Inside the Epic Political Battle Over the Debt Ceiling in 2012 (documentary) | FRONTLINE

How did the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision change political campaigns in America? In 2012, FRONTLINE and APM’s Marketplace investigated how the controversial ruling was playing out in Montana, an epicenter of the campaign finance debate. (Aired 2012) As this documentary, “Big Sky, Big Money,” explored, the Citizens United decision held that political spending is a form of protected speech, and let corporations and unions spend unlimited amounts of money in campaigns. But to avoid corruption, the court said the money can't go directly to candidates; it has to go to independent outside groups. What did that mean in reality? As the 2012 election loomed, correspondent Kai Ryssdal traveled to Montana, then a battleground over campaign finance, and uncovered startling new evidence of outside interest groups’ influence on local campaigns. The documentary raised questions about how secret “dark money” was transforming U.S. politics, looked at a boom in ads made by tax-exempt nonprofits known as 501(c)(4)s — which generally weren’t required to disclose their donors publicly — and probed evidence that appeared to show possible coordination with campaigns. “Big

An inside look at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political rise and his combative relationship with past U.S. presidents. (Aired 2016) Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation, The John and Helen Glessner Family Trust, the Ford Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation.

FRONTLINE told the story of Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler’s bold attempt to regulate the tobacco industry — which had defied regulation for more than thirty years. (Aired 1995) The documentary details the FDA’s efforts to prove that cigarette manufacturers were manipulating nicotine in cigarettes to keep smokers hooked and examines the political headwinds the FDA faced at the time. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. CHAPTERS: Prologue - 00:00 FDA Makes a Case to Regulate Nicotine in Tobacco Like a Drug In 1994 - 00:45 Why Is It So Hard to Quit Smoking Cigarettes? - 09:57 FDA Commissioner Takes On the Tobacco Industry and Nicotine - 18:15 What Did the Tobacco Industry

How did false claims of election fraud make their way to the center of American politics? FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate the plot to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election. FRONTLINE and ProPublica uncover how a small group of people helped to create some of the core narratives of fraud that President Donald Trump and many others would go on to champion after the election — and how the legacy of their effort is impacting democracy and shaping elections to come. “Plot to Overturn the Election” is a FRONTLINE production with Midnight Films, LLC in partnership with ProPublica. The correspondent is A.C. Thompson. The producer, writer and director is Samuel Black. The executive producer for FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Park Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon

On Nov. 12, 2021, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress, after failing to comply with a subpoena issued by the U.S. House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Revisit FRONTLINE’s examination of Bannon’s worldview and his role in Donald Trump's campaign and administration. (Aired 2017) A bombastic figure on the far right who rose to prominence as a policy adviser and speech writer, Steven Bannon entered the White House determined to implement Trump’s campaign promises. “Bannon’s War” details how the former Breitbart News editor also engineered the sweeping executive order that restricted Muslims from entering the United States, and held such sway over the former president that Time magazine dubbed him “Manipulator in Chief.” He left the White House in August 2017 amid fallout from Trump’s remarks about the violence that erupted during protests in Charlottesville, Va. but continued to promote the president and his agenda. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE

In this 2009 documentary, FRONTLINE producers Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria travel across Afghanistan and Pakistan to see firsthand how President Obama’s strategy took shape, delivering vivid, on-the-ground reporting from the war's many fronts. In “Obama’s War”, Correspondent Martin Smith interviews top generals, diplomats and government officials to understand the internal debates over President Obama's grand attempt to combat terrorism at its roots. With the brunt of the work falling on rank-and-file soldiers in the unforgiving landscape of Helmand province, the Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, FRONTLINE embedded with Echo Company of the 2nd Marines, 8th Battalion. Since the Marines' arrival that July, Helmand had become the most lethal battlefield in Afghanistan. But FRONTLINE found the Marines trying to act as armed diplomats, attempting to build the necessary trust for badly needed economic development. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the