The FRONTLINE Dispatch on Steno.fm

The FRONTLINE Dispatch

FRONTLINE Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath sits down with journalists and filmmakers for probing conversations about the investigative journalism that drives each FRONTLINE documentary and the stories that shape our time. Produced at FRONTLINE’s headquarters at GBH in Boston and powered by PRX. The FRONTLINE Dispatch is made possible by the Abrams Foundation Journalism Initiative.

Fri, February 21, 2025
Life in Tibet and What Comes Next
After 75 years of Chinese Communist Party rule in Tibet, and as Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, approaches his 90th birthday, Tibet is at a critical juncture. FRONTLINE’s documentary Battle For Tibet goes inside the long-running struggle over the future of the mountainous region. Award-winning producer and director Gesbeen Mohammad joins The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss what the film reveals about life in Tibet now, and the uncertain future for Tibetan Buddhism, language and culture. Drawing on undercover footage, interviews with Tibet and China experts, Chinese government statements, and accounts from Tibetans now living in exile, Battle For Tibet examines the Chinese government’s tight control over the territory, including its system of boarding schools and a vast network of surveillance inside places like monasteries. “Tibet is one of the world's most tightly guarded regions,” Mohammad told Raney Aronson-Rath, FRONTLINE’s editor-in-chief and executive producer. “So it felt like an important area to examine…particularly as there are various allegations that some of the policies are infringing on Tibetan’s religion and unique culture.” You can stream Battle For Tibet on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , or the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Fri, January 17, 2025
Martin Smith on China Under Xi
Longtime FRONTLINE correspondent and director Martin Smith returns to talk about his latest documentary, China, the U.S. &the Rise of Xi Jinping. With President Trump vowing larger tariffs in his second term, the documentary examines China’s rise to economic prominence, the life and vision of its longstanding leader, and rising tensions with the United States over issues such as trade and the future of Taiwan. Smith sat down with FRONTLINE Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath to talk about the challenges of making the documentary — including not being able to film inside China — and why he chose to focus on the life and career of President Xi. “He's the leader of our chief global rival, and I think a lot about him is not understood,” Smith told Aronson-Rath. “We thought it was important for people to understand who he is, where he came from, what made him into the man he is.” You can watch China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping, from the award-winning team of Smith, producer and director Marcela Gaviria and producer Brian Funck, on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Tue, December 31, 2024
'Breakdown' Episode 6: 'I think there's hope'
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE). In the aftermath of Lewiston, healing and recovery is taking many forms. One shooting location was renovated and reopened. Another has become a nonprofit that serves some of the area’s most vulnerable residents. One victim’s father now advocates for increased gun control while dozens of others have joined a lawsuit against the federal government. And the shooter’s sister has made it her mission to raise awareness about traumatic brain injury among military service members. In our final episode of “Breakdown,” we look at how some have turned their anguish into action. To hear the previous episodes in the series, subscribe to Breakdown: Turning Anguish Into Action on Apple Podcasts or Spotify .
Fri, December 27, 2024
'Breakdown' Episode 5: 'We're still here'
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE). Four members of Maine's deaf community died in Lewiston in October 2023 in what is believed to be the deadliest mass shooting of deaf people in the U.S. The pain of that loss was magnified by the barriers to communication and information deaf survivors and loved ones faced in the immediate aftermath. Episode 5 examines the outsize impact of the Lewiston shooting on those who are deaf and hard of hearing, how the community often feels forgotten and why the tragedy has become a catalyst for equity. To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown: Turning Anguish Into Action on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch .
Fri, December 20, 2024
'Breakdown' Episode 4: 'They controlled it all'
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE). When a gunman opened fire in a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, last October, he used an autoloading rifle to fire 54 rounds in less than two minutes. Eighteen were killed and 13 wounded. Although nearly half of Maine households owns a firearm, the state is considered one of the safest in the country. Episode 4 examines the history and politics of guns and hunting in Maine, the state’s unique “yellow flag” gun laws and its powerful gun lobby, which shaped state officials’ response to the Lewiston shootings. To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch .
Wed, December 18, 2024
American Experience Presents: The Birth of McCarthyism
American Experience is television's most watched history series. We're bringing you an episode of their new podcast, American Experience Presents: The Birth of McCarthyism . Joseph McCarthy grows up on a Wisconsin farm where he learns the value of hard work. After serving in World War II, he capitalizes on his military service to launch a successful Senate campaign. As the Cold War intensifies, McCarthy seizes the opportunity to exploit public fears of communism, framing himself as a defender of American democracy. Discover how his rise coincides with a national climate of paranoia, setting the stage for the demagoguery that would define McCarthy's career—all against the backdrop of a nation grappling with its identity and values. Learn more about American Experience Follow the show on Instagram , X , Facebook , Threads
Fri, December 13, 2024
Who Is the Rebel Leader Who Ousted Assad?
On December 8, 2024, Syrian rebels stunned the world when they seized Damascus and toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad, more than 13 years into the country’s brutal war. Spearheading the rebel offensive was Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, the leader of the Syrian militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — and a man who has been designated a terrorist by the U.S. since 2013. In 2021, FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith became the first Western journalist to interview Jolani. Following Assad’s fall, Smith sat down with FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath to talk about what he learned from his conversations with Jolani, Jolani's journey from al Qaeda commander to rebel leader seeking a new role in Syria's future, and why he will be “watching to see what Jolani actually does, not what he says” as a new chapter in Syrian history unfolds. Stream The Jihadist , FRONTLINE’s 2021 documentary investigating Jolani, his militant group and his ambitions for Syria, on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube Channel or the PBS App . Read more of FRONTLINE’s coverage of Syria . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Fri, November 22, 2024
'Breakdown' Episode 3: 'Dereliction of duty'
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE). How did leaders of the Army Reserve respond to the many, clear warning signs about the Lewiston shooter, a part-time soldier who was in a dangerous, downward spiral? And why didn’t they take further action? The Army has acknowledged some failures but also cast blame elsewhere. In Episode 3, we look at questionable medical decisions, missed communication and lack of follow up by the Army. Finally, we’ll learn why the shooter’s family believes the military could do more to prevent brain injuries in troops. To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch .
Fri, November 08, 2024
'Breakdown' Episode 2: ‘I Believe He Is Going To Snap'
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE). Months before the mass shooting in Lewiston that claimed 18 lives, the gunman’s family and friends were desperately trying to get him help. His mental health was deteriorating. He was experiencing auditory delusions. And there were multiple warnings about his potential for violence, his access to guns and his threats to do harm. Six weeks before the attacks, his best friend warned the Army Reserve that he might snap and commit a mass shooting. Episode 2 begins a two-part examination into the numerous opportunities for intervention that could have changed everything. To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch .
