View source for Wide Angle (TV program)

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image              = Wideangle wordmark.png
| caption            =
| genre              = [[Documentary film|Documentary]]
| creator            = Stephen Segaller and Andy Halper
| presenter          = [[Aaron Brown (journalist)|Aaron Brown]]
| narrated           = [[Jay O. Sanders]]
| country            = United States
| language           = English
| num_seasons        = 8
| num_episodes       = 63
| list_episodes      = List of Wide Angle episodes
| executive_producer = Tom Casciato, Pamela Hogan (Specials)
| producer           = Thirteen/[[WNET]]
| editor             = 
| runtime            = 
| network            = Thirteen/WNET and [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]
| first_aired        = {{Start date|2002|7|11}}
| last_aired         = {{End date|2009|9|2}} 
}}

'''''Wide Angle''''' is<!-- See [[WP:TVNOW]] --> an American [[Documentary film|documentary]] television program produced by Thirteen/[[WNET]] New York for broadcast on [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] and for worldwide distribution. The weekly one-hour program covered international [[Current affairs (news format)|current affairs]] and was last hosted by veteran journalist [[Aaron Brown (journalist)|Aaron Brown]]. ''Wide Angle'' began broadcasting on PBS in 2002, and aimed to expand the awareness and understanding of Americans about the changing world in which they live.<ref name="snapshots">{{cite news | title=PBS Uses 'Wide Angle' Lens to Take Global Snapshots | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jul-08-et-brennan8-story.html | author=Patricia Brennan | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=July 8, 2002 | page=F-10 | access-date=2008-09-16}}</ref> It was the only documentary program on American television devoted exclusively to reporting in-depth on international issues.<ref name="intro">{{cite web | title=Wide Angle . Introduction | url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/a-woman-among-warlords-introduction/65/ | publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] | access-date=2008-09-16}}</ref> Following its eighth and final season it was nominated for a 2010 [[International Documentary Association]] Continuing Series award.

==Production==
''Wide Angle'' programs consist of long-form, character-driven documentaries exploring pressing international issues through human stories, often followed by an interview with a [[foreign policy]] expert to connect the films’ themes to American concerns. The program completed its eighth season in 2009, and in that time it had produced more than 60 films in over 50 countries.

''Wide Angle'' also produced a companion website, still extant, and additional educational materials for each film. The program's website includes background information on the issues from the films, interactive features, exclusive video and audio, and full streaming versions of many programs. Additional educational materials are distributed to high schools and colleges. In 2006, ''Wide Angle'''s online ''Window into Global History'' project earned the [[Goldman Sachs Foundation]]'s Prize for Excellence in International Education.<ref name="awards">{{cite web | title=Wide Angle . Awards | date=27 May 2008 | url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/awards/35/ | publisher=PBS | access-date=2008-09-16}}</ref>

Previous anchors for the program include [[Bill Moyers]], former Assistant Secretary of State [[James Rubin]], [[Mishal Husain]], and [[Daljit Dhaliwal]]. Previous interview guests include Senator [[Hillary Clinton]], [[United Nations|UN]] Deputy Secretary-General [[Mark Malloch Brown, Baron Malloch-Brown|Mark Malloch Brown]], Mexico’s former Foreign Minister [[Jorge Castañeda Gutman|Jorge Castañeda]], former Ugandan government minister [[Betty Oyella Bigombe]], Nobel Prize Laureates [[Joseph E. Stiglitz]] and [[Amartya Sen]], [[World Health Organization|WHO]] Director-General [[Margaret Chan]], Women for Women International [[Chief executive officer|CEO]] [[Zainab Salbi]], ''New York Times'' columnist [[Nicholas Kristof]], writer [[Arundhati Roy]] and former U.S. Secretaries of State George Mitchell and [[James A. Baker III]].

==Episodes==
{{main|List of Wide Angle episodes}}

The July 2002 pilot episode "Saddam’s Ultimate Solution" was hosted by former Assistant Secretary of State and chief [[United States Department of State|State Department]] spokesman James Rubin. It focused on [[Saddam Hussein]]’s biological and chemical weapons and the wider threat they imply.<ref name="snapshots" /> In a host interview broadcast immediately following the episode, resident fellow at the [[American Enterprise Institute]] [[Richard Perle]] stated that "the thing that is brought home so clearly in this film is the connection among terrorist organizations now implicating Saddam Hussein directly with [[Al Qaeda]]".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/interactives-extras/interviews/saddams-ultimate-solution-interview-richard-perle/1864/ | title=Saddam's Ultimate Solution - Interview: Richard Perle | date=11 July 2002 | publisher=PBS | access-date=2008-09-16}}</ref>

==Reception==
''Wide Angle'' programs have won numerous awards, including an [[Emmy Award]], the [[Sigma Delta Chi Award]], the Chicago International Television Hugo award, the [[Gabriel Award]], several top awards from the [[South Asian Journalists Association]] (SAJA), citations from the [[Overseas Press Club]], and 22 [[CINE|Cine Golden Eagle]] awards.<ref name="awards" />

''[[The New York Times]]'' had a mixed review of the first program "Saddam’s Ultimate Solution", especially concerning the interview of Richard Perle by host James Rubin: {{blockquote|Mr. Perle offers an argument rather than analysis when he says an American operation in Iraq will be "quicker and easier than many people think," a matter of weeks not months. Mr. Rubin questions what he calls this "optimistic scenario," but because it's not his role to take a position, the Perle interview is the lopsided half of a debate. Still, in a television landscape where network news is dominated by tiny sound bites and cable by shouting heads, ''Wide Angle'' had a distinct and valuable place.<ref>{{cite news | title=Television Review; Close Look at Iraq on Poison Gas and bin Laden | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07EED71530F932A25754C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 | author=Caryn James | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=July 11, 2002 | access-date=2008-09-16}}</ref>|Caryn James|''The New York Times''}}

==Focal Point==

In December 2008, ''Wide Angle'' launched, ''Focal Point'', a new online-exclusive documentary program. Like ''Wide Angle'', ''Focal Point'' offers a deeper understanding of forces shaping the world today through compelling human stories, with ''Focal Point'' providing a venue for shorter, less formal pieces.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/about-the-series/about-focal-point/3807/| title = About FOCAL POINT {{!}} Wide Angle| website = [[PBS]]| date = 15 November 2008}}</ref>

In the first episode of ''Focal Point'', "From Jihad to Rehab", Canadian journalist [[Nancy Durham]] reports from a rehabilitation center in Saudi Arabia, where art therapy and religious re-education are being used to reform militant jihadists.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/a-woman-among-warlords-introduction/65/| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081223215107/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/from-jihad-to-rehab/introduction/3834/| archive-date = 2008-12-23| title = Wide Angle . From Jihad to Rehab ~ Introduction| website = [[PBS]]}}</ref>

==See also==
*''[[Exposé: America's Investigative Reports]]''
*''[[Frontline (American TV program)|Frontline]]''
*''[[Independent Lens]]''
*''[[P.O.V.]]''
*''[[Worldfocus]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* ''[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/ Wide Angle]''
* ''[http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/wideangle/ Wide Angle: Window into Global History]'' - Outreach initiative for the teaching of Global History in high schools.
* {{IMDb title|0396392|Wide Angle}}

{{PBSTV}}

[[Category:2000s American documentary television series]]
[[Category:2002 American television series debuts]]
[[Category:2009 American television series endings]]
[[Category:PBS original programming]]
[[Category:Television series by WNET]]
[[Category:American English-language television shows]]