PBS

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  PBS: Bill Moyers Journal

• A Tale of Two Quagmires

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:37 am

  This week on the JOURNAL, Bill Moyers looked back some four decades to his experience as a member of President Lyndon Johnson’s administration. At the time, Johnson made a series of fateful decisions to escalate the war in Vietnam, where eventually over two million American military personnel would serve. Estimates indicate that nearly 60,000 U.S. troops – and more than a million Vietnamese – were killed during the course of the conflict. With an eye on President Obama’s deliberations on whether to deploy more U.S. troops in addition to the 68,000 already in Afghanistan, Moyers…

• Michael Winship: New York's Tough Enough for Terrorist Trials

  20 Nov 2009 | 8:34 am

  (Photo by Robin Holland) Below is an article by JOURNAL senior writer Michael Winship. We welcome your comments below. "New York’s Tough Enough for Terrorist Trials" By Michael Winship If you want to royally tick off New Yorkers, try telling us what to do. That’s probably why the police stopped trying to enforce the jaywalking laws here years ago (as opposed to Washington, DC, where I once got one too many tickets and was sent to pedestrian school). And that’s why in the weeks after 9/11, my favorite sign was the one that appeared in the windows of Italian-American neighborhoods near…

• Michael Winship: In a Chilly London November, War and Remembrance

  17 Nov 2009 | 8:05 am

  (Photo by Robin Holland) Below is an article by JOURNAL senior writer Michael Winship. We welcome your comments below. "In a Chilly London November, War and Remembrance" By Michael Winship In Great Britain, Remembrance Sunday falls on the second Sunday of November, the one closest to November 11th, the anniversary of the end of the First World War in 1918. Once, the world called November 11th Armistice Day. Now, here in the States at least, it is Veterans Day. As coincidence and travel itineraries would have it, twice over the last four years I’ve been in London on Remembrance Sunday. This…

• Human Faces Behind the Health Debate

  13 Nov 2009 | 8:05 am

  (Photo by Robin Holland) This week on the JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with acclaimed actress-playwright Anna Deavere Smith about her latest production, LET ME DOWN EASY, in which she recreates the voices of 20 real people grappling with illness and mortality. Smith explained what her production is about: “LET ME DOWN EASY is about grace and kindness in a world that lacks that often, [but] not always. And a winner-takes-all world, where we don't think about the people who are losing. We don't think about the people who are abandoned by jobs or governments or lovers or mothers or fathers.

• A Passion for Poetry

  13 Nov 2009 | 7:49 am

  This week, the JOURNAL introduced viewers to Poets House in New York City, a space dedicated to celebrating the literary form that has been called “the queen of arts.” At the grand reopening of the facility in a large new space in Manhattan, several writers shared their love of poetry. Lee Briccetti said: “Language is central to our identity as human beings and poetry is central to language. Every culture has a poetry. And I believe that when people in the caves were blowing paint into the imprints of their hands, they were also chanting words to go with that. It goes very, very deep…

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  PBS: Frontline Reports

• Next on FRONTLINE: The Card Game

  24 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

  Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 9pm on PBS (Check local listings). FRONTLINE and The New York Times join forces to investigate the changing nature of the consumer credit business. With new regulations coming, what are the new terms and products banks will be offering customers?

• A Death in Tehran

  17 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

  Available for viewing online. At the height of the protests following Iran's controversial presidential election this summer, a young woman named Neda Agha Soltan was shot and killed on the streets of Tehran. Her death -- filmed on a cameraphone, then uploaded to the web -- quickly became an international outrage, and Agha Soltan became the face of a powerful movement that threatened the hard-line government's hold on power. With the help of a unique network of correspondents in and out of the country, FRONTLINE investigates the life and death of the woman whose image remains a potent symbol…

• Close to Home

  27 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  Available for viewing online. Producer Ofra Bikel chronicles how the middle class is faring in this recession through the stories of the people who she's come to know at the hair salon she's frequented for the past twenty years. The film reveals the struggles of a small business owner to stay afloat, her sister's risk of imminent foreclosure on her Florida home, and the various clients whose lives intersect at this New York City salon--from well-to-do bankers to struggling actors, each with a story to tell about how they're getting by in these turbulent times.

