| Occupation | Filmmaker |
|---|---|
| Title | Executive Producer, Frontline |
| Spouse | Arun Rath |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin (B A., 1992) [1] Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (M.A.) |
Raney Aronson-Rath produces Frontline, PBS's flagship investigative journalism series. She has been internationally recognized for her work to expand the PBS series' original investigative journalism[2] and directs the editorial development and execution of the series. Aronson-Rath joined Frontline in 2007 as a senior producer. She was named deputy executive producer by David Fanning, the series’ founder, in 2012, and then became executive producer in 2015.[3]
Education
Aronson-Rath earned a bachelor's degree in South Asian studies and history from the University of Wisconsin. She received her master's from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.[4]
Career
Early in her professional life, Aronson-Rath worked in Taipei, Taiwan, for a small, English-language daily newspaper, The China Post, where she decided to commit to a career in journalism.[5] Later, Aronson-Rath developed and managed more than a dozen journalistic partnerships with news outlets, including ProPublica, Marketplace, PBS NewsHour, The New York Times, CBC Television, and Univision.[6]
Moving to TV news production, Aronson-Rath worked on award-winning series at ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, and MSNBC. She also produced, directed, and wrote several award-winning Frontline films, including News War, The Last Abortion Clinic, and The Jesus Factor.
Aronson-Rath officially joined Frontline in 2007. In 2012, she was named Deputy Editor of Frontline by David Fanning, and Executive Producer in 2015, the position she holds today.[7] She has earned new funding to expand Frontline’s investigative capacity, including the launch of a YouTube channel with original content, a commitment to interactive projects,[8] as well as a film initiative focused on accountability for institutions and public officials called the Transparency Project.[9]
Aronson-Rath currently serves on the Knight Commission on Trust, Media, and Democracy, the Board of Visitors for Columbia University’s Journalism school, and the advisory board of Columbia Global Reports.[10]
She has received numerous accolades for producing the documentary feature film 20 Days in Mariupol, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival[11] and won the Best Documentary Feature Award at the 96th Academy Awards.[12] At Sundance, the film won the Sundance World Cinema Documentary Competition.[13][14][15] It was also selected as the Ukrainian submission for the Best International Feature Film Oscar, but was not ultimately nominated in this category.[16][17]
Awards and honors
Aronson-Rath was a 2014-2015 Fellow at the MIT Open Doc Lab.[18] Aronson-Rath has been a speaker at the Skoll World Forum,[19] the Aspens Ideas Summit,[20] The National Scholastic Press Association's High School Journalism Convention, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and The Power of Narrative Journalism Conference.[21]
Since 2015, Frontline has won many accolades under her direction, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film,[22] The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award, IRE Awards, The George Foster Peabody Award,[23] Peabody-Facebook Futures of Media Award,[24] the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Emmy Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the Overseas Press Club Awards, The Scripps Howard Award,[25] and Writer's Guild Awards,[26] and the 2019 dupont-Columbia Gold Baton award,[27] among others.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024.[28]
Academy Awards
| Year | Category | Work | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Best Documentary Feature Film | 20 Days in Mariupol |
Emmy Awards
| Year | Category | Work | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| News & Documentary Emmy Awards | ||||
| 2009 | Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Rules of Engagement") | ||
| 2010 | Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "A Death in Tehran") | ||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "The Warning") | |||
| 2011 | Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "The Spill") | ||
| Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "The Confessions") | |||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Law & Disorder") | |||
| Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "The Wounded Platoon") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "The Quake") | ||||
| 2012 | Outstanding Interview | Frontline (for ep. "The Spy Who Quit") | ||
| Frontline (for ep. "The Interrogator") | ||||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "The Anthrax Files") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "A Perfect Terrorist") | ||||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "The Child Cases") | |||
| Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Wikisecrets") | |||
| Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "Syria Undercover") (Tied) | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "Revolution in Cairo") (Tied) | ||||
| 2013 | Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "The Suicide Plan") | ||
| Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "The Suicide Plan") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "The Interrupters") | ||||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Dollars and Dentists") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "Big Sky, Big Money") | ||||
| Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "Poor Kids") | ||||
| Frontline (for ep. "Climate of Doubt") | ||||
| Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "Cell Tower Deaths") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "Six Billion Dollar Bet") | ||||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "Opium Brides") | |||
| Outstanding Feature Story in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "Opium Brides") | |||
| Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Money, Power and Wall Street") | |||
| Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "Al Qaeda in Yemen") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "The Regime Responds") | ||||
| Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. The Battle for Syria") | |||
| 2014 | Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "The Retirement Gamble") | ||
| Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Egypt in Crisis") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "Syria Behind the Lines") | ||||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "A Death in St. Augustine") | ||||
| Frontline (for ep. "Rape in the Fields") | ||||
| Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Outlawed in Pakistan") | |||
| Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "The Untouchables") | |||
| 2015 | Outstanding Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "United States of Secrets") | ||
| Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "To Catch a Trader") | |||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Firestone and the Warlord") | |||
| Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "United States of Secrets: Part 1 & 2") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "The Rise of ISIS") | ||||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "Hunting Boko Haram") | |||
| Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "The Battle for Ukraine") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "Ebola Outbreak") | ||||
| 2016 | Outstanding New Approaches - Current News Coverage | Frontline | ||
| Outstanding Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Growing Up Trans") | |||
| Outstanding Report in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "ISIS in Afghanistan") | |||
| Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine | ||||
| Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Terror in Little Saigon") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "Rape on the Night Shift") | ||||
| Frontline (for ep. "My Brother's Bomber") | ||||
| Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form | Frontline (for ep. "Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "Being Mortal") | ||||
| Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "Secrets, Politics and Torture") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "Inside Assad's Syria") | ||||
| Frontline (for ep. "Outbreak") | ||||
| 2017 | Outstanding Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Children of Syria") | ||
| Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary | ||||
| Frontline (for ep. "Confronting ISIS") | ||||
| Outstanding Story in a Newsmagazine | Frontline (for ep. "Yemen Under Siege") | |||
| Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine | ||||
| Outstanding Politics and Government Documenta | Frontline (for ep. "The Choice 2016") | |||
| Outstanding Investigative Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "The Secret History of ISIS") | |||
| Outstanding Social Issue Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Chasing Heroin") | |||
| Policing the Police | ||||
| Outstanding Feature Story in a News Magazine | A Subprime Education/The Education of Omarina | |||
| Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary | The Fantasy Sports Gamble | |||
| 2018 | Outstanding Story in a Newsmagazine | Frontline (for ep. "Inside Yemen") | ||
| Frontline (for ep. "Battle for Iraq") | ||||
| Outstanding Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Putin's Revenge") | |||
| Outstanding Short Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Mosul") | |||
| Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail") | |||
| Outstanding Investigative Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Iraq Uncovered") | |||
| Frontline (for ep. "War on the EPA") | ||||
| Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail") | |||
| Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine | Frontline (for ep. "Bannon's War") | |||
| 2019 | Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Separated: Children at the Border") | ||
| Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "The Pension Gamble") | |||
| Outstanding Investigative Documentary | Frontline (for ep. Documenting Hate") | |||
| Frontline (for ep."UN Sex Abuse Scandal") | ||||
| Frontline (for ep. "Myanmar's Killing Fields") | ||||
| Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "The Facebook Dilemma") | |||
| Outstanding Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "Exodus: The Journey Continues") | |||
| 2020 | Outstanding Historical Documentary | Frontline | ||
| 2021 | Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting - Long Form | Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos | ||
| Outstanding Investigative Documentary | Return from ISIS | |||
| 2022 | Outstanding Business, Consumer or Economic Coverage | Frontline (for ep. "Boeing's Fatal Flaw") | ||
| Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "tt14875370") | |||
| 2024 | Best Documentary | Frontline | ||
| Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary | Frontline (for ep. "#42.4") | |||
Other awards and nominations
| Award | Year | Category | Work(s) | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peabody Awards | 2019 | Documentary Honor | For Sama | ||
| 2023 | Documentary Honor | 20 Days in Mariupol | |||
| News Honor | Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court | ||||
| Public Service Honor | America and the Taliban | ||||
| 2024 | Public Service Honor | Frontline | |||
| Writers Guild of America Awards | 2006 | Outstanding Television Documentary Script – Current Events | Frontline (for ep. "The Soldier's Heart") | ||
| 2006 | Frontline (for ep. "News War Part 1: Secrets Sources and Spin") |
References
- ^ DixonKate, Kail, "Raney Aronson-Rath ’92A New Era for Frontline", On Wisconsin magazine, University of Wisconsin, Spring 2016 issue.
- ^ "FRONTLINE". PBS
- ^ "'Frontline' Getting a Change in Leadership". The New York Times. 14 May 2015.
- ^ "Frontline Welcomes New Class to Frontline Columbia School of Journalism Fellows"
- ^ April Simpson (May 30, 2017). "Raney Aronson-Rath: It's in my DNA to get to the Nuanced Truth"
- ^ "'Frontline' Getting a Change in Leadership". The New York Times. May 13, 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-20.
- ^ Mike Kiniry (March 14, 2018). "Frontline Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath"
- ^ "PBS Official Frontline Youtube Channel". YouTube
- ^ "About Frontline's Transparency Project". PBS
- ^ "Columbia Global Reports Advisory Board"
- ^ "Program Guide — 20 Days in Mariupol". Sundance Film Festival. Archived 20 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
- ^ Bergeson, Samantha (2023-12-21). "2024 Oscar Shortlists Unveiled: 'Barbie,' 'Poor Things,' 'Maestro,' and 'The Zone of Interest' Make the Cut". IndieWire. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ^ Galuppo, Mia (27 January 2023). "Sundance: 'A Thousand and One,' Nikki Giovanni Doc Take Top Jury Prizes". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
- ^ Goodman, Stephanie (27 January 2023). "'A Thousand and One' and Nikki Giovanni Documentary Win at Sundance Film Festival". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
- ^ Husted, Anne (13 February 2023). "FRONTLINE, AP documentary '20 Days in Mariupol' wins Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Documentary Audience Award - FRONTLINE". FRONTLINE. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
- ^ "Five Ukrainian films included in 2024 Oscars eligibility lists – photo". Ukrainska Pravda. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
- ^ Horlach, Polina (18 September 2023). ""20 днів у Маріуполі": обрали претендента на "Оскар-2024" від України"
- ^ "Virtual Reality Meets Documentary". 2016-05-13.
- ^ "Raney Aronson-Rath Biography"
- ^ "Raney Aronson-Rath Speaker Bio"
- ^ "About the Power of Narrative"
- ^ "The 96th Academy Awards | 2024". 23 January 2024.
- ^ "FRONTLINE: United States of Secrets"
- ^ Lyn Trahn (May 1, 2016). "Peabody Awards and Facebook Launch New Futures of Media Award"
- ^ Valerie Miller (2016-03-08). "2015 Scripps Howard Winners Announced"
- ^ Gregg Mitchell. "2017 Writers Guild Awards Winners Announced"
- ^ "Winners of the 2019 dupont-Columbia Awards"
- ^ "Raney Aronson-Rath". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2025-07-01. Retrieved 2025-07-12.