EPISODE 303
Airdate: March 25, 2004
Overview
TV and Web Credits
Press
>>Transcript
OVERVIEW
Pakistan, ON A RAZOR'S EDGE
A journey home at a time of hope and crisis
Follow FRONTLINE/World reporter and producer Sharmeen
Obaid to her native Pakistan as she investigates the clashes
between President Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally, and the
increasingly powerful Islamic fundamentalists who oppose him.
Obaid visits the scene of the most recent assassination attempt
on Musharraf, meets with key military leaders and interviews
a clandestine jihadi fighting a holy war in neighboring Kashmir.
read
more
Kyrgyzstan, THE KIDNAPPED BRIDE
The resurgence of a banned custom
FRONTLINE/World reporter Petr Lom travels to Kyrgyzstan,
where an ancient tradition of bride kidnapping, banned by the
Soviets, is resurgent. Lom gets inside families to talk with
kidnapped brides -- those who have managed to escape from their
captors as well as those who are making homes with their new
husbands. read
more
Kenya, RUN, LORNAH, RUN
Women racing for their lives
Kenyan men have long ranked among the world’s best
long distance runners, but until recently, Kenyan women have
been confined to traditional roles at home and on the farm.
FRONTLINE/World reporter Alexis Bloom journeys to the mountain
village of Iten in Kenya’s northwest highlands, where
one of Kenya’s first great female marathoners, Lornah
Kiplagat, using her prize money, established and operates a
camp to train the next generation of women runners. read
more
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TV AND WEB CREDITS
ON A RAZOR'S EDGE
Producer: EDWARD ROBBINS; Reporter and Co-Producer: Sharmeen
Obaid; Editors: BEN GOLD, NANCY NOVACK; Camera: AHMAD KHAN,
EDWARD ROBBINS; Sound: HABIBULLAH KHAN; Executive Producers:
LAWRIE MIFFLIN, PHILIP BOAG; Director of Program Production:
ANN DERRY; Special Thanks: GEO TELEVISION; JALAL and SATTI;
HERALD MAGAZINE; ASIF SHAHZAD; AZMAT ABASS; Produced in association
with New York Times Television
THE KIDNAPPED BRIDE
Reported, Produced and Filmed by: PETR LOM; Senior Producer:
KEN DORNSTEIN; Editors: MICHAEL H. AMUNDSON, ANATOLY SIVOHA;
Associate Producer: FATIMA SARTBAEVA; Music: ROSA AMANOVA; Special
Thanks: SOROS FOUNDATION OF KYRGYZSTAN; OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE;
CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY; AKTAN ARYM KUBAT; ASEL ALIYASOVA
RUN, LORNAH, RUN
Produced and Reported by ALEXIS BLOOM, CASSANDRA HERRMAN;
Videographer: CASSANDRA HERRMAN; Editor: DAVID RITSHER; Additional
Footage: LOS ANGELES MARATHON; Music: “BOMAS OF KENYA,”
Provided by ARC MUSIC INTERNATIONAL, UK; Produced in Association
with U.C. BERKELEY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM
FOR FRONTLINE/WORLD 303
Production Coordinator/Editor: David Ritsher; Associate Producers:
SACHI CUNNINGHAM, SERENE FANG, BRENT MCDONALD; Web Producer:
ANGELA MORGENSTERN; Web Associate Producer: SHERAZ SADIQ; Web
Editor: SARA MILES; Web Site Design: SUSAN HARRIS, FLUENT STUDIOS;
Promotion: ERIN MARTIN KANE, CHRIS KELLY; Production Assistant:
DANIELLE GILLIS; Community Engagement: BRENT QUAN HALL; Interns:
KRISTA MAHR, MICHAEL WELT; Legal: ERIC BRASS, DAVID MOYCE; Satellite
Photos: SPACE IMAGING; Theme Music: SUPREME BEINGS OF LEISURE;
Online Editors: MICHAEL H. AMUNDSON, MICHAEL SIMOLLARI; Sound
Mix: JIM SULLIVAN; Post Production Supervisor: CHRIS FOURNELLE;
Post Production Assistant: CHETIN CHABUK; Series Design: JOHN
MACGIBBON; FRONTLINE Coordinating Producer: ROBIN PARMELEE;
FRONTLINE Production Manager: TIM MANGINI; FRONTLINE Series
Manager: JIM BRACCIALE; FRONTLINE Series Editor: KEN DORNSTEIN;
Executive in charge for KQED: SUE ELLEN MCCANN; Executive in
charge for WGBH/FRONTLINE: SHARON TILLER; Series Editor: STEPHEN
TALBOT; Executive Producer: DAVID FANNING
WEB SITE 303 (Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya)
