Aljazeera Fault Lines

Editorial tone

Critical, systemic, counter-hegemonic. Fault Lines is Al Jazeera's investigative format with exclusive focus on the USA — America viewed through the lens of an international broadcaster. The tone is analytical and system-critical, without becoming polemical. Fault Lines tells the American stories that US mainstream media often overlook or frame differently: structural racism, mass incarceration, police violence, inequality, indigenous rights. The programme offers an outside perspective on the USA — similar to how European broadcasters view the USA, but with on-the-ground investigative depth. 25 minutes enforce precision and focus. The narrative is fact-based, but the choice of topics is deliberately political — Fault Lines stands with the marginalized.

What this format covers

• ●Structural racism and police violence in the USA
• ●Mass incarceration and wrongful convictions
• ●Indigenous rights and land struggles
• ●Social inequality — poverty, homelessness, healthcare system
• ●Immigration policy — border, detention, family separation
• ●Environmental racism and climate justice
• ●Gun violence and its consequences
• ●US foreign policy and its consequences

What this format does NOT want

• ●Topics outside the USA (other Al Jazeera formats cover those)
• ●Lifestyle, pop culture, entertainment
• ●Science documentaries
• ●Historical documentaries without current relevance
• ●Pro-establishment perspectives
• ●Soft features without systemic analysis
• ●Films that need to be longer than 25 minutes

Visual expectations

Journalistically professional with reportage character. Reporters on the ground in affected communities. Interviews with those affected and experts. Observational camera at protests, community meetings, court proceedings. Archival material and data visualizations. Drone footage for context (border regions, industrial areas, reservations). The look is journalistic and authentic — no cinematic ambition, but professionally produced. 25 minutes demand visually dense editing.

Expected exposé structure

1. Title (thematically clear, often with location reference)
2. Logline (What is the systemic problem? Who is affected?)
3. The story — what's happening, where, why now?
4. Those affected — concrete people and their experiences
5. The systemic dimension — beyond the individual case
6. Access and contacts on the ground
7. Reporter and team

Example productions

• Fault Lines: Police Brutality in America (2020)
• Fault Lines: The Eviction Machine (2021)
• Fault Lines: Standing Rock (2017)
• Fault Lines: The Border Wall (2019)
• Fault Lines: Flint — The Poisoned City (2016)
• Fault Lines: America's Gun Epidemic (2022)
• Fault Lines: The Mass Incarceration Machine (2023)
• Fault Lines: Climate Refugees in Louisiana (2022)