NOW | PBS
NOW shines a light on corporate and government policies to expose their effects on society and democracy. Using expert reporting, interviews, and analysis, the show goes behind the headlines to provide insight on some of today's most pressing issues.

• Ron Paul and Internet Politics
  At the intersection of the Internet and politics, presidential candidate Ron Paul's supporters are rewriting the rules of political campaigns. NOW explores how the Texas congressman and his supporters are using the Internet to attract voters -- and massive contributions -- from across the political spectrum. Supporters include anti-war progressives, anti-tax libertarians, civil libertarians, and even some white supremacists. The common theme is anger over where the country is heading. "Ron Paul's campaign is so extraordinary to many of us because even while it was getting massive online traffic, you'd be lucky to get a whisper of his campaign in a lot of media outlets," said Zephyr Teachout, Howard Dean's former online organizer and now a Duke University professor. That anonymity changed when, on November 5, Paul's campaign raised a record-breaking $4.2 million -- even though many of his followers have little political activism experience and were acting online without the help of Paul's official campaign. "I think the message should be the only thing that counts, but you can't get the message out without the money," Paul tells NOW. Can viral energy and passion in the virtual world translate into real world votes?
• Talking About War
  On the very day Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese warplanes 66 years ago, David Brancaccio interviews filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and the Rev. James Forbes Jr. about Burns and Novick's epic World War II documentary "The War". Looking to the past as a mirror to the present, the four discuss how the waging of war intersects with our notion of democracy. "It's incumbent upon a democratic society to evaluate what the arithmetic is -- the cost of war," Burns tells the group. Sharp insight about the year's must-see documentary, and the modern lessons contained therein.
• Will The 2008 Vote Be Fair?
  How safe is your right to vote? This week NOW talks to David Becker, a former Justice Department official and voting rights activist who worked under both President Bush and President Clinton, who alleges a systematic effort to deny the vote to hundreds of thousands, even millions of people. In a revealing interview with NOW's David Brancaccio, Becker openly worries that the 2008 election will not be free and fair. And is our own government part of the solution, or part of the problem?
• Oil, Politics & Bribes
  NOW shines a bright light on the scandalous connection between VECO Corporation -- an Alaska-based oil services company -- and Alaska's old-boy Republican network. Two state legislators have been convicted in Federal court for accepting bribes from VECO, while one more awaits trial. The FBI has video and audio evidence that reveal VECO executives shockingly handing out cash to those legislators in exchange for promises to roll back a tax on the oil industry. But that may only be the tip of the oily iceberg. NOW's Maria Hinojosa learns that dozens more lawmakers are being eyed in the growing scandal, including one of the country's most powerful politicians, Alaska U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. NOW investigates the bribes, the connections to Big Oil and the payoffs to obtain friendly tax policies.
• Mortgage Mess
  NOW travels to North Minneapolis to investigate the mortgage meltdown that's left the city scarred with boarded-up and abandoned houses. What's happened in communities like this one has investors everywhere shaken. Wall Street firms are stumbling and markets around the globe are reeling. Economists worry the mortgage bust may even lead to a recession. By one estimate, investors could eventually see as much as 400 billion dollars go down the drain--losses almost twice as big as the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s. NOW connects the dots to reveal the extent to which recklessness, corruption and greed created the subprime mess that now threatens to undermine our entire economy. David Brancaccio talks to Rep. Keith Ellison, who grew up in North Minneapolis and who has pushed legislation to address the crisis. He also talks to Ameriquest whistleblower Mark Bomchill, who explains the competitive "boiler room" culture that encouraged brokers to aggressively push mortgage products they knew clients would be unable to repay.
• Children's Health Care Showdown
  NOW investigates the latest Congressional maneuvers to determine the fate of a children's health care program. The State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, is a block grant from the federal government to cover children whose family incomes exceed that which would make them eligible for Medicaid, but are too low to afford private insurance. But the fund is quickly running out of money. President Bush vetoed a bipartisan SCHIP reauthorization bill on October 3, claiming it would attract recipients who could otherwise afford private insurance. Now, the issue has become a political free-for-all, with family lives hanging in the balance. As part of its investigation, NOW interviewed Graeme Frost and his parents. Graeme is a twelve year-old boy whose family has been using SCHIP to pay for his medical expenses following a car accident. After Frost told his story as part of the Democratic weekly radio address at the end of September, he and his family became the targets of right wing attacks. Many are now asking: Did Congressional Republicans assist in a smear campaign?
• Growing Local, Eating Local
  When the federal government ended its 60-plus years of price support to tobacco farmers in 2004, Virginians were hit particularly hard. NOW travels to the mountainous farmlands of Appalachia to meet farmers who've attempted the difficult switch from tobacco to increasingly popular organic produce. Among those profiled is restaurant owner Steven Hopp who, along with his wife -- acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver -- spent a year living off the land. Social entrepreneur Anthony Flaccavento founded an Enterprising Idea called "Appalachian Sustainable Development" to help local farmers and markets make the transition not just to organic, but to local organic. Can local farmers change course and crops and still survive in a shifting economy? Also on the show, David Brancaccio interviews prominent environmentalist Bill McKibben about his "National Day of Climate Action" on November 3, and what we can all do to fight global warming.
• God and Global Warming
  In August, NOW traveled with an unlikely alliance of Evangelical Christians and leading scientists to witness the breathtaking effects of global warming on Alaska's rapidly-changing environment. Though many in the Evangelical community feel recognition of global warming is in opposition to their mission, the week-long trip inspired new thinking on the relationship between science and religion, and on our moral responsibility to protect the planet. Travel with NOW and the expeditionary group on a breathtaking and surprising journey to find common ground between Earth and sky. "Despite having some differences on some well known issues, our two communities clearly shared a deep and fundamental reverence for life on Earth and a profound concern about what human activity was doing to it." write Dr. Eric Chivian and Reverend Richard Cizik for NOW.
• Immigration on Main Street
  With Washington stuck in place on illegal immigration policy, local governments are taking the matter into their own hands, shifting the cultural and political battleground from Pennsylvania Avenue to Main Street, USA. NOW catches up with two New Jersey mayors who have sharply different -- and politically surprising -- approaches to dealing with undocumented immigrants in their communities. Morristown mayor Don Cresitello, a Democrat, wants to invoke a Department of Homeland Security provision that would grant his police department federal enforcement powers in dealing with illegal immigrants. "They shouldn't be here, and we shouldn't be spending that money on a population that's not supposed to be in this country," Mayor Cresitello tells NOW. An hour away, Hightstown mayor Bob Patten has turned his little town into a "Sanctuary City" -- a place where law-abiding illegal immigrants are protected and embraced. "We don't ask people what their immigration status is now," says Mayor Patten. "We simply want to treat everybody justly, fairly. There's a due process." NOW's David Brancaccio visits the mayors and members of their immigrant communities to uncover the impact these measures are having, and the passions that fuel them.
• Child Brides: Stolen Lives
  NOW's Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa travels around the world for a revealing exploration of early child marriage in deve