Wed, October 30, 2024
The VP Choice: Vance vs. Walz (Full-length film audio track)
In this audio-only version of FRONTLINE's documentary The VP Choice: Vance vs. Walz , FRONTLINE investigates the lives and views of Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz as they run for vice president. In a historic election, those who know the candidates best reveal the influences and ideas they would bring to the White House. Stream the documentary on FRONTLINE's website , FRONTLINE's YouTube channel, or the PBS app . Plus, read additional interviews from the making of this documentary as part of the FRONTLINE Transparency Project. Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Fri, October 25, 2024
'Breakdown' Episode 1: Did we really survive this?
What does it mean to be a victim? Or a survivor? In a few brief moments in October 2023, 18 lives were lost in Lewiston — and Maine was changed. For the victims, their loved ones and everyone affected by this tragedy, the ability to heal means understanding what happened. In Episode 1, we meet several people who are trying to recover — from the trauma of losing a loved one, from being critically injured and from being psychologically wounded. And we learn about the fallout for members of the shooter’s family, who must also contend with his painful legacy. This is also a story about the possibility for change — how the lessons of Lewiston might help make us safer. To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch .
Fri, October 25, 2024
Introducing: 'Breakdown'
“Mass shooting.” Two words heard all too often in the United States. There were 656 mass shootings in the U.S in 2023. The one in Lewiston, Maine on October 25, 2023 was the year’s deadliest — and it may have also been the most preventable. For the last year, the newsroom at Maine Public Radio has been on the ground investigating, combing through documents, listening to testimony and interviewing dozens of people. Over six episodes, Breakdown explores the missed opportunities to prevent the shooting, the role of guns and hunting in Maine’s politics, and the aftermath for shooting victims, some of whom were deaf and hard of hearing. Breakdown is a new podcast series from Maine Public Radio, the Portland Press Herald , and FRONTLINE. To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify , or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch .
Fri, October 04, 2024
The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump (Full-length film audio track)
FRONTLINE investigates the lives and characters of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they seek the presidency. In a historic election, those who know the candidates best reveal key moments that shape how they would lead America. Award-winning filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team, who have made five prior installments of The Choice over the past 25 years, sat down with Trump and Harris’ friends, advisors and critics, as well as authors, journalists and political insiders to present deeply reported narrative arcs of both candidates’ lives, going all the way back to their childhoods. What emerges in The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump is the story of two fighters: One seeking vindication and promising a return to greatness, and the other seeking to move beyond the past and promising a greater future. Read more than 30 extended interviews from the making of this documentary as part of the FRONTLINE Transparency Project. Stream the documentary on FRONTLINE's website , FRONTLINE's YouTube Channel , and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Fri, September 27, 2024
Behind ‘South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning’
In the decades after the Korean war, around 200,000 children born in South Korea were adopted by families in Western countries. As adults, some of those adoptees have returned to South Korea to learn about their origins — only to discover that what they had been told wasn’t true. A new documentary from FRONTLINE and The Associated Press, South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning , details the stories of adoptees and birth parents searching for answers, charts the history of foreign adoption out of South Korea, investigates allegations of wrongdoing including falsified papers and switched identities, and reveals the forces that helped to drive an unprecedented international adoption boom. Together with director Lora Moftah, AP reporters Kim Tong-hyung and Claire Galofaro join The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about their investigation. “Korea constantly tailored its policies and laws to meet the child demands of the West, while it was also trying to reduce the number of mouths to feed,” Kim says. “I think our reporting and the FRONTLINE documentary established that dynamic of supply and demand in a deeper way than the previous reports on the subject.” Stream South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , or the PBS App . Read and listen to more accounts from Korean adoptees in the interactive story, “Who Am I, Then?: Stories from South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning.” Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Thu, August 15, 2024
Investigating the Rise of the Far Right in Germany
In recent EU elections, far-right parties made major gains across the continent, including Germany's AfD party. FRONTLINE correspondent Evan Williams has been reporting on the rise of the far-right in Germany for years. In 2021, he examined a wave of violence targeting Jews, Muslims, immigrants, and politicians in FRONTLINE’s documentary Germany’s Neo-Nazis and the Far Right . He returned to the country this year to report Germany’s Enemy Within , a deep look at the rise of the far-right AfD party and its vision for the country, ahead of state elections in September. “What we noticed over the past few years was the increasing power and strength and popularity of the organized far right — what’s called the ‘new right’ in Germany, in politics,” he told FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney-Aronson Rath. Germany’s Enemy Within is streaming on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube Channel , and the PBS App .
Fri, August 02, 2024
Bill Moyers on Three Decades Documenting 'Two American Families' With Tom Casciato and Kathleen Hughes
For more than 30 years, and over the course of five documentaries, correspondent Bill Moyers and filmmakers Tom Casciato and Kathleen Hughes have returned to Milwaukee again and again, to follow two families: one Black, the Stanleys, and one white, the Neumanns. The newest installment of the project, released this summer, chronicles the families’ struggle to stay afloat in a changing economy across three decades and six presidential administrations. Moyers, Casciato and Hughes join host Raney Aronson-Rath to discuss how the project began and evolved over time, documenting moments they’ll never forget, what Two American Families says about America, and the powerful response to the Neumann and Stanley families’ stories over the years from the public media audience. “I've watched a thousand films in my life, and I've never seen an audience, felt an audience, that wrote the way they did,” Moyers says of comments from viewers who saw their own lives reflected on screen. “Real people dealing with real issues, practical issues, in their life, and they were getting it from a television show. That's the highest compliment that I think we can expect as journalists, when they feel that we've shown them the world that they experience.” You can stream Two American Families: 1991-2024 on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , and the PBS App .
Fri, June 28, 2024
Crisis on Campus (Full-length Film Audio Track)
FRONTLINE Film Audio Tracks are FRONTLINE documentaries, in audio form. Stream or download full-length recordings of film audio on Apple Podcasts or FRONTLINE's website . A firestorm has been raging on many American college campuses. Ignited by the devastating October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the catastrophic war in Gaza, the outrage deeply divided American campuses and in some places devolved into hate-filled rhetoric and arrests. FRONTLINE and Retro Report have been following the escalating turmoil since the war began — talking to people on all sides of the divide, investigating how universities have responded, how powerful interests joined the fray, and how the conflict over the conflict ultimately spiraled out of control. From director James Jacoby ( Netanyahu, America & the Road to War in Gaza , Amazon Empire , Age of Easy Money ) and Retro Report producers Scott Michels and Joseph Hogan, Crisis on Campus examines how the debate over one of the world’s most intractable and complex conflicts has gripped American college campuses.
