NOW on PBS

By NOW on PBS

What's NOW on PBS about?

NOW shines a light on corporate and government policies to expose their effects on society and democracy. Using expert reporting, interviews, and analysis, the show goes behind the headlines to provide insight on some of today's most pressing issues.

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NOW on PBS episodes:

04.30.2010
The Best of NOW: Issues and Insight
NOW on PBS goes off the air with not just a look back at our most memorable moments, but a mission to leverage these eight years of investigation and insight into lasting inspiration. In the special, NOW examines economic hardships...
04.23.2010
The Best of NOW: The Wars
NOW on PBS has been covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for as long as we've been on the air. In that time, we've recognized that there's much to these conflicts than be covered by short segments and passionate...
04.16.2010
The Best of NOW: In-Depth Investigations
The NOW broadcast series is ending -- the show will go off the air in just three weeks. NOW looks back on eight years of in-depth investigative reporting to examine what's been uncovered and accomplished, as well as what still...
04.09.2010
A Town Revitalized?
The national economic disaster hit the city of Braddock Pennsylvania like a wrecking ball. But Braddock Mayor John Fetterman -- dubbed "America's Coolest Mayor" by The New York Times -- is taking very unconventional approaches to reinventing the town and...
04.02.2010
Maximum Capacity
The number of inmates in American prisons is outpacing the system's ability to hold them all. In one startling example, California prisons hold well over 50,000 more inmates than they're designed for, even though the state has built a dozen...
03.26.2010
"Gasland"
In the debate over energy resources, natural gas is often considered a "lesser-of-evils". While it does release some greenhouse gases, natural gas burns cleaner than coal and oil, and is in plentiful supply -- parts of the U.S. sit above...
03.19.2010
Soap Opera for Social Change
There are places in the world where the success of a soap opera is measured not just in TV ratings, but in human lives. NOW travels to Kenya, where ambitious producers and actors hope one such TV show, "The Team",...
02.26.2010
Hunting Wolves, Saving Wolves
In 1995 and 1996, 66 gray wolves were relocated from Canada to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho to help recover a wolf population that had been exterminated in the northern Rockies. The gray wolf relocation is considered one of...
02.19.2010
Angry Voters
From the raucous tea party rallies to the painful sacrifices families are making behind closed doors, voter angst and anger are sweeping the country like a storm. Directly in its path: the 2010 midterm elections. NOW examines the strong impact...
02.12.2010
Caring About Congo
Even with the recent outpouring of support for earthquake victims in Haiti, Americans' attention span for global crises is usually very short. But is there a way to keep American audiences from tuning out important global issues of violence, poverty,...
02.05.2010
Democrats and the New Politics of Abortion
To gain their historic control of Congress, Democrats fielded moderate candidates who didn't always follow the party line, especially when it came to abortion. Now that the Democratic Party has the legislative upper hand, are they willing to negotiate away...
01.29.2010
Saving Haiti's Mothers
Haiti's catastrophic earthquake, in addition to leaving lives and institutions in ruin, also exacerbated a much more common and lethal emergency in Haiti: Dying during childbirth. Challenges in transportation, education, and quality health care contribute to Haiti having the highest...
01.22.2010
Who's Helping Our Wounded Vets?
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...
01.15.2010
Saving American Journalism
Is good journalism going extinct? Fractured audiences and tight budgets have downsized or sunk many of the fourth estate's major battleships, including this very program. NOW's David Brancaccio talks to professor Bob McChesney and journalist John Nichols about the perils...
01.08.2010
Targeting the Taliban
President Obama is sending as many as 30,000 more troops to combat Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan this year, but are we missing the true target? NOW reports directly from Pakistan's dangerous and pivotal border with Afghanistan, where...
12.25.2009
Student Loan Sinkhole?
According to the Department of Education, the average amount of an undergraduate student loan in this country is now more than $22,000. And sudden changes in lenders' terms and rates can quickly turn a personal debt into a financial sinkhole,...
12.18.2009
Africa: House Calls and Health Care
In rural Rwanda, the simple and time-tested idea of medical house calls is not only improving the health of the community, but stimulating its economy as well. NOW travels to the village of Rwinkwavu to meet the Rwandan doctors, nurses...
12.11.2009
The Marines Are Landing
Over the next four years, approximately 30,000 Marines and their families will move to the small island of Guam, nearly tripling its presence there. It's part of a larger agreement that the U.S. signed with Japan to realign American forces in...
12.04.2009
PBS Special Report: Health Care Reform
With health care reform now the most pressing and talked-about domestic issue in America, the hallmark PBS programs NOW ON PBS, TAVIS SMILEY and NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT are collaborating to provide a single timely and much-needed in-depth look at health...
11.27.2009
Climate Crisis
The Maldives, a nation of roughly 1200 low-lying islands in the Indian Ocean, could be underwater by the end of this century if climate change causes ocean levels to rise. On the eve of the big climate summit in Copenhagen,...
11.12.2009
Elizabeth Warren on the Economy
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...
11.06.2009
Interview: David Sirota
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,...
10.30.2009
Electric Car Dreams
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...
10.23.2009
Water World
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...
10.16.2009
Nurses Needed
By the year 2020, a nationwide shortage of up to 500,000 trained nurses could mean that hundreds of thousands of patients will receive less attention and substandard treatment. Just as alarming, fewer nurses are choosing to teach the next generation...
10.09.2009
Life Panel? Death Panel?
How did private discussions between seniors and their doctors about end of life choices for the very ill or dying become a flash point in the national health care debate? NOW travels to Wisconsin to sit in on some of...
10.02.2009
Afghanistan: The Forgotten War
