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 FRONTLINE, including…
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.
South Carolina’s Rural Voters
What matters most to rural voters in South Carolina this election year? The Post and Courier, in collaboration with Report for America, examines the issues that are top of mind for small town voters.
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
ASL-Interpreted Videos for “Breakdown” Podcast Investigating Deadly Maine Shooting
American Sign Language-interpreted videos for the podcast series “Breakdown: Turning Anguish Into Action,” which examined the deadly 2023 mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, and the aftermath.
Portland Press Herald & Maine Public
May 8, 2025
What the Lewiston Shooter’s Brain Injury Can Tell Us About Blast Exposure in the Military
Experts say the gunman’s brain tissue points to traumatic injury ‘likely’ caused by blasts in the line of duty; the Army disagrees, but is taking steps to limit exposure.
Portland Press Herald & Maine Public
January 30, 2025
Breakdown in Maine
Listen to the enhanced audio-only version of 'Breakdown in Maine,' from FRONTLINE, Maine Public Radio, and the Portland Press herald.
January 9, 2025
Episode 6: 'I Think There’s Hope'
In the aftermath of Lewiston, healing and recovery is taking many forms.
December 31, 2024
Episode 5: 'We’re Still Here'
Four members of Maine's deaf community died in Lewiston in October 2023 in what is believed to be the deadliest mass shooting of deaf people in the U.S.
December 27, 2024
Watch 2024’s 10 Most-Streamed New FRONTLINE Documentaries
These are the 10 most-streamed new FRONTLINE documentaries of 2024 — and they're all available to watch anytime online, in the PBS App and on YouTube.
December 23, 2024
Episode 4: 'They Controlled It All'
Examining the history and politics of guns and hunting in Maine, the state’s unique “yellow flag” gun laws and its powerful gun lobby.
December 20, 2024
As Landowners Resist, Texas’ Border Wall Is Fragmented and Built in Remote Areas
The Texas Tribune
December 19, 2024
There Were Warnings. Why Wasn’t the Shooter in Lewiston, Maine Stopped?
Less than four months before an Army reservist would carry out the deadliest shooting in Maine's history, he was hospitalized for psychosis and clinicians learned he had a "hit list." It was one in a series of warnings laid out in ‘Breakdown in Maine,’ a new documentary from FRONTLINE, Maine Public and the Portland Press Herald.
December 10, 2024
54m
Breakdown in Maine
FRONTLINE, the Portland Press Herald and Maine Public investigate the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history and the missed opportunities to prevent it.
December 10, 2024
Episode 3: 'Dereliction of Duty'
How did leaders of the Army Reserve respond to the many, clear warning signs about the Lewiston shooter, a part-time soldier who was in a dangerous, downward spiral? And why didn’t they take further action?
November 22, 2024
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.