How often do journalists tell us of a looming danger or important discovery – only to move quickly to the next new thing? What really happened? How did these events change us? And what are the lingering consequences that may affect our society to this day? These are the questions we are answering at Retro Report, an innovative documentary news organization launched in 2013 as a timely online counterweight to today's 24/7 news cycle. Combining documentary techniques with shoe-leather reporting, we peel back the layers of some of the most perplexing news stories of our past with the goal of encouraging the public to think more critically about current events and the media. Retro Report is founded on the conviction that without a smart, engaging and forward-looking review of these high-profile events – and the news coverage surrounding them – we have wasted an opportunity to understand the lessons of history. The accelerating information age makes reversing this trend only more crucial. With journalistic success increasingly measured in page views, retweets and Facebook likes, there is dwindling interest or ability among news organizations to follow up on the stories they cover. Complicating matters, the first draft of history can be wrong. When news organizations fail to invest the time and money required to correct the record or provide context around what really happened, myth can replace truth. The results are policy decisions and cultural trends built on error, misunderstanding or flat-out lies. Retro Report is there to pick up the story after everyone has moved on, connecting the dots from yesterday to today, correcting the record and providing a permanent living library where viewers can gain new insight into the events that shaped their lives.
Mission: Combining documentary techniques with shoe-leather reporting, we peel back the layers of some of the most perplexing news stories of our past with the goal of encouraging the public to think more critically about current events and the media.
Operating as usual
A key battleground state in the 2020 election, Arizona was also the home state of Barry Goldwater, who helped shape the modern Republican Party.
Donald Trump's candidacy wasn't the first time the Republican Party was divided by an outsider who declared war on the establishment elite. his video, released ...
Are you a teacher trying to help students understand the election? Or maybe you just want to learn more about history? Check out engaging videos and lesson plans at Retro Report in the Classroom!
Bring history to life for your students! Retro Report is building a free, easy-to-use education site for high school teachers and college professors based on our archive of 200+ short documentaries. Each lesson plan includes an engaging 10-15 minute video that connects a chapter from history to stud...
“Republican Latinos have existed since the Eisenhower years.” The history behind the so-called Latino vote, and why the term should be abolished, via GEN @Medium.
There is no such thing. For the sake of democracy, let’s be more specific.
Yesterday, armed demonstrators gathered outside a ballot counting site in Phoenix. Voter intimidation has a long history in the United States. Watch our new collaboration with The New Yorker.
Poll watchers – observers who can report voting problems to local officials – operate under strict rules. President Trump’s call for his supporters to guard ...
Trusted journalism like ours has never mattered more.
Give today so we can continue this important work. #ContextMatters #NewsMatch
retroreport.org/donate/
To understand Trumpism and where it came from, go back to the 1960s, when Barry Goldwater’s failed run for presidency helped reshape the Republican party.
Donald Trump's candidacy wasn't the first time the Republican Party was divided by an outsider who declared war on the establishment elite. his video, releas...
Oregon just became the first state to decriminalize small amounts of street drugs like heroin. That signals a major shift in approach to addiction and drug use.
In the 1970s, frustration over heroin related, urban crime led to the War on Drugs. Today, heroin is back. But the users, and the response, are very differen...
This election, there were long lines at polling places, uncertainty over ballots and late-night arguments over whether votes will count.
Access to the vote has been one of the defining struggles of US history.
Long after the 19th Amendment passed, Black women continue their fight for the right to vote. Subscribe to our newsletter for the history behind the headline...
From former Attorney General Eric Holder: "In the midst of all the electoral uncertainty this morning, one thing is clear: it’s time to get rid of the Electoral College." We explain how hard that is to do.
Our arcane — some say undemocratic — system dates back to the nation’s founding.
Concession speeches are not a legal or constitutional requirement. They began in 1896 as a courtesy, with a telegram from William Jennings Bryan to his opponent, William McKinley. Via NPR.
There's no legal or constitutional requirement that the loser of a U.S. presidential election must concede. But the public concession speech is an important tradition, perhaps now more than ever.
