05:00 -0000

For years, hundreds of workers at the Gopher Resource lead smelting plant in Florida were exposed to dangerous levels of lead in the air. “Poisoned,” a series from the Tampa Bay Times, in collaboration with FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative, uncovers the consequences of what happened.

Times reporters Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray gained access to thousands of pages of regulatory reports, company documents and employee medical records. In March 2021, Johnson joined FRONTLINE’s executive producer, Raney Aronson-Rath, on The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss the project and what the reporters found after months of investigating. This year, Johnson and his collegues were awarded a Pultizer Prize in Investigative Reporting for the project.

Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/dispatch-newsletter-subscription/

Inside Big Oil’s Push Against Climate Change Action

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Wed, 04 May 2022 10:36:45 -0000

The fossil fuel industry cast doubt on climate change for decades, even as the scientific evidence grew stronger and the warnings more dire.

In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, investigative reporter Russell Gold joins executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath to discuss FRONTLINE’s new three-part documentary series, The Power of Big Oil, and the role of the fossil fuel industry in delaying action on climate change.

Gold, a senior editor at Texas Monthly, served as an editorial consultant on the docuseries. The author of two books, he previously spent nearly 20 years reporting on energy for The Wall Street Journal, where he covered stories including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and California’s 2018 Camp Fire.

All three episodes of The Power of Big Oil are now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/dispatch-newsletter-subscription/

The Making of an Election Myth

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 10:00:00 -0000

More than a year after President Joe Biden's inauguration, around two-thirds of Republican voters believe his election was illegitimate. How did a stolen election myth make its way to the center of American politics? Director and producer Samuel Black and correspondent A.C. Thompson, part of the team behind the 2022 FRONTLINE and ProPublica documentary "Plot to Overturn the Election," sit down with FRONTLINE’s executive producer, Raney Aronson-Rath, to discuss how a handful of people have had an outsized impact on the current U.S. crisis of democratic legitimacy.

The legacy of misinformation extends beyond the 2020 U.S. presidential election and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Black and Thompson found. “How is the ongoing battle over the last election threatening the next one?” Thompson asks in the documentary.

"Plot to Overturn the Election" is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel. Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/dispatch-newsletter-subscription/

Julia Ioffe on Putin's Road to War

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 15:14:00 -0000

Journalist Julia Ioffe recently sat down with producer Mike Wiser for the March 2022 FRONTLINE documentary “Putin’s Road to War.” In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, we hear an excerpt of that interview, in which Ioffe discusses Russian President Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine and how he, and the world, reached this tipping point.

“What he has opened up with this invasion is unthinkable,” Ioffe tells FRONTLINE. “And because he is losing, and because the sanctions and the Ukrainians are humiliating him, because he is backed into a corner, he is the most dangerous he has ever been, because it is now existential for him.”

Julia Ioffe is an American journalist who was born in Russia. She is a writer for and a founding partner of the media company Puck. She previously reported on politics and world affairs for the Atlantic and other publications. This interview, conducted on March 3, 2022, has been edited for clarity and length.

“Putin's Road to War” premieres Tuesday, March 15 on PBS and will be available to stream on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

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A Conversation with Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Journalist Maria Ressa, a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and the subject of the documentary A Thousand Cuts, joined director Ramona S. Diaz and FRONTLINE’s executive producer, Raney Aronson-Rath, for a special conversation prior to the Nobel ceremony.

Ressa and her fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov are the first journalists to receive the prestigious award since 1935. Ressa and her staff at the independent news site Rappler in the Philippines have been at the forefront of reporting on both President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war and the rapid-fire spread of online disinformation in support of Duterte. A Thousand Cuts chronicled how Ressa and Rappler became top targets in Duterte’s crackdown on the news media — and how Ressa vowed to “hold the line” in the face of numerous court actions and online harassment.

With Ressa now a Nobel Peace Prize winner for her efforts, she joins Diaz and Aronson-Rath to discuss disinformation, the importance of journalism and press freedom, the future of democracy in the Philippines, why she believes the world is in the midst of “a global rise in fascism” similar to the last time a journalist won a Nobel Peace Prize, and how “we need to make sure facts survive.”

“When you live in a world without facts, you can't have truth. You can't have trust,” she says. “And when you don't have that, your shared reality is torn apart.”

A Thousand Cuts is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel. After Philippine distributors and TV broadcasters did not license the film, FRONTLINE secured full streaming rights in the country so that it would be available for the Philippine public to view via FRONTLINE’s platforms.

Want to be notified every time a new FRONTLINE podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.

What the Pandora Papers Reveal

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0000

In October 2021, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists — with 150 partner news organizations around the world, including FRONTLINE — began publishing the results of an investigation based on a massive leak of confidential documents. The leaked files, known as the Pandora Papers, exposed a secretive financial system that enables the world’s wealthy and powerful to hide their money and assets from creditors, taxing authorities and governments. The revelations have reverberated across the globe.

