Coming in August on FRONTLINE
A total of 111 deceased former National Football League players have been tested for the brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) by the nation’s largest brain bank focused on the study of traumatic head injury.
All of them except one had it.
That’s according to a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association and characterized by its authors as “the largest CTE case series ever described to our knowledge.”
In light of these new findings, revisit FRONTLINE’s documentary League of Denial –– a landmark investigation into the hidden history of the NFL and brain injuries.
The 2013 documentary went inside a decades-long battle between scientists, players and the nation’s most powerful sports league, examining allegations that the NFL tried to cover up how football inflicted long-term brain injuries on many players, and that it pushed back against researchers — including Dr. Ann McKee, a corresponding author on the new study.
A two-part, encore presentation of League of Denial airs August 22 and 29 on PBS. Also this month, we’ll bring you rebroadcasts of our exploration of the science and politics of vaccine safety, and our investigation with ProPublica into an unsolved wave of domestic terrorism.
Here’s a closer look at our August lineup:
August 1: The Vaccine War
Despite a scientific consensus that there is no link between vaccines and disorders like autism, the war over whether to immunize children continues. In The Vaccine War, FRONTLINE investigates the growth of the vaccine-skeptic movement, and goes inside the struggles of health care providers trying to reassure parents that vaccines are safe.
August 15: Terror in Little Saigon
Between 1981 and 1990, five Vietnamese-American journalists in cities across the U.S. were murdered, and many others in the community were intimidated and attacked. In this 2015 documentary, FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate who was responsible, uncovering a trail from American cities to jungles in Southeast Asia.
August 22 & 29: League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis
Go inside the fight between players, doctors and the NFL over the dangers of head injuries in football.
Check your local PBS listings for air times.
