Frontline

A Maryland state flag, carried by Marine Gunnery Sgt. Kenneth Ian Boucher of Shady Side during Operation Desert Storm, was presented to the Capt. Salem Avery House Museum and its sponsor, the Shady Side Rural Heritage Society, during the recent July 4 celebration at the museum.Boucher, who serves with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, based in Cherry Point, N.C., is the son of Isabel Boucher of Shady Side. He was honored during the parade.Boucher carried the flag with him when he landed in Saudi Arabia and up to the Kuwaiti border.

Good morning from Nashville. No, the Orioles haven't traded for Billy Butler or signed Adam LaRoche yet. Hold your breath and you may turn Ravens' purple. As we get into the second day of the annual baseball meetings here, I'll try to sum up some things for you as we get ready for a whole new slew of rumors. The Orioles are hoping to make a deal adding a power bat. They've been saying it for a while. Some targets include Kansas City's Butler, Washington's Michael Morse and Pittsburgh's Garrett Jones.

Want to hear something really shocking?The main reason General Motors went from being the richest company in America to one that lost a record $23.5 billion last year is that its top executives didn't want to hear bad news.What, you already knew that? And, furthermore, you didn't think it was such a great bit of insight the first time you heard it, since most top executives don't want to hear bad news from their lieutenants?Well, it takes most of 90 minutes for "Frontline" to say that in its "Heartbeat of America" report, which launches its 12th season on PBS at 9 tonight on MPT (channels 22 and 67)

Nobody does investigative journalism on TV like Public Television's "Frontline" -- nobody, and that includes "60 Minutes. " And Tuesday night at 9, the venerable series revisits Ft. Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, and the case of anthrax researcher Bruce Ivins who killed himself in 2008 as the FBI zeroed in on him as its prime suspect in the case of deadly envelopes of anthrax sent through the mail. According to this hard-edged report done in partnership with McClatchy Newspapers and Propublica, the FBI did more than zero in. Under tremendous pressure to solve the case that started in 2001 with anthrax mailed to U.S. senators and network anchors, the agency squeezed Ivins hard -- using every trick in the book to get a confession out of him even as he insisted on his innocence to the end. Ivins was a troubled guy with some distinctive kinks, the report acknowledges, but even FBI consultants in the case now admit that the agency overstated its evidence and never found a smoking gun to prove the researcher's guilt.

A very disturbing "Frontline" on PBS tonight looks at the Navy's struggles to adapt itself and its thinking to '90s America."Roseanne" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Ernest as a prince? Glad I don't live in that country. Jim Varney (that irritating Ernest guy in all those movies and commercials) plays a prince who becomes infatuated with Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) after seeing her on TV. ABC."Mad About You" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- Things are going so well for her and Paul that Jamie (Helen Hunt)

"Springfield Goes to War" is more important for what it's part of than what it is.The "Frontline" special, airing at 9 tonight on MPT (Channels 22 and 67), is part of a growing chorus of media voices demanding a national debate on America's involvement in the Persian Gulf.The tone and substance of much TV coverage of the Persian Gulf has changed significantly the last few weeks.Initially, there was great saber-rattling and cheerleading by TV newscasters. But as the real emotional and financial price of our involvement started to set in and public opinion about President Bush's military buildup started to shift, so has the coverage.

Let's hope the news executives at our broadcast networks watch "The Arming of Iraq," the "Frontline" special at 8 tonight on PBS (Channels 22 and 67 locally).Maybe they will start to understand what has been so wrong with their let's-go-to-war coverage of the Persian Gulf crisis and emphasis on anchormen chasing "scoop" interviews in the region. They will see one of the major background stories they failed to report in their preoccupation with the rhetoric about "madmen"and posturings of patriotism.

LOS ANGELES -- No one can accuse "Frontline" of not living up to PBS' mandate to be more timely.At 9 tonight on MPT (Channels 22 and 67), "Frontline" is scheduled to present "To the Brink of War," with Hodding Carter, a look at how America came to the midnight showdown only a few hours away.A rough cut of most of the show was made available for preview. "Frontline" Executive Producer David Fanning said the show will be flanked by live reports by Carter, a former State Department spokeman during Jimmy Carter's administration.

Los Angeles -- It's called "Tabloid Truth: The Michael Jackson Scandal." It's from "Frontline." And, even though it doesn't air on PBS until Feb. 15, it's creating a buzz on the press tour here.Surprisingly, neither the buzz nor the report is about Jackson and the allegations he faces of child sexual abuse."Michael Jackson: Did he or didn't he? This [report] answers that question not a whit." says "Frontline" producer Thomas Lennon. "I know nothing more about that than you and I have all read."

