FRONTLINE

News and Public Affairs Series / 32 Seasons

FRONTLINE explores and illuminates the critical issues of our times - from business and health to social issues, politics and war.

Watch Latest: S2025 E2

54m 23s

Omarina's Story

23m 7s

When FRONTLINE first met Omarina Cabrera back in 2012 for the documentary "Middle School Moment," she was a struggling student at Middle School 244 in the Bronx. Today, she's excelling at an elite prep school in New England. FRONTLINE revisits Omarina as part of our continued examination of a groundbreaking program to stem the dropout crisis in America’s high-poverty schools.

Separate and Unequal

27m 14s

Sixty years after the Supreme Court declared separate schools for black and white children unconstitutional, school segregation is making a comeback. What’s behind the growing racial divide in American schools — and what’s the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education?

How to Train a Rebel Army (Secretly) in Seven Steps

3m

Obama said he wants to step up training for rebel groups in Syria. But there's already a covert rebel training program in effect. FRONTLINE's Muhammad Ali explains how it works.

"Battle Zones: Syria & Ukraine" - Preview

31s

"Battle Zones: Ukraine & Syria" premieres May 27. In Ukraine, with personal and dramatic footage, FRONTLINE reveals the deep-seeded hatreds between right-wing Ukrainian nationalists with historic ties to the Nazis, and violent pro-Russian separatists vying for control of the country. And in Syria, FRONTLINE finds rebel fighters who say they’re being secretly armed and trained by the United States.

Syria: Arming the Rebels

18m 10s

FRONTLINE Reporter Muhammad Ali crosses into the war zone, and finds Syrian rebel fighters who say they're being secretly armed and trained by the United States, out of a previously unreported location.

"A Personal Hit on Me"

2m 59s

When Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani of "The Washington Post" discovered that the NSA was piggybacking on one of Google's tracking cookies, the company wasn't happy. FRONTLINE's "United States of Secrets: Privacy Lost" premieres Tuesday, May 20 at 10 p.m. on PBS and at pbs.org/frontline.

"I Could Tell No Person"

5m

Ten years later, Nick Merrill still can't discuss the details of the National Security Letter he received from the FBI. If he could, Merrill says, people would be shocked by the implications for their online privacy.

“United States of Secrets” - Trailer

2m 56s

How did the government come to spy on millions of Americans? In FRONTLINE’s “United States of Secrets,” a two-part series from Michael Kirk and Martin Smith premiering May 13 and 20, FRONTLINE tells the inside story of the U.S. government’s massive and controversial secret surveillance program—and the lengths they went to trying to keep it hidden from the public.

“United States of Secrets (Part Two)” - Trailer

31s

How did the government come to spy on millions of Americans? In FRONTLINE’s “United States of Secrets,” a two-part series from Michael Kirk and Martin Smith premiering May 13 and 20, FRONTLINE tells the inside story of the U.S. government’s massive and controversial secret surveillance program—and the lengths they went to trying to keep it hidden from the public.

“Prison State” - Preview

31s

There are roughly 2.3 million people behind bars in the U.S., with a disproportionate number coming from a few city neighborhoods. More than two years in the making, “Prison State” takes an intimate look at the cycle of incarceration in America, and one state’s effort to reverse the trend. “Prison State” premieres Tuesday, April 29 on PBS and at pbs.org/frontline.

"They Had to Do Something"

45s

Former warden Gary Henman on why the lockdown at Marion federal prison was necessary to protect the staff and even the inmates. The staff was demoralized after the murders of two prison guards and needed new tools to help maintain control.

Flooding in Solitary

2m 53s

It was once believed solitary confinement would reform misbehaving prisoners, turns out it may push them to the brink of insanity. In Solitary Nation, premiering Tuesday, April 22 on PBS and at pbs.org/FRONTLINE, FRONTLINE takes you inside Maine's maximum security prison, where a new warden is trying to move inmates out of solitary, which isn't as easy as you might suspect.

"It Only Takes One Rotten Apple"

1m 12s

Former warden Gary Henman on his strategy at Marion to keep the worst inmates in isolation. "We would take these so called rotten apples, put them together. If they spoiled each other, at least to allowed the other facilities to be safe, secure," he said.

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