Frontline (U.S. TV series)
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| Frontline | |
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| Format | documentary television series |
| Created by | David Fanning |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 476 (as of January 2006) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes per episode (some 120 minute special reports) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | PBS |
| Original run | January 17, 1983 – present |
Frontline is a public affairs television program of varying length produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, and distributed through the Public Broadcasting Service network in the United States. The program has been on the air since 1983, and is highly respected for producing in-depth documentaries about various subjects, leading to numerous awards. Some programs are made by independent filmmakers and broadcast as part of the Frontline series. Since the series debut, there have been more than 480 films broadcast.
Every four years, Frontline runs a special profiling the nominees for President of the United States. The most recent of these was "The Choice 2004", a dual biography tracing the lives and careers of John Kerry and George W. Bush.
Most Frontline reports are an hour in length, but some are extended to 90 minutes or beyond. Frontline also does occasional specials like "From Jesus to Christ", "The Farmer's Wife", and "Country Boys".
Since 1995, Frontline has been producing deep-content, companion web sites for all of its documentaries. The series publishes extended interview transcripts, in-depth chronologies, original essays, sidebar stories, related links and readings, and source documents including photographs and background research. Frontline has made many of its documentaries (64, as of January 2008) available via streaming Internet video, from their website.
Will Lyman is the distinctive voice who has narrated the series since its inception in 1983.
Contents |
[edit] Frontline/World
Frontline/World is a spin-off series that first aired on May 23, 2002. It focuses on issues from around the globe, and uses a "magazine" format, where each episode typically has three stories that run about 15 to 20 minutes in length. Its tagline is: stories from a small planet. Frontline/World also streams stories on its website. In 2005 the Overseas Press Club of America gave the series its Edward R. Murrow award for best TV coverage of international events. The series broke new ground in 2007 by winning two Emmys – one for a broadcast story, "Saddam's Road to Hell" and another for an online video, "Libya: Out of the Shadow."
[edit] Awards and results
Other Frontline reports focus on political, social, and criminal justice issues. Ofra Bikel, who has been a producer for Frontline since the first season, has produced a significant number of films on the criminal justice system in the United States. The films have focused on issues ranging from post-conviction DNA testing, the use of drug snitches and mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the plea system, and the use of eye-witness testimony. As a result of the films, 13 people have been released from prison.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the White House requested a copy of "Hunting Bin Laden." In 1999, Frontline had produced this in-depth report about Osama bin Laden and the terrorist network that would come to be known as Al-Qaeda in the wake of the 1998 United States embassy bombings. Following the September 11 attacks, Frontline produced a series of films about Al-Qaeda and the war on terrorism. In 2002, the series was awarded the DuPont-Columbia gold baton for the seven films.
In 2003, Frontline and The New York Times joined forces on "A Dangerous Business" an investigation into the cast iron pipe making industry and worker safety. OSHA officials credit the documentary and newspaper report with stimulating federal policy change on workplace safety. In 2004, the joint investigation was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
[edit] Accusations of bias
Frontline is sometimes accused of having a liberal bias, such as in their report on the 2004 election, which was accused of favoring John Kerry over George Bush.[1]
David Boaz, who heads the Cato Institute takes issue with Frontline's choice of subjects, arguing,
| “ | But there has never been a Frontline documentary on the burden of taxes, or the number of people who have died because federal regulations keep drugs off the market, or the way that state governments have abused the law in their pursuit of tobacco companies, or the number of people who use guns to prevent crime. Those "hard questions" just don't occur to liberal journalists. [2] | ” |
This argument was mentioned by Corporation for Public Broadcasting ombudsman William Schulz.[3]
Despite accusations of liberal bias, the contributors to 'Frontline' often highlight the party affiliation of Republicans who display integrity and act in the public interest, even when the individual is not an elected official or someone whose political affiliation is relevant to the discussion.
Frontline has also come under fire for their pro-nuclear power documentary Nuclear Reaction. Frontline refused to interview any scientists who held views contrary to the pro-nuclear position taken by the documentary.[1]
[edit] Recent reports
See also: Full chronological list on PBS/Frontline site and List of Frontline (PBS) episodes.
- The Lost Year in Iraq – An examination of the US plans for post war Iraq focusing on the initial decisions to the roles of the inexperienced personnel selected to implement those plans and how those decisions have led to the current situation.
- The Enemy Within – After 9/11, an FBI informed claimed the Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri had visited Lodi, California and had ties to two clerics at a local mosque. Five years later Frontline investigates the case against the clerics and why, in the name of national security, those claims may have been exaggerated.
- Return of the Taliban – The US may have routed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan but may have only succeeded in relocating them to parts of Pakistan where the US has no reach.
- The Dark Side – Post 9/11 Vice President Cheney initiated an expansion of executive power, took on George Tenet's CIA for control over intelligence and brought the war on terror to Iraq.
- The Age of AIDS – The history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
- The Meth Epidemic – Examines the devastating effects of meth and why it is the fastest growing drug abused in America today.
- Sex Slaves – Delves into the worldwide trafficking of sex slaves and government indifference towards the matter.
- Country Boys [4] – Special three-part episode chronicling the lives of two boys growing up in rural Appalachia as they struggle to overcome hardship in one of the most impoverished regions in the United States. Directed by David Sutherland, producer of The Farmer's Wife.
- The Storm – Examines the Hurricane Katrina response, including interviews with many key officials from all levels of government. Interview of note: a full-length interview with former FEMA director Michael D. Brown, his first since his post-Katrina resignation.
- The Last Abortion Clinic – The ongoing and incremental legal challenges to abortion by pro-life groups.
- The Torture Question – Traces the history of how decisions made in Washington, D.C. in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 – including an internal administration battle over the Geneva Conventions – led to a robust interrogation policy that laid the groundwork for prisoner abuse in Afghanistan; Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; and Iraq.
- Beyond Baghdad 2004 report of a visit by Frontline correspondent Martin Smith from the Iraq-Turkish border, to central Iraq.
- Death of a Princess – 25th anniversary rebroadcast of an extremely controversial 1980 docudrama about a young Saudi princess and her lover who had been publicly executed for adultery. (synopsis)
- The New Asylums – Frontline goes deep inside the Ohio state prison system to explore the complex and growing issue of mentally ill prisoners.
- Israel's Next War? – On extremist Jewish militant groups, their ideology, and their opposition to the Gaza pullout plan. (synopsis)
- The Soldier's Heart – The psychological costs of war through the eyes of some Iraqi veterans and a look on how the military deals with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.
- A Company of Soldiers – The raw daily reality of occupying Iraq.
- House of Saud – History of the Saudi government and its impact on world events.
- Al Qaeda's New Front – Europe under terrorist threat.
- Secret History of the Credit Card – Reading the fine print on the credit card industry.
- Is Wal-Mart Good for America? – Good prices at America's expense.
- The Persuaders – The science that goes into the pervasive advertising of products and politics.
- Rumsfeld's War – The conflict between Donald Rumsfeld and top military officials at the Pentagon as he tried asserting civilian control over military strategy and changing the structure of the military after the Bush administration came to power.
- The Choice 2004 – A two-hour biography of both candidates running for President in 2004.
- The Tank Man – About the young man who stood in front of a Tank column during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in 2006.
- Bush's War – A two part series featuring extensive interviews about the battle between top U.S. officials over the war in Iraq.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Frontline – Homepage on PBS
- Frontline/World
- Frontline "News War" Feature video interview with two of its creators on The Alcove with Mark Molaro
- Frontline - When Kids Get Life; Spying on the Home Front Review at Variety
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