Four Corners — Season 51
Australia's premiere current affairs programme, incisive investigative journalism.
About this season
Four Corners is Australia's longest-running investigative journalism/current affairs television program. Broadcast on ABC1 in Australia, it premiered on 19 August 1961 and celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2021. Founding producer Robert Raymond and his successor Allan Ashbolt did much to set the ongoing tone of the program. Based on the Panorama concept, the program addresses a single issue in depth each week, showing either a locally produced program or a relevant documentary from overseas. The program has won many awards for investigative journalism, and broken many high-profile stories. A notable early example of this was the show's epoch-making 1962 exposé on the appalling living conditions endured by many Aboriginal Australians living in rural New South Wales.
Episodes (11)
1. The Forgotten Man
Aired 14 February 2011 • 45 min
While WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange has been cast as a heroic champion of free speech, his ongoing expose of US foreign policy would not have been possible without the work of Private Bradley Manning. It was Manning who allegedly stole the classified documents published by WikiLeaks. It is Manning who now languishes in a US military prison.
2. The Gas Rush
Aired 21 February 2011 • 45 min
With access to guerrilla activists and their undercover filming, Matthew Carney reports on the coalition of farmers, local townspeople and even a corporate titan who want to halt Australia's gas rush.
3. 30 Billion Blowout
Aired 14 March 2011 • 45 min
Tony Hayward, BP's former Chief Executive speaks out in a wide-ranging interview, reliving every aspect of the crisis: from being under the US media spotlight and running a multinational in financial meltdown, to dealing with a US President who was making the crisis personal.
4. The Miracle Baby of Haiti
Aired 28 February 2011 • 45 min
The story of a baby girl plucked from the rubble of the Haiti earthquake and the British doctor who made the momentous decision to evacuate her. A simple act of mercy with profound consequences for everyone involved.
7. The National Broadband Network
Aired 11 April 2011 • 45 min
8. Qantas Flight 32
Aired 28 March 2011 • 45 min
When 440 passengers boarded Qantas Flight 32 bound for Sydney last November, they had every reason to feel confident. They were flying an airline boasting a unique safety record, on the world's newest, most sophisticated civilian aircraft, powered by prestigious Rolls Royce engines, famous for their reliability. But six minutes into the flight all that would change, when an explosion sent pieces of searing hot metal shooting out of the engine faster than the speed of sound. Four Corners tells the compelling story of the frightening hours that followed.
11. The Price of Freedom
Aired 25 April 2011 • 45 min
How 33 miners in Chile, who dodged death, have come to terms with the horror they experienced and their second chance at life.
16. A Bloody Business
Aired 30 May 2011 • 45 min
An explosive expose of the cruelty inflicted on Australian cattle exported to the slaughterhouses of Indonesia.
17. In Harm's Way
18. Culture of Silence
26. Italy's Bloodiest Mafia: The Camorra
Aired 8 August 2011 • 45 min
An investigation exposing how Italy's most ruthless organised crime syndicate has taken over one of the country's most beautiful cities, killing its citizens and poisoning its water, making massive amounts of money and effectively operating an alternative government. Italians are no strangers to organised crime and violence. Each region of Italy has spawned its own version of the Mafia. In Sicily, it is the Cosa Nostra. In Calabria, it is the Ndrangheta. The Camorra is the Naples mafia. Over the past three decades it has been responsible for the death of 3,000 people. Anyone who opposes the Camorra's rule becomes a target. Few are brave enough to resist its demands. Despite suffering setbacks at the hands of a few committed investigators, it remains as strong as ever. The Camorra is into drug trafficking, racketeering, business, politics and even the garbage disposal industry. Naples' recent waste crisis was in part blamed on the crime syndicate. Its grip on the city is far reaching.