History

FRONTLINE has served as American public television’s flagship news and public affairs documentary series since 1983. Four decades later, the series has evolved into a multiplatform organization, committed to delivering trustworthy and engaging journalism.

Described by The New York Times as “some of the sharpest investigative journalism on television,” the series has built a reputation for powerful reporting and filmmaking that tackles the tough, controversial and complex stories that shape our times.

FRONTLINE has won an Academy Award® and nearly every major journalism award, including more than 100 News & Documentary Emmys, as well as Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, George Foster Peabody Awards, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, Edward R. Murrow Awards, Scripps Howard Awards and George Polk Awards and multiple finalist nominations for the Pulitzer Prize.

Since its inception, FRONTLINE has never shied away from in-depth investigations on everything from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, from global conflict and humanitarian crises to community-level issues like addiction, policing and poverty. The series remains committed to producing compelling, fact-based documentaries rooted in vetted reporting that illuminates critical issues and holds truth to power.

To tell these important stories, FRONTLINE has collaborated with many newsrooms, including ProPublica, The Associated Press, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Retro Report, The Marshal Project, as well as international outlets such as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, El Faro and Armando.info. FRONTLINE regularly works with and supports numerous local and regional news organizations through its Local Journalism Initiative, which aims to promote sustainable, public interest journalism in communities where the media has been hit hard by financial pressures.

Today, FRONTLINE is more accessible than ever. More than 300 of our documentaries are available to watch in full, for free, at PBS.org/frontline. All of our new documentaries and extended interviews with sources are also available on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel. Audiences can also find our documentaries on the PBS App and on PBS Documentaries on Prime Video.

To experience even more of our in-depth reporting, audiences can listen to the series’ original podcast, The FRONTLINE Dispatch, and explore award-winning interactives, text reporting and the Transparency Project on our website.

FRONTLINE is dedicated to showcasing thoughtful reporting, and deep and unflinching storytelling from award-winning journalists and filmmakers. A good story — told with unwavering journalistic integrity — is at the heart of FRONTLINE’s commitment to its viewers and to public media audiences everywhere.