• The Warning

  20 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  Available for viewing online. In the devastating aftermath of the economic meltdown, FRONTLINE sifts the ashes for clues about why it happened and examines critical moments when it might have gone much differently. Looking back into the 1990s, veteran FRONTLINE producer/director Michael Kirk (Inside the Meltdown, Breaking the Bank) discovers early warnings of the crash, reveals an intense battle among high-ranking members of the Clinton administration, and uncovers a concerted effort not to regulate the emerging, highly complex, and lucrative derivatives markets, which would become the…

• Obama's War

  13 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  Available for viewing online. Tens of thousands of fresh American troops are now on the move in Afghanistan, led by a new commander and armed with a counterinsurgency plan that builds on the lessons of Iraq. But can U.S. forces succeed in a land long known as the "graveyard of empires"? FRONTLINE producers Martin Smith (Beyond Baghdad, Return of the Taliban) and Marcela Gaviria (In Search of Al Qaeda, The War Briefing) once again make the dangerous journey to the front lines of America's biggest fight. Through interviews with the top U.S. commanders on the ground, embeds with U.S. forces and…

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  PBS: Frontline View Online

• A Death in Tehran

  17 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

  (60 minutes) At the height of the protests following Iran's controversial presidential election this summer, a young woman named Neda Agha Soltan was shot and killed on the streets of Tehran. Her death -- filmed on a cameraphone, then uploaded to the web -- quickly became an international outrage, and Agha Soltan became the face of a powerful movement that threatened the hard-line government's hold on power. With the help of a unique network of correspondents in and out of the country, FRONTLINE investigates the life and death of the woman whose image remains a potent symbol for those who…

• Close to Home

  27 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  (60 minutes) Producer Ofra Bikel chronicles how the middle class is faring in this recession through the stories of the people who she's come to know at the hair salon she's frequented for the past twenty years. The film reveals the struggles of a small business owner to stay afloat, her sister's risk of imminent foreclosure on her Florida home, and the various clients whose lives intersect at this New York City salon--from well-to-do bankers to struggling actors, each with a story to tell about how they're getting by in these turbulent times.

• The Warning

  20 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  (60 minutes) In the devastating aftermath of the economic meltdown, FRONTLINE sifts the ashes for clues about why it happened and examines critical moments when it might have gone much differently. Looking back into the 1990s, veteran FRONTLINE producer/director Michael Kirk (Inside the Meltdown, Breaking the Bank) discovers early warnings of the crash, reveals an intense battle among high-ranking members of the Clinton administration, and uncovers a concerted effort not to regulate the emerging, highly complex, and lucrative derivatives markets, which would become the ticking time-bomb…

• Obama's War

  13 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  (60 minutes) Tens of thousands of fresh American troops are now on the move in Afghanistan, led by a new commander and armed with a counterinsurgency plan that builds on the lessons of Iraq. But can U.S. forces succeed in a land long known as the "graveyard of empires"? FRONTLINE producers Martin Smith (Beyond Baghdad, Return of the Taliban) and Marcela Gaviria (In Search of Al Qaeda, The War Briefing) once again make the dangerous journey to the front lines of America's biggest fight. Through interviews with the top U.S. commanders on the ground, embeds with U.S. forces and fresh reporting…

• Breaking the Bank

  16 Jun 2009 | 7:00 pm

  (60 minutes) The bets were huge and risky -- billions of dollars on the housing market. The upside was undeniable -- superbanks reaped billions of dollars, dominated the landscape, and gobbled up competitors. Then the bottom dropped out -- the massive losses on Wall Street nearly broke the banks. In the worst crisis in decades, brand name banks are on the brink. Now as the federal government implements an unprecedented intervention in the industry, FRONTLINE goes behind closed doors to tell the inside story of how things went so wrong so fast and to document efforts to stabilize Wall Street.

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  PBS: FRONTLINE Editors' Notes

• Doomsday Thinking?

  18 Nov 2009 | 2:22 pm

  Forget about asteroids or 2012. The threat that's been intimately with us for eons is viruses and bacteria -- mankind's only remaining 'predators.' A clip...

• Where Are You On This One?

  8 Nov 2009 | 4:07 pm

  Should kids who kill get life without parole? The U.S. Supreme Court announced it'll wrestle with it next session. Meanwhile -- some video, and our reporting...

