Frontline (American TV program)
Frontline (stylized in all capital letters) is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety 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 39 seasons, and has won critical acclaim and awards in broadcast journalism. In 2024, Frontline won its first Oscar at the 96th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature, "20 Days in Mariupol," made by a team of AP Ukrainian journalists. Frontline has produced over 750 documentaries from both in-house and independent filmmakers, 200 of which are available online.
Frontline
Martin Smith et al.
United States
English
42
813 (as of November 21, 2023) (list of episodes)
David Fanning (1983–2015)
Raney Aronson-Rath (2015–present)
Martin Smith et sl.
January 17, 1983 –
present
Production[edit]
The show is produced by the WGBH Educational Foundation, the parent company of WGBH-TV in Boston, which is solely responsible for its content. WGBH is the creator of the Documentary Consortium, with another four PBS stations, including WNET in New York and KCTS in Seattle.
In 2015, the creator and founding executive producer of Frontline, David Fanning, retired after more than 32 years as executive producer of the program, and Raney Aronson-Rath succeeded him in senior grade. Fanning, however, remains editor-at-large of Frontline as a founding member.
On September 14, 2017, the program launched its first-ever podcast called The Frontline Dispatch.[10] The podcast is a production of PBS and WGBH in Boston alongside PRX.
Frontline/World[edit]
Frontline/World is a spin-off program from Frontline, first transmitted on May 23, 2002, which was transmitted four to eight times a year on Frontline 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 of WGBH, Boston and KQED, San Francisco, Frontline/World was later based in part at the University of California Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, where the program's producers recruited a new generation of reporters and producers to the Frontline program.[11]
Frontline/World also streamed stories on its website, which won two Webby awards in 2008 for its original program of online videos called "Rough Cuts". In 2005, the Overseas Press Club of America gave the program its Edward 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 two Emmys; 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".
Critical reception[edit]
Frontline has received generally positive reviews from television critics. David Zurawik of The 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 of Newsday wrote that "The Card Game" episode, "bores down to the hard, cold truth" and is "journalism at its best."[13] Tom Brinkmoeller of TV Worth Watching called it, "Indispensable."[14] Sean Gregory of Time wrote about the episode, "League of Denial", that it was "a first-rate piece of reporting."[15] David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun wrote about the episode "The Rise of ISIS", that it was "superb and daring work."[16] Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club wrote, "hardest-hitting show on television."[17] Margaret Sullivan, the media columnist of The Washington Post wrote for the episode, "The Choice 2016", "utterly-fair and completely riveting."[18] Vern Gay of Newsday wrote that the show is "authoritative and comprehensive."[19] David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun wrote that the episode "Trump's Showdown", "is as good as long-form, non-fiction television gets."[20] Chris Barton of the Los Angeles Times wrote for the episode, "The Facebook Dilemma" that Frontline has a "well-earned reputation for unflinching, in-depth examinations of social issues and current events."[21]