Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 at 8:50 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Stream now with the PBS App
FRONTLINE presents two gripping, on-the-ground global investigations:
In the first part of the hour, FRONTLINE will present "Pandora Papers," a collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and reporters around the world that examines the global entanglement of political power and secretive offshore finance, and how U.S. trusts are sheltering millions in controversial assets. The new documentary is one component of a worldwide investigation with ICIJ that draws on a trove of nearly 12 million confidential financial files from firms that set up shell companies and offshore accounts for clients seeking to keep their wealth in the shadows.
For close to two years, ICIJ has led an investigation into these leaked documents with more than 600 journalists from 150 media organizations, including FRONTLINE. The investigation reveals the hidden assets and secret deals of some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people, including more than 130 billionaires, 35 country leaders and some 300 other politicians and public officials.
Related: Read major stories that are part of the collaboration, updated as news breaks
In the hour’s second segment, FRONTLINE, Retro Report and ProPublica will present "Massacre in El Salvador" — a new, short film showing the ongoing fight for justice for the horrific 1981 attack on the village of El Mozote and surrounding areas. Forty years later, in a somber return to the region, "Massacre in El Salvador" examines the horrors of what happened when U.S.-trained and equipped Salvadoran soldiers killed some 1,000 civilians, many of them children. Former New York Times correspondent and current Retro Report and ProPublica contributor Raymond Bonner — who was one of the first journalists to bear witness to the aftermath of the massacre — recounts the experience of exposing the story and speaks with survivors of the attack.
This on-the-ground investigation details how for decades following the tragedy, there’s been little movement towards holding anyone accountable, and how today, the case against high-ranking military officials is faltering under Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. The president has described himself “the world’s coolest dictator” and has been critical of the handling of the El Mozote case. With the trial in limbo, "Massacre in El Salvador" lays bare the nation’s grisly past and the decades-long struggle for justice.
Watch On Your Schedule: Watch in full at pbs.org/frontline and with the PBS App.
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Credits: "Pandora Papers" is a BBC Current Affairs production for GBH/FRONTLINE and BBC. The director is James Oliver. The producers are Evan Williams and James Oliver. The senior producer is Eamonn Matthews. "Massacre in El Salvador" is a FRONTLINE and Retro Report production with ProPublica. The producer and writer is Kit R. Roane. The senior producers are Frank Koughan and Molly Knight Raskin. The executive producer of Retro Report is Kyra Darnton. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