The most consistently left-wing news program on network television is probably "Frontline" on PBS.The most consistently right-wing personality on national radio, meanwhile, is probably Rush Limbaugh, with his EIB (Excellence in Broadcasting) network of more than 200 stations.Left meets right at 9 tonight on MPT (channels 22 and 67), as "Frontline" presents "Rush Limbaugh's America." And, while "Frontline" manages a fairly balanced report, it is a remarkably shallow one.The fundamental problem is that producer Stephen Talbot was unable to decide whether he wanted to profile Limbaugh or analyze his audience.

The past few weeks have been rough on riders of MARC commuter trains, so it's understandable that some of them get upset. People want to get home from work and see their families at the end of a long day, and it's frustrating when a train is canceled or delayed. But hot weather and the inefficiencies of an antiquated system have taken a toll on civility at Union Station in Washington — and there have been increasing reports of ugly behavior toward staff members trying to do their jobs.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran's tips for "further viewing" after "Green Zone" include: "No End in Sight" Charles Ferguson's 2007 documentary argues, persuasively, that the Iraqi insurgency could have been slowed, halted or contained, and daily life made infinitely safer for Iraqis, if the Bush administration listened to American public servants with solid military and Middle East experience. "It's a very powerful documentary," says Chandrasekaran, "and one of the chief reasons for its power is that you hear from the principal players on all policies and from all sides."

Finally, the cavalry has arrived - or started to, anyway. I am talking about the arrival of serious, in-depth TV journalism that seeks to explain how it is that the U.S. economy went so far off the rails last fall that virtually all the economists are using the phony metaphor of a "perfect storm" to explain the collapse - while trying to absolve themselves of any responsibility for all the subsequent suffering. Last Thursday, CNBC premiered House of Cards, a solid two-hour documentary reported by correspondent David Faber.

No one on TV does political biography as skillfully as the producers of Frontline. And every four years since 1988, they have outdone themselves with The Choice, their political life histories of the presidential candidates. The arrival of the PBS program just weeks before the November election has become an event in its own right for followers of U.S. politics. And The Choice 2008: Two Journeys - One Destination, which airs at 9 tonight on MPT (Channels 22 and 67), continues the tradition of excellence.

BAGHDAD - Australian troops ended their main combat mission in Iraq yesterday, handing over their responsibilities in southern Iraq to U.S. forces. An estimated 550 Australian troops, who served in a training and backup role to Iraqi forces in the provinces of Dhi Qar and Muthanna, made the transfer in a ceremony at Camp Talil outside Nasiriya, said Capt. Chris Ford, a British military spokesman in southern Iraq. Meanwhile, U.S. officials announced that a bomb killed an American soldier yesterday in Baghdad.

Critic's Pick -- Lowell Bergman investigates human smuggling between Mexico and the U.S. on Frontline (9 p.m., MPT, Channels 22/67).

Space aliens often came from Venus in the movies, but a new "Nova" tonight finds the planet an unlikely candidate for an invasion threat. The PBS "Frontline" series also takes a hard look at the FBI's handling of the 1993 Waco tragedy.* "Roseanne" (8 p.m.-8:30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Trivia test! Guest star Pat Harrington plays himself at the opening of a restaurant that offers the Conners some competition. Can you name two previous series in which he appeared as a regular? Most people will mention his role as the building super in "One Day at a Time" (1975-1984)

LOS ANGELES -- Sometimes PBS' "Frontline" documentary series looks at a current event in the context of decades or even centuries of history to gain a different perspective.But, in the case of the current crisis in the Middle East, you only have to look back six months to gain a fresh viewpoint that sheds light on the conventional wisdom about this fast-breaking and quick-changing story."Frontline" does that tonight with "To the Brink of War," an hour scheduled for broadcast at 9 o'clock.

Last month, an essay in The New York Times asked the question: Is PBS still necessary? The newspaper reaped a whirlwind of angry and eloquent responses in the affirmative, but nothing shows the necessity and continuing cultural importance of PBS like the two-part Frontline documentary titled Bush's War that starts tonight. No one in television has covered the war in Iraq with as much diligence and passion as Frontline in dozens of reports. And that goes back to the time of the run-up to the conflict when The Times was printing stories on its front page about the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

THE AL QAEDA FILES -- PBS Home Video / $34.95 PBS' remarkable Frontline series long has been one of the surest bets on television. At a time when network news divisions are constantly being downsized and the line between entertainment and journalism is becoming more and more blurred, Frontline has continued soberly reporting the news, taking the time and making the effort to tell the whole story, completely and dispassionately. The Al Qaeda Files collects seven programs that ran between March 2000 and January 2005, all of which focus on America's war on terror and its main target, Osama bin Laden, the 17th of 52 children of a Saudi businessman who had made millions in construction.