Above: Peabody Award-winning broadcast journalist Alison Stewart (left) and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and Newsweek editor Jon Meacham co-anchor this weekly primetime news and public affairs series.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
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"Need To Know" is a cross-media news and public affairs magazine that culls stories from the best of the week’s online reporting, culminating in a one-hour on-air broadcast every Friday night on PBS.
In partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, "Need To Know" investigates whether U.S. border patrol agents have been using excessive force in an effort to curb illegal immigration. Eight people have been killed along the border in the past two years.
VII The Magazine: How Photographers See The World
"Need To Know" has partnered with international photo agency, VII Photo, to give readers unprecedented access to the work of the world's leading photojournalists. View the work of Ed Kashi, a photojournalist who travels the world documenting social and political issues.
One man died a short time after being beaten and tased, an event recorded by two eyewitnesses whose video is the centerpiece of the report. Both eyewitnesses say the man offered little or no resistance. One told "Need To Know" that she felt like she watched someone being “murdered,” and the San Diego coroner’s office classified the death as a “homicide.”
The report raises questions about accountability. Because border patrol agents are part of the Department of Homeland Security, they are not subjected to the same public scrutiny as police officers who use their weapons. It also questions whether, in the rush to secure the border, agents are being adequately trained. And it raises the question: why aren’t these cases being prosecuted?
This episode will be available for online viewing on the "Need To Know" website after the broadcast.
Above: In partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, "Need To Know" investigates whether U.S. border patrol agents have been using excessive force in an effort to curb illegal immigration. Eight people have been killed along the border in the past two years.
Video
American Voices: Jon Meacham On Saving Our Schools, And Everything Else We Value
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Need to Know, Friday, April 6, 2012: Help Wanted
Above: What happens when a dropout decides that leaving school wasn't such a good idea? "Need To Know" profiles Philadelphia's Project U Turn, which aims to get the city's thousands of dropouts to drop back in to school.
Above: Think of the Texas approach to crime, and you likely think: tough, even harsh measures. It’s an image as old as Judge Roy Bean, the “Hanging Judge” of lore if not of fact. And it was reinforced much more recently by the remarks of Gov. Rick Perry on the death penalty during a presidential debate last year. But while it’s true that Texas leads the nation in the number of executions, there’s another, surprising fact: Texas has been a pioneer in finding alternatives to prison — as a way to control costs and to prevent convicts from returning. How did an unlikely alliance between left and right lead to a revolution in how criminals are treated in one of the nation’s reddest states? "Need To Know’s" Maria Hinojasa explains.
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Need To Know: The Enduring Sacrifice
Above: A video about military veterans who have difficulty finding work and, in some cases, have become homeless after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan featuring a 24-year old navy veteran Cristina.
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Portraits of Hunger: Stories of Americans on Food Stamps
Above: The number jumps out at you: More than 46 million Americans — one in seven of us — gets help from the federal government to feed ourselves and our families. The “food stamp” program — they’re not stamps anymore, by the way — has been hailed as a key element of the safety net. But a number of the Republican presidential candidates say the president’s support for food stamps and other social programs only promotes dependency.
“We actually think work is good,” Newt Gingrich has said. “We actually think saying to somebody, ‘I’ll help you if you’re willing to help yourself,’ is good.”
If you’re surprised at how many Americans receive help in buying food, you may be even more surprised who they are. As it turns out, millions of Americans with jobs also need the help.
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