Thu, June 06, 2024
Netanyahu, America, & the Road to War in Gaza (Full-length Film Audio Track)
FRONTLINE Film Audio Tracks are FRONTLINE documentaries, in audio form. Stream or download full-length recordings of film audio on Apple Podcasts or FRONTLINE's website . As the war in Gaza continues with devastating consequences, a major 90-minute documentary offers a sweeping examination of the critical moments leading up to this crisis over the course of the past three decades, and the pivotal role of a central player: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Starting with the Oslo peace accords and continuing through the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the ongoing war in Gaza, the documentary draws on years of reporting and is an incisive look at the long history of failed peace efforts and violent conflict in the region — and the increasing tensions between Israel and its ally, the U.S., over the war’s catastrophic toll and what comes next. This documentary originally aired December 19, 2023. An updated version was released May 28, 2024, and is now streaming online .
Fri, May 24, 2024
The ‘Dangerous Assignment’ That Sent a Venezuelan Journalist Into Exile
When Venezuelan journalist Roberto Deniz began investigating problems with a government food program with his colleagues at the investigative news site Armando.info, he didn’t know that the reaction to his reporting would one day drive him to flee his home country. For the past six years, he has been living and reporting in exile, helping to uncover a corruption scandal reaching from Venezuela to the U.S. and beyond. A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro’s Venezuela is a new documentary from FRONTLINE and Armando.info that follows Deniz as he investigates the controversial businessman Alex Saab and his connections to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Together with Juan Ravell, the film’s director, Deniz joins Raney Aronson-Rath to talk about Saab’s indictment and subsequent release from U.S. custody, and the consequences of reporting on corruption in Maduro’s Venezuela. Stream A Dangerous Assignment on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , or the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Thu, May 09, 2024
Inside the Investigation into Police Use of Force
A new investigation reveals that over nearly a decade, more than 1,000 people died following encounters where police employed tactics known as “less-lethal force,” which ranged from Tasers or physical restraint to forced sedation and other methods meant to stop people without killing them. Police say they are often responding to volatile and sometimes violent situations, and deaths are rare. Drawing on police records, autopsy reports, and footage from cellphones and body-worn cameras, The Associated Press, in collaboration with FRONTLINE and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism, compiled a database that serves as the most extensive accounting ever of deaths following such police encounters. Serginho Roosblad, director and producer of the joint documentary Documenting Police Use of Force , and Justin Pritchard, a reporter and editor with the AP, join host Raney Aronson-Rath on The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss their findings. The investigation also includes an interactive story and database . Stream Documenting Police Use of Force on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , or the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Fri, April 19, 2024
The Search for Ukraine’s Missing Children
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine began, thousands of Ukrainian children have been taken and held in Russian-controlled territory. A new documentary from FRONTLINE, Children of Ukraine , examines the fate of some of these young Ukrainians, following families and investigators as they search for missing children and collect evidence of alleged abductions. Director Paul Kenyon joined The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about dueling Ukrainian and Russian narratives about what’s happened to the children, interviewing young survivors of war and trauma, and ongoing efforts to reunite Ukrainian families. You can watch Children of Ukraine on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Sat, April 06, 2024
Investigating a Massive Online Leak of Government Secrets
On March 4, 2024, Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty to charges related to one of the country’s largest leaks of classified information. How did Teixeira manage to go without notice for months as he leaked hundreds of pages of government documents on Discord, the online chat platform popular with teenage gamers? Shane Harris and Sam Oakford were part of a team of Washington Post reporters who set out to investigate, and who partnered with FRONTLINE director Tom Jennings. The FRONTLINE/ Washington Post documentary The Discord Leaks investigates Teixeira’s online world, his massive leak of national security secrets and the role of platforms like Discord. The documentary also raises tough questions about the military’s vetting of applicants’ online behavior. Jennings, Harris and Oakford joined host Raney Aronson-Rath to talk about recent developments related to national security leaks, Teixeira’s case and what the documentary reveals. “What Jack's case shows is this huge vulnerability at the heart of the intelligence apparatus, of an insufficient system for vetting people, and a system that's built so that people can get access to secrets and share them with practically whomever they want,” Harris told Aronson-Rath. “And I think that is going to be a major challenge for the military and the intelligence agencies going forward.” You can watch The Discord Leaks on FRONTLINE’s website , the FRONTLINE YouTube Channel , and the PBS App . Read The Washington Post ’s related reporting at washingtonpost.com . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Fri, March 15, 2024
Stuck in a ‘Fractured’ System
Working as a health care reporter in North Carolina, WFAE’s Dana Miller Ervin heard about jail inmates living with serious mental illnesses who cycled for years between jails and psychiatric hospitals. The courts deem them too sick to stand trial – incapable to proceed or ITP – but they often wait months to get the care they need just so their cases can move forward. Ervin detailed her investigation in an 11-part WFAE radio series, “Fractured,” made with support from FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative. Now, a documentary by the same name follows Ervin as she chronicles the plight of ITP inmates. Fractured is directed by Débora Souza Silva, a 2023 recipient of the FRONTLINE/Firelight Media Investigative Journalism Fellowship. Ervin and Silva joined Raney Aronson-Rath on The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss making the film; how long waits for care affect these defendants as well as others in the criminal justice system; and potential solutions to the problem. The “ Fractured” documentary is streaming on FRONTLINE’s website , YouTube , and the PBS App . Read and listen to more from WFAE and FRONTLINE’s series Fractured .
Fri, March 01, 2024
Democracy on Trial, Part Four: Inside the White House on Jan. 6
FRONTLINE investigates the roots of the federal criminal case against former President Donald Trump stemming from his 2020 election loss in a special audio version of the new documentary Democracy on Trial. In this final installment, the Jan. 6 Select Committee examines what happened inside the White House on Jan. 6, 2021. What was former President Donald Trump doing for 187 minutes during the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when some in the crowd were chanting, “Hang Mike Pence”? What did Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testify that she witnessed that day? Plus: As a potential criminal trial looms, how will it differ from the Jan. 6 Select Committee’s hearings? And what are the trial’s implications for democracy? Watch Democracy on Trial in full on FRONTLINE’s website , YouTube or the PBS App .
Fri, February 23, 2024
Democracy on Trial, Part Three: An “Invitation” for Jan. 6
