| Frontline | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | David Fanning |
| Presented by | Martin Smith et al. |
| Narrated by | Will Lyman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 43 |
| No. of episodes | 827(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | David Fanning (1983–2015) Raney Aronson-Rath (2015–present) |
| Producer | Martin Smith et al. |
| Production company | WGBH-TV |
| Original release | |
| Network | PBS |
| Release | January 17, 1983 (1983-01-17) – present |
| Related | |
| Nova | |
Frontline (stylized in all capital letters) is aninvestigativedocumentary program distributed by thePublic Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced atWGBH inBoston,Massachusetts. The series has covered avariety of domestic and international issues, including terrorism,[1] elections,[2] environmental disasters,[3] and other sociopolitical issues.[4] Since its debut in 1983,Frontline has aired in the U.S. for 42 seasons, and has won critical acclaim and awards in broadcast journalism. In 2024,Frontline won its first Oscar at the96th Academy Awards forBest Documentary Feature,20 Days in Mariupol, made by a team of AP Ukrainian journalists.Frontline has produced over 800 documentaries from both in-house and independent filmmakers, 200 of which are available online.
The program debuted in 1983, with NBC anchorwomanJessica Savitch as the show's first host, but Savitch died later after the first-season finale.PBS NewsHour'sJudy Woodruff took over as host in 1984, and hosted the program for five years, combining her job with a sub-anchor place onThe MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour when Jim Lehrer was away. In 1990, episodes ofFrontline began airing without a host, and the narrator was left to introduce each episode.
MostFrontline reports are an hour in length, but some are extended to 90 minutes, two hours, or beyond.Frontline also produces and transmits such occasional specials asFrom Jesus to Christ,The Farmer's Wife, andCountry Boys.[5]
Since 1995,Frontline has been producing deep-content, companion web sites for all of its documentaries. The program 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 its website.
Will Lyman is the distinctive voice who has narrated most of the installments of the program since its inception in 1983.[6] However, certain reports have been narrated byDavid Ogden Stiers andPeter Berkrot or by correspondents who appear on screen.
Since 1988,Frontline has also aired "The Choice": a special edition aired during the lead-up to thepresidential election every four years, focusing on theDemocratic andRepublican candidates contending for the office ofPresident of the United States. An installment aired on October 14, 2008, using a dual-biography format forBarack Obama andJohn McCain. The 2008 documentary, produced byMichael Kirk, generated favorable reviews fromThe New York Times, which stated that the program helped viewers "gain perspective" about the "idea-oriented campaign",[7] andLos Angeles Times, which labeled it "refreshingly clear" and "informative".[8]
A subsequent episode aired on October 9, 2012, and featured the same dual biography tracing the lives and careers of incumbent President Barack Obama and his challenger,Mitt Romney. The following episode aired on September 27, 2016, and featured the biography ofHillary Clinton andDonald Trump. "The Choice 2024" is the most recent installment and aired on September 24, 2024, featuringKamala Harris and Donald Trump.[9]
The show is produced by theWGBH Educational Foundation, the parent company ofWGBH-TV in Boston, which is solely responsible for its content. WGBH is the creator of the Documentary Consortium, with another four PBS stations, includingWNET in New York andKCTS in Seattle.
In 2015, the creator and founding executive producer ofFrontline, David Fanning, retired after more than 32 years as executive producer of the program, andRaney Aronson-Rath succeeded him in senior grade. Fanning, however, remainseditor-at-large ofFrontline as a founding member.
On September 14, 2017, the program launched its first-everpodcast calledThe Frontline Dispatch.[10] The podcast is a production ofPBS andWGBH in Boston alongsidePRX.
Frontline/World is aspin-off program fromFrontline, first transmitted on May 23, 2002, which was transmitted four to eight times a year onFrontline until it was canceled in 2010. It focused on issues from around the globe, and used a "magazine" format, where each hour-long episode typically had three stories that ran about 15 to 20 minutes in length. Its tagline was:Stories from a small planet.
