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....
Mar 27, 2020•20 min
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 ...
Mar 23, 2020•19 min
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.”
Mar 21, 2020•20 min
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.
Mar 21, 2019•33 min•Season 2Ep. 11
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.
Mar 07, 2019•38 min•Season 2Ep. 10
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 wa...
Feb 21, 2019•42 min•Season 2Ep. 9
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.
Feb 07, 2019•29 min•Season 2Ep. 8
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...
Jan 24, 2019•15 min•Season 2Ep. 7
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 w...
Jan 10, 2019•13 min•Season 2Ep. 6
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.
Jan 10, 2019•40 min•Season 2Ep. 5
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.
Jan 10, 2019•47 min•Season 2Ep. 4
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 Firelig...
Dec 27, 2018•22 min•Season 2Ep. 3
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.
Dec 13, 2018•51 min•Season 2Ep. 2
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 ....
Nov 29, 2018•49 min•Season 2Ep. 1
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.
Nov 14, 2018•2 min
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.
Nov 22, 2017•40 min•Season 1Ep. 7
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.
Nov 16, 2017•47 min•Season 1Ep. 6
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 ...
Nov 09, 2017•55 min•Season 1Ep. 5
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 f...
Oct 26, 2017•16 min•Season 1Ep. 4
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 wa...
Oct 12, 2017•42 min•Season 1Ep. 3
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 maj...
Sep 28, 2017•35 min•Season 1Ep. 2
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...
Sep 14, 2017•53 min•Season 1Ep. 1
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.
Sep 05, 2017•2 min