• Branded by War

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:12 am

  On this Veteran's Day, Nov. 11th, Americans and the U.S. military are more aware than ever of war's impact on the soldier. View--

• Kahrdinal Sins

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:17 am

  --a response to Andrew Kahr by Jim Blaine, State Employees' Credit Union, North Carolina Andrew Kahr sure takes Messieurs Bubb and Kaufman to task in his blog response! Perhaps he should be more gentle, a bit more patient. After all, Bubb and Kaufman are admittedly just young, budding, novice economists; give them some space, surely their worst work still lies ahead! Actually, I was well pleased with both the tone and stridency of Mr. Kahr's rebuttal. Having watched his interview on FRONTLINE's 2004 program, Secret History of the Credit Card, I had always assumed that Mr. Kahr's views had…

• Look Back

  1 Nov 2009 | 6:43 am

  A year ago, Obama was elected president, and we aired a report on his life and career. Stats show this is the most watched section from that film...

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  PBS: FRONTLINE/World - Reports

• Uganda: Out of the Wild

  17 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

  Uganda's "Impenetrable Forest" -- home to the world's largest population of Mountain Gorillas, is also a hotbed for a number of deadly diseases that cross the species barrier from animals to humans. Our story investigates how a new idea in public health called "One Health" is emerging to help combat threats like Ebola, Marburg virus, and TB.

• Brazil: The Money Tree

  3 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm

  In the new economy created by global warming, forests are becoming a valuable commodity. Promising not to cut them down is one of the most popular ways companies would like to offset emissions. Mark Schapiro follows the trail of one of those offset projects deep into Brazil's Atlantic Forest.

• Covering Conflict Zones: A Media Symposium

  21 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  This fall, FRONTLINE/World gathered a small panel of journalists and media representatives in New York to share experiences and discuss the challenges of covering conflict zones and repressive regimes. Watch highlights from the discussion and join the conversation online.

• Peru: Kiva's Web-based Microfinance Growing Up

  16 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  Three years after we first broadcast our popular story about Kiva, a pioneer of web-based microloans, we decided to check in with the nonprofit on its fourth birthday, and find out how it's working with locals in a high Andean outpost in Peru.

• Jamaica: Girls on Track

  1 Oct 2009 | 7:00 pm

  It won six gold medals in track and field at the Beijing Olympics and has a population smaller than the city of Chicago. What makes Jamaica's athletes so good and so fast?

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  PBS: FRONTLINE/World Dispatches

• Reflections: The End of a Divided Germany

  11 Nov 2009 | 12:34 pm

  I grew up in West Germany during the Cold War, with one side of my family from the East and the other from the West. And even though I've lived in the U.S. for well over a decade, I am still deeply moved by what happened the summer and fall of 1989.

• Peru: Kiva's Web-based Microfinance Growing Up

  16 Oct 2009 | 10:57 am

  Three years after we broadcast our phenomenally popular story about Kiva, the San Francisco-based nonprofit that helps thousands of small businesses with microloans across the developing world, we check back in with the company on its fourth anniversary.

• Honduras: Standoff at the Embassy

  30 Sep 2009 | 7:26 pm

  Honduras' left-leaning president, Manuel Zelaya, who was deposed in a coup back on June 28, has returned to the country. We spoke to Al Jazeera's Monica Villamizar, who has been following the story, which, she says, has become a test case in Latin America for how the U.S. handles the crisis.

• China: Wall Scholar

  17 Sep 2009 | 3:03 pm

  There is apparently no formula to becoming an expert on the Great Wall of China. David Spindler was a graduate student in Beijing back in the early 1990s when he began trekking the wall and studying ancient documents to reveal its secrets. His passion for the wall's history is now the subject of two new exhibits.

• Afghanistan: A Stolen Election?

  3 Sep 2009 | 9:57 pm

  It's a pivotal time for Afghanistan. Allegations continue to stack up that Hamid Karzai and his supporters have rigged the election, and a change in U.S. policy to put more troops on the ground is losing public support.

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  PBS: MediaShift

• 4 Minute Roundup: Media Company Layoffs; Omidyar Startup

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:49 pm

  Here's the latest 4MR audio report from MediaShift. In this week's edition, I look at the deep layoffs that are planned at AOL, the AP and BusinessWeek. In the case of AOL, the company plans to shed one-third of its workforce, or 2,500 staffers. eBay founder Pierre Omidyar announced plans to launch a news startup in Hawaii that will combine citizen journalism with professional reporting to cover local civic issues. I asked Just One Question to Bayosphere founder Dan Gillmor about Omidyar's venture. Check it out: 4mrbareaudio112009.mp3 Background music is "What the World Needs" by the The…