In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast, FRONTLINE producer Evan Williams and ICIJ reporter Will Fitzgibbon, both featured in the November 2021 short documentary Pandora Papers, from ICIJ and FRONTLINE, join FRONTLINE executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath to discuss some of the investigation’s key findings, the ongoing impacts, and the importance of global reporting collaborations.

“The basic principle of ICIJ really is one of journalistic equality, I think. Recognizing that the smartest reporter in New York City or Washington D.C., is never going to have the experience or the ability to find a story in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or in the Philippines, right?" Fitzgibbon says. "And that's why we provide access to the data and bring on reporters from more than 100 countries. Because we know that, hidden in these documents, are only stories the reporters from those countries can tell."

The Pandora Papers documentary is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

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The Federal Reserve’s Big Experiment

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 08:00:00 -0000

As the U.S. Federal Reserve and its chair, Jerome Powell, confront concerns over inflation and the impact of the Fed’s pandemic-era policies, we take a deep dive into the country’s central bank, which financial journalist Dion Rabouin calls “the most powerful and least understood institution in the country.”

James Jacoby, a producer of the FRONTLINE documentary “The Power of the Fed,” and Rabouin, who was featured in the film, join FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath for a conversation about how the Fed’s actions to avert crisis when COVID struck were the latest chapter in an experiment the Fed began after the 2008 crash — one that has dramatically changed the American economy. Jacoby and Rabouin explore criticisms that, while well-intentioned, the Fed’s efforts have contributed to wealth inequality and helped today’s financial world grow far removed from the real-world economy.

“The Federal Reserve has taken on a much more active role in trying to manage our economy, basically, since the financial crisis in 2008-2009,” Jacoby tells Aronson-Rath. “And then the experimental policies that they put into gear at that point really never left us. … it's led to all sorts of unforeseen, unintended consequences that we're all contending with now.”

“The Power of the Fed” is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

How Boeing's Flawed 737 Max Made It Into the Air

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 07:00:00 -0000

What did Boeing know about the potential for disaster with its 737 Max passenger jet, and when did the company know it? Tom Jennings, director of the FRONTLINE/New York Times documentary “Boeing’s Fatal Flaw,” and Times reporter David Gelles detail what their findings reveal about the lead-up to the two 737 Max plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

In conversation with FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath, Jennings and Gelles discuss what they learned about the technical issues with Boeing’s fastest-selling commercial jet, as well as how market pressures, corporate culture and failed regulatory oversight ushered a plane with a fatal design flaw into commercial service. Jennings and Gelles also discuss what’s changed since the crashes — and how they’d each feel about walking onto a Boeing plane now.

The documentary “Boeing’s Fatal Flaw” is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.

The Case of the Liberty City Seven

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Dan Reed (“Leaving Neverland”) discusses his new FRONTLINE documentary, “In the Shadow of 9/11,” the story of how seven Black men from Miami were accused of planning an Al Qaeda plot to blow up American buildings.

Their indictment marked the federal government’s first major post-9/11 counterterrorism sting within the U.S. Yet the men, who came to be known as the Liberty City Seven, had no weapons and had never communicated with anyone from Al Qaeda.

Reed joins “The FRONTLINE Dispatch” to discuss why this was a story he wanted to tell; how he built trust with sources, including the accused men themselves and an FBI agent with a key role in the sting; and what the documentary reveals about the federal government's post-9/11 counterterrorism tactics — notably its use of informants and sting operations.

“It's a story that really needs to be told, because Americans … have the right to know what techniques have been used to keep the country safe after 9/11,” Reed tells FRONTLINE’s executive producer, Raney Aronson-Rath. “But it's just a very challenging story to tell. … I really think that FRONTLINE is the only place on American television that I could have done this.”

The feature-length documentary “In the Shadow of 9/11” is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and YouTube.

Sept. 11 to Jan. 6

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 07:00:00 -0000

As the nation marks the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, the legacy of the terror attacks and their aftermath continues to unfold, from insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team have been chronicling 9/11 and its impact for two decades in multiple FRONTLINE films, including America After 9/11, an epic re-examination of the decisions that changed the world and transformed the U.S. across four presidencies. The two-hour documentary is now streaming on FRONTLINE’s website, the PBS Video app and YouTube.

Kirk joins The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about the through line from Sept. 11 to Jan. 6, as well as ongoing challenges for the U.S. president, the country and the world. "By pulling back, we discovered a lot of dots that could be connected, that actually had a strong relevance to today," Kirk says in the episode.

Introducing: Un(re)solved

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 09:00:00 -0000

Un(re)solved is an investigative podcast series and part of a multiplatform project from FRONTLINE. What prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate over 150 unsolved civil rights era killings? And what does justice look like for the families of the victims? Reporter James Edwards seeks answers to these questions, reflecting on his own family’s experiences along the way.

Policing the Police in Minnesota

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 09:00:00 -0000

As Derek Chauvin’s murder trial nears its end and Minnesota roils over the killing of Daunte Wright, calls for police accountability continue. Brooklyn Center Police officer Kim Potter shot and killed Wright, 20, during an April 11 traffic stop. Potter has since resigned and faces charges of second-degree manslaughter.

