The FRONTLINE Dispatch

From The Sunday Story on NPR’s Up First, hosted by Ayesha Rascoe. 

NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan examines how the nation is failing to rebuild after major storms in a way that will protect them from the next one. 

As climate-related storms become more frequent and severe, NPR and FRONTLINE investigate the forces keeping communities from building resiliently, and the special interests that profit when communities don’t. De...

Last fall, Hurricane Helene tore through multiple states, leaving millions without power, billions of dollars in damage, and more than 200 people dead. 

In the days that followed, NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan and a team from FRONTLINE began reporting on the ground in Western North Carolina, one of the hardest-hit areas — despite being inland and elevated far above sea level. Over the course of several months, the team d...

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 rhe...

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 n...

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 sa...

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 lawsui...

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 exam...

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. Ep...

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 opportuni...

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 bec...

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 ...

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 threa...

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 a...

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 psycho...

“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 ep...

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 ...

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 sea...

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 ...

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 p...