• 5Across: Social Media Marketing 101

  19 Nov 2009 | 2:41 pm

  There's a new series of demands being made in company meetings everywhere: "What is our social media strategy? What are we doing on Facebook and Twitter? I want followers and fans, and I want them now!" But before companies large and small -- as well as non-profits and charities -- jump into social media, they need to take a deep breath and think about it. What are their goals? What kind of return on investment will they get? Even though it's free to set up fan pages and feeds, there's a time investment that may or may not pay off. On this episode of 5Across, I convened a group of social…

• Profiles in Courage: Social Media Editors at Big Media Outlets

  19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  During a recent trip to see an editor I work with at The Globe and Mail, a national newspaper in Canada, I passed by the newspaper's cafeteria. My editor looked in and pointed at a man who was sitting with his back to us. "There's Mathew Ingram, doing his office hours," he told me. Ingram is the Globe and Mail's communities editor, a job he took on after being a technology reporter, columnist and blogger for the paper. My editor explained that Ingram's "office hours" consist of him making himself available in the cafeteria so that anyone can come see him and talk about Twitter, user comments,…

• The Shutdown of UWIRE and the Implications for College Media

  18 Nov 2009 | 12:04 pm

  Last month, UWIRE.com, an edited college media newswire, mysteriously vanished from the Internet. "UWIRE, a popular service that aggregated articles from student newspapers across the country, promoting student journalism both within higher education and to the outside world, has disappeared," wrote Simmi Aujla for the Chronicle of Higher Education earlier this month. Today, visitors to the site receive an error message, and the people running the service have had little to say publicly. As a result, there has been intense speculation about the site, along with complaints from student editors…

• Young Political Candidates Confronted by Digital Past on Facebook

  17 Nov 2009 | 12:42 pm

  Last spring Emanuel Pleitez, 26, ran for California's 32nd Congressional seat in a special election to replace Hilda Solis, the new secretary of labor. During the campaign, one of Pleitez's opponents, California State Sen. Gil Cedillo, discovered photos from Pleitez's Facebook profile that showed Pleitez hanging around with various women at parties. The Cedillo campaign used the photos as the basis for a mailer that was sent to homes in the district. The mailer presented Pleitez as a partier, drinker and womanizer, among other smears. Pleitez admits the negative attack probably cost him some…

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  PBS: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

• Cancer Screening Debate Reveals Risks, Benefits of Testing

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:14 pm

  Newly-released guidelines on when, and how often, women should be screened for breast and cervical cancer stirred questions -- and confusion -- this week. Margaret Warner talks to health experts for insight.

• Women May Wait on Pap Smears Until 21, Group Says

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:03 pm

  Women can delay their first screening for cervical cancer until age 21, and be screened less often than recommended in the past, according to new guidelines issued Friday by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Betty Ann Bowser reports.

• Reporter's Podcast: Low-Profile Figures Picked to Lead EU

  20 Nov 2009 | 1:30 pm

  After weeks of internal negotiations, the European Union selected two "low-key consensus builders," as they have since been described, over big-name picks to lead the newly organized body.

• Conversation: Frederick Wiseman, Director of 'La Danse'

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:45 am

  Director Frederick Wiseman has documented a wide range of people's everyday routines and the goings-on inside institutions. A "big ballet fan," and a sometimes-resident of Paris, Wiseman recently turned his camera to one of France's most important cultural institutions: the Paris Opera Ballet.

• New Guidelines Recommend Later, Less Frequent Cervical Cancer Screening

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:19 am

  Women can wait to have their first Pap test for cervical cancer until age 21, and can wait longer between screenings than recommended in the past, according to new guidelines released Friday.

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  PBS: Nightly Business Report - Transcripts

• NBR Transcripts-November 19, 2009

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:46 pm

  printable transcripts

• "Cache and Carey" -Garmen Phone

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:42 pm

  AT&T's Garmen phone 360 is a phone with the feel of a GPS.

• Sir Richard Branson's Focus on the Globe

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:32 pm

  He's known as Sir Richard, the gung-ho billionaire with businesses around the globe under the Virgin name. But as Richard Branson tells us, his real passion is climate change.

• Asset Price Bubbles

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:20 pm

  Gold over $1,100, oil near $80 and easy money galore. With asset bubbles building around the globe, we look at what happens if they pop.

• Mortgage Delinquencies Build

  19 Nov 2009 | 7:16 pm

  PAUL KANGAS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: Mortgage delinquencies hit a new high with one in seven borrowers behind on loans or in foreclosure. We'll tell you how that staggering statistic could hit taxpayer wallets.

