Frontline

From PBS and Frontline: The National Football League, a multibillion-dollar commercial juggernaut, presides over America's indisputable national pastime. But the NFL is under assault as thousands of former players and a host of scientists claim the league has covered up how football inflicted long-term brain injuries on many players. In this special investigation, FRONTLINE and prize-winning journalists Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada of ESPN reveal the hidden story of the NFL and brain injuries, drawn from their forthcoming book League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth (Crown Archetype, October 2013). What did the NFL know and when did it know it? What's the truth about the risks to players? What can be done? The FRONTLINE investigation details how, for years, the league denied and worked to refute scientific evidence that the violent collisions at the heart of the game are linked to an alarming incidence of early onset dementia, catastrophic brain damage, death, and other devastating consequences for some of football's all-time greats.

From PBS and Frontline: "Nightmare bacteria." That's how the CDC describes a frightening new threat spreading quickly in hospitals, communities and across the globe. FRONTLINE reporter David Hoffman investigates the alarming rise of untreatable infections: from a young girl thrust onto life support in an Arizona hospital, to a young American infected in India who comes home to Seattle, and an uncontrollable outbreak at the nation's most prestigious hospital, where 18 patients were mysteriously infected and six died, despite frantic efforts to contain the killer bacteria. Fueled by decades of antibiotic overuse, the crisis has deepened as major drug companies, squeezed by Wall Street expectations, have abandoned the development of new antibiotics. Without swift action, the miracle age of antibiotics could be coming to an end.

From PBS and Frontline: On the night she broke up with her boyfriend, a Florida deputy sheriff, Michelle O'Connell was found dead from a gunshot in the mouth. Next to her was her boyfriend's semi-automatic service pistol. The sheriff's office called it suicide, but was it? FRONTLINE and The New York Times investigate this death of a young, single mother, and what can go wrong when the police are faced with domestic violence allegations within their own ranks.

From PBS and FRONTLINE: In just over two decades, Steven A. Cohen has amassed a gigantic fortune: a sprawling 35,000-square-foot mansion on Connecticut's gold coast; a $62-million beach house in the Hamptons, and several New York apartments, including a $115-million mid-town duplex - all of them furnished with some of the world's most expensive art. How did he do it? From small-time options trader to King of Wall Street hedge fund managers, FRONTLINE investigates Cohen and his company, SAC Capital, and other Wall Street characters with never-before-seen video and incriminating FBI wiretaps. The film is a taut crime drama with a cast of colorful characters: from cheating traders with their "Mr. Whisper" sources to some of the most respected figures in American business. To date, the government has convicted 76 people of securities fraud and conspiracy. Will Cohen be the next to fall? FRONTLINE tracks an ongoing seven-year investigation into the largest insider trading scandal in U.S. history.

From PBS and FRONTLINE: Just two years in the job and armed with nuclear weapons, North Korea's Kim Jong-Un is the world's youngest dictator, ruling one of the world's most isolated countries. Like his father and grandfather, he wants to maintain tight control over what North Koreans see of the world - and what the world sees of North Korea. But with unique access, FRONTLINE goes inside the secret state to explore life under its new ruler, and investigate the enigmatic "Morning Star King" as he tries to hold onto power.Using new footage smuggled from inside and never-before-told stories from recent defectors living in South Korea, the film offers a rare glimpse of how some North Koreans are defying authority in a country where just being caught with illegal DVDs could mean immediate imprisonment.

From PBS and Frontline: FRONTLINE makes a dangerous trip to the battlefields of Syria, gaining exclusive access to rebel forces as they try to unify against extremist Islamic factions that have thwarted the fight against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. With international peace efforts foundering and Western news organizations unable to safely report inside the country, journalist Muhammad Ali crosses into Syria to travel with moderate rebel commanders and fighters as they launch what they are calling "The Second Revolution," this time against jihadis from the Al Qaeda-linked group known as ISIS. From inside the war zone, FRONTLINE gives the most timely view yet of this newest front in the Syrian revolution. Also in this hour: a report from the besieged city of Aleppo, where more than 2,000 children have been killed in the fighting. This intimate portrait exposes what life is like for children who stay behind and are forced to adapt, as the world around them slips further into chaos.

From PBS and Frontline: Thanks to social media, today's teens are able to directly interact with their culture - artists, celebrities, movies, brands, and even one another - in ways never before possible. But is that real empowerment? Or do marketers still hold the upper hand? In Generation Like, author and FRONTLINE correspondent Douglas Rushkoff (The Merchants of Cool, The Persuaders) explores how the perennial teen quest for identity and connection has migrated to social media - and exposes the game of cat-and-mouse that corporations are playing with these young consumers. Do kids think they're being used? Do they care? Or does the perceived chance to be the next big star make it all worth it? The film is a powerful examination of the evolving and complicated relationship between teens and the companies that are increasingly working to target them.

