Local Journalism Initiative
Since 2019, FRONTLINE has been supporting local and regional news organizations conducting investigative journalism projects in their communities. Our partners in 2024 include newsrooms in Maine, Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina. We are contributing editorial, audience development and financial resources to coverage of subjects from healthcare disparities and Maine’s deadliest mass shooting to the Texas-Mexico border and the issues rural voters care about. Read more about our Local Journalism Initiative here, and meet our 2024 partners here.
“Poisoned,” an investigation by our 2020 LJI partners at Tampa Bay Times, won a George Polk Award, a Pulitzer Prize and an NABJ Award.
PARTNER INVESTIGATIONS
After George Floyd
The killing of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis sparked a nationwide reckoning on racism in America — and renewed calls for change. FRONTLINE partners with award-winning Star Tribune reporters as they cover the aftermath of Floyd’s death, Chauvin’s trial and the impact on both the city’s police and communities of color.
Breakdown: Investigating Maine's deadliest shooting
In October 2023, a local Army Reservist opened fire inside two family businesses in Lewiston, a small city north of Portland. Within minutes, 18 were killed and 13 wounded – and the largely pro-gun state was left reeling. The Portland Press Herald and Maine Public examine the failures and aftermath in collaboration with an upcoming…
COVID-19 in America
The latest from our local journalism partners on how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting communities across the U.S.
Dairyland in Distress
For years, Loyal, a city in the heart of Wisconsin's dairy country, has been struggling with an ailing farm economy. Then COVID-19 hit the state. A collaboration between Milwaukee PBS and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Fractured
The mental health care system in North Carolina has been failing for years. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than those who get caught up in the criminal justice system, out of sight, therefore out of mind for the general public and policymakers. But their plight — and the brokenness of the mental health system…
Groundwater War
New Mexico PBS' investigation into PFAS contamination at military installations in the state and its impact on groundwater.
Poisoned
Hundreds of workers at a Tampa lead smelter have been exposed to dangerous levels of the neurotoxin. The Tampa Bay Times investigates the profound consequences. Part 1: The Factory | Part 2: The Failings | Part 3: The Fallout This investigation, carried out with support from FRONTLINE's Local Journalism Initiative, won a George Polk Award, a Pulitzer Prize…
Rural Health Care: The Other Texas Drought
Rural communities in the Texas Panhandle have struggled to keep up in the fight against the coronavirus. The Texas Newsroom examines the shortage of health care resources people living in those communities face.
Sugar Land
In 2018, a few months into building a new school in Sugar Land, Texas, construction crews uncovered 95 unmarked graves — evidence of a particularly dark period in our country’s history. The Texas Newsroom explores who these 95 people were and what happened to them in the podcast “Sugar Land.”
Texas Border Crackdown
Immigration is one of the country’s most divisive political issues. The Texas Tribune investigates Texas' unprecedented militarization of the 1254-mile Texas-Mexico border, separating reality from political rhetoric.
The Disconnect
In February 2021, days-long blackouts in Texas left millions shivering in the dark. Hundreds died. How has the Texas grid changed since then? And how has it changed how people think? KUT/KUTX Studios and The Texas Newsroom explore those questions in season two of “The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout.”
Uncovered
A first-of-its-kind effort to expose questionable government conduct and corruption throughout South Carolina. The Post and Courier has teamed with 17 community newspapers in this effort, which aims to strengthen accountability of taxpayer dollars and democracy in the Palmetto State.
Underage and Unprotected
A two-year investigation by The Public’s Radio reveals how some migrant teens end up working in risky jobs at seafood processing plants in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Underage and Unprotected examines the role of staffing agencies, which many teens said hired them and sent them to jobs at processors. The series also exposes weaknesses in the…
When Police Shoot
Police across Utah shot at 30 people two years ago. And then in 2020, the state tied that record. With no government entity collecting such data, The Salt Lake Tribune will expand its own data gathering on police shootings.
Youth Suicide in Colorado
Colorado has one of the country’s highest suicide rates, a crisis only deepened by the pandemic. Rocky Mountain PBS examines a statewide prevention effort and finds stories of healing and hope.
Our Partners
Latest Reporting from Our Partners
Many Americans Say Immigration Is Out of Control, but 24 Hours on the Texas-Mexico Border Showed a New Reality. Will It Last?
The Texas Tribune and The Associated Press visited five locations along the 1,254-mile span to separate the facts from the political narrative during a heated election year.
The Texas Tribune
September 25, 2024
The 48 Hours of Confusion, Chaos and Fear After Maine’s Deadliest Mass Shooting Raise Questions About Police Training
It took two days and five searches of a property in Lisbon, Maine, before police finally found the shooter’s body — despite repeated tips that it was his most likely hiding spot.
Portland Press Herald & Maine Public
July 28, 2024
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Fractured
FRONTLINE, WFAE & Firelight Media investigate the long waits for mental health care that defendants who are deemed too sick to stand trial face in North Carolina.
March 5, 2024
Underage Workers in New England’s Seafood Processing Industry
An investigation into underage labor at New England seafood processing plants reveals flaws in the systems designed to protect migrant teens.
December 14, 2023
Las Jornadas de 21 Horas de un Adolescente en New Bedford
Cómo un adolescente inmigrante intentó combinar entre ir al bachillerato y trabajar en las noches en una procesadora de productos del mar.
The Public's Radio
September 20, 2023
A New Bedford Teenager’s 21-Hour Days
How a migrant teen tried to juggle going to high school and working overnights at a seafood processor.
The Public's Radio
September 20, 2023
El déficit en los sistemas que se supone deben proteger a los niños inmigrantes
The Public's Radio
September 19, 2023
The Flaws in the Systems to Protect Migrant Teens
A patchwork of state and federal of state and federal agencies are tasked with protecting migrant teen workers from exploitation, but they rely on approaches to uncovering violations that regulators themselves acknowledge are flawed.
The Public's Radio
September 19, 2023
Adolescentes Inmigrantes Trabajaron en Empleos Riesgosos en Procesadoras de Productos Del Mar en New Bedford
El Departamento del Trabajo de EE. UU. está investigando posibles violaciones de leyes sobre empleo infantil, pago de horas extras y antirepresalias en dos procesadoras y una agencia de empleo con sede en Rhode Island
The Public's Radio
September 18, 2023
Migrant Teens Worked in Risky Jobs in New Bedford Seafood Processing Plants
The U.S. Department of Labor is investigating possible violations of child labor, overtime pay, and anti-retaliation laws at two processors and one Rhode Island-based staffing agency.
The Public's Radio
September 18, 2023
Still Here: Cycling Between the Jail and the Mental Health Hospital
WFAE's series began with the story of John, a 32-year-old man living with severe mental illness and intellectual disabilities. He was arrested more than five years ago, but he’s remained in custody and never had a trial. WFAE was finally able to speak with him a few weeks ago.
WFAE
August 1, 2023
Miami’s Model for Defendants With Severe Mental Illness
As WFAE has been reporting, locking up defendants with serious mental illness can make their mental health worse. It’s expensive, and it's often not very effective at reducing crime. In Miami, public officials have been managing defendants with mental illness very differently.
WFAE
July 18, 2023
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.