𝐍𝐄𝐖! There is a long history in the U.S. of poll watchers and poll intimidation.
Poll watchers – observers who can report voting problems to local officials – operate under strict rules. But President Trump’s call for his supporters to guard polling places during this election has raised concerns about the potential for voter intimidation.
This new Retro Report, presented with The New Yorker, was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
📣 Perhaps no moment better underscores the value of reliable, transparent journalism like ours than Election Day. Today is more than the end of the presidential race. Our future is at stake, and the health of our democracy depends on an informed electorate.
That’s why we’re asking our viewers to cast their support for journalism that strengthens democracy by making a donation to Retro Report today. From now through Dec. 31, NewsMatch will match every new monthly donation 12 times, and double your one-time donation up to $5,000.
Invest in journalism for the people, with the people.
Please donate today by clicking on the button Donate or go to www.retroreport.org/donate.
Retro Report’s short documentaries focus on the vital history needed to better understand the biggest issues affecting your life today.
Election day is around the corner! However, with a record number of people voting by mail, pundits are predicting that the final results may not reflect the numbers on election night. That happened twenty years ago and the Supreme Court decision known as Bush v. Gore decided the presidential election. Here is our #LessonFromHistory
This video is part of our living library and has been updated to reflect the 2020 election. The dramatic controversy surrounding the 2000 presidential electi...
The time is now. Trusted journalism like ours has never mattered more. Please give today to double the impact of your donation.
We’re participating in #NewsMatch—a national matching-gift campaign that drives donations to nonprofit news organizations (like us!) around the country. Now thru Dec. 31, NewsMatch will match your Retro Report gift, up to $5,000! #ContextMatters #NewsMatch
Give: https://www.retroreport.org/donate/
Donald Trump’s tumultuous relationship with reporters was a defining theme of his run for the presidency. We asked the reporters who covered the campaign to assess their role in his rise to power. Watch our documentary, released in partnership with VICE News.
The nation’s leading reporters and media figures who covered Trump’s 2016 campaign offer a candid analysis of their role and mistakes in the 2016 election. E...
Ballot security or voter intimidation? Learn the difference (and the history) in a new Retro Report released in collaboration with The New Yorker and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
Poll watchers – observers who can report voting problems to local officials – operate under strict rules. President Trump’s call for his supporters to guard pol...
We’re excited to share that starting today we’re participating in #NewsMatch—a national matching-gift campaign that drives donations to nonprofit news organizations (like us!) around the country. Now thru Dec. 31, NewsMatch will match your Retro Report gift, up to $5,000!
Trusted journalism like ours has never mattered more. Please give today to double the impact of your donation.
Give: https://www.retroreport.org/donate/
#ContextMatters #NewsMatch
Retro Report’s short documentaries focus on the vital history needed to better understand the biggest issues affecting your life today.
Meet the senator who tried to abolish the electoral college 50 years ago. Why did the effort fail? #LessonsFromHistory
Our arcane — some say undemocratic — system dates back to the nation’s founding.
Lessons not learned from 2016 -- Stanford’s Cable News TV Analyzer shows President Trump coverage about twice that of Joe Biden this month.
Measure who is on screen and what is said on cable TV news.
It’s Media Literacy Week! Did you know that teenagers consider the opinions of influencers as trustworthy as those of news organizations? Use our video and lesson plan to foster media literacy skills at home or in your classroom.
Students will learn how an attention-grabbing news story can easily be misunderstood, resulting in a false narrative that becomes deeply ingrained in the national culture. Journalism students will learn the importance of providing context.
Fifty years ago, Congress came close to abolishing the electoral college. Why did the effort fail? We explain. #LessonsFromHistory
Our arcane — some say undemocratic — system dates back to the nation’s founding.
Kim Kardashian isn't the only one with a covid-free island. 🏖 😷
American Samoa has registered zero cases of Covid-19 since the beginning. They also dodged another pandemic 100 years ago.