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  PBS: Nightly Business Report - Learn More

• Extended Interview with Richard Branson

  19 Nov 2009 | 2:19 pm

  NBR's Jeff Yastine met up with Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson aboard one of his planes earlier today. The two discussed the state of the airline industry, the economic outlook, and efforts to make business greener. An edited version of the interview airs in tonight's program. You can watch the extended interview here.

• STREET CRITIQUE - Michael Farr

  18 Nov 2009 | 3:36 pm

  Anchor Paul Kangas interviews market strategists and financial experts about Wall Street trends. On Wednesday, November 18th, Michael Farr of Farr, Miller, and Washington is Paul's guest.

• The GE - NBC Dynamic

  17 Nov 2009 | 3:17 pm

  General Electric is close to signing a deal that would hand control of television network NBC to Comcast. In tonight's program, NBR's Scott Gurvey examines GE's relationship with NBC and why it led to this sale. You can learn more about NBC here.

• MARKET MONITOR - Michael O'Higgins

  13 Nov 2009 | 3:37 pm

  Anchor Paul Kangas gets stock market insight from investing pros. On Friday, November 13th, Michael O'Higgins of O'Higgins Asset Management is Paul's guest.

• STREET CRITIQUE- Hilary Kramer

  11 Nov 2009 | 3:07 pm

  Anchor Paul Kangas interviews market strategists and financial experts about Wall Street trends. On Wednesday, November 11th, Hilary Kramer of A & G Capital Research is the guest.

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  PBS: XChange - The NBR Blog

• Cost Containment and the Senate Health Care Debate

  20 Nov 2009 | 3:36 pm

  Let's face it, cutting costs is as much fun as dieting. Maybe less. Which may explain why health care reform is such a daunting topic. The Senate bill that is facing a key procedural vote on Saturday is filled with complex policies to "bend the cost curve" on health care. There is a commission on costs, a tax on high-cost insurance plans, and a variety of new payment options for medicare. The complexity implies more certainty than reality to the health care cuts. Congress is changing incentives and putting in place new structures that have a chance to save money, but are not proven to do so.

• Health Care: The Filibuster

  20 Nov 2009 | 9:23 am

  There's a great line in an early scene of the musical "1776". Richard Henry Lee of Virginia has introduced a resolution declaring the 13 colonies "free and independent states" and the Second Continental Congress is deciding if it should consider the proposal and open debate. A tied vote is broken by Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island, who declares, "In all my years I never seen, heard, nor smelled an issue that was so dangerous it couldn't even be talked about. Hell yes. I'm for debating anything." There were no transcripts of the proceedings of the Continental Congress. Playwrights Sherman…

• Richard Branson and the "It" Factor

  19 Nov 2009 | 3:42 pm

  After meeting billionaire Richard Branson in the flesh for the first time on Thursday, a line of dialogue from the 1962 movie "Gypsy" comes to mind: "In this business, you either have it -- or you've had it." The "it" is...charisma? Charm? Star Quality? In the best sense of the phrase, perhaps it's a "cult of personality" -- that ability of one individual to rally a group of people, all with their own opinions and personalities, and glue them together in a way that allows the achievement of seemingly impossible business goals. Branson's name is usually mentioned in the same breath as another…

• Huh? Prices are down?

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:42 am

  Official government data says consumer inflation has fallen .2% in the past year. I don't know about you, but it doesn't seem to me like prices are falling. It came as a total surprise to me that grocery prices have fallen nearly 3 percent in the past year, one of the biggest category declines. I would have guessed prices at the supermarket were up. But it turns out, prices for nearly every aisle have been coming down, including beef, milk, eggs and fruit. If you're curious about the exceptions, they're breakfast cereals, sugar and carbonated drinks. Which brings us back to my question, why…

• Want to be a Landlord? Take it from Me: Just Say No!

  19 Nov 2009 | 8:18 am

  Tales from my 20 years as a landlord: One former tenant phoned months after disappearing into the night -- and leaving a horrific mess -- to berate me for letting the city junk the broken-down car he'd abandoned out front. Another tenant called to have me referee a dispute with a plumber. I could hear his wife and the plumber screaming so viciously in the background that I thought about calling 911. And, of course, I had tenants who fell behind in the rent, racked up huge, unnecessary repair bills, clogged the toilet with latex objects, set up meth labs in the basement and used the disposal…

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  PBS: Now

• Who's Helping Our Wounded Vets?