FRONTLINE investigates the roots of the federal criminal case against former President Donald Trump stemming from his 2020 election loss in a special audio version of the new documentary Democracy on Trial. In part three, the Jan. 6 Select Committee examines the pressures mounting on the Justice Department and then-Vice President Mike Pence to intervene on Trump’s behalf. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger recalls a phone call in which the former president tells him, “I just want to find 11,780 votes” — the number of votes needed to win the 2020 presidential election in the state. And the former president sends a now-famous tweet inviting supporters to Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, to protest the results of the 2020 election, saying it “will be wild.” Tune in next week for the fourth and final installment of the audio-only version of the documentary here on The FRONTLINE Dispatch . Watch Democracy on Trial in full on FRONTLINE’s website , YouTube or the PBS App .
Fri, February 16, 2024
Democracy on Trial, Part Two: A Pressure Campaign and a Warning
FRONTLINE investigates the roots of the federal criminal case against former President Donald Trump stemming from his 2020 election loss in a special audio version of the new documentary Democracy on Trial. In part two, Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling issues a stark warning about the potential for violence. Rusty Bowers, former Arizona House speaker and a lifelong Republican, testifies in front of the Jan. 6 Select Committee about former President Donald Trump’s campaign of pressure on local officials. And two Georgia election workers, Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman, face racist threats after being named in a conspiracy theory about stolen votes. Tune in next week for the third installment of the audio-only version of the documentary here on The FRONTLINE Dispatch . Watch Democracy on Trial in full on FRONTLINE’s website , YouTube or the PBS App .
Fri, February 09, 2024
Democracy on Trial, Part One: A Blueprint For the Case Against Trump
With the 2024 presidential race underway, FRONTLINE investigates the roots of the federal criminal case against former President Donald Trump stemming from his 2020 election loss. In this special audio version of Democracy on Trial , veteran political filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team examine the House Jan. 6 committee’s evidence, the historic charges against Trump and the threat to democracy. In this first installment, former President Donald Trump is charged with crimes in office — an unprecedented event in American history. The Jan. 6 Select Committee report starts to build a case against former President Donald Trump, which will go on to become a blueprint for special counsel Jack Smith. And a central question emerges for the committee: What did former President Trump know about the 2020 election results, and when did he know it? Tune in next week for the second installment of the audio-only version of the documentary here on The FRONTLINE Dispatch . Watch Democracy on Trial i n full on FRONTLINE’s website , YouTube or the PBS App .
Fri, February 09, 2024
‘Democracy on Trial’ Director on the Roots of Federal Charges Against Trump
Democracy on Trial is a 2.5-hour documentary special from FRONTLINE that examines the roots and implications of the unprecedented charges against former president Donald Trump in connection with the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Drawing on interviews with elected officials, former government lawyers, House Select Committee witnesses and former committee staffers, authors and journalists, the documentary — which is being released in audio form via The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast in the coming weeks — shows how the work of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack forms a blueprint for the federal indictment brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Director Michael Kirk, a longtime FRONTLINE filmmaker, joins host Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE, to talk about the case against Trump; the defense strategy of the former president, who has pleaded not guilty; and reporting this story in a deeply divided country. As this unusual election year unfolds, watch Democracy on Trial in full on FRONTLINE’s website , YouTube or the PBS App , and listen to the multi-part audio version of the documentary starting today on The FRONTLINE Dispatch . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Thu, January 04, 2024
Reconstructing the Uvalde Shooting Response
The May 2022 gun massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas left 19 children and two teachers dead. It was one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Inside the Uvalde Response , a recent documentary from FRONTLINE, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, probes the chaotic police response to the shooting and sheds new light on law enforcement’s thoughts and actions as the tragedy unfolded. Among the revelations: Students and teachers at the school had practiced active shooter drills and knew what to do, but scores of law enforcement officers who responded that day did not. Lomi Kriel, a reporter with the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Unit, and director Juanita Ceballos join The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss how they used hundreds of hours of body cam footage and officer interviews to reconstruct one of the most criticized mass shooting responses in recent history, and examine what went wrong. “I think one thing that makes this very different is that for prior mass shootings — Parkland, Pulse, others — we just don't necessarily… have this kind of information, both body camera footage, 911 calls, interviews with officers — to actually know how those responses happened.” Kriel says that while the Uvalde community awaits fuller answers from the district attorney investigating the law enforcement response, FRONTLINE, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune’s reporting provides at least “one comprehensive accounting of what happened that day” You can watch Inside the Uvalde Response on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube Channel , and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Thu, December 14, 2023
Underage Workers in New England’s Seafood Processing Industry
Journalists with The Public’s Radio, a station serving Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, spent two years investigating teen labor in the local seafood processing industry. Their investigation, supported by FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism initiative, reveals flaws in systems designed to protect migrant teens, who’ve arrived at the U.S. southern border in unprecedented numbers in recent years. The investigative team interviewed migrant teens and their families, and uncovered that the U.S. Department of Labor was investigating at least two New Bedford, MA, seafood processors, as well as a Rhode Island staffing agency, for possible child labor, overtime pay, and anti-retaliation violations. In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch , reporters Nadine Sebai and Nina Sparling from The Public’s Radio join FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath to discuss their findings. Sebai and Sparling say they sought to illustrate the complexities of what happens to underage migrants after they arrive on the nation's southern border — especially the challenges they face. Sebai says, "We've all seen... the waves of kids migrating to the border, unaccompanied minors coming to the border. But they actually end up somewhere in the U.S.” For more, read and listen to The Public Radio’s investigation “ Underage and Unprotected ,” supported by FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative. Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Thu, November 30, 2023
Documenting the Siege of Mariupol (re-release)
