Frontline

"Donald Trump is in some ways John McCain 2.0," says Frontline producer Michael Kirk. The progression from one Republican presidential candidate to the other is illustrative of the radically changed Republican Party – and perhaps the end of the GOP as we know it.

The correspondent and producer of Frontline's Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia explains his understanding of the great regional rivalry fueling Middle Eastern conflicts, in which Iran and Saudi Arabia fight proxy wars without battle ever touching their soil. 

Two films that aired on PBS were nominated today for an Academy Award in the Documentary category: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, and Last Men in Aleppo. Revisit our various interviews with the directors about their films.

Understanding the Opioid Epidemic explores the roots of the crisis and stories of people affected. Get even more background from Frontline, through one of their investigative films and various articles examining the opioid crisis.

"When you're born into this world it's very hard to realistically change your life," says the director of the newly updated Frontline: Poor Kids. "Kids can escape into their dreams; adults escape into alcoholism or drugs. They didn't choose that."

50 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson created a federally funded public broadcasting system to "enrich man's spirit." PBS has produced a wide range of programs since then. Learn a little bit about the history of some of your favorites.

Michael Kirk discusses his new Frontline investigation, Putin's Revenge, which looks at Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election and what drove Putin to order it. "The ideology of Putin right now is survival of Putin," Kirk says.

The director of the Frontline investigation War on the EPA discusses the "role reversal" at the EPA under Scott Pruitt, where "the regulated become the regulator," and the importance of battles over environmental regulation in the election of Donald Trump. 

In 2015, Abacus Federal Savings Bank was the 2,651^st largest bank in the United States. It's also the only U.S. bank prosecuted for the 2008 financial crisis. Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams, discusses his Frontline documentary Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.

“I think Trump really likes the internal struggle between all of his people,” veteran Frontline producer Michael Kirk says. "I think the constant so far, that I’ve seen, is that this thing that we call Bannonism is alive and well."

Raney Aronson-Rath believes that, for all its difficulties, the current period is "a golden age for serious journalism." The newest Frontline, The Fish on My Plate, airs Tuesday, April 25 at 10:00 pm.