Politics & society, Research

Frontline airs ‘Rape on the Night Shift’ documentary

By Public Affairs

“Rape on the Night Shift,” a documentary by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, will air on the Public Broadcasting System’s Frontline show in English tonight(June 23)..

Documentary screenshot

A new “Frontline” documentary looks at the perils facing immigrant women working as janitors.

The film expands on IRP’s earlier, award-winning coverage of problems facing immigrant women working in farms, fields and factories. This time, it turns the spotlight on immigrant women, often undocumented, who work as janitors to clean shops, banks and offices across the country after closing hours.

The documentary features interviews with the women themselves, an attorney for the federal agency responsible for enforcing sexual harassment laws in the workplace and a watchdog group that monitors working conditions for janitors.

The documentary’s correspondent is Lowell Bergman, the Reva and David Logan Distinguished Chair in Investigative Journalism at the journalism school and a founder of IRP. The producers are Andrés Cediel and Daffodil Altan, both alumni of the Graduate School of Journalism. A number of current and former journalism school students worked on the film as researchers, camera persons, fact-checkers and production assistants.

“Rape on the Night Shift” is a collaboration by the IRP, Frontline, Reveal at The Center for Investigative Reporting and KQED Radio. Reveal’s English-language national radio show will air related material on public radio stations across the country beginning July 4, with a Spanish-language podcast to be released on iTunes. KQED will air radio reports on “Rape on the Night Shift” on July 23, 24 and 25.  All reporting partners will offer original, multi-platform content to tell the story of women janitors working the nightshift.