The FRONTLINE Dispatch

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

August 2, 2024

Bill Moyers, Tom Casciato and Kathleen Hughes, the filmmakers behind ‘Two American Families: 1991-2024,’ talk about profiling two families in America’s Rust Belt over multiple decades and economic cycles.

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

May 24, 2024

Venezuelan journalist Roberto Deniz and director Juan Ravell talk about ‘A Dangerous Assignment.’

▶Inside the Investigation into Police Use of Force

May 9, 2024

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."

▶The Search for Ukraine’s Missing Children

April 19, 2024

Filmmaker Paul Kenyon discusses ‘Children of Ukraine,’ an investigation into how thousands of Ukrainian children have been taken and held in Russian-controlled territory.

▶Investigating a Massive Online Leak of Government Secrets

April 6, 2024

The journalists behind ‘The Discord Leaks’ on how a young Air National Guard member leaked classified documents online for months without detection — and the implications.

▶Stuck in a 'Fractured' System

March 15, 2024

Investigating long waits for mental health care by defendants in North Carolina deemed too sick to stand trial.

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

March 1, 2024

Listen to the final installment of The FRONTLINE Dispatch’s audio-only version of the new documentary “Democracy on Trial.”

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

February 23, 2024

Listen to part three of The FRONTLINE Dispatch’s audio-only version of the documentary “Democracy on Trial.”

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

February 16, 2024

Listen to part two of The FRONTLINE Dispatch’s audio-only version of the documentary “Democracy on Trial.”

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

February 9, 2024

Longtime FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk discusses his reporting on the roots of the unprecedented federal criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.

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

February 9, 2024

The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents an audio-only version of the recent documentary 'Democracy on Trial.' Listen to part one now.

▶Reconstructing the Uvalde Shooting Response

January 4, 2024

Journalists behind “Inside the Uvalde Response” discuss how hundreds of hours of body cam footage and officer interviews reveal a chaotic police response to the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX.

▶Underage Workers in New England’s Seafood Processing Industry

December 14, 2023

An investigation into underage labor at New England seafood processing plants reveals flaws in the systems designed to protect migrant teens.

▶Looking Back at the Houston Astros Cheating Scandal

October 27, 2023

As this year’s baseball season ends, reporter Ben Reiter looks back on the lingering impact of the 2017 Houston Astros cheating scandal.

▶From Russian Newspaper Editor to ‘Foreign Agent’

October 5, 2023

‘Putin vs. the Press’ director Patrick Forbes, on chronicling the story of embattled Russian journalist and Nobel Prize winner Dmitry Muratov.

▶Locked Up for Life After ‘Two Strikes’

September 14, 2023

Examining the impact of Florida’s 'two-strikes' sentencing law, with filmmaker Ursula Liang and reporter Cary Aspinwall.

▶Struggling for Breath in Coal Country (re-release)

August 17, 2023

The Labor Department proposed a new rule that could limit coal miners’ exposure to a toxic dust called silica. We revisit the stories of miners whose lives were changed by black lung disease.

▶Documenting the Siege of Mariupol

July 21, 2023

Behind the scenes of the award-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol,” with director Mstyslav Chernov and FRONTLINE editor Michelle Mizner.

▶‘Dangerous Trucks’ on America’s Roads

July 7, 2023

A conversation with A.C. Thompson about 'America's Dangerous Trucks,' underride crashes and how regulators failed to act for decades.

▶Texas After Uvalde

June 16, 2023

Maria Hinojosa, host of Latino USA and founder of Futuro Media, talks about examining the aftermath of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

▶For Women, ‘A Very Different Afghanistan’

May 3, 2023

Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria on the end of the war in Afghanistan, and the return of harsh restrictions for women.

▶Documenting America’s 20 Years in Afghanistan

April 20, 2023

Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria discuss “America and the Taliban” and look back on two decades of reporting in Afghanistan.

▶Behind the Bank Failures

March 31, 2023

Bank failures, high inflation, rising interest rates — how did we get here? Correspondent James Jacoby joins The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about his timely documentary, 'Age of Easy Money,' which examines the power and impact of the Federal Reserve.

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

February 3, 2023

Longtime FRONTLINE correspondent and ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson discusses antisemitism, the challenges facing journalists who cover right-wing extremism, and the evolution of his work with FRONTLINE.

▶Behind the Explosive Investigation into Pegasus Spyware

January 19, 2023

How FRONTLINE and journalists around the world investigated the powerful spyware Pegasus. A conversation with journalists Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud of Forbidden Stories.

▶Putin’s Crackdown on Dissent Inside Russia

December 1, 2022

Director Gesbeen Mohammad joins "The FRONTLINE Dispatch" podcast to talk about Russian activists and journalists who have refused to stay silent on the war in Ukraine.

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

November 10, 2022

New in The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: Inside FRONTLINE and The Associated Press's investigation of potential Russian war crimes in Ukraine with reporter Erika Kinetz.

