Raney Aronson-Rath

Raney Aronson-Rath
Aronson-Rath at the 70th Annual Peabody Awards
Alma materUniversity of Wisconsin (B A., 1992) [1]
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (M.A.)
OccupationFilmmaker
TitleExecutive Producer, Frontline
SpouseArun Rath

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

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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

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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

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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.

References

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  1. ^ DixonKate, Kail, "Raney Aronson-Rath ’92A New Era for Frontline", On Wisconsin magazine, University of Wisconsin, Spring 2016 issue.
  2. ^ "FRONTLINE". PBS.
  3. ^ "'Frontline' Getting a Change in Leadership". The New York Times. 14 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Frontline Welcomes New Class to Frontline Columbia School of Journalism Fellows".
  5. ^ April Simpson (May 30, 2017). "Raney Aronson-Rath: It's in my DNA to get to the Nuanced Truth".
  6. ^ "'Frontline' Getting a Change in Leadership". The New York Times. May 13, 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-20.
  7. ^ Mike Kiniry (March 14, 2018). "Frontline Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath".
  8. ^ "PBS Official Frontline Youtube Channel". YouTube.
  9. ^ "About Frontline's Transparency Project". PBS.
  10. ^ "Columbia Global Reports Advisory Board".
  11. ^ "Program Guide — 20 Days in Mariupol". Sundance Film Festival. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ Galuppo, Mia (27 January 2023). "Sundance: 'A Thousand and One,' Nikki Giovanni Doc Take Top Jury Prizes". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "Five Ukrainian films included in 2024 Oscars eligibility lists – photo". Ukrainska Pravda. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
  17. ^ Horlach, Polina (18 September 2023). ""20 днів у Маріуполі": обрали претендента на "Оскар-2024" від України".
  18. ^ "Virtual Reality Meets Documentary". 2016-05-13.
  19. ^ "Raney Aronson-Rath Biography".
  20. ^ "Raney Aronson-Rath Speaker Bio".
  21. ^ "About the Power of Narrative".
  22. ^ "The 96th Academy Awards | 2024". 23 January 2024.
  23. ^ "FRONTLINE: United States of Secrets".
  24. ^ Lyn Trahn (May 1, 2016). "Peabody Awards and Facebook Launch New Futures of Media Award".
  25. ^ Valerie Miller (2016-03-08). "2015 Scripps Howard Winners Announced".
  26. ^ Gregg Mitchell. "2017 Writers Guild Awards Winners Announced".
  27. ^ "Winners of the 2019 dupont-Columbia Awards".