FRONTLINE correspondent and New Yorker staff writer Jelani Cobb has been on the ground in Minnesota, covering the Chauvin trial. He joins The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss the latest from Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center — and what the last few weeks could mean for the future of police accountability in America.

For more from Jelani Cobb and FRONTLINE, listen to our conversation from June 2020, and watch “Policing the Police 2020,” now streaming on YouTube, the PBS Video App and online.

Poisoned: Tampa's Lead Problem

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -0000

For years, hundreds of workers at the Gopher Resource lead smelting plant in Florida were exposed to dangerous levels of lead in the air. "Poisoned," a new investigative series from the Tampa Bay Times, in collaboration with FRONTLINE's Local Journalism Initiative, uncovers the consequences of what happened.
Times reporters Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray gained access to thousands of pages of regulatory reports, company documents and employee medical records. Johnson joins FRONTLINE's executive producer, Raney Aronson-Rath, on The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss the project and what the reporters found after months of investigating.

An Impeachment and An Inauguration

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 10:00:00 -0000

The Biden administration is set to begin as America copes with a chaotic start to the new year: from an insurrection to a second impeachment of President Trump, all while the COVID-19 death toll reaches new heights.

Veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team have been chronicling the 2020 presidential election and the ensuing fallout for multiple FRONTLINE films, including President Biden, airing January 19 on PBS.

Kirk joins The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about this moment in American history and what lies ahead for President-elect Joe Biden. "Is he right for the times? If he is, it's a presidency for the century," Kirk said.

Chaos at the Capitol

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 10:00:00 -0000

A violent mob of President Donald Trump's supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol on January 6, as Congress met to certify Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. The rioters plotted for weeks beforehand on social media, mobilizing around the president's false claims of a stolen election.

Who are the forces behind the attack, how did it unfold and why was the law enforcement presence so easily overpowered?

ProPublica reporter and FRONTLINE correspondent A.C. Thompson, who covered the rise of right-wing extremism for our joint "Documenting Hate" series, joins The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss what happened at the Capitol and what the future may hold.

Thompson’s reporting is part of an ongoing collaboration between ProPublica and FRONTLINE that includes an upcoming documentary.

I'm Not A Monster: Episode 3

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 10:00:00 -0000

I’m Not A Monster is a new multi-part investigative series from FRONTLINE, BBC Sounds, and BBC Panorama.

FRONTLINE is featuring the first few episodes of the series here for listeners of The FRONTLINE Dispatch.

In episode 3, the Islamic State group forces Sam’s son Matthew to spread its propaganda. Josh searches the woods of Idaho looking for a man on an elk hunt. Then an obscure tweet leads him to Syria to try to find the family.

I'm Not A Monster: Episode 2

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 10:00:00 -0000

I’m Not A Monster is a new multi-part investigative series from FRONTLINE, BBC Sounds, and BBC Panorama.

FRONTLINE is featuring the first few episodes of the series here for listeners of The FRONTLINE Dispatch.

In episode 2, a man who says he’s a people smuggler offers to help the family, while a drive around a suburb in Indiana reveals their past. Sam’s father adds a new twist on who his daughter really is.

I'm Not A Monster: Episode 1

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 10:00:00 -0000

I’m Not A Monster is a new multi-part investigative series from FRONTLINE, BBC Sounds, and BBC Panorama.

FRONTLINE is featuring the first few episodes of the series here for listeners of The FRONTLINE Dispatch.

In episode 1, a suicide bombing in Iraq and a home video from inside the ISIS caliphate begin the search for a family trapped in Syria. A desperate plea arrives from an American woman who says she wants to escape the Islamic State group with her young children.

Capturing ‘American Voices’ in a Year of Turmoil

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 10:00:00 -0000

When the pandemic hit, Dr. Blair Woodbury picked up the phone. He called his old friend, filmmaker Mike Shum, and urged him to get out and start recording the first draft of history.

That's how the new FRONTLINE documentary "American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil" was born. Shum, Woodbury and a team of independent filmmakers across America have been documenting how people are living through this tumultuous year — from the pandemic, to the widespread protests over racial injustice, through the historically polarized presidential election.

Shum and Woodbury join this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss the ambitious project and how the story of 2020 continues to evolve.

COVID-19 & the Medical Supply Crisis

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0000

As COVID swept the U.S., why did hospitals face deadly shortages of PPE and other medical supplies? How did America’s medical supply chain fail so catastrophically? FRONTLINE, in collaboration with the Associated Press and the Global Reporting Centre, investigates what went wrong in the new documentary America's Medical Supply Crisis. AP reporters Martha Mendoza and Juliet Linderman join The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss their findings.

Introducing: NOVA Now

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0000

From the PBS science series NOVA, a biweekly podcast digging into the science behind the headlines. Many agree that we need a fast, accurate, and easy COVID-19 test—yet none of the commonly used diagnostic technologies have been able to meet that need. Enter CRISPR, a gene-editing tool that can also be used to identify viruses. Host Alok Patel follows the story of the two scientists who first discovered this potential for battling the coronavirus, and the biotech company that hopes to use it to revolutionize modern diagnostics.

