Alaska Gold is a documentary detailing the circumstances around a proposed mine in the Bristol Bay area of Alaska. It appears as the fourth episode of the 2012 season of Frontline on PBS. The original air date for this program was July 24, 2012 and was produced by Kennith Levis. Levis has produced and directed many other episodes of Frontline and other programs in the same genre such as Death Row Stories and Addicted to Oil: Thomas L. Friedman Reporting. This shows in the cohesiveness of the stories told throughout this documentary.
The documentary is about the proposal of an open pit mine in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska, just north of Iliamna Lake. This region is home to the largest salmon breeding ground and fishing source in North America. Throughout the film there is a back and forth between those apposed to the mine and those in favor of it. Each side of the story is well developed and easy to follow which makes this documentary very easy to understand. As the stories develop through the film there is a noticeable bias towards the opposition which fits the message of the film, however, it does not lean so far to one side as to under develop the other side of the story. The use of sensationalism in this film was very slight and did not play a large part in the development of bias.
I believe this is an eye opening film that accurately represents two sides of a very important story that I was not aware of before watching this film. It is easy to watch and understand with clearly represented facts and insight into other similar situations as well as the science of mines. I would recommend this film to anyone with the time. It is important for people to understand the impact of the actions we take as a nation.