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: One government service after another has been turned over to private business for a profit. In this program, Bill Moyers Journal and Expose: America's Investigative Reports examine a whistleblower's tale of military housing contracts gone awry as Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Eric Nalder reveals what happens when one private contractor drops the ball. In addition, Bill Moyers talks with...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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
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Summary: As more and more companies view low-income Americans as opportunities for profit, the "poverty business" is taking off. In this program, Bill Moyers Journal and Expose: America's Investigative Reports follow a team of BusinessWeek reporters as they track corporate practices that some say are exploiting the working poor. Bill Moyers then talks with economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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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
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Summary: This ABC News program looks at the constitutional controversy over gay marriage as it exploded in both Massachusetts and California in February 2004. Is it a matter of civil rights or human rights? Should it be addressed at a state level or a federal level? Ted Koppel moderates a debate about gay marriage and its legal ramifications with Representative Barney Frank, conservative political...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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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: To many, worrying about constitutional rights seemed like an archaic luxury while Ground Zero was still smoking. The need for tighter homeland security made civil liberties take a back seat to urgent measures such as the USA PATRIOT Act designed to defend America from terrorists. But two years later, that piece of legislation came under fire from both the left and the right. In this ABC News...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The implementation of the 1996 welfare reform act's Charitable Choice provision has proved controversial in the extreme. In this program, supporters and opponents alike give a clear sense of what is at stake as they examine the application of Charitable Choice in Indiana, Massachusetts, and North Carolina-states with distinctly different political cultures and religious landscapes. These...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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
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Summary: Can the U.S. afford to reform its healthcare system? Can it afford not to, with 46 million Americans lacking health insurance and millions more underinsured? This Fred Friendly Seminar explores the dilemmas and urgently needed policy decisions surrounding what has become, literally, a life-or-death issue. NYU law professor Arthur Miller guides a team of high-profile panelists through a series...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Providing a balanced look at a highly contentious issue, this program takes viewers inside the scientific, religious, and philosophical debate over embryonic stem cell research. Divergent opinions and perspectives are presented by respected researchers, thinkers, and stakeholders-including renowned Australian geneticist Dr. Alan Trounson; Father Norman Ford, a prominent ethics commentator and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This ABC News program examines today's terrorism, in which negotiation plays no part and mass destruction is the goal. First, correspondent Chris Bury reports on how the governments of Italy, Germany, and Egypt have combated terrorism during recent decades. Then, anchor Ted Koppel interviews two authorities on the new terrorism: military historian Caleb Carr, author of The Lessons of Terror,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: America's unions have bet on Barack Obama to initiate a recovery that will revive not only the economy, but the organized labor movement as well. In this program, Bill Moyers and United Steelworkers International's Leo Gerard address topics ranging from economic justice for workers, to the future of American manufacturing, to Gerard's hopes for how unions will fare under the Obama...
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
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: By 2015, homelessness may be a thing of the past in Portland, Oregon. Taking a "housing first" stance, Portland has reversed the cause-and-effect approach to urban renewal by first securing homes for its homeless residents and then helping them solve the problems that made them homeless to begin with. In this program, Victoria, British Columbia, applies Portland's public policy to its own...
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: 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
View online at AVOD
Summary: Amidst historic economic failures, this edition of the Journal takes an in-depth look at what led to the financial meltdown, what it means for American families, and how it may affect voters in the run-up to the 2008 elections. Bill Moyers speaks with prescient political and economic critic Kevin Phillips, author of Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: As headlines trumpet cases of children becoming “lost”—and in some cases, dying—while in the care of the state or when the state does not act promptly to take custody, child welfare policies have come under intense questioning. But the answers are not simple. This award-winning Fred Friendly Seminar is presented in collaboration with the Institute for Child and Family Policy at Columbia...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
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
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 the years since the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of abortion, the political scene has changed dramatically enough to threaten this landmark decision. On the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, this ABC News program surveys the current landscape of opinion and political alignment, examining the shift of momentum concerning abortion rights. Correspondent Dave Marash reports from Minnesota,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006