The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0000

In this special audio presentation, FRONTLINE shares a podcast version of The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden, a new documentary interweaving investigative biographies of the two main-party presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with a focus on how they have responded in moments of political and personal crisis.

Veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team interview friends, family, colleagues and critics about the challenges and setbacks that have shaped both Trump and Biden’s lives — and how each man’s handling of those moments could inform their approaches to leadership at this pivotal juncture in America’s history.

Making "The Choice"

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0000

Before America votes, what can Biden and Trump’s responses to past crises — both personal and political — tell us about how they might lead the United States through a time of national turbulence?

In this episode, Michael Kirk, veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker and director of The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden, reflects on how the candidates have confronted challenges and setbacks throughout their lives and careers, and how the stakes in this election cycle feel especially high. Having conducted nearly 50 new interviews for this film, his fifth installment of The Choice, Kirk says: "Most people can't remember a starker choice. I really think everybody thinks this is the election of the century."

The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden premieres on PBS and online Tuesday, Sept. 22.

The Transparency Project: John Bolton

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0000

As part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, all this week we’re publishing key interviews conducted as part of the reporting for The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden, a two-hour documentary special about the major-party political candidates. The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden airs on PBS and online Tuesday, September 22nd. Read more about Frontline’s Transparency Project at frontline.org.

In this episode, John Bolton is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Gabrielle Schonder. Bolton served as national security adviser to Donald Trump from 2018 to 2019. He was previously the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and is the author of The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir. Bolton shares his observations about President Trump’s approach to national security, including his unusual lack of interest, for a president, in receiving intelligence and other information.

The Transparency Project: Yusef Salaam

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0000

As part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, all this week we’re publishing key interviews conducted as part of the reporting for The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden, a two-hour documentary special about the major-party political candidates. The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden airs on PBS and online Tuesday, September 22nd. Read more about Frontline’s Transparency Project at frontline.org.

In this episode, Yusef Salaam is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Gabrielle Schonder. Salaam was falsely accused of rape and assault of a jogger in Central Park in 1989 in what became known as the “Central Park Five” case. He was exonerated in 2002, and is now an activist and motivational speaker. Salaam discusses the full-page ad that Donald Trump took out in local newspapers in 1989, calling for the execution of the Central Park Five.

The Transparency Project: Rudy Giuliani

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0000

As part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, all this week we’re publishing key interviews conducted as part of the reporting for The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden, a two-hour documentary special about the major-party political candidates. The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden airs on PBS and online Tuesday, September 22nd. Read more about Frontline’s Transparency Project at frontline.org.

In this episode, Rudy Giuliani is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Michael Kirk. Giuliani is a politician and attorney who serves as one of Donald Trump’s personal lawyers. He was the mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. Giuliani talks about Donald Trump’s transition from New York real estate developer to politician, and Giuliani’s own role in helping Trump survive the Access Hollywood revelation in 2016.

The Transparency Project: Valerie Biden Owens

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0000

In this episode, Valerie Biden Owens is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore. Valerie Biden Owens is Joe Biden’s sister and has managed his seven senatorial campaigns, as well as his presidential campaigns. She talks about Joe Biden’s childhood in their Catholic family, including his struggles with a stutter and how that shaped his character.

The Transparency Project: Carol Moseley Braun

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0000

In this episode, Carol Moseley Braun is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore. Carol Moseley Braun is a Democrat from Illinois who was the first African American woman Senator. She served on the Senate Judiciary Committee under the leadership of Joe Biden. Carol Moseley Braun shares her thoughts on Joe Biden’s career in public service, including his record on racism and sexism.

The Transparency Project: Mary Trump

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0000

As part of Frontline’s Transparency Project, all this week we’re publishing key interviews conducted as part of the reporting for The Choice 2020, a two-hour documentary special about the major-party political candidates. The Choice 2020 airs on PBS and online Tuesday, September 22nd. Read more about Frontline’s Transparency Project at frontline.org.

In this episode, Mary Trump is interviewed by Frontline’s Gabrielle Schonder. Mary Trump is a psychologist and businesswoman, and the niece of President Donald Trump. She wrote the bestselling book about her uncle: Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. Mary Trump discusses Donald Trump's upbringing, including the huge shadow cast by his father, Fred Trump.

A Mother & Her Newborn Separated by COVID-19

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 09:00:48 -0000

How the coronavirus separated a mother from her newborn baby, and the schoolteacher who stepped in to help the family in their time of need. Filmmaker Oscar Guerra discusses the story at the heart of his new FRONTLINE documentary, [Love, Life & the Virus](applewebdata://30F093A3-2634-418D-B298-3476051BCE10/Love,%20Life%20&%20the%20Virus.) — which follows a mother, Zully, who gave birth on a ventilator with COVID-19 and then spent nearly three weeks in a coma battling the virus. It wasn’t safe for Zully’s newborn to go home to her husband and older son, who were infected as well — so her older son’s ESL teacher, Luciana Lira, took the baby in while the family recovered, saying, “I am willing to help, 100 percent.”