Two territories, two wildly different outcomes as a pandemic terrorized the world. Subscribe to our newsletter for the history behind the headlines: https://...
In this excerpt from our latest documentary ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE, top national political reporters admit mistakes in their reporting on the 2016 election, from inaccurate polling to a misunderstanding of the political sentiments of large swaths of American voters. This documentary was produced in collaboration with VICE TV. Watch it in its entirety here: youtu.be/Wa85N6c28n8.
We won the Editor Publisher's 2020 Eppy award for our video on domestic violence! The trial of Francine Hughes in 1977 redefined Americans’ understanding of domestic abuse. Watch our story produced in collaboration with The New Yorker 🏆
The "Burning Bed" case - when a woman killed her abusive husband - made headlines in the 1970s and caused a national outcry. Today, despite stronger protecti...
How is it that the highest office in the land - the US presidency - is one where the person who gets the most votes can still lose the election? 50 years ago, Congress came close to changing that. Why did the effort fail?
Thread by @RetroReport: 1/8 How is it that the highest office in the land - the US presidency - is one where the person who gets the most votes can still lose the election? 50 years...
A new analysis by THE CITY NY estimates that the number of public housing apartments in New York where children are potentially exposed to lead poisoning is close to 20,000.
About half a million children, disproportionately children of color, have dangerously high lead levels in their blood, mostly from exposure to peeling paint and contaminated dust. The fight over who should clean it up has lasted for decades.
About half a million children – disproportionately children of color -- have dangerously high lead levels in their blood, mostly from exposure to peeling pai...
Columbia Journalism Review just released a report outlining how the press has covered Trump since his inauguration in 2017. (A perfect companion piece to our newest doc with VICE, which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/Wa85N6c28n8)
The nation’s leading reporters and media figures who covered Trump’s 2016 campaign offer a candid analysis of their role and mistakes in the 2016 election. E...
Drug maker Purdue Pharma reached an $8 billion settlement today for its role in the opioid epidemic. We handled this epidemic so differently than the last one, especially around race. Retro Report explains.
From time to time over the past 40 years, efforts were made to treat heroin addiction as a public health instead of a crime problem. But they were not successful.
Last week, officials at the Brooklyn Housing Court arrived in the morning to find the entrance sealed off and padlocked by activists protesting evictions during the pandemic. An idea from the 70s might offer renters a less confrontational option.
This story was produced in collaboration with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and is being published in partnership with The New York Times. It is th...
Despite less coverage this year, the opioid epidemic didn’t go anywhere. Overdose deaths have gone up since the start of the pandemic. Could new ways of treating addiction help save lives?
Overdose deaths are skyrocketing, forcing researchers to find new ways to think about and treat addiction. CONNECT WITH RETRO REPORT Newsletter: https://www....
Frank M. Snowden, a historian at Yale University discusses the politics of restricting travel during epidemics, how inhumane responses to sickness have upended governments, and how artists have reacted to disease outbreaks.
The historian Frank M. Snowden discusses the politics of restricting travel during epidemics, how inhumane responses to sickness have upended governments, and how artists have reacted to disease outbreaks.
Donald Trump’s tumultuous relationship with reporters was a defining theme of his run for the presidency. Retro Report asked the reporters who covered the campaign to assess their role in his rise to power.
Watch our film on VICE News YouTube.
The nation’s leading reporters and media figures who covered Trump’s 2016 campaign offer a candid analysis of their role and mistakes in the 2016 election. E...
The idea of what a documentary is has shifted according to what has — and hasn’t — been possible during the past 100 years.
A collection by Richard Brody, film critic of the New Yorker, of 62 of the best documentaries of all time.
The idea of what a documentary is has shifted according to what has—and hasn’t—been possible during the past hundred years. But the artistic preoccupations of their creators have not changed radically in that time.
Facebook is banning ads discouraging vaccinations and promoting vaccine facts. Unfounded #antivaxxer notions sprang from a discredited study that falsely linked the MMR vaccine and autism.