20 Days in Mariupol is an unflinching, first-hand account of the early days of Russia’s invasion of the port city of Mariupol, which remains under Russian occupation to this day. Ukrainian-born director and journalist Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues from the Associated Press were the last international journalists to remain in Mariupol as Russian troops attacked. His new film, from FRONTLINE and the AP, draws on Chernov’s news dispatches and his reflections as he documented the devastation of his home country for the world to see. Chernov sat down with FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath and editor and producer Michelle Mizner in February 2023, as we marked the grim anniversary of the war in Ukraine. In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch , recorded at the Boston Public Library, Chernov recounts the decision to go to Mariupol, how he and Mizner created a documentary feature from his Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, and what he hopes people will take away from the film — today, and in years to come. “I know that we form our understanding of the current events of the world around us by watching news and consuming news,” Chernov said. “ But [we] form our understanding of our past with documentary films… Film is a medium which carries meaning across time, for generations to come.” An earlier version of this episode was published in July. You can watch 20 Days in Mariupol on FRONTLINE’s website, FRONTLINE’s YouTube Channel , the PBS App, and the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel. Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
Thu, November 23, 2023
Introducing The Big Dig Part 1: We Were Wrong from GBH News
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents The Big Dig, Part 1: “We Were Wrong.” The Big Dig is a new 9-part podcast series from GBH News, hosted by Ian Coss. There is a cynicism that hangs over the topic of American infrastructure — whether it’s high-speed rail or off-shore wind — it feels like this country can’t build big things anymore. No one project embodies that cynicism quite like Boston’s Big Dig . Infamous for its ever-increasing price tag, this massive highway tunneling effort became a symbol of waste and corruption. Yet the project delivered on its promise to transform the city. So how did the narrative go so horribly wrong? And what lessons can the Big Dig offer for the ambitious projects of today? You can listen all nine episodes of The Big Dig at GBH News , or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thu, November 09, 2023
Shattered Dreams of Peace: The Road From Oslo (Full-length Film Audio Track)
FRONTLINE Film Audio Tracks are FRONTLINE documentaries, in audio form. Stream or download full-length recordings of film audio tracks on Apple Podcasts or our website . Listen to the Film Audio Track for FRONTLINE’s seminal 2002 documentary on how the Israeli-Palestinian peace process begun at Oslo was derailed and ultimately undone by the dynamics of politics and violence on both sides. Shattered Dreams of Peace: The Road From Oslo traced how cautious optimism in the aftermath of Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin agreeing to the 1993 Oslo Accord was undermined in the following years by violence and major setbacks. It explored the growing threat to the peace process posed by radical nationalist factions among both Jews and Palestinians — groups, including Hamas, that opposed all compromise between the two peoples. The documentary also examined the U.S. role in the peace process, including the U.S.-brokered negotiations at in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Shattered Dreams of Peace: The Road From Oslo includes interviews with key figures from both sides of the negotiating table, including Benjamin Netanyahu, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Saeb Erekat, and Ehud Barak.
S6 E3 · Fri, October 27, 2023
Looking Back at the Houston Astros Cheating Scandal
The Houston Astros didn’t make the World Series this year. But they’re still widely considered one of the best teams of the past decade. FRONTLINE’s documentary The Astros Edge: Triumph and Scandal in Major League Baseball examines how the team used cutting-edge techniques to rise from the bottom of the league to the top, and what happened in 2017 when they went too far in what would become one of the worst cheating scandals in MLB history. The Astros Edge correspondent Ben Reiter has covered the team extensively for Sports Illustrated and boldly predicted the Astros’ stratospheric rise at a time when they were coming off a three-year slump. His book called Astroball unpacked some of the team’s techniques, which were modeled on strategies from the business world. After The Athletic revealed that the team had used an illegal sign-stealing scheme, Reiter hosted a podcast series examining how the scandal unfolded. Reiter sat down with The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about the scandal and the limited accountability that followed. He told host and FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath that he thinks the scandal has implications that go beyond baseball. “What does it mean when your business becomes so obsessed with efficiency and profit over everything else?” he said. “Like, yeah, there's a good chance you're going to have a lot of success, but there's a lot of problems that come with that.” You can watch The Astros Edge: Triumph and Scandal in Major League Baseball on FRONTLINE's website , FRONTLINE's YouTube channel , and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
S6 E2 · Thu, October 05, 2023
From Russian Newspaper Editor to ‘Foreign Agent’
When filmmaker Patrick Forbes decided to make a documentary about Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov, Muratov had just won a Nobel Prize. Over the course of the next year, Russia would invade Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin would intensify his government’s crackdown on the press – a crackdown in which Muratov and his newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, would be caught up. In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch , Forbes joins host Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE, to discuss Putin vs. the Press, the new documentary that follows Muratov as he as he faces personal attacks and fights to keep his reporters safe. Forbes recounts the difficulty of filming a documentary in Russia, where he says Muratov’s story “symbolizes the increasing restriction on freedom of press in Russia” and “the slow strangling of any independent voices.” Putin vs. the Press is streaming on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S6 E1 · Thu, September 14, 2023
Locked Up for Life After ‘Two Strikes’
Two Strikes , a documentary from FRONTLINE, The Marshall Project , and Firelight Media, tells the story of Mark Jones, a former West Point cadet serving a life sentence in Florida after an attempted carjacking. The film’s director and producer Ursula Liang, a 2021 FRONTLINE/Firelight Filmmaker Fellow, and reporter Cary Aspinwall of The Marshall Project , join The FRONTLINE Dispatch to unpack the story behind Jones’ sentence — and a law that increases prison time for certain repeat offenders. Florida’s so-called “two-strikes” law allows prosecutors to seek the maximum sentence for people found guilty of felonies within three years of a prison release. In some cases, like Jones’, that can mean life in prison for crimes in which no one was physically injured. Florida has virtually abolished parole. “Florida has almost a quarter of the nation's population of life-without-parole prisoners,” Aspinwall told The FRONTLINE Dispatch host Raney Aronson-Rath, a statistic she calls “staggering.” Two Strikes is streaming on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S5 E15 · Thu, August 17, 2023
Struggling for Breath in Coal Country (re-release)
A new rule proposed by the Labor Department could help limit coal miners' exposure to a toxic dust called silica. “The purpose of this proposed rule is simple: prevent more miners from suffering from debilitating and deadly occupational illnesses by reducing their exposure to silica dust,” Chris Williamson, assistant secretary for mine, safety and health, said in a statement . “Silica overexposures have a real-life impact on a miner’s health.” Williamson has said the proposal was inspired, in part, by FRONTLINE and NPR’s 2019 investigation, which exposed a link between silica dust and an epidemic of severe black lung disease. Our documentary Coal’s Deadly Dust highlighted the resurgence of black lung — and how federal regulators and the industry had failed to protect miners. “Struggling for Breath in Coal Country” was originally released alongside the film in 2019. In this archival episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch, correspondent Howard Berkes spoke with coal miners whose lives were forever changed when they were diagnosed with the disease. Coal’s Deadly Dust is streaming at pbs.org/frontline , in the PBS App and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
S5 E14 · Fri, July 21, 2023
Documenting the Siege of Mariupol