Guerra speaks about the challenges facing immigrant families like Zully’s in the time of the coronavirus, how herthe community in Stamford, Connecticut banded together to help — and what it was like to document the “beautiful” moment when the mother and her infant son were finally reunited.

Stream [Love, Life & the Virus](applewebdata://80B22952-4564-4D84-BC44-D99E3CCE6F54/Love,%20Life%20&%20the%20Virus%E2%80%9D) beginning the night of Tues., Aug. 11.

Essential and Unprotected

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0000

They’ve been keeping America fed throughout the pandemic — and they say they’ve had to choose between their health and their jobs. For the essential agriculture workers who pick and process the food we eat, many of them undocumented immigrants, COVID-19 is amplifying existing challenges. Journalists Daffodil Altan and Andrés Cediel discuss what their reporting for FRONTLINE shows about the virus’s toll on workers at farms and meatpacking plants, the lack of federally required COVID-19 protections for agriculture workers, and why workers who are undocumented have been fearful to speak out: “Even if you're called essential, you can still potentially be deported.”

For more, watch COVID’s Hidden Toll — the latest installment in FRONTLINE’s award-winning body of work exposing the hidden realities facing low-wage immigrant workers in the U.S. (Rape in the Fields, Rape on the Night Shift, Trafficked in America). The documentary is supported by Chasing the Dream.

Bribing Doctors, Making Millions

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 04:10:31 -0000

How a drug company made millions pushing an opioid painkiller up to 100x stronger than morphine, as many on Wall Street looked the other way. FRONTLINE filmmaker Tom Jennings and Financial Times reporter Hannah Kuchler discuss their new investigation of Insys Therapeutics — from a jaw-dropping interview with a former sales director who admits to bribing doctors to prescribe the highly addictive drug Subsys, to how Wall Street propelled Insys’ success even as questions emerged about its practices, to what role drug companies’ pursuit of profits hasplayed in the opioid crisis: “I think that it's really interesting just how people are able to disconnect their actions from the consequences, especially in business,” Kuchler says.

With federal prosecutors using laws designed to catch mob bosses, Insys would ultimately become the first pharmaceutical company to have its top executives sentenced to prison time in connection with the opioid epidemic. For more on Insys’ spectacular rise and fall — and its consequences — watch the documentary Opioids, Inc. from FRONTLINE and the FT, and read our in-depth joint reporting — also available at ft.com/insys.

Correction: An earlier version of this description misstated the strength of Insys’s painkiller.

Maria Ressa, Duterte & the Fight for the Free Press

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 04:55:21 -0000

Days before an expected verdict in her trial, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa speaks out about reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug war — and then becoming a high-profile target of his government’s crackdown on the press.

As she faces potential prison time on cyber libel charges, the co-founder and CEO of the independent Philippine news site Rappler tells FRONTLINE how she’s preparing, discusses her reporting on Duterte, and says that her conviction about what she does is undaunted: “I'm just walking forward, step by step by step, certain in the values and the principles that we are following and knowing that we are doing the right thing.”

For more on Duterte’s drug war, watch FRONTLINE’s On the President’s Orders. And for more from Ressa, read FRONTLINE’s interview with her for The Facebook Dilemma, in which she discusses her reporting on how Duterte weaponized the platform to target his critics and spread disinformation. Plus: Stay tuned for the forthcoming documentary A Thousand Cuts, featuring Ressa’s story, which will see a summer theatrical release and a fall FRONTLINE broadcast.

Race, Police & The Pandemic

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 06:00:00 -0000

As streets across America erupt into clashes over racism during the coronavirus pandemic, Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker examines a connection between George Floyd's death and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 deaths among African Americans: "the thing that ties them together is empirical evidence of a phenomenon that had been dismissed otherwise.”

Cobb describes how the relationship between black Americans and the police has become a "barometer" for race relations in the country, drawing on his years of covering explosive tensions that he says are “overwhelmingly” in response to an issue of police use of force. "…Once you looked at the way that policing functioned, it was almost an indicator of the way lots of other institutions were functioning in those communities.” And yet, he says that this time — as the nation battles a highly infectious outbreak — the outrage is spreading in a way that seems different.

For more from Jelani Cobb and FRONTLINE, watch 2016's "Policing the Police": now streaming on YouTube, on the PBS Video App and online.

United States of Conspiracy

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 28 May 2020 09:00:00 -0000

As COVID-19 has spread, so, too, have misinformation and conspiracy theories about the virus — amplified by figures like Alex Jones, and proliferating on social media and even at the highest levels of government. Veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk, who was already making a documentary about the rise of conspiracy theories in American politics when the pandemic hit, shares what he’s learned about how such theories have become central to understanding the nation’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. .”There's been a concerted effort, now that everything is moved from the fringe to the center, to knock down knowledge-based information,” Michael says. “And all of a sudden, a large number of Americans simply do not believe what they're being told. And that's where we find ourselves now.”