Skepticism and fear surrounding vaccines were fed by a flawed study done in 1998 linking the MMR vaccine to autism. The study was quickly discredited, we’re still dealing with the repercussions.
Solar photovoltaics are now cheaper than plants fired by coal and natural gas in most nations, and renewables could have 80% of the market for new power generation by 2030, energy researchers found.
We looked at why shifting to solar power is the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnQ0FEZHajI
Guatemalan homesteaders and a Michigan contractor are riding a wave that could change how our lives are wired. "What Happens Next" is a collaboration with Qu...
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Retro Report posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to Retro Report:
𝐍𝐄𝐖! There is a long history in the U.S. of poll watchers and poll intimidation. Poll watchers – observers who can report voting problems to local officials – operate under strict rules. But President Trump’s call for his supporters to guard polling places during this election has raised concerns about the potential for voter intimidation. This new Retro Report, presented with The New Yorker, was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
In this excerpt from our latest documentary ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE, top national political reporters admit mistakes in their reporting on the 2016 election, from inaccurate polling to a misunderstanding of the political sentiments of large swaths of American voters. This documentary was produced in collaboration with VICE TV. Watch it in its entirety here: youtu.be/Wa85N6c28n8.
A candid and dramatic journey behind the scenes of the 2016 election: journalists reflect on their missteps covering Donald Trump and the decline of public trust in news. A Retro Report documentary: ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE premieres Oct. 15 on @vicetv
How did American Samoa sidestep the 1918 flu pandemic AND Covid-19? Here is what we found: https://youtu.be/FkNG15P3ia8
Keeping workers from becoming sick on the job is taking on renewed importance. We found that people who are most in need are least likely to have access to paid sick leave. WATCH our collaboration with TIME!
The Democratic National Convention just announced its speaker lineup. In 2004, a relatively obscure state senator from Illinois delivered an incredible convention speech. Barack Obama was elected president four years later. WATCH: https://bit.ly/2DBx4fM
It’s been over 75 years since the US dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan. Our newest short looks at testimony from survivors to try to piece together the legacy of one of the most traumatic events of the 20th century. WATCH: https://youtu.be/oHDYl13oyHA
On Aug. 3 at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Jesse Owens captured the gold medal in the 100-meter dash, the first of four he would win. "It's notable that, in the American context, these men would have been thought of as Negroes, but in the international context, they were being celebrated as Americans." Watch our full doc about the history of athlete protest, and the intersection of race and sports: https://youtu.be/JEVT87x_e04
42 years ago today, Louise Brown was born as the first “test-tube baby” in one of the biggest news stories of the 20th century. Her birth sparked a heated ethical debate about creating human life in a lab, but also offered hope to millions of women. She told us what it is like to be the poster child of IVF.
The "Burning Bed" case - when a woman killed her abusive husband - made headlines in the 1970s and caused a national outcry. Today, despite stronger protections, millions of women a year are still abused by a partner. Our latest collaboration with The New Yorker.
The AIDS pandemic was marked by a slow response and a lack of clear public health messages and testing. Despite those lessons, we were still unprepared for Covid-19. Find out why in our latest collaboration with The New York Times.
𝗡𝗘𝗪! Long after the 19th amendment granted women the vote in 1920, African-American women have struggled for enfranchisement. Watch our latest collaboration with American Experience | PBS 🗳
The 1968 Kerner Commission on racial unrest warned: ‘Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal.’ The report cited a number of issues. A shortage of jobs. Inadequate education. Discrimination. Harsh police tactics. The Commission found troubles disproportionately harming African Americans that are just as relevant today.
𝐍𝐄𝐖! The Equal Rights Amendment, proposed nearly 100 years ago, sparked debate from its very beginning, even among the women who had organized and worked together for suffrage. In January, Virginia became the latest state to ratify. Again, there were challenges. Our latest, with American Experience | PBS, has the story of the long – and continuing – path to passage.
Some experts warn that relying on Covid-19 antibody testing could lead to a two-tier social system, where some people can get back to work and some can’t. Our collaboration with Scientific American looks at smallpox and yellow fever outbreaks in the past, and how those who survived found social status as “acclimated citizens.”