Now playing in select theaters and coming to PBS this fall, 20 Days in Mariupol is an unflinching, first-hand account of the early days of Russia’s invasion of the port city of Mariupol, which remains under Russian occupation to this day. Ukrainian-born director and journalist Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues from the Associated Press were the last international journalists to remain in Mariupol as Russian troops attacked. His new film, from FRONTLINE and the AP, draws on Chernov’s news dispatches and his reflections as he documented the devastation of his home country for the world to see. Chernov sat down with FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath and editor and producer Michelle Mizner earlier this year, as we marked the grim anniversary of the war in Ukraine. In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch , he recounts the decision to go to Mariupol, how he and Mizner created a documentary feature from his Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, and what he hopes people will take away from the film — today, and in years to come. “I know that we form our understanding of the current events of the world around us by watching news and consuming news,” Chernov said. “ But [we] form our understanding of our past with documentary films… Film is a medium which carries meaning across time, for generations to come.” 20 Days in Mariupol is currently playing in select theaters . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S5 E13 · Fri, July 07, 2023
‘Dangerous Trucks’ on America’s Roads
Correspondent A.C. Thompson joins the FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss America’s Dangerous Trucks , an investigation in partnership with ProPublica. The film examines a particularly devastating type of traffic accident involving trucks – underride crashes — and how for decades, federal regulators inside the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) failed to enact new safety measures to prevent them. “In the 1960s, the federal safety regulators, they start looking at this issue and they're saying, this is a problem,” Thompson recounts. “They do studies, and it then takes them more than 30 years to do anything. And that was shocking to me.” You can watch America’s Dangerous Trucks on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S5 E12 · Fri, June 16, 2023
Texas After Uvalde
In the year following the shooting at Robb Elementary School that killed 19 children and two adults, how has the community in Uvalde, Texas grieved — and what do they want to see happen? In the recent documentary After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics , Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa examined the Uvalde community’s efforts to heal, its history of activism, and where the fight over assault rifles stands today. Hinojosa, host of Latino USA and founder of Futuro Media, joins Raney Aronson-Rath to talk about her reporting in Uvalde and at the Texas Capitol as the aftermath of the tragedy — including the efforts of some Robb Elementary families to advocate for new gun restrictions — rippled through Texas politics. “It's just like you are witnessing the greatest divisions in our country right here. This is what it looks like,” Hinojosa told Aronson-Rath. You can watch After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics, a collaboration with Futuro Investigates and The Texas Tribune, on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S5 E11 · Sat, May 20, 2023
Age of Easy Money (Full-length Film Audio Track)
FRONTLINE Film Audio Tracks are FRONTLINE documentaries, in audio form. Stream or download full-length recordings of film audio tracks on Apple Podcasts or our website . Listen to the full-length audio from Age of Easy Money , FRONTLINE’s recent investigation into the Federal Reserve’s “easy money” policies. Around the country and across the world, economic uncertainty continues as businesses and individuals adjust to a new reality: the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates and pulling back on its epic monetary experiment that started with the Great Financial Crisis. From the award-winning team behind The Facebook Dilemma and Amazon Empire , the two-hour documentary investigates how the Fed’s policies have changed the American economy and what comes after the age of easy money.
S5 E10 · Wed, May 03, 2023
For Women, ‘A Very Different Afghanistan’
In the third and final installment of the documentary series America and the Taliban , FRONTLINE looks at the months leading up to the Taliban takeover and the consequences of the group’s return to power — including the return of harsh restrictions for women. In this episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast, released on World Press Freedom Day, filmmakers Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith joined host Raney Aronson-Rath to share observations from their reporting on the ground about the reversal of women’s rights in Afghanistan. “It just feels like half the population is in hiding,” Gaviria told Aronson-Rath. “And that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it does feel like you can sense the fear among so many women, and fear for their future and the future of their children.” This is part two of Raney Aronson-Rath’s conversation with Gaviria and Smith about America and the Taliban . You can hear more from Gaviria and Smith on the previous episode of The FRONTLINE Dispatch . Watch all three parts of America and the Taliban on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel , and the PBS App . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
S5 E10 · Thu, April 20, 2023
Documenting America’s 20 Years in Afghanistan
Drawing on decades of on-the-ground reporting in Afghanistan, the new three-part series America and the Taliban traces pivotal moments in America’s longest war, and how it culminated in Taliban victory. Award-winning producers Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith join FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath for a discussion on their decades of reporting in Afghanistan, and what it was like to revisit people and places from past coverage for this new series. "There's one basic thing that they all knew, and that was that the Taliban were not going to go anywhere permanently," Smith told Aronson-Rath about many of the Afghan people he met, "but the Americans were eventually going to leave." Parts one and two of America and the Taliban are available to stream on FRONTLINE’s website , FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel and the PBS App. Part three premieres on PBS and online Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S5 E9 · Fri, March 31, 2023
Behind the Bank Failures
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 . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S5 E8 · Thu, February 23, 2023
A Year of War in Kharkiv, Ukraine
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 .
S5 E7 · Fri, February 03, 2023
A.C. Thompson on Antisemitism and Right-Wing Extremism
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. Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S5 E6 · Thu, January 19, 2023
Behind the Explosive Investigation into Pegasus Spyware
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 <a href="https://links.email.frontline.org/u/click?_t=ec9a748e11b34be3aa80cccb4178b3dd&_m=ce43b4e43663
S5 E5 · Thu, December 01, 2022
Putin’s Crackdown on Dissent Inside Russia
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 . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S5 E4 · Thu, November 10, 2022
Uncovering a Pattern of ‘Strategic Violence’ by Russia in Ukraine
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 . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
S5 E3 · Fri, October 07, 2022
Evictions and the Pandemic
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 .
S5 E2 · Fri, September 23, 2022
How American Democracy Reached a Moment of ‘Existential Crisis’
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 . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
Thu, September 08, 2022
The Disconnect: Season 2, Episode 1: The Toll
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.
S5 E1 · Thu, September 08, 2022
Investigating the Texas Blackout
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. Want to be notified every time a new FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter .
S4 E14 · Thu, August 11, 2022
Searching for Afghanistan’s Missing Women
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 . Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S4 E15 · Fri, July 29, 2022
J. Michael Luttig and Adam Kinzinger on Democracy and January 6
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.
Mon, July 18, 2022
Coming soon: The Disconnect, Season 2