Web Producer: ANGELA MORGENSTERN; Web Site Design: SUSAN HARRIS,
FLUENT STUDIOS;
Web Editor: SARA MILES; Copyeditor: JOAN SAUNDERS; Series Editor:
STEPHEN TALBOT; Associate Producer: SHERAZ SADIQ; Web Research:
KELLY WHALEN, KRISTA MAHR, DAVID MONTERO, MICHAEL WELT; Web
Promotion and Outreach: BRENT HALL, JESSICA SMITH; Special Thanks:
AMANDA HIRSCH, SAM BAILEY, SUZANNE ROMAINE, KEN DORNSTEIN, SHARON
TILLER, SUE ELLEN MCCANN, ROBIN PARMELEE, JOHN MACGIBBON, MICHAEL
H. AMUNDSON, ANDY ISAACSON, DAVID MOYCE, CAROL CICERONE, SACHI
CUNNINGHAM, SERENE FANG, BRENT MCDONALD, BRIAN UNDERWOOD, RUNNING
USA, FREQUENCY GLIDE ENTERPRISES, CHAHE DEMIAN, NATALIE ZEE
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PRESS REACTION
Obaid Shines for Frontline
Frontline [World] tonight presents one of its
round-the-world editions, leading with a new dispatch
from the intrepid 20-something Pakistani journalist
Sharmeen Obaid. Western-educated and modern in every
way, Obaid has shown a gift for getting even the most
hidebound Taliban types to open up to her.
For Frontline [World], Obaid returned to her homeland
to report on an historic development there that has
gotten little coverage in the West: the delicate truce
between Pakistan and India after decades of nuclear
brinkmanship.
That's followed by a report from the remote former
Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan on a peculiar local
practice of young men abducting their brides-to-be.
--The Kansas City Star
Bride-Stealing in Kyrgyzstan
Romance-based American reality TV shows may sometimes
seem heartless, but they are nowhere near as brutal as
the popular custom in Kyrgyzstan, where as many as a
third of marriages are the result of kidnapping.
Locally, the practice is called ala kachuu, or
"bride-stealing," according to a report by Petr Lom on
FRONTLINE/World. And say what you will about the Soviet
Union, at least they outlawed the practice when the
country was still in its control.
Kyrgyzstan has officially banned it as well, but the
report shows how prevalent it is, with young women
being snatched from school buses and shop counters
before being ganged up on by the prospective groom's
female relatives. Once she's got on the bridal scarves,
it's a done deal.
And in some cases, kidnapees learn to adjust to their
new lives.
Other reports on FRONTLINE/World look at the new
Pakistan, on the frontlines in the war on terrorism,
and a report on the rise of female marathon runners in
Kenya (and not because prospective grooms are chasing
them, either.)
--Hartford Courant
Another timely edition of Frontline/World goes inside
Pakistan to examine the state of the government and its
battle against terrorism.
--USA Today
FRONTLINE/World: What's all this about instability in
Pakistan? Where are the music and self-help shows
pledge viewers paid to see?
--Chicago Sun Times
PBS' 'Frontline' looks into its crystal ball
There's a great old episode of "The Twilight Zone"
about a newspaper that scoops the competition only
because it hires a Mephistophelean typesetter (Burgess
Meredith, smoking a bent cigar) who "prints" the
tragic news before it happens.
Sometimes I think the folks at "Frontline [World]" (9
p.m., PBS) have a similar agent smoking out stories
before the network and cable news giants get them. This
rewarding newsmagazine consistently provides viewers
with intelligent background on important developments,
people, ideas and breaking stories, sometimes weeks in
advance of its more popular competition.
Tonight's segment is a good example. As Pakistani and
American troops scour the mountainous border region
between Afghanistan and Pakistan for Osama bin Laden
and his Al Qaeda lieutenants, "Frontline" looks at
the increasingly precarious rule of Pakistan's leader,
Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
-- United Features Syndicate
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