Initially a co-production ofWGBH, Boston andKQED, San Francisco,Frontline/World was later based in part at theUniversity of California Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, where the program's producers recruited a new generation of reporters and producers to theFrontline program.[11]
Frontline/World also streamed stories on its website, which won twoWebby awards in 2008 for its original program of online videos called "Rough Cuts". In 2005, theOverseas Press Club of America gave the program itsEdward R. Murrow Award for the best TV coverage of international events, citing producers David Fanning,Stephen Talbot, Sharon Tiller and Ken Dornstein. The program broke new ground in 2007 by winning twoEmmys; one of these was for a broadcast story, "Saddam's Road to Hell", and the other was for an online video, "Libya: Out of the Shadow".
Frontline has received generally positive reviews from television critics.David Zurawik ofThe Baltimore Sun wrote that the episode "Inside the Meltdown", was "one of the finest hours of non-fiction TV that I have seen."[12] Vern Gay ofNewsday wrote that "The Card Game" episode, "bores down to the hard, cold truth" and is "journalism at its best."[13] Tom Brinkmoeller ofTV Worth Watching called it, "Indispensable."[14] Sean Gregory ofTime wrote about the episode, "League of Denial", that it was "a first-rate piece of reporting."[15] David Zurawik ofThe Baltimore Sun wrote about the episode "The Rise of ISIS", that it was "superb and daring work."[16] Alasdair Wilkins ofThe A.V. Club wrote, "hardest-hitting show on television."[17]Margaret Sullivan, the media columnist ofThe Washington Post wrote for the episode, "The Choice 2016", "utterly-fair and completely riveting."[18] Vern Gay ofNewsday wrote that the show is "authoritative and comprehensive."[19] David Zurawik ofThe Baltimore Sun wrote that the episode "Trump's Showdown", "is as good as long-form, non-fiction television gets."[20] Chris Barton of theLos Angeles Times wrote for the episode, "The Facebook Dilemma" thatFrontline has a "well-earned reputation for unflinching, in-depth examinations of social issues and current events."[21]The Daily Beast wrote for the episode, "The Choice 2020", "Beyond spin...thoughtful [and] in-depth."[22]
OtherFrontline reports focus on political, social, and criminal justice issues.Ofra Bikel, who has been a producer forFrontline since the first season, has produced a significant number of films on thecriminal justice system in the United States. The films have focused on issues ranging from post-convictionDNA testing, the use ofdrug snitches andmandatory minimum sentencing laws, theplea system, and the use of eyewitness testimony. As a result of the films, 13 people have been released from prison.
After theSeptember 11 attacks, theWhite House requested a copy of "Hunting Bin Laden". In 1999,Frontline had produced this in-depth report aboutOsama bin Laden and theterrorist network that would come to be known asAl-Qaeda in the wake of the1998 United States embassy bombings. Following the September 11 attacks,Frontline produced a series of films about Al-Qaeda and theWar on Terrorism. In 2002, the program was awarded theDuPont-Columbia gold baton for the seven films.
In 2003,Frontline andThe New York Times joined forces on "A Dangerous Business", an investigation led by reporterLowell Bergman into thecast 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 thePulitzer Prize for Public Service.
ProducerMichael Kirk'sFrontline documentaries have won multiple awards. These films include "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis" (Peabody Award, 2013),[23] "Cheney's Law" (Peabody Award, 2007),[24] "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).[25][26]
DirectorMartin Smith has produced dozens of films forFrontline, and won both Emmy and Writers Guild of America awards. His 2000 filmDrug Wars was the winner of the Outstanding Background/Analysis of a Single Current Story Emmy and the George Foster Peabody Award.[27] Additionally,Separated: Children at the Border, for which he was writer and correspondent, also won a 2018Peabody Award.[28]
Other notable producers of multipleFrontline documentaries have included Sherry Jones,Marian Marzynski,Miri Navasky, Karen O'Connor, June Cross, Neil Docherty,Stephen Talbot,Raney Aronson-Rath,Rachel Dretzin,[29] James Jacoby[30] and Rick Young.
As of July 2016,Frontline has won a total of 75 Emmy Awards[31] and 18 Peabody Awards.[32] In 2020,Frontline was also awarded an Institutional Peabody Award.[33]
In 2022,Frontline won four awards in the43rd News and Documentary Emmy Awards.[34]
Rachel Dretzin and Barak Goodman attend 59th Annual Peabody Awards on May 22, 2000 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
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