What are the costs of doing business in a war zone?

That’s the question at the heart of Firestone and the Warlord, FRONTLINE and ProPublica‘s November 18 investigation of the secret relationship between the American tire company Firestone and the infamous Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.

The multiplatform investigation — which will include a 90-minute documentary, a major text story also being published as an e-book, and a series of original digital shorts — is a revelatory window into how Firestone conducted business during the brutal Liberian civil war, drawing on previously unreported diplomatic cables, court documents, and inside accounts from Americans who helped run the company’s rubber plantation as Liberia descended into chaos.

Reporters T. Christian Miller of ProPublica and Jonathan Jones teamed up with veteran FRONTLINE producer Marcela Gaviria to bring this story to light.

With all eyes on Liberia as the country battles the worst Ebola outbreak in recorded history, Firestone and the Warlord will shine new light on the country’s history and its civil war — a conflict that left lasting scars on the country’s infrastructure and psyche — and raise provocative questions about corporate responsibility, accountability, and the ethical ramifications of doing business in conflict zones.

  • Rain Media Wins Four Emmys

    October 7, 2015

    Four documentaries from RAINmedia won last night at the 36th Annual News & Documentary Emmys — including in the ceremony’s prestigious culminating category, Best Documentary. United States of Secrets, a three-part investigation of NSA mass surveillance produced alongside The Kirk...

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  • Rain Media Nominated for Six Emmy Awards

    July 23, 2015

    Rain Media has earned six of FRONTLINE‘s nine News and Documentary Emmy Award nominations for a range of documentaries exploring key domestic and international issues. The 2015 nominations, including 57 total nods for PBS, were announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and...

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  • Rain Media Wins a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award

    May 11, 2015

    Firestone and the Warlord, a collaboration with ProPublica revealing the iconic tire company’s secret history in Liberia — has won 2015 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards. Firestone and the Warlord won in the New Media category. The multiplatform investigation in collaboration with...

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  • Rain Media Wins an Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Award

    April 9, 2015

    Firestone and the Warlord, FRONTLINE and ProPublica‘s 2014 investigation revealing the relationship between the iconic American tire company Firestone and the infamous Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, has won an IRE Award. “This reporting collaboration told a gripping story of how Firestone...

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