The FRONTLINE Dispatch

For more than a year, FRONTLINE and ProPublica have been investigating a global network of far-right extremists known as the Terrorgram Collective.The recent documentary The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram explores how this white supremacist network grew on anonymous, loosely-moderated platforms — and the violent consequences. Reporters A.C. Thompson and James Bandler join The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about the ideas and rhetoric they found inside Terrorgram, and how they uncovered connections between the group and a deadly terror attack at an LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, that killed two people.  “You can find hate speech on most internet spaces,” A.C. Thompson told host Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE. “What was different about […] this Terrogram community that colonized Telegram for about five years is it wasn't just about speech. It was about actionable material.”You can stream The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram, directed by Thomas Jennings and Annie Wong, on FRONTLINE's website, FRONTLINE's YouTube Channel, or the PBS App. 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

“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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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 in full on FRONTLINE's website, YouTube or the PBS App.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When a leaked list of more than 50,000 phone numbers came to the attention of Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud of the journalism non-profit Forbidden Stories, along with Amnesty International, they suspected the list contained phone numbers potentially targeted for surveillance using the powerful spyware known as Pegasus, which gives its operators access to targets' mobile devices.  Richard and Rigaud teamed up with journalists from sixteen other outlets, including FRONTLINE, to investigate. What the reporting consortium found, with technical support from Amnesty International's Security Lab, was explosive: Pegasus had been used on journalists, human rights activists, the wife and fiancée of the murdered Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and others around the world.  Global Spyware Scandal: Exposing Pegasus is the new, two-part series from FRONTLINE and Forbidden Films that goes behind the scenes of the investigation, and chronicles the responses from governments and institutions seeking to govern the largely unregulated spyware industry. Richard and Rigaud, two of the series' producers, joined FRONTLINE's Raney Aronson-Rath to discuss the investigation, what's happened since, and the threat spyware like Pegasus poses. Pegasus is “like a person over your shoulder who will read everything that you are reading, even your encrypted messages,” Richard says. “It's a military weapon used against civilians.” Global Spyware Scandal: Exposing Pegasus is now streaming at pbs.org/frontline, in the PBS App and on FRONTLINE's YouTube channel. Want to be notified every time a new podcast episode drops? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.

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.

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.

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.