  20 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  The Pentagon estimates that as many as one in five American soldiers are coming home from war zones with traumatic brain injuries, many of which require round-the-clock attention. But lost in the reports of these returning soldiers are the stories of family members who often sacrifice everything to care for them. NOW reveals how little has been done to help these family caregivers, and reports on dedicated efforts to support them.

• Elizabeth Warren on the Economy

  13 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  What exactly is going on with the economy? Stocks are up and big bonuses are back, but while they're throwing parties on Wall Street, there's pain on Main Street. One out of every six workers is unemployed or underemployed, according to government statistics -- the highest figure since the Great Depression. NOW gets answers and insight from Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, who's been heading up the congressional panel overseeing how the bailout money is being spent. NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa talks with Warren about how we got to this point, and where we go from here. What…

• Interview: David Sirota

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

  Only one year after a historic election rerouted the course of America's political culture, do the 2009 election results show momentum swinging in the opposite direction? NOW's David Brancaccio talks to political author and columnist David Sirota about populist anger, the Obama administration's successes and failures, and how this week's election results foreshadow the state of politics in 2010.

• Electric Car Dreams

  30 Oct 2009 | 11:00 am

  Home to a worldwide summit on climate change in early December, Denmark is setting a global example in creating clean power, storing it, and using it responsibly. Their reliance on wind power to produce electricity without contributing to global warming is well known, but now they're looking to drive the point home with electric cars. To do this, they've partnered with social entrepreneur Shai Agassi and his company Better Place. NOW investigates how the Danish government and Better Place are working together to put electric cars into the hands of as many Danish families as possible. The idea…

• Water World

  23 Oct 2009 | 11:00 am

  Is climate change turning coastal countries into water worlds? NOW travels to Bangladesh to examine some innovative solutions being implemented in a country where entire communities are inundated by water, battered by cyclones, and flooded from their homes. Imagine you lived in a world of water. Your home is two-feet under. You wade through it, cook on it, and sleep above it. This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of people around the world, coastal populations on the front lines of climate change. Only weeks before world leaders meet in Copenhagen to discuss climate change, NOW senior…

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  PBS Ombudsman

• What's Not on the Air

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:55 am

  There was a little jewel on PBS last week, an hour-plus documentary called "The Way We Get By," part of the long-running POV, or point of view, series. It was broadcast on Nov. 11, Veterans Day, and was about the...

• Sesame Street Responds

  9 Nov 2009 | 6:14 am

  In last week's Ombudsman's Column, I posted e-mails from some viewers who were upset with an episode of the venerable children's program Sesame Street that had aired on Oct. 29 and dealt with one of the program's colorful creations, the...

• Pox or Fox? We Report. You Decide.

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:30 am

  One of the most interesting aspects of this peculiar job is that you hear from viewers about lots of things that surprise you. I expect to hear regularly about The NewsHour, Frontline, Bill Moyers Journal, NOW, Tavis Smiley or Washington...

• The Mailbag

  30 Oct 2009 | 3:30 pm

  This week's mailbag produced half-a-dozen or so letters from viewers who were angry at what they saw as PBS promotion of children being vaccinated against the flu virus, and in some cases, the H1N1 strain of that virus. Their ire...

• Unearthing 'the Hidden History'

  22 Oct 2009 | 1:47 pm

  Most of the e-mails to the ombudsman this week came in reaction to last week's column dealing with Frontline's Oct. 13 documentary about Afghanistan with the controversial title, "Obama's War," and with the controversial use of footage of a fatally...

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  PBS: P.O.V. Blog

• Appreciating Military Families

  20 Nov 2009 | 11:11 am

  POV's outreach and development assistant Jessica Lee recently attended a screening of POV's The Way We Get By on Capitol Hill. She writes about the experience and tells us what struck her about the film, its subjects and the screening. Recently, President Obama officially declared this November Military Family Month. As someone who has had only one enlisted extended family member, I didn't grow up with a deep sense of knowing what it was like to be part of a military family. That changed in September, when I had the privilege of attending a Capitol Hill screening of The Way We Get By by Aron…

• Vote for POV and Food Inc.

