Episodes
Will Lachlan Murdoch succeed in brushing his rival siblings aside to command control over the future of his family’s media empire? Or could we be looking at the end of the century-old family dynasty that runs the world's most powerful conservative news organisation?
Published 10/25/24
Published 10/25/24
For much of his youth, Lachlan Murdoch seemed ambivalent about being next in line to control the family’s global media empire. So why is his father Rupert now fighting a high stakes battle against three of his other children to ensure Lachlan becomes his successor?
Published 10/18/24
Are we looking at the end of the Murdoch family's global media empire? That's the question journalists Paddy Manning and Alex Mann investigate in this special three-part series. This week, they take you inside the family's inner sanctum and examine why Lachlan, Rupert's chosen successor, may not have always been an obvious choice.
Published 10/11/24
The Murdoch family is locked in a secret court battle. 
Published 10/09/24
Dots are so strongly associated with traditional Aboriginal visual language that Shane gets asked why he doesn’t paint them. 
Published 10/04/24
In a caravan park in central NSW, a group of grey nomads were sold a Utopia - a  “home base” to hang up the keys and enjoy “real estate security”. They sunk their life savings into houses in the park, with the ads promising it “couldn’t be sold out from underneath” them. But then, it was. 
Published 09/27/24
There are only two witnesses to Brad Balzan's final moments: the two officers who chased him into his backyard. But their accounts of what happened don't match up.
Published 09/20/24
As the investigation into Bradley Balzan's death continues, serious questions are raised about how the country’s largest police force uses its search powers.
Published 09/13/24
Brad Balzan is shot dead in his own backyard after a police encounter goes wrong. In episode two of Stop and Search, a new mini-series by Background Briefing, reporter Paul Farrell asks why was he running away, and why did the officers chase him down?
Published 09/06/24
A 20-year-old is chased by four plain-clothes police officers into his western Sydney backyard. But he hasn't committed a crime. He hasn't even done anything wrong. He's shot twice, and then dies. In a special miniseries by Background Briefing, the final moments that led to this tragic incident are pieced together. The reporter is Paul Farrell. 
Published 08/30/24
Ruby's barely a teenager, and already she's become a champion bull rider. She's also had eight concussions and multiple brain bleeds. Reporter Tynan King investigates how this extreme sport became her obsession — even as it threatens her life.
Published 08/23/24
He left a trail of defect-riddled apartment buildings across Sydney and debts exceeding $600m to his creditors. Police have issued a warrant for his arrest. The NSW Premier has even offered to pay for his flight back to