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Four Corners : Season 52
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Air date: 06 Feb '12 - 41 episodesFour 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 50th anniversary in 2011. 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.
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List of Episodes (41)
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Four Corners (1961)
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1. Revolution in the Classroom
06 Feb '12"Revolution in the Classroom", reported by Matthew Carney and hosted by Kerry O'Brien. For some time now there's been a bruising debate about the balance of funding handed out to public and private schools. No one doubts it's an important debate, but many educators believe it has helped obscure an even more fundamental question about where the money is spent. Over the past decade, the Federal Government has spent billions of dollars trying to lower class sizes, increase the use of computers and
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Four Corners (1961)
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2. The Comeback Kid?
10 Feb '12"The Comeback Kid?", reported by Andrew Fowler and presented by Kerry O'Brien. The inside story of the Federal Government in crisis; how the Labor Party went from the heights of popularity to the depths of political despair. Kevin Rudd lost his job when Party bosses saw his popularity waning. Now Julia Gillard is in even worse shape. What does Labor do next? Could it roll the dice again and return to its former leader? A Four Corners team has been unearthing the truth about Labor in power. It
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Four Corners (1961)
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3. Syria Exposed
16 Feb '12"Syria Exposed", reported by Jonathan Miller for Channel 4 in the UK and presented by Kerry O'Brien. It's a program that raises many questions, not least how can any country support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad? How can the United Nations resist calls for al-Assad to be charged and prosecuted for war crimes? But if this happens, and the President leaves office, what will it mean for Syria and the balance of power in the Middle East? As unrest grows in Syria, President Bashar
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Four Corners (1961)
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4. Given or Taken?
23 Feb '12"Given or Taken?" Reported by Geoff Thompson and presented by Kerry O'Brien. Over five decades thousands of women gave up their newborn children for adoption. While they were supposed to make their decision freely, many claim they were coerced, bullied and their children were effectively stolen. It's now a cornerstone of social welfare policy that children should, if at all possible, stay with their birth parents, in particular their mother. Not so in years gone by. Right up to the 1970s,
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Four Corners (1961)
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5. Closing Ranks
01 Mar '12"Closing Ranks", reported by Quentin McDermott and presented by Kerry O'Brien. Police forces across the country claim they've been hard at work training their officers to deal with people who are mentally ill, armed and posing a threat to themselves and the public. But have lessons really been learnt, and is it possible to change a police culture that doesn't admit responsibility when things go wrong? Adam Salter was a young man with much to live for, with a good job and a loving family. But
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Four Corners (1961)
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6. Dicing with Debt
08 Mar '12Rreported by Marian Wilkinson and presented by Kerry O'Brien. Leading up to the global financial crisis, the entrepreneurs of Ireland were having a field day. Money was being borrowed, investment projects approved and the economy was booming. Now Marian Wilkinson tells the story of the crash, the Government bailout of the Irish banks and the brutal austerity regime the Government agreed to that's taken a harsh toll on the Irish people. With Europe heading towards recession, some in Ireland say
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Four Corners (1961)
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7. Egypt: Children of the Revolution
15 Mar '12In February 2011, millions of Egyptians came together to bring down their leader, Hosni Mubarak, in what many saw as a defining moment in the Arab Spring. For the past year the BBC has shadowed three young people from very different walks of life who were part of the uprising. We see them protesting, we see them rejoice as Mubarak stands down and we see their paths collide as their different visions for Egypt begin to conflict. Ahmed Hassan was unemployed and poor, but hoped the new Egypt would
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Four Corners (1961)
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8. The Fastest Changing Place on Earth
22 Mar '12Reported by Carrie Gracie and presented by Kerry O'Brien The story of modern China told through the eyes of the villagers forced to sell their homes and give up their land to make way for massive urban development. Naturally they are outraged and fearful. Some say they will not bow to the will of the Government, while others ultimately embrace the opportunity to make a fortune. This is China as you've never seen it before: the China that's behind Australia's resources boom. White Horse
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Four Corners (1961)
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9. Without Consent
29 Mar '12"Without Consent", reported by Sarah Ferguson and presented by Kerry O'Brien. What happens when young, educated, Australian-born girls are forced into unwanted marriages - often with relatives overseas? Samia was just seventeen when her father announced he was taking her on a holiday overseas. But this was a holiday with a difference. Back in the family's village in rural Pakistan, Samia watched in horror as the local Imam walked in ready to conduct her marriage to her first cousin - without
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Four Corners (1961)
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10. Happy Banking
05 Apr '12A story that reveals how key Australian banks dealt with the Global Financial Crisis and the shocking impact it had on their customers: loans terminated, businesses liquidated and lives in turmoil.
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Four Corners (1961)
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11. Blood and Honour
12 Apr '12Can the war in Afghanistan be won and is Australia's involvement worth the price that's being paid?
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Four Corners (1961)
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12. The Killer Within
20 Apr '12The story of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.
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Four Corners (1961)
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13. The Mormon Candidate
27 Apr '12A startling investigation into America's fastest growing religion and the former Mormon bishop who says he now wants to be President of the United States.
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Four Corners (1961)
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14. Judgement Day
03 May '12Twenty years after the High Court's Mabo judgement, the inside story of the court decision that threatened to divide a nation.
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Four Corners (1961)
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15. Hard Knocks
10 May '12A confronting story that looks at the implications of cutting-edge research relating to the prevention and management of head injuries in football players.
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Four Corners (1961)
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16. Madeleine McCann The Last Hope
17 May '12It was a disappearance that made international headlines and raised tensions between Britain and Portugal. Now comes the story of the new police investigation that some hope might finally explain what really happened to three year old Madeleine.
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Four Corners (1961)
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17. Casualties of the Boom
25 May '12Next on Four Corners, how massive mining developments are killing communities in regional Australia.
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Four Corners (1961)
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18. Smugglers Paradise
31 May '12Next on Four Corners: How the biggest people smuggling networks in Indonesia have moved their operations to Australia.
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Four Corners (1961)
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19. The Great Euro Crash
07 Jun '12Can the dream of an economically united Europe with a single currency survive the extravagance of the past decade and the mountains of debt strangling key countries in the union?
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Four Corners (1961)
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20. WikiLeaks - The Forgotten Man
14 Jun '12Next on Four Corners - a return to the remarkable story of 'WikiLeaks -The Forgotten Man', Bradley Manning.
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Four Corners (1961)
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21. Gina Rinehart - The Power Of One
20 Jun '12She's rich, she's powerful and no one stands in her way. Not even her family...
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Four Corners (1961)
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22. Unholy Silence
28 Jun '12Four Corners investigates claims that the Catholic Church has covered up allegations of sexual abuse made against priests and brothers in Australia.
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Four Corners (1961)
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23. The Price Of Pearls
05 Jul '12Pearls - they're beautiful, luxurious and the height of fashion, but what price is being paid by the young divers who fetch pearl shells from the deep?
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Four Corners (1961)
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24. Opium Brides
12 Jul '12Reporter Najibullah Quraishi journeys deep into the Afghan countryside to reveal the personal and social devastation the Government's counter-narcotics program is causing.
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Four Corners (1961)
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25. Sex, Lies And Julian Assange
19 Jul '12Reporter Andrew Fowler goes to Sweden for a revealing look at the allegations of sexual crimes hanging over Julian Assange's head, and at the claims of American involvement.
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