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.
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
How Maine’s Novel ‘Yellow Flag’ Law Endured After the Lewiston Mass Shooting
Maine’s law is a compromise rooted in a tradition of gun rights that crosses the political aisle.
Portland Press Herald & Maine Public
October 30, 2024
Episode 1: Did We Really Survive This?
What does it mean to be a victim? Or a survivor? In a few brief moments in October 2023, 18 lives were lost in Lewiston — and Maine was changed.
October 25, 2024
Introducing: Breakdown
Over six episodes, Breakdown explores the missed opportunities to prevent the Lewiston shootings, the role of guns and hunting in Maine’s politics, and the aftermath for shooting victims, some of whom were deaf and hard of hearing. From Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE.
October 25, 2024
Breakdown
On October 25, 2023, 18 people were killed in a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. It was the nation's deadliest in 2023. It may have also been the most preventable.
October 25, 2024
Lewiston Counseling Center Helps Community Navigate Grief From Mass Shooting
The Maine Resiliency Center opened just 19 days after the mass shooting and has become a critical resource for more than 400 people. Some are trying to keep it open permanently.
October 24, 2024
A Year After the Lewiston Mass Shooting, Six Portraits of Grief
Eighteen people were killed, 13 were shot and survived, and many others witnessed the deadliest attack in Maine’s history. A year later, a look at how some have navigated the aftermath.
Portland Press Herald & Maine Public
October 24, 2024
If It Survives in Court, Texas' Immigration Law Could Upend Immigration Enforcement Nationwide
Texas challenged federal supremacy by creating a state crime for illegal entry into the U.S. The courts will decide whether it’s constitutional — and whether other states can follow Texas’ lead.
The Texas Tribune
October 24, 2024
A Maine Law Could Have Forced the Lewiston Mass Shooter Into Mental Health Treatment. Why Wasn’t It Used?
Like nearly every other state, Maine can compel those with serious mental illnesses to comply with outpatient treatment. But the law is rarely used. Some fear it threatens to return America to a dark era of institutionalization.
Portland Press Herald & Maine Public
October 18, 2024
Quietly Over Two Decades, This Tiny Midlands Town Became the Hispanic Migrant Capital of South Carolina
Until the early 2000s, most of the people who lived in Saluda were Black or white. The town was shrinking. Most of the brick buildings on Main Street were vacant. Today, city officials say, most businesses in Saluda's city limits are owned by immigrants from Mexico or Guatemala.
The Post and Courier
October 15, 2024
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
‘We’ll Always Blame Ourselves’: Card Family Shares Its Pain Over Collective Failure To Prevent Lewiston Mass Shooting
Members of Robert Card's family broke their public silence to make emotional pleas for improvements to the Army, law enforcement and mental health systems that they say failed to help them in the months before he committed the state's deadliest mass shooting.
Portland Press Herald
May 16, 2024
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.