Life & Death in the Bronx

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Sat, 16 May 2020 09:00:00 -0000

In the Bronx, as the coronavirus is disproportionately killing black and Latino people, COVID-19 is swelling the ranks of the dead — and also upending how loved ones grieve. Reporter Anjali Tsui goes inside a family-owned funeral home in the NYC borough to discover the outbreak's toll on the community. As one grieving woman reflects, "When people die, they need to be celebrated and there is no celebration of life right now. It’s like people are just disappearing."

A Midnight Rescue

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Sat, 02 May 2020 04:49:18 -0000

As COVID-19 ran rampant through the adult care facility, family members struggled to learn the truth of how the coronavirus outbreak was hitting their loved ones. Reporter Joaquin Sapien takes us inside the story of a daughter’s midnight rescue of her father from Queens Adult Care Center, which he says is in an area that became “the epicenter of the epicenter” of the outbreak in New York. Natasha Roland describes rushing her father from the facility to a hospital, where he tested positive for COVID-19 — though not long before she'd been told he was safe and that the center had no cases. The Queens Adult Care Center, for its part, disputes Roland's account, and says it has taken "extensive precautions to ensure the well-being of each of its residents and employees." Listen to the full story.

Queens Adult Care Center was the subject of a story and short film co-published by FRONTLINE and ProPublica in April 2020. Read and watch HERE.

Sapien first encountered the facility in reporting he did for FRONTLINE and ProPublica’s 2019 documentary,Right to Fail. Now streaming on the PBS Video App and online.

Covering Coronavirus: Indian Country

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 12:51:31 -0000

Native American communities were already dealing with underfunded health services. Then the coronavirus outbreak began. Journalist Antonia Gonzales, herself a member of the Native community, reports from New Mexico — where Navajo Nation, one of the largest tribes in the country, has seen a higher rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases than most states. And Gonzales finds that tribes say their requests for federal help are being ignored.

A Tale of Two Washingtons

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0000

What the feud between President Trump and Washington Gov. Inslee reveals about federal-state tensions in the coronavirus fight. In his conversation with Gov. Inslee, FRONTLINE correspondent Miles O’Brien discovers that “what should be a partnership with the federal government is like this hostile relationship.”

Inslee describes a scenario in which states are left competing with each other for scarce resources: “We are searching the world for every potential warehouse that has any of this personal protective equipment… and states are bidding against one another,” he tells O’Brien. “It would be much more efficient, economically and otherwise, if the federal government was playing a more vigorous role.”

Listen to the podcast now, and stay tuned for O’Brien’s documentary Coronavirus Pandemic, premiering April 21, which explores the differing responses to the coronavirus outbreak in Washington D.C. and Washington State — where the first known U.S. case of COVID-19 was detected.

Warnings to the White House

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0000

Inside the Trump administration’s coronavirus response — and missed opportunities to contain COVID-19 before it was too late. Correspondent Martin Smith speaks with global health experts about warnings to the White House that went unheeded, including a health policy expert who said his 2019 study pointing to the threat of a pandemic was met with silence.

As he investigates how the crisis unfolded in the U.S., Smith finds: “There's a lot of unknowns as to who dropped the ball and when. It's clear that at the top, and I mean by that the president, the wrong messages were being given.”

Covering Coronavirus: Athens, Ohio

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 08:50:00 -0000

As schools close to help stem the spread of COVID-19, what happens to kids who rely on school meals to eat? FRONTLINE producer Jezza Neumann reports from Athens, Ohio — where school buses are now delivering meals to students in need. And, as Jezza discovered, some teachers are personally taking meals to those in areas too remote for buses to reach. “Everybody just wants these kids to be fed,” Jezza says. But he’s finding that with each passing week, the coronavirus heightens food scarcity — and the children he speaks with are acutely aware of the risk of hunger that lies before them.

Covering Coronavirus: Cincinnati, Ohio

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 21:06:36 -0000

To combat COVID-19, Ohio has a “stay at home” order — but what does that mean for families without homes? Filmmaker Ben C. Solomon reports from inside an emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Cincinnati, where he finds that for families already battling poverty, the coronavirus’ toll deepens the struggle. “In just a matter of weeks, most of the opportunities these people had to move out of homelessness — to make money, to get an apartment — those opportunities are going away.”

Covering Coronavirus: Cremona, Italy

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 21:14:20 -0000

A reporter’s emotional journey back to her homeland in Italy, now the global epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. “I never thought that I would be making a film like this in Italy,” says FRONTLINE correspondent Sasha Achilli. “I feel immensely proud of the way that the Italian doctors are doing everything they can.” Italy’s doctors, she says, are looking at how America is responding now, and finding similarities with how their own country reacted weeks ago. “Doctors [here] are saying, absolutely self-isolate and do it in the interest of yourself. But in the interests of everybody else around you and who you love. Because this is very, very real.”

Covering Coronavirus: Seattle, Washington

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 14:43:41 -0000

Lessons learned from Seattle — an epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. Veteran science reporter and FRONTLINE correspondent Miles O’Brien takes us inside the state where coronavirus was first believed to hit U.S. soil, where he finds, “They’ve put science at the center of their policy, and they’ve let the data drive the decisions.”

