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Frontline (TV series)
Encyclopedia
FRONTLINE is a public affairs
television program that produces and broadcasts in-depth documentaries
about various subjects. Produced at WGBH-TV
in Boston
, Massachusetts
and distributed through the Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS) in the United States
, the program has been critically acclaimed and received 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 500 films broadcast. Although primarily seen through television, the program shows a large portion of their shows in interactive webcasts on their main website.
as its host, but Savitch died later in the first season. Judy Woodruff
took over as anchor in 1984, and hosted the program for five years. In 1990, the show did away with the anchor position, and left the narrator to introduce each report.
Every four years since 1988, FRONTLINE runs a special profiling the nominees for President of the United States
entitled "The Choice [Insert Year]" . The most recent of these aired on October 14, 2008 and featured a dual biography tracing the lives and careers of John McCain
and Barack Obama
. It was produced by Michael Kirk
. The program generated favorable reviews from The New York Times
, which stated that the program helped viewers "gain perspective" about the "idea-oriented campaign", and The Los Angeles Times, which labeled it "refreshingly clear" and "informative".
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 available via streaming Internet video, from their website.
Will Lyman
is the distinctive voice who has narrated most of the series since its inception in 1983. However, certain reports have been narrated by David Ogden Stiers
and Peter Berkrot
.
The show is produced by the Documentary Consortium, comprising WGBH, WNET
in New York City
, WTVS
in Detroit, KCTS in Seattle, and WPBT
in Miami.
series that first aired on May 23, 2002 and airs 4–5 times a year on Frontline. It focuses on issues from around the globe, and uses a "magazine" format, where each hour-long 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, which won two Webby awards in 2008 for its original series of online videos called "Rough Cuts". In 2005, the Overseas Press Club of America gave the series its Edward R. Murrow award for the 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."
, 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.
Producer Michael Kirk
's Frontline documentaries have won multiple awards. These films include Cheney's Law (Peabody Award
, 2007), The Lost Year in Iraq (Emmy Award
, 2006), The Torture Question (Emmy Award, 2005), The Kevorkian File (Emmy Award), and Waco the Inside Story (Peabody Award).
Director Martin Smith
has produced dozens of films for Frontline, and won both Emmy and Writers Guild of America Awards. His 2000 film Drug Wars was the winner of the Outstanding Background/Analysis of a Single Current Story Emmy and The George Foster Peabody Award.
, head of the libertarian
think tank
Cato Institute
, raised questions with Frontlines choice of subjects in a prepared statement, "Ending Taxpayer Funding for Public Broadcasting", before the United States Senate
, arguing,
This argument was mentioned by Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Carnegie Corporation of New York
and the Charles H. Revson Foundation
conservative ombudsman
William Schulz.
Frontline has also come under fire for their pro-nuclear power documentary Nuclear Reaction. According to Scott Denman, director of Safe Energy Communication Council, Frontline refused to interview any scientists who held views contrary to the pro-nuclear position taken by the documentary. Jon Palfreman, producer of the show, posted a rebuttal to these and other accusations of bias on Frontlines website, including multiple instances where items cited as evidence of bias were not actually present in the program.
A New York Times review of the Frontline program 'Ten Trillion and Counting' commented:
Public affairs (broadcasting)
Public affairs, a broadcasting industry term, refers to television programs which focuses on matters of politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications Commission regulatory expectations and are not scheduled in prime time...
television program that produces and broadcasts in-depth documentaries
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about various subjects. Produced at WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and distributed through the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS) in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the program has been critically acclaimed and received 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 500 films broadcast. Although primarily seen through television, the program shows a large portion of their shows in interactive webcasts on their main website.
Background
The program debuted in 1983, with former NBC anchorwoman Jessica SavitchJessica Savitch
Jessica Beth Savitch was an American television broadcaster and news reporter, host of PBS' Frontline and New York weekend anchor of NBC Nightly News during the short-lived Roger Mudd/Tom Brokaw era....
as its host, but Savitch died later in the first season. Judy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff is an American television news anchor and journalist.Woodruff is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Broadcast journalism career:...
took over as anchor in 1984, and hosted the program for five years. In 1990, the show did away with the anchor position, and left the narrator to introduce each report.
Every four years since 1988, FRONTLINE runs a special profiling the nominees for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
entitled "The Choice [Insert Year]" . The most recent of these aired on October 14, 2008 and featured a dual biography tracing the lives and careers of John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
and Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. It was produced by Michael Kirk
Michael Kirk
Michael Kirk is an award winning documentary filmmaker and partial creator of the PBS show Frontline. He has produced such documentaries as "Inside the Meltdown," about the 2008 financial crisis, "Bush's War," about the Iraq War under George W...
. The program generated favorable reviews from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, which stated that the program helped viewers "gain perspective" about the "idea-oriented campaign", and The Los Angeles Times, which labeled it "refreshingly clear" and "informative".
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
Country Boys
Country Boys is a 6-hour documentary film centered on Cody Perkins and Chris Johnson, two teenage boys from David, Floyd County, Kentucky. They attended the , a non-denominational private high school with a mission to serve underprivileged and struggling students.The film covers the 3-year period...
".
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 available via streaming Internet video, from their website.
