Summary: America's frenzied debate over government health insurance has eclipsed another, no less challenging, national health care crisis-the plight of people with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This Fred Friendly Seminar sheds light on barriers to treatment, ethical and legal dilemmas, and fragmented social policies that are creating a nightmare for families, filling...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: It all began on a fateful weekend in September of 2008 when the American economy was on the verge of melting down. Then-Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, his former protege John Thain, and Ken Lewis, one of the most powerful bankers in the country, secretly cut a deal to merge Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. This episode of Frontline draws on high-profile interviews with key players...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Each year, more than one million people try to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, contending with dangerous forces that prey on their hopes and exploit their gullibility. This program exposes the most painful, disturbing, and hidden dimension of illegal immigration: the growing black market trade in human beings. Shedding light on the poverty that causes so many to risk everything by leaving their...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Diversity from immigration keeps cities alive, former Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ) and other leaders assert in this program; opposing views are also presented, thus summarizing America's immigration debate with mixed evaluations of its capacity for change. Using commentary from several experts-including Michael Teitelbaum, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, and Margie...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 1991, Rick Walker was wrongly convicted of murder and spent the next 12 years in prison. This program tells the story of his exoneration and the political struggle to secure financial compensation for him from the state of California. In addition to an interview with Walker himself, the film presents detailed conversations with key players in his case and the partisan budget battle over...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 1932, the United States had almost no provision by which the federal government could offer a helping hand to the victims of economic collapse. But with a staggering number of Americans out of work, soup kitchens and private charities were simply overwhelmed. Enter Franklin D. Roosevelt-a leader ready to act, armed with a New Deal for the country. Bill Moyers explores America's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: When it comes to today's important public policy issues, the opportunity to be heard depends on whether you can afford it. In this program, Bill Moyers and key legal and public interest advocates examine how industries with deep pockets use their access to the media to overwhelm the public debate, from North Carolina's hog industry to the defeat of the McCain Tobacco Bill to the passage of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Is the war on drugs in the U.S. causing greater societal harm than the problem of drug abuse itself? This provocative program features interviews with Bruce Benson and David Rasmussen, co-authors of Illicit Drugs and Crime; Eric Sterling, former Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee; Joanne Page, director of the Fortune Society; and others. Together they indict flawed initiatives that have...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The year is 2015. A coalition of European countries has decriminalized most stimulants, narcotics, and hallucinogens. But has legalization made drug use-or the streets of London-any safer? This program depicts a future in which police officers, Big Pharma executives, and recreational drug consumers would, depending on one's perspective, either reap the benefits or suffer the consequences of a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Almost one-fifth of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power. Supporters claim it is safe, cheap, and the answer to global warming. Critics call it dangerous, expensive, and hardly the solution to climate change. This program presents arguments for and against nuclear energy while exploring scientific concepts behind it. Topics include: the disposal or storage of radioactive waste; the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The fictional locale known as Eagle Bay is breathtakingly beautiful. First home to a handful of modest houses, over the decades it has transitioned into a neighborhood of stately mansions-except for one 50-acre parcel, whose owners now want to sell it for subdivision. This Fred Friendly Seminar moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller explores the complexities that arise when a family's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Pro-life advocates have waged a successful campaign to reduce abortions throughout the country, using state laws to regulate and limit the procedure and creating clinics offering alternatives. This Frontline documentary investigates the steady decline in the number of physicians and facilities carrying out abortions and focuses on local political battles in the states-particularly Mississippi,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Year by year the tourist trade has dwindled in fictional Pingwah Falls, leaving the town practically bankrupt. When a plan was unveiled for a modern resort, everyone's hopes rose.until they learned the land is home to a threatened species of bird. In this Fred Friendly Seminar moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller, panelists including former county supervisor Tom Mullen; Christopher...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: During the 1980s, a new civil rights movement got underway-for people with disabilities. In this program, Larry Paradis, executive director of Disability Rights Advocates, speaks with NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michels about the importance of litigation in pressuring companies and communities to comply with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. But are such legal actions actually...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: To at least one resident of the fictional city of Metropolis, a new outer suburb being planned for some pristine farmland sounds like the American Dream come true. His brother, also a Metropolite but an advocate of smart growth, sees it as a nightmare. Moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller, this Fred Friendly Seminar seeks to understand the housing situation facing the U.S.-a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Critics of affirmative action say that it pits Americans against each other and elevates the importance of race, gender, and ethnicity at the expense of hard work and merit. Supporters claim that discrimination remains pervasive in the U.S. and that the government must continue to play a role in aiding minorities and women. This program explores the historical roots of affirmative action and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Who is to blame for America's healthcare mess, and how can we fix it? In this ABC News program, John Stossel examines the insurance industry, the need for competition among care providers, and the possibility of combining lower costs with better medicine. Arguing against Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, which advocates government-funded healthcare, Stossel interviews Harvard Business School...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: For many Americans, the threat of sudden poverty has less to do with the nation's overall economy than it does with personal circumstances. This program discusses the hard facts of situational poverty with a focus on the four most common triggers: job loss, the fastest way to become impoverished; health issues, such as severe injury or long-term illness; the loss of a spouse through divorce or...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: One of the most dreaded weapons in the terrorist's arsenal can be delivered in a paper envelope. Vividly exploring situations that public officials, health care workers, and law enforcement personnel would have to confront in the event of a biological attack, a panel of experts wrestles with questions that have gone largely unanswered in the public record: Who among America's leadership is in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Why have America's health care costs skyrocketed? In this NBC News program, Tom Brokaw follows several cases at Staten Island University Hospital as he explores reasons behind financial turmoil in the U.S. health-care system. Among the patients: a 24-year-old man with no insurance who lost both legs in the Staten Island Ferry accident of October 2003. Another victim: a 62-year-old woman with a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Produced in Oahu, Hawaii, during the 2008 Blue Planet Energy Summit, this Fred Friendly Seminar features a panel of high-profile environmental and political leaders tasked with envisioning America's energy future. Broadcast journalist Frank Sesno, assuming the top post in a hypothetical presidential administration, challenges each "cabinet member" to contribute to a strategy that will end...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: As the 21st century unfolds, how are Americans adapting to urgent issues involving sustainable growth, quality of life, and community planning? Segment one of this NewsHour program examines the effect of urban sprawl on Atlanta's population, job and housing markets, the environment, and commuters. Segment two addresses the need for affordable housing in Burlington, Vermont, where the disparity...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Can high-tech weapons and unmanned defense systems outsmart the world's leading terrorists-perhaps even stopping them before they attack? This program looks at innovations now being developed for battlefield use as well as surveillance and security purposes. Featured technologies include guns that shoot around corners, automated vehicles that can neutralize the enemy, robots that detect and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Javal Davis was imprisoned for assaulting inmates at Abu Ghraib, but insists he is not a torturer. His fellow MP Ken Davis was never implicated, having reported the abuse to superiors. This program presents in-depth interviews with both men, detailing their side of the story and conveying their disillusionment with Pentagon officials who wanted interrogations pushed "up a notch." Featuring...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006