Blood and Power in the Philippines

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 07:00:00 -0000

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte makes his own rules. His war on drugs has led to the deaths of thousands of alleged drug users and dealers. His violent rhetoric and rape jokes have shocked people around the world. Yet he’s hugely popular. Reporter Aurora Almendral delves into what made him the leader he is today. Her investigation starts in his hometown in the Philippines.

Never Sentenced, Never Released

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 08:00:00 -0000

Terry Allen was 23 when he was arrested for an alleged sexual assault. Although he was never convicted of the crime, Allen was sent to an Illinois prison, where he has remained for nearly four decades with no release date.

Across the country, hundreds of people are incarcerated without convictions for the alleged acts that landed them in prison. Reporter Max Green tells the story of one such man.

This episode was produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.

The Housing Fix (Rebroadcast)

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 08:00:00 -0000

Millions of Americans can’t afford rent and only a quarter of those who need government help get it. What happens to everyone else? For many, it means they live in squalor. But figuring out who’s responsible is harder than you think. In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan heads to Dallas where the city, low income residents and a prominent landlord sometimes described as a slumlord, become the moving pieces in a century-and-a-half old problem.

This episode was done in collaboration with NPR.

This episode is a rebroadcast and originally aired on October 12, 2017.

The Boy in the Caravan

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 08:00:00 -0000

In a collaboration between PRI’s The World and The FRONTLINE Dispatch, we follow a 15-year-old boy from El Salvador who joined the large migrant caravan last fall and is determined to enter the United States. But his quest is anything but certain. Meanwhile, a loved one is desperately waiting for him on the other side of the border. Reporter Monica Campbell follows his story.

Struggling for Breath in Coal Country

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 08:02:46 -0000

In Appalachia, more than 2,000 coal miners are suffering from advanced black lung disease, caused by toxic dust in the mines and part of an epidemic federal regulators failed to prevent. Reporter Howard Berkes spoke with dozens of sick and dying miners with varying stages of the disease about how it has irrevocably changed their lives. For Berkes, the story is a culmination of nearly four decades of reporting on rural America. Today, he shares some of his most intimate interviews with them.

Find the full FRONTLINE and NPR investigative documentary here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/coals-deadly-dust/

Produced by NPR’s Investigation Unit.

Update: Living With Murder

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 08:30:51 -0000

Part Three of the Living With Murder Series.

In December 2017, after serving 30 years of his life sentence, Kempis Songster left Graterford Prison on lifetime parole.

A lot has happened since then. He now lives in Philadelphia. He’s working, married and became a father. One year after Reporter/Producer Samantha Broun and Kempis Songster stopped recording their conversations for the Living with Murder series, they return with this series’ update on what Kempis’ life looks like today. This story was produced in collaboration with the public radio website Transom.org.

Living With Murder: Part 1 (Rebroadcast)

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 08:00:00 -0000

At 15, after committing a brutal murder, Kempis Songster was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But now he has a chance to be free, thanks to a series of recent Supreme Court rulings that found the sentences of thousands of inmates who, like Songster, committed their crimes as juveniles, to be unconstitutional.

This episode produced in collaboration with Transom.org.

Living With Murder: Part 2 (Rebroadcast)

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 08:00:00 -0000

This is Part Two of his story.

This episode was a collaboration with Transom.org.

KIDS' SPECIAL: Muzamil's Day

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 08:00:00 -0000

In this special episode for kids, FRONTLINE follows a day in the life of Muzamil, a 12-year-old Somali boy growing up Kenya’s Dadaab Refugee Camp. Producer Bianca Giaever and Reporter Roopa Gogineni bring him questions from American kids about what it’s like growing up in a refugee camp. Are there dentists? A fire department? What is your dreamland? Muzamil takes us through his daily life, answering questions from American kids along the way.

This episode was produced in partnership with Firelight Media. You can see pictures of Dadaab, Muzamil, and his friends here: https://to.pbs.org/2CAnQwN

The Weight of Dust

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 08:00:00 -0000

Scott Gaines was a first responder on 9/11. When he retired a couple months later, he thought he’d escaped the aftermath unscathed. This time on The FRONTLINE Dispatch, a story about the lasting impacts of 9/11 – told by his daughter, reporter Amy Gaines.

This story was produced by Michelle Mizner and Sophie McKibben.

I Don't Want To Shoot You, Brother

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 08:00:00 -0000

A young black man was dead. A young white cop was quickly fired. If that sounds surprising, you don’t know the half of it. This is a shocking story about police and the use of lethal force. Just not the one you might expect.

This story was done in collaboration with ProPublica. It was reported by Joe Sexton and produced by Sophie McKibben. You can read an accompanying print piece written by Joe Sexton here.

Coming November 29th

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 21:15:03 -0000

The second season of The FRONTLINE Dispatch launches on November 29th.

The FRONTLINE Dispatch comes to you from the producers and reporters of the PBS investigative documentary series FRONTLINE. New episodes biweekly. Subscribe now.