Can you find American Samoa on a map? The oft-overlooked island is the only US territory with no confirmed cases of Covid-19. This is not the first time Samoa has staved off an epidemic; Thanks to a combination of advance warning, swift action, and a fair amount of luck, the island made it through the 1918 flu pandemic without a single confirmed case.
If you have vapers in your family, show them our latest collaboration with Scientific American. We talk to scientists reviewing past research that suggests nicotine may amplify the lethal power of the coronavirus.
Coronavirus has a playlist. The genre is pandemic pop. Tunes about hard times during disease outbreaks have a long history.
As part of our living library we're updating stories as news develops. Recently, migrant children in federal custody have tested positive for Covid-19, reopening a legal battle over the rights of children in custody. #coronavirus #migrantchildren
Verbal and physical attacks on Asian-Americans are on the rise as the new #coronavirus, which scientists believe originated in China, spreads across the globe. Scapegoating immigrant groups in times of disease outbreak has a long history. #COVID19 This video was created with support from a Brown Institute for Media Innovation (@MadeatBrown) grant recognizing a need for accurate information about the COVID-19 virus.
Dr. Larry Brilliant, who worked to eradicate smallpox across the globe, says there are important lessons to learn from past epidemics as we confront the coronavirus. #COVID19 #Smallpox
Health officials are urging Americans to prepare for the spread of COVID-19, leading to runs on hand sanitizer, toilet paper and most important, medical masks. During World War 2, the government used rationing as a way to share food and other consumer goods in high demand. Hoarding was stigmatized as helping Hitler. #coronavirus #COVID19
#BernieSanders and #JoeBiden are the icons of an ideological divide among today’s Democrats. That echoes a split in the Republican party of 1964 when moderate #Republicans faced off against ultra-conservatives. If you're a Democrat, who do you plan on voting for, and why?
Americans put away over 50 pounds of beef per person each year. What’s that doing to the planet? @RetroReport has the story. #climatechange #globalwarming Would you give up meat if you knew it would help slow down global warming?
Despite little media attention, "Diet for a Small Planet" by Frances Moore Lappé, became a counterculture best seller, inspiring readers in the 1970s with the message that individual actions could make a difference. The book is the inspiration behind some of the companies producing today's alternatives to meat. #meatless #fakemeat #beyondmeat #veganeating #alternativemeat #plantbased #climatechange Check out our latest Retro Report.
Our latest video! Coronavirus has public health officials scrambling to put quarantines into effect. The 2014 Ebola outbreak may have some lessons. #quarantine #coronavirus #COVID19 #Ebola
In the new @RetroReport video below, we explore how the #Oscars have become a way for Hollywood actors to air their views and trumpet a cause. Watch our latest video and then take the Oscars QUIZ -- can you match the declaration to the actor who made it? https://bit.ly/39bM7a1
Check out our latest video -- Political memes, today's version of editorial cartoons, are a way to broadcast opinions on social media channels, often with a dose of sly humor. #memes #politicalmemes
34 years ago to the day, Americans watched in horror as the space shuttle #Challenger go up in flames on live television. Our report looks at how loosened safety regulations and tight deadlines lead to one of the biggest disasters in the history of space travel.
This week, President Trump’s impeachment trial kicks off in the senate. In our newest video, we compare how Trump and Clinton have handled their trials in the public eye.
Retro Report is an Emmy Award-winning independent, objective, nonprofit news organization founded in 2013. We are dedicated to uncovering the surprising ways that news of the past continues to resonate today. Our documentary videos blend investigative reporting and rare archival footage to give viewers meaningful context and perspective on current events.
We operate with the conviction that an engaging and forward-looking review of high-profile events, and the news coverage surrounding them, is critical to understanding the lessons of history and developing robust civic literacy. And, since the stories we report on continue to evolve, we are committed to providing a permanent, living library where each story is tracked and updated so that viewers can gain new insights as events develop and history unfolds.