Will Lyman
Will Lyman
William Lyman is an American voice-over artist and actor, perhaps best known for his polished, resonant voice that has narrated the PBS series Frontline since its second season in 1984. Lyman has made a successful career in television and theater...
is the distinctive voice who has narrated most of the series since its inception in 1983. However, certain reports have been narrated by David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III and the science fiction drama The Dead Zone as Reverend Gene Purdy...
and Peter Berkrot
Peter Berkrot
Peter Berkrot is an American actor, voice actor, director, producer, and freelance writer who has worked in television, the movie industry, video games, and in the theatre. He also runs his own acting school called New Voices, and he writes article for as well...
.
The show is produced by the Documentary Consortium, comprising WGBH, WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, WTVS
WTVS
WTVS, branded as Detroit Public TV, is the Public Broadcasting Service member Public television station in Detroit, Michigan. Broadcasting since 1955, its vision statement is "educate, entertain and inspire — in partnership with our community." The viewer supported station produces many local...
in Detroit, KCTS in Seattle, and WPBT
WPBT
WPBT is a PBS member public television station that serves the entire South Florida region, and even including portions of the Treasure Coast, the only television station to serve the entire metropolis...
in Miami.
Frontline/World
Frontline/World is a spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
series that first aired on May 23, 2002 and airs 4–5 times a year on Frontline. It focuses on issues from around the globe, and uses a "magazine" format, where each hour-long 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, which won two Webby awards in 2008 for its original series of online videos called "Rough Cuts". In 2005, the Overseas Press Club of America gave the series its Edward R. Murrow award for the 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."
Awards and results
Other Frontline reports focus on political, social, and criminal justice issues. Ofra BikelOfra Bikel
Ofra Bikel is a documentary filmmaker, and television producer.She was graduated from the University of Paris and the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris.She was a researcher for Time, Newsweek, and ABC Television....
, who has been a producer for Frontline since the first season, has produced a significant number of films on the criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
system in the United States. The films have focused on issues ranging from post-conviction DNA testing, the use of drug snitches
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
and mandatory minimum sentencing laws
Mandatory sentencing
A mandatory sentence is a court decision setting where judicial discretion is limited by law. Typically, people convicted of certain crimes must be punished with at least a minimum number of years in prison...
, the plea
Plea
In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a civil or criminal case under common law using the adversary system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a criminal defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response to a criminal charge, whether that...
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
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
requested a copy of "Hunting Bin Laden". In 1999, Frontline had produced this in-depth report about Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
and the terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
network that would come to be known as Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
in the wake of the 1998 United States embassy bombings
1998 United States embassy bombings
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capitals of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The date of the...
. Following the September 11 attacks, Frontline produced a series of films about Al-Qaeda and the War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. 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
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
pipe making industry and worker safety. OSHA
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...
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
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for Public Service.
Producer Michael Kirk
Michael Kirk
Michael Kirk is an award winning documentary filmmaker and partial creator of the PBS show Frontline. He has produced such documentaries as "Inside the Meltdown," about the 2008 financial crisis, "Bush's War," about the Iraq War under George W...
's Frontline documentaries have won multiple awards. These films include Cheney's Law (Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
, 2007), The Lost Year in Iraq (Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
, 2006), The Torture Question (Emmy Award, 2005), The Kevorkian File (Emmy Award), and Waco the Inside Story (Peabody Award).
Director Martin Smith
Martin Smith
Martin Smith may refer to:*Martin Smith , British professor of robotics at the Open University*Martin Smith , British actor, singer and composer*Martin Smith , Irish boxer...
has produced dozens of films for Frontline, and won both Emmy and Writers Guild of America Awards. His 2000 film Drug Wars was the winner of the Outstanding Background/Analysis of a Single Current Story Emmy and The George Foster Peabody Award.
Accusations of bias
David BoazDavid Boaz
David Boaz is the executive vice president of the Cato Institute, an American libertarian think tank. He played a key role in the Institute's development and the American libertarian movement....
, head of the libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
, raised questions with Frontlines choice of subjects in a prepared statement, "Ending Taxpayer Funding for Public Broadcasting", before the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, arguing,
This argument was mentioned by Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
and the Charles H. Revson Foundation
Charles H. Revson Foundation
The Charles H. Revson Foundation was founded in 1956 by Charles H. Revson, the founding President of Revlon Cosmetics as a vehicle for his charitable giving. Mr. Revson willed half his estate to the Foundation upon his death. -Background:...
conservative ombudsman
Ombudsman
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
William Schulz.
Frontline has also come under fire for their pro-nuclear power documentary Nuclear Reaction. According to Scott Denman, director of Safe Energy Communication Council, Frontline refused to interview any scientists who held views contrary to the pro-nuclear position taken by the documentary. Jon Palfreman, producer of the show, posted a rebuttal to these and other accusations of bias on Frontlines website, including multiple instances where items cited as evidence of bias were not actually present in the program.
A New York Times review of the Frontline program 'Ten Trillion and Counting' commented:
See also
- List of programs broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service
- Wide AngleWide Angle (TV series)Wide Angle is an American documentary television series produced by Thirteen/WNET New York for broadcast on PBS and for worldwide distribution. The weekly one-hour series covers international current affairs and is presently hosted by veteran journalist Aaron Brown...
External links
- Frontline Homepage on PBS
- Frontline/World
- Full chronological list on PBS/Frontline site.
- 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 VarietyVariety (magazine)Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...