America thought it had won the war in Afghanistan six years ago, but a recent escalation in violence and instability -- including the death of nine U.S. soldiers this past weekend -- has given rise to the question: Have we...
09.18.2009
Surrogacy: Wombs for Rent?
Commercial surrogacy -- when women are paid to carry and deliver babies for people who cannot conceive them biologically -- is banned in almost every developed country in the world except the United States, making it a land of opportunity...
09.04.2009
After Guantanamo
Closing Guantanamo Bay's prison will do little to close the debate on what we should do with alleged terrorists. NOW, as part of a collaboration with the nonprofit investigative unit ProPublica, investigates the controversial tactic of "preventative detention," a...
08.28.2009
Keep on Trucking?
The majority of American goods are transported by trucks, even though freight trains are greener and more fuel-efficient. Where should America be placing its bets for moving our economy and what would you personally sacrifice for it? Correspondent Miles O'Brien...
08.21.2009
Justice Delayed
A terrible statistic: one in six women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. But an even more shocking reality: A backlog in processing rape kits -- crucial evidence in arresting violent predators -- is...
08.14.2009
Gambling With Health Care
Losing your job is a blow not just to your income, but also to your health insurance. Many can't afford high COBRA premiums, much less private insurance. And the sputtering economy is making a bad situation tragic. NOW travels to...
07.24.2009
Wall Street Reform and You
The Obama Administration recently released its proposal for financial regulatory reform, but before change comes to Wall Street, a reform plan has to get through Congress with its teeth intact. David Brancaccio sits with Zanny Minton Beddoes, economics editor for...
07.17.2009
Inside Israel's Army
As President Obama begins a new push for peace in the Middle East, NOW travels to Israel to see how a lifetime of war shapes the psyche of a nation where almost every able-bodied man and woman must serve in...
07.10.2009
Peace and Prosperity in the West Bank?
Once one of the most dangerous and violent cities in the West Bank, Jenin was the scene of frequent battles between the Israeli military and Palestinian fighters, and was the hometown of more than two dozen suicide bombers. Today, however,...
07.03.2009
Obama's Border Fence & Ocean Tipping Point?
While the're putting the finishing touches on the controversial fence along the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico, the outrage is far from over. The multi-billion dollar plan to build some 700 miles of fencing has been billed...
06.26.2009
Homes for the Homeless?
American streets are littered with foreclosed houses, but one daring advocate says they shouldn't go to waste. He encourages and facilitates homeless "squatting." It's an idea that addresses two issues at once -- homelessness and foreclosed homes -- and it's...
06.12.2009
Are Some Anti-Abortion Attacks Domestic Terrorism?
Should violence against medical doctors who perform abortions be viewed and prosecuted as domestic terrorism? NOW sits down with two of the remaining handful of doctors who publicly acknowledge performing late abortions. The murder of Dr. George Tiller has reignited the...
05.29.2009
Green Jobs: Hope or Hype?
What will jobs of the future look like? Many studying that question are seeing green -- green jobs. And with President Obama promising to create 5 million "green-collar" jobs over the next 10 years, some are predicting these new career...
05.22.2009
Rehab for Terrorists?
NOW on PBS partners with best-selling author and journalist Robert Lacey to investigate the surprising success of Saudi Arabia's approach to dealing with terrorists and extremists -- without torture or water-boarding. Given extraordinary access to the Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry...
05.15.2009
Can the U.N. Keep the Peace?
A record 115,000 U.N. peacekeepers are now deployed in 20 countries, and their mission is more vital than ever. But critics and insiders alike are openly worried that the current peacekeeping model is overstretched -- and at risk of failure....
05.08.2009
Swine Flu Pandemic
How do we fight both the swine flu pandemic and our fear of it? NOW's David Brancaccio sits down with one of the most prominent figures in world health to find out. Dr. Larry Brilliant is an epidemiologist, former chief...
05.01.2009
A Radical Fix for Schools?
How is Secretary of Education Arne Duncan going to spend $100 billion in stimulus money -- almost twice the education budget -- to fix our nation's schools? During his seven years running Chicago's public schools, Duncan went head to head...
04.17.2009
On Thin Ice
Two men on a remarkable journey high in the Himalayas investigate threats to global water and food supply. Seventy-five percent of the world's fresh water is stored in glaciers, but scientists predict climate change will cause some of the world's largest...
04.10.2009
Can Coal be Earth-Friendly?
Americans are addicted to coal -- it powers half of all our electricity, and is both plentiful and cheap. In fact, some call America the "Saudi Arabia of Coal." But are we paying too high an environmental price for all...
04.04.2009
Coming Home? and Paradise Lost, Revisited
Thousands of U.S. troops are getting discharged out of the army. Many suffer from post traumatic stress disorders and brain injuries, and aren't getting the care they need. The Army claims these discharged soldiers have pre-existing mental illnesses or are...
03.27.2009
The People's Sheriff
One of the most controversial figures in the illegal immigration debate is Joe Arpaio, the longtime sheriff of Arizona's Maricopa County, whose aggressive hard line on local crime has received national attention. But has Sheriff Arpaio, who's made the most...
03.13.2009
Previewing the Superpower Summit
On March 13, financial ministers and central bankers of the world's economic superpowers will meet in London to lay the groundwork for next month's crucial meeting of their country's leaders, known as the G20. Will their work revolutionize the global...
03.06.2009
Who Killed Sister Dorothy?
How could a struggle over land lead to the brutal murder of an American nun? David Brancaccio interviews award-winning filmmaker Daniel Junge on his latest film "They Killed Sister Dorothy." The documentary focuses on Sister Dorothy Stang, a Catholic nun...
03.05.2009
Food, Inc.
Americans have a longstanding love affair with food -- the modern supermarket has, on average, 47,000 products. But do we really know what goes into making the products we so eagerly consume? David Brancaccio talks with filmmaker Robert Kenner, the...