▶Evictions and the Pandemic

October 7, 2022

How did a federal ban on evictions and billions of dollars in rental assistance play out during the economic turmoil of the pandemic? A conversation with “Facing Eviction” filmmaker Bonnie Bertram.

▶How American Democracy Reached a Moment of ‘Existential Crisis’ (Live Event)

September 23, 2022

Veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk talks about the new documentary “Lies, Politics and Democracy.”

▶Investigating the Texas Blackout

September 8, 2022

FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative partner, the Texas Newsroom, and Austin public radio station KUT examine the aftermath of the Texas blackout of February 2021.

▶Searching for Afghanistan’s Missing Women

August 11, 2022

New in The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: Correspondent Ramita Navai talks about investigating the Taliban’s crackdown on women for the documentary “Afghanistan Undercover.”

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

July 29, 2022

New in The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: Former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig and U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) talk about the lead-up to Jan. 6 and the importance of the House select committee hearings.

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

June 29, 2022

New from The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast, as the Philippines inaugurates its next president: a re-release of our 2021 conversation with Maria Ressa, the Nobel Prize winner, journalist, cofounder of the independent Philippine news site Rappler and subject of our documentary "A Thousand Cuts."

▶A 1967 Murder and a ‘Reckoning’ with the Truth

June 16, 2022

New in The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: The documentary "American Reckoning" traces the life and death of Wharlest Jackson Sr., the history of Black resistance in his hometown and his family’s struggle for justice.

▶Covering Minneapolis in the Wake of George Floyd

June 3, 2022

New in The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: Star Tribune Editor Suki Dardarian joins us from Minneapolis to discuss the newsroom’s Pulitzer-winning reporting and “Police on Trial,” our new documentary with the Star Tribune.

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

May 19, 2022

In The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: a conversation on the Pulitzer-winning investigation that revealed dangerous levels of lead in and around Gopher Resource, in Florida.

▶Inside Big Oil's Push Against Climate Change Action

May 4, 2022

New in The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: The fossil fuel industry cast doubt on climate change for decades, even as the scientific evidence grew stronger and the warnings more dire. Investigative reporter Russell Gold joins executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath to discuss FRONTLINE’s three-part series “The Power of Big Oil.”

▶The Making of an Election Myth

April 15, 2022

New in The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: How did a stolen election myth make its way to the center of American politics? A.C. Thompson, correspondent, and Samuel Black, director and producer of the FRONTLINE and ProPublica documentary “Plot to Overturn the Election,” discuss.

▶Julia Ioffe on 'Putin's Road to War'

March 11, 2022

New in The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: Julia Ioffe, an American journalist who was born in Russia, discusses Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and what brought him, and the world, to this tipping point.

▶A Conversation with Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa

December 9, 2021

In The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: Journalist Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and subject of the documentary 'A Thousand Cuts,' talks with director Ramona S. Diaz and FRONTLINE's Raney Aronson-Rath.

▶What the Pandora Papers Reveal

December 2, 2021

In The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast: How the world of secret finance enables some of the globe’s richest and most powerful people to shield their deals and assets, with FRONTLINE producer Evan Williams and ICIJ reporter Will Fitzgibbon.

▶The Federal Reserve’s Big Experiment

November 11, 2021

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.”

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

October 28, 2021

Tom Jennings, director of "Boeing’s Fatal Flaw," and New York Times reporter David Gelles detail their findings in a new episode of "The FRONTLINE Dispatch" podcast.

▶The Case of the Liberty City Seven

September 16, 2021

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.

▶Sept. 11 to Jan. 6

September 10, 2021

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.

▶Policing the Police in Minnesota

April 18, 2021

As Derek Chauvin’s murder trial nears its end and Minnesota roils over the killing of Daunte Wright, calls for police accountability continue.

▶Poisoned: Tampa's Lead Problem

March 25, 2021

For years, hundreds of workers at the Gopher Resource lead smelting plant in Florida were exposed to dangerous levels of lead in the air.

▶An Impeachment and an Inauguration

January 19, 2021

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. 

▶Chaos at the Capitol

January 9, 2021

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 and were egged on by him and others at a rally just before they stormed the Capitol.

▶Capturing 'American Voices' in a Year of Turmoil

November 21, 2020

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.

▶COVID-19 & the Medical Supply Crisis

October 8, 2020

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?

▶The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden

September 23, 2020

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.

▶Making "The Choice"

September 22, 2020

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? 

▶The Transparency Project: John Bolton

September 21, 2020

As part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, 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. In this episode, John Bolton is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Gabrielle Schonder.

▶The Transparency Project: Yusef Salaam

September 18, 2020

As part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, 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. In this episode, Yusef Salaam is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Gabrielle Schonder.

▶The Transparency Project: Rudy Giuliani

September 17, 2020

As part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, 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. In this episode, Rudy Giuliani is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Michael Kirk.

▶The Transparency Project: Valerie Biden Owens

September 16, 2020

As part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, 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. In this episode, Valerie Biden is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore.

▶The Transparency Project: Carol Moseley Braun

September 15, 2020

As part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, 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. In this episode, Carol Moseley Braun is interviewed by FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore.