  20 Nov 2009 | 7:56 am

  We just applied for a Youtopia Grant, which is a grant that is open to both socially-responsible business and non-profit organizations, providing up to $30,000 worth of Free Range's design and/or strategic services. The twist? Unlike most grants, this one is being crowd sourced! Votes decide the top 50 finalists, and then Free Range picks the 2 winners. What do you say? Want to head over to their site and vote for POV? POV will be airing Food Inc. in 2010, and the idea we proposed for the Youtopia Grant is to create an interactive feature called "What Are You Bringing to the Table?" Read more…

• Conversations About War

  18 Nov 2009 | 8:49 am

  Veterans Day may only happen one day out of the year, but veterans — and their loved ones — live with the after effects of war everyday. They also deserve our thanks, attention and appreciation everyday. Last week, POV launched a new project: Regarding War. Conceived as a place for citizens and soldiers to share stories and discuss the realities of war, Regarding War has gotten off to a thought-provoking and moving start through the posts of our first set of bloggers, who have been writing on the topic of Coming Home: Veterans Readjusting to Civilian Life. Vietnam War veteran…

• Doc Soup: "By the People" vs. "The War Room"

  16 Nov 2009 | 7:25 am

  Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. Hey, have you had a chance to catch By the People, the HBO documentary about Barack Obama's presidential campaign that began airing this month? Yeah, me too. Did you shed some tears? Uh-huh. Did you marvel at the momentousness of that time? Yep. And isn't it fantastic to have that all on record, so we can be reminded of how history was made (to borrow an Obama phrase), and how, at one point, it really didn't look like it could actually happen? Right. And, yeah, well.... Weren't you…

• "The Way We Get By" Receives IFP and Fledgling Fund Grant for Outreach and Community Engagement

  13 Nov 2009 | 8:20 am

  The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) has teamed up with The Fledgling Fund to award the first The Fledgling Fund Outreach and Engagement Grant for Social Issue Documentaries to The Way We Get By, which aired on POV this week. We send our congratulations to filmmakers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly for this fantastic honor. For those of you who missed the broadcast of the film, it's streaming in its entirety online until December 12, 2009. Read more after the jump...

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  PBS: Tavis Smiley . Daily Schedule

• Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - Jason Schwartzman, Amy Goodman

  2 Dec 2009 | 12:00 pm

  Tavis talks with Democracy Now host Amy Goodman, author of Breaking the Sound Barrier, and actor-musician Jason Schwartzman, co-star of HBO's Bored to Death and one of the voices in the new animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox.

• Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - Ali Eteraz, Angie Stone

  1 Dec 2009 | 12:00 pm

  Tavis talks with journalist Ali Eteraz, author of Children of Dust, and singer-songwriter Angie Stone about her new CD, "Unexpected."

• Monday, November 30, 2009 - Viggo Mortensen

  30 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  Tavis talks with Oscar-nominated actor Viggo Mortensen, star of The Road.

• Friday, November 20, 2009 - 50 Cent

  20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  Rap artist-entrepreneur 50 Cent discusses his early years, the competition in hip-hop, developing his business acumen and his new CD-DVD project, "Before I Self Destruct."

• Thursday, November 19, 2009 - Andre Agassi

  19 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  Former tennis champ Andre Agassi describes the success of his college prep academy, compares being at the top in tennis to other sports and explains lessons he's learned and why he made the choice to be so open in his controversial autobiography.

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  PBS: Tavis Smiley . Young Voices

• Twilight: A Primer for Adults

  20 Nov 2009 | 6:08 am

  It's been impossible to ignore the hype surrounding this weekend's release of the second installment in the Twilight franchise, a story about abstinence and being a teenage vampire. Call me curmudgeonly, but I really don't get it. I don't get the current vampire zeitgeist, and I don't get why so many people are so crazy about these Twilight books. Virtually every single publication in existence has had an article about what this whole trend means and, after reading a lot of them, it's still not really clear. The good news is I'm not alone. At least one other person in the blogosphere sees…

• Are You a Millionaire?

  19 Nov 2009 | 11:41 am

  Q: How do you determine if you are a millionaire? What items do you include in your analysis? A: What you are asking is what's your net worth. That's how you determine if you're a millionaire. Interestingly, most people have no idea what their net worth is or even how to figure it out. The Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association sponsored a survey a few years ago and found that only about half (49%) of adults know what personal net worth is. Even after survey participants were given the definition of personal net worth, almost half (48%) indicated they didn't…

• Small Victory for Katrina Survivors

  19 Nov 2009 | 5:15 am

  For years, many have speculated that the disasters that took place along the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina were more than just a catastrophic occurrence. While many agree that Hurricane Katrina was indeed horrific, some believe part of the wreckage and destruction resulted from man-made errors. According to a recent ruling by a court judge, it appears that the government did in fact make some mistakes. An article in The New York Times reports that a federal circuit court judge ruled Wednesday evening that the Army Corps of Engineers were negligent in overseeing maintenance of a major…

• Is the Recession a Racial Equalizer?