What's NOW on PBS about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

NOW on PBS episodes:

The Best of NOW: Issues and Insight

The Best of NOW: The Wars

The Best of NOW: In-Depth Investigations

A Town Revitalized?

Maximum Capacity

"Gasland"

Soap Opera for Social Change

Hunting Wolves, Saving Wolves

Angry Voters

Caring About Congo

Democrats and the New Politics of Abortion

Saving Haiti's Mothers

Who's Helping Our Wounded Vets?

Saving American Journalism

Targeting the Taliban

Student Loan Sinkhole?

Africa: House Calls and Health Care

The Marines Are Landing

PBS Special Report: Health Care Reform

Climate Crisis

Elizabeth Warren on the Economy

Interview: David Sirota

Electric Car Dreams

Water World

Nurses Needed

Life Panel? Death Panel?

Afghanistan: The Forgotten War

Surrogacy: Wombs for Rent?

After Guantanamo

Keep on Trucking?

Justice Delayed

Gambling With Health Care

Wall Street Reform and You

Inside Israel's Army

Peace and Prosperity in the West Bank?

Obama's Border Fence & Ocean Tipping Point?

Homes for the Homeless?

Are Some Anti-Abortion Attacks Domestic Terrorism?

Green Jobs: Hope or Hype?

Rehab for Terrorists?

Can the U.N. Keep the Peace?

Swine Flu Pandemic

A Radical Fix for Schools?

On Thin Ice

Can Coal be Earth-Friendly?

Coming Home? and Paradise Lost, Revisited

The People's Sheriff

Previewing the Superpower Summit

Who Killed Sister Dorothy?

Food, Inc.