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.
S4 E13 · Wed, June 29, 2022
Maria Ressa on Journalism and Democracy in the Philippines (re-release)
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/
S4 E12 · Thu, June 16, 2022
A 1967 Murder and a ‘Reckoning’ with the Truth
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/ 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/
S4 E11 · Fri, June 03, 2022
Covering Minneapolis in the Wake of George Floyd
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/
S4 E10 · Thu, May 19, 2022
Pulitzer Winner Corey G. Johnson on Tampa’s Lead Problem (re-release)
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/
S4 E9 · Wed, May 04, 2022
Inside Big Oil’s Push Against Climate Change Action
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/
S4 E8 · Fri, April 15, 2022
The Making of an Election Myth
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/
S4 E7 · Fri, March 11, 2022
Julia Ioffe on Putin's Road to War
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. Want to be notified every time a new FRONTLINE podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S4 E6 · Thu, December 09, 2021
A Conversation with Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa
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.
S4 E5 · Thu, December 02, 2021
What the Pandora Papers Reveal
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 . Want to be notified every time a new FRONTLINE podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.
S4 E4 · Thu, November 11, 2021
The Federal Reserve’s Big Experiment
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 .
S4 E3 · Thu, October 28, 2021
How Boeing's Flawed 737 Max Made It Into the Air
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 .
S4 Enull · Thu, September 16, 2021
The Case of the Liberty City Seven
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 .
S4 Enull · Fri, September 10, 2021
Sept. 11 to Jan. 6
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.
S3 Enull · Fri, June 18, 2021
Introducing: Un(re)solved
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.
S3 Enull · Mon, April 19, 2021
Policing the Police in Minnesota
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 .
S3 Enull · Thu, March 25, 2021
Poisoned: Tampa's Lead Problem
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.
S3 Enull · Tue, January 19, 2021
An Impeachment and An Inauguration
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.
S3 Enull · Sat, January 09, 2021
Chaos at the Capitol
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.
S3 Enull · Mon, December 14, 2020
I'm Not A Monster: Episode 3
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.
S3 Enull · Thu, December 10, 2020
I'm Not A Monster: Episode 2
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.
S3 Enull · Mon, December 07, 2020
I'm Not A Monster: Episode 1
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.
S3 Enull · Sat, November 21, 2020
Capturing ‘American Voices’ in a Year of Turmoil
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.
S3 Enull · Thu, October 08, 2020
COVID-19 & the Medical Supply Crisis
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.
S3 Enull · Wed, September 30, 2020
Introducing: NOVA Now
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.
S3 Enull · Wed, September 23, 2020
The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden
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.
S3 Enull · Tue, September 22, 2020
Making "The Choice"
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.
S3 Enull · Mon, September 21, 2020
The Transparency Project: John Bolton
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.
S3 Enull · Fri, September 18, 2020
The Transparency Project: Yusef Salaam
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.
S3 Enull · Thu, September 17, 2020
The Transparency Project: Rudy Giuliani
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.
S3 Enull · Wed, September 16, 2020
The Transparency Project: Valerie Biden Owens
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, 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.
S3 Enull · Tue, September 15, 2020
The Transparency Project: Carol Moseley Braun
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, 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.
S3 Enull · Mon, September 14, 2020
The Transparency Project: Mary Trump
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.
S3 Enull · Tue, August 11, 2020
A Mother & Her Newborn Separated by COVID-19
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.
S3 Enull · Tue, July 21, 2020
Essential and Unprotected
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 .
S3 Enull · Tue, June 23, 2020
Bribing Doctors, Making Millions
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.
S3 Enull · Fri, June 12, 2020
Maria Ressa, Duterte & the Fight for the Free Press
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.
S3 Enull · Tue, June 02, 2020
Race, Police & The Pandemic
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 .
S3 Enull · Thu, May 28, 2020
United States of Conspiracy
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.”
S3 Enull · Sat, May 16, 2020
Life & Death in the Bronx
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."
S3 Enull · Sat, May 02, 2020
Covering Coronavirus: A Midnight Rescue
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 .
S3 Enull · Fri, April 24, 2020
Covering Coronavirus: Indian Country
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.
S3 Enull · Fri, April 17, 2020
A Tale of Two Washingtons
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.
S3 Enull · Thu, April 09, 2020
Warnings to the White House
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.”
S3 Enull · Thu, April 02, 2020
Covering Coronavirus: Athens, Ohio
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.
S3 Enull · Fri, March 27, 2020
Covering Coronavirus: Cincinnati, Ohio
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.”
S3 Enull · Mon, March 23, 2020
Covering Coronavirus: Cremona, Italy
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.”
S3 Enull · Sat, March 21, 2020
Covering Coronavirus: Seattle, Washington
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.”
S2 E11 · Thu, March 21, 2019
Blood and Power in the Philippines
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.
S2 E10 · Thu, March 07, 2019
Never Sentenced, Never Released
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.
S2 E9 · Thu, February 21, 2019
The Housing Fix (Rebroadcast)
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.
S2 E8 · Thu, February 07, 2019
The Boy in the Caravan
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.
S2 E7 · Thu, January 24, 2019
Struggling for Breath in Coal Country
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.
S2 E6 · Thu, January 10, 2019
Update: Living With Murder
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 .
S2 E4 · Thu, January 10, 2019
Living With Murder: Part 1 (Rebroadcast)
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.
S2 E5 · Thu, January 10, 2019
Living With Murder: Part 2 (Rebroadcast)
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 is Part Two of his story. This episode was a collaboration with Transom.org.
S2 E3 · Thu, December 27, 2018
KIDS' SPECIAL: Muzamil's Day
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
S2 E2 · Thu, December 13, 2018
The Weight of Dust
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.
S2 E1 · Thu, November 29, 2018
I Don't Want To Shoot You, Brother
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 .
S2 Enull · Wed, November 14, 2018
Coming November 29th
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.
S1 E7 · Wed, November 22, 2017
Living With Murder: Part Two
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 is Part Two of his story. This episode was a collaboration with Transom.org.
S1 E6 · Thu, November 16, 2017
Living With Murder: Part One
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.
S1 E5 · Thu, November 09, 2017
A Life Sentence: Victims, Offenders, Justice And My Mother
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.
S1 E4 · Thu, October 26, 2017
Notes from an Invisible War
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 .
S1 E3 · Thu, October 12, 2017
The Housing Fix
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.
S1 E2 · Thu, September 28, 2017
Boom Town
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
S1 E1 · Thu, September 14, 2017
Child Marriage in America
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.
S1 Enull · Tue, September 05, 2017
Coming September 14th
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.