Living With Murder: Part Two

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 08:00:00 -0000

This is Part Two of his story.

This episode was a collaboration with Transom.org.

Living With Murder: Part One

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 08:00:00 -0000

This episode produced in collaboration with Transom.org.

A Life Sentence: Victims, Offenders, Justice And My Mother

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 08:00:00 -0000

There are more than 2,000 people in prisons around the country who were convicted of murder as juveniles and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. But recent Supreme Court decisions have found these sentences unconstitutional and set in motion a process for re-evaluating these “juvenile lifers.”

To close out the first season of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, we have three stories about juvenile lifers. This first is the story of a violent crime committed by a juvenile lifer whose second chance went horribly wrong. It is an intensely personal documentary, but it carries far-reaching implications that extend into public life and into the heart of our political and correctional systems.

This piece was produced by Samantha Broun and Jay Allison. It was originally made in 2016 for the public radio website Transom.org. Listen to it here: https://transom.org/2016/a-life-sentence-victims-offenders-justice-and-my-mother/. We are presenting an update to a version that aired later that year on This American Life: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/604/20-years-later.

Next on The FRONTLINE Dispatch: the mini-series continues with two more stories about juvenile life without parole from producers Samantha Broun and Jay Allison.

Notes from an Invisible War

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 07:00:00 -0000

Children describing the sounds that bombs make as they fall. Streets covered with rotting garbage. Doctors and nurses who have gone months without pay, at hospitals struggling to care for an influx of cholera patients and malnourished infants.

In Yemen, two-plus years of airstrikes by a coalition being led by Saudi Arabia and receiving weapons and tactical assistance from the United States, have led to what the United Nations has called the “largest humanitarian crisis” in the world. FRONTLINE filmmaker Martin Smith and his team witnessed chaos on a rare trip inside the country, a peek inside a largely invisible war. Few foreign journalists are given permission to enter Yemen.

“People are not seeing what’s going on. We’re talking thousands of civilian dead,” said Smith.

This story is from correspondent Martin Smith. Michelle Mizner and Sara Obeidat produced this story originally as a short film. They, along with Sophie McKibben, adapted the film for the podcast. Scott Anger recorded the sound in Yemen. The reporting for this story was done as part of an upcoming FRONTLINE special on the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Airing in 2018, the documentary will trace the roots of the Sunni-Shia divide, and explore how a proxy war between the two countries is devastating the Middle East.

For more in-depth reporting on the crisis in Yemen – visit pbs.org/frontline.

The Housing Fix

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 07:00:00 -0000

Millions of Americans can’t afford rent and only a quarter of those who need government help get it. What happens to everyone else? For many, it means they live in squalor. But figuring out who’s responsible is harder than you think. In this episode of the FRONTLINE DISPATCH, NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan heads to Dallas where the city, low income residents and a prominent landlord sometimes described as a slumlord, become the moving pieces in a century-and-a-half old problem.

This episode was done in collaboration with NPR.

Boom Town

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 07:00:00 -0000

In 2016, a 5.0 magnitude earthquake hit the small town of Cushing, Oklahoma, severely damaging the town. Cushing isn’t the type of place that’s supposed to have such a problem with earthquakes. Until about 2009, they only had one or two a year. But in the last few years, tied to an increased use of wastewater disposal (a by-product of the oil industry) the number of earthquakes has risen dramatically, and now Cushing, along with much of Oklahoma, shakes hundreds of times a year.

Cushing is a major hub of American oil — known as “the pipeline crossroads of the world,” the Keystone pipeline and many other major pipelines run beneath it, and above ground, the town stores tens of millions of barrels of oil in its tank farms. Oil is the town’s economic lifeblood, and so the big quake, and the question of who to hold responsible for it, caused real division between neighbors.

In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, reporter Sandy Tolan goes to Cushing to find out how the earthquakes impact a town built on oil.

This story was produced by Jamie York and Sophie McKibben.

Find us on the web at pbs.org/frontlinedispatch

Child Marriage in America

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 07:00:00 -0000

In the summer after 9th grade, 14-year-old Heather discovered she was pregnant. Her boyfriend Aaron was 24. At the time, marriage seemed like it could be a solution to their problems — and maybe a way to keep Aaron out of jail.

In this episode of the FRONTLINE Dispatch, reporter Anjali Tsui and producer Sophie McKibben go inside a battle playing out over child marriage in America.

Anjali Tsui is an Abrams Journalism Fellow through the FRONTLINE/Columbia Journalism School Fellowships.

For more on child marriage in America – visit pbs.org/frontlinedispatch.

Editor’s Note: After publication of this episode, the Tennessee Department of Health alerted us to an error in the marriage data they provided to FRONTLINE. According to the department, children as young as 10, 11 and 12 were not given marriage licenses in their state.

Coming September 14th

frontline@pbs.org (FRONTLINE PBS, WGBH) — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 04:30:00 -0000

Some stories are meant to be heard. A new narrative podcast from the producers and reporters of the PBS investigative documentary series FRONTLINE. New episodes biweekly. Subscribe now.