▶The Transparency Project: Mary Trump

September 14, 2020

As part of Frontline’s Transparency Project, 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.

▶A Mother & Her Newborn Separated by COVID-19

August 11, 2020

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.

▶Essential and Unprotected

July 22, 2020

▶Essential and Unprotected

July 21, 2020

They’ve been keeping America fed throughout the pandemic — and they say they’ve had to choose between their health and their jobs.

▶Bribing Doctors, Making Millions

June 23, 2020

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.

▶Maria Ressa, Duterte & the Fight for the Free Press

June 12, 2020

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. 

▶Race, Police & the Pandemic

June 2, 2020

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.

▶Covering Coronavirus: United States of Conspiracy

May 28, 2020

As COVID-19 has spread, so, too, have conspiracy theories about the virus. FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk examines how conspiracy theories have taken center stage in U.S. politics.

▶Covering Coronavirus: Life & Death in the Bronx

May 16, 2020

Inside a family-owned funeral home in the Bronx, as the coronavirus disproportionately kills black and Latino people — and upends how their loved ones grieve.

▶Covering Coronavirus: A Midnight Rescue

May 2, 2020

As COVID-19 ran rampant through the adult care facility, family members struggled to learn the truth of what was happening. Listen to the story of one daughter’s midnight rescue of her 82-year-old father from Queens Adult Center in New York.

▶Covering Coronavirus: Indian Country

April 24, 2020

Native American communities were already dealing with underfunded health services. Then the coronavirus outbreak began.

▶Covering Coronavirus: A Tale of Two Washingtons

April 17, 2020

What the feud between President Trump and Washington Gov. Inslee reveals about federal-state tensions in the coronavirus fight.

▶Covering Coronavirus: Warnings to the White House

April 9, 2020

Inside the Trump administration’s coronavirus response — and missed opportunities to contain COVID-19 before it was too late.

▶Covering Coronavirus: Cremona, Italy

March 23, 2020

A reporter’s emotional journey back to her homeland in Italy, now the global epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak.

▶Covering Coronavirus: Seattle, Washington

March 21, 2020

Lessons learned from Seattle — an epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak.

▶Blood and Power in the Philippines

March 21, 2019

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has led to the deaths of thousands of alleged drug users and dealers. Yet he remains hugely popular. We investigate his rise to power.

▶Never Sentenced, Never Released

March 7, 2019

Across the country, hundreds of people are in prison even though they weren’t convicted of the alleged acts that landed them there. Sometimes, they’re held for decades. Today, the story of one such man.

▶The Boy in the Caravan

February 7, 2019

A 15-year-old from El Salvador waits for his chance to cross the US border and ask for asylum. He’s trying to reach his mother on the other side.

▶Struggling For Breath In Coal Country

January 24, 2019

In Appalachia, more than 2,000 coal miners are suffering from advanced black lung disease, caused by toxic dust in the mines. Reporter Howard Berkes spoke with dozens of miners with varying stages of the disease about how it has irrevocably changed their lives.

▶UPDATE: Living With Murder

January 10, 2019

In December 2017, after serving 30 years of his life sentence, Kempis Songster left Graterford Prison on lifetime parole. In this update to the Living with Murder series, we learn where he is one year later.

▶Muzamil’s Day

December 27, 2018

In this special episode for kids, FRONTLINE follows a day in the life of Muzamil, a 12-year-old Somali boy growing up in Kenya’s Dadaab Refugee Camp.

▶The Weight of Dust

December 13, 2018

Scott Gaines was a first responder on 9/11. When he retired a couple months later, he thought he’d escaped the aftermath unscathed.

▶I Don’t Want To Shoot You, Brother

November 29, 2018

A young black man was dead. A young white cop was quickly fired. This is a shocking story about police and the use of lethal force, but not the one you might expect.

▶Living With Murder: Part Two

November 22, 2017

We continue to follow the story of Kempis Songster and the Supreme Court rulings that found his sentence, and thousands of others, to be unconstitutional.

▶Living With Murder: Part One

November 16, 2017

At 15, after committing a brutal murder, Kempis Songster is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But now, decades later, he has a chance to be free.

▶A Life Sentence

November 9, 2017

The story of a violent crime committed by a juvenile lifer whose second chance went horribly wrong.

▶Notes From An Invisible War

October 26, 2017

FRONTLINE filmmaker Martin Smith witnesses chaos and suffering on a rare trip to Yemen – a closer look inside a largely invisible war.

▶The Housing Fix

October 12, 2017

Millions of Americans can’t afford rent and only a quarter of those who need government help get it. What happens to everybody else?

▶Boom Town

September 28, 2017

There used to be one or two earthquakes a year in Cushing, Oklahoma. Now the town shakes hundreds of times each year. FRONTLINE investigates why.

▶Child Marriage in America

September 14, 2017

200,000 children were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2015. This is the story of one teen who marries her 24-year-old boyfriend after he is accused of statutory rape.