  18 Nov 2009 | 9:26 am

  There have been Op-Eds in The New York Times saying that "blacks are the ones who are taking the brunt of the recession, with disproportionately high levels of foreclosures and unemployment." But a recent article in the paper asserts that the recession is helping bridge the racial divide in a suburb of Atlanta. The article quotes an African American woman, Keasha Taylor, who is seeking help at the Division of Family and Children Services: "Right now, a lot of white people are in this situation," Ms. Taylor said. "We're already used to poverty; they're really not." Does this shared economic…

• USDA: 14 Percent of U.S. Households Face Hunger

  16 Nov 2009 | 4:43 pm

  As the three-day World Summit on Food Security in Rome began addressing the more than one billion people worldwide who are going hungry Monday, an annual report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed that 17 million American households (14.6%) had "difficulty putting enough food on the table at times during the year" in 2008.Looking for a way to help? Donate or volunteer at one of Feeding America's more than 200 food banks.

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  PBS: Wide Angle

• World Links: Equatorial Guinea Pardons Simon Mann, Claude Levi-Strauss Dies at 100

  lauren feeney

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:34 am

  Czech President Vaclav Klaus signs the Lisbon Treaty, an agreement meant to streamline European Union decision-making that includes the establishment of an E.U. president. Klaus was the last hold out on the document, which required the unanimous support of all 27 E.U. member states. The treaty could now take effect as early as December. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic appears at his war crimes trial at the Hague after having boycotted it last week, but asks for 10 months to prepare his defense. Judges temporarily adjourn the case while they decide what to do. The European Court of…

• World Links: Karzai Declared Winner in Afghanistan, Opposition to Renew Challenge in Iran

  lauren feeney

  2 Nov 2009 | 2:58 pm

  President Hamid Karzai is declared winner of Afghanistan’s disputed elections after his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, withdraws from the race. Suicide attacks hit two of Pakistan’s largest cities — thirty people are killed in a blast in near  Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi, and two suicide bombers and a policeman are killed in a car bombing at a police checkpoint in Lahore. French-Senegalese writer Marie NDiaye becomes the first black woman to win France’s top literary award, the Prix Goncourt, for her book Trois Femmes Puissantes (Three Powerful…

• World Links: Haitian PM Ousted, Honduran Rivals Agree to Deal

  lauren feeney

  30 Oct 2009 | 9:08 am

  Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and defacto leader Roberto Micheletti agree to a deal that could lead to the creation of a power-sharing government with Zelaya resotred to the presidency. The deal, already hailed as “an historic agreement” by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, must now be approved by the Honduran congress. In one of the biggest changes in the forty-year history of the Internet, web addresses written in non-Latin characters will soon be allowed. Former French President Jacques Chirac is ordered to stand trial on corruption charges dating back to his…

• World Links: Iran Responds to Nuclear Deal, Race for E.U. President Begins

  lauren feeney

  29 Oct 2009 | 12:36 pm

  Iran hands over an initial response to a draft deal with the U.N. under which the country’s uranium would be sent abroad for processing. Iran is seeking two crucial changes to the plan — a slower timetable for delivery and the “simultaneous exchange” of nuclear fuel in return — but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the country is ready to cooperate. The Taliban and Al Qaeda deny involvement in yesterday’s bombing that killed over 100 people in a crowded market in Peshawar, Pakistan. Kuwait’s highest court rules that female parliamentarians do…

• World Links: Nearly 100 Dead in Peshawar Blast, Six U.N. Staffers Killed in Kabul

  lauren feeney

  28 Oct 2009 | 10:07 am

  Nearly 100 people are killed in a massive car bombing in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier. The blast hit a popular market full of fabric and clothing shops frequented mostly by women, and many of the dead are women and children. The attack comes as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits the country. Six U.N. staffers and two Afghan security guards are killed in an attack on their guest house in central Kabul. A Taliban spokesman takes credit, siting the U.N.’s involvement in Afghanistan’s presidential elections as the reason for the…