From PBS and Frontline: Pope Benedict made history when he announced his resignation, becoming the first Pope to step down voluntarily in six hundred years. In his wake he left a bitterly divided Vatican mired in scandals. But is Benedict's successor, Pope Francis, taming the forces that helped destroy Benedict's papacy? Is he succeeding in lifting the Church out of crisis? Nearly a year in the making, this special FRONTLINE goes inside the Vatican - one of the world's most revered and mysterious institutions - to unravel the remarkable series of events that led to the resignation that shook the world. Through interviews with those at the very heart of what happened - cardinals, priests, convicted criminals, police, prosecutors and whistle-blowers - FRONTLINE gives a first-hand account of the final days of Benedict's papacy and the current battle to set the Church on a new path under Francis.

From PBS and Frontline: FRONTLINE tells the heart-wrenching stories behind the spread of a deadly infection threatening people around the world. Despite efforts to eradicate it, tuberculosis remains one of the world's deadliest diseases, a contagious airborne illness infecting more than eight million people a year. But most alarming to global health officials are spreading strains of TB that are highly resistant to drug treatments. In this intimate film, FRONTLINE travels to the epicenter of the TB crisis — the southern African nation of Swaziland — where families are waging an often hopeless fight for survival.

From PBS and Frontline: An estimated 80,000 Americans are in solitary confinement - even people who haven't committed violent crimes - sometimes for years, or even decades. Using extraordinary access to the segregation unit at the maximum security Maine State Prison, FRONTLINE examines America's use of solitary confinement - a practice U.S. prisons and jails resort to more than most other countries. Some prison officials see it as necessary to keep order and safety, but critics say it is inhumane and counterproductive. "Solitary Nation" is an extraordinarily rare and intimate view of life in solitary, through the stories of inmates living in isolation, the prison officers who keep them locked in, and a new warden who is re-thinking the practice and trying to reduce the number of inmates in solitary.

From PBS and Frontline: Last year Edward Snowden downloaded tens of thousands of top-secret documents from a highly secure government computer network. The revelations that followed touched off a fierce debate over the massive surveillance operations conducted by the National Security Agency. Now FRONTLINE investigates the secret history of the unprecedented surveillance program that began in the wake of September 11th and continues today. Through exclusive interviews with intelligence insiders, cabinet officials, and government whistle-blowers, Part One reveals how the U.S. government came to monitor the communications of millions of Americans and to collect billions of records on ordinary people around the world.

From PBS and Frontline: In Part Two of United States of Secrets, FRONTLINE explores the role of Silicon Valley in the National Security Agency's dragnet. As big technology companies encouraged users to share more and more information about their lives, they created a trove of data that could be useful not simply to advertisers, but also to the government. The revelations of NSA contractor Edward Snowden would push Silicon Valley into the center of a debate over privacy and government surveillance.

From PBS and Frontline: FRONTLINE goes inside the raging battle zones of Ukraine and Syria. 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.

From PBS and FRONTLINE: Sixty years after the Supreme Court declared separate schools for black and white children unconstitutional, FRONTLINE examines the comeback of segregation in America. The film focuses on Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where a group of mostly white parents are trying to form their own city with its own separate school district, leaving behind a population of black students. Through the battle in Baton Rouge, FRONTLINE shows the growing racial divide in American schools and the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education. Also this hour: FRONTLINE updates the story of Omarina Cabrera, a struggling student from the Bronx who today is excelling at an elite prep school in New England due to a groundbreaking program to stem the high school dropout crisis. Drawing on the 2012 film, Middle School Moment, FRONTLINE follows Omarina's achievements and challenges and shows the contrasts to her twin brother, who has remained in the Bronx.

From PBS and FRONTLINE: FRONTLINE examines the unfolding chaos in Iraq and how the U.S. is being pulled back into the conflict. Drawing on interviews with policymakers and military leaders, the film traces the U.S. role from the 2003 invasion to the current violence, showing how Iraq itself is coming undone, how we got here, what went wrong, and what happens next.

From PBS and FRONTLINE - From the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak, FRONTLINE follows health officials tracking the deadly disease and trying to stop its rampant spread. With special access to teams fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone, the film shows how the outbreak is endangering health- care workers, overwhelming hospitals and getting worse. Also this hour, FRONTLINE investigates accounts that members of the Nigerian military have been committing atrocities in the fight against Boko Haram - the Islamist militants who kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in April. Amid worldwide pressure to find the girls, FRONTLINE uncovers shocking videos showing arrests, torture and summary executions of alleged Boko Haram suspects.

From PBS and FRONTLINE - Did Texas execute an innocent man? FRONTLINE re-investigates the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed for the arson deaths of his three children. The film asks new questions about a key prosecution witness and science that raises doubts about whether the fatal fire was really arson.

From PBS and Frontline: With unprecedented access, FRONTLINE investigates the impact of mass incarceration in America, focusing on a troubled housing project in Louisville, Kentucky, and a statewide effort to reverse the trend. There are some 2.3 million people behind bars in the U.S. today, but a disproportionate number come from a few city neighborhoods, and in some places the concentration is so dense that states are spending millions of dollars a year to lock up residents of single blocks. "Prison State" examines one community, Louisville's Beecher Terrace housing project, and follows the lives of four residents as they move in and out of custody, while Kentucky tries break that cycle and shrink its prison state.