The FRONTLINE Dispatch

Life in Tibet and What Comes Next

Martin Smith on China Under Xi

'Breakdown' Episode 6: 'I think there's hope'

'Breakdown' Episode 5: 'We're still here'

'Breakdown' Episode 4: 'They controlled it all'

American Experience Presents: The Birth of McCarthyism

Who Is the Rebel Leader Who Ousted Assad?

'Breakdown' Episode 3: 'Dereliction of duty'

'Breakdown' Episode 2: ‘I Believe He Is Going To Snap'

The VP Choice: Vance vs. Walz (Full-length film audio track)

'Breakdown' Episode 1: Did we really survive this?

Introducing: 'Breakdown'

The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump (Full-length film audio track)

Behind ‘South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning’

Investigating the Rise of the Far Right in Germany

Bill Moyers on Three Decades Documenting 'Two American Families' With Tom Casciato and Kathleen Hughes

Crisis on Campus (Full-length Film Audio Track)

Netanyahu, America, & the Road to War in Gaza (Full-length Film Audio Track)

The ‘Dangerous Assignment’ That Sent a Venezuelan Journalist Into Exile

Inside the Investigation into Police Use of Force

The Search for Ukraine’s Missing Children

Investigating a Massive Online Leak of Government Secrets

Stuck in a ‘Fractured’ System

Democracy on Trial, Part Four: Inside the White House on Jan. 6

Democracy on Trial, Part Three: An “Invitation” for Jan. 6

Democracy on Trial, Part Two: A Pressure Campaign and a Warning

Democracy on Trial, Part One: A Blueprint For the Case Against Trump

‘Democracy on Trial’ Director on the Roots of Federal Charges Against Trump

Reconstructing the Uvalde Shooting Response

Underage Workers in New England’s Seafood Processing Industry

Documenting the Siege of Mariupol (re-release)

Introducing The Big Dig Part 1: We Were Wrong from GBH News

Shattered Dreams of Peace: The Road From Oslo (Full-length Film Audio Track)

Looking Back at the Houston Astros Cheating Scandal

From Russian Newspaper Editor to ‘Foreign Agent’

Locked Up for Life After ‘Two Strikes’

Struggling for Breath in Coal Country (re-release)

Documenting the Siege of Mariupol

‘Dangerous Trucks’ on America’s Roads

Texas After Uvalde

Age of Easy Money (Full-length Film Audio Track)

For Women, ‘A Very Different Afghanistan’

Documenting America’s 20 Years in Afghanistan

Behind the Bank Failures

A Year of War in Kharkiv, Ukraine

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

Behind the Explosive Investigation into Pegasus Spyware

Putin’s Crackdown on Dissent Inside Russia

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

Evictions and the Pandemic

How American Democracy Reached a Moment of ‘Existential Crisis’

The Disconnect: Season 2, Episode 1: The Toll

Investigating the Texas Blackout

Searching for Afghanistan’s Missing Women

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

Coming soon: The Disconnect, Season 2

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

A 1967 Murder and a ‘Reckoning’ with the Truth

Covering Minneapolis in the Wake of George Floyd

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

Inside Big Oil’s Push Against Climate Change Action

The Making of an Election Myth

Julia Ioffe on Putin's Road to War

A Conversation with Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa

What the Pandora Papers Reveal

The Federal Reserve’s Big Experiment

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

The Case of the Liberty City Seven

Sept. 11 to Jan. 6

Introducing: Un(re)solved

Policing the Police in Minnesota

Poisoned: Tampa's Lead Problem

An Impeachment and An Inauguration

Chaos at the Capitol

I'm Not A Monster: Episode 3

I'm Not A Monster: Episode 2

I'm Not A Monster: Episode 1

Capturing ‘American Voices’ in a Year of Turmoil

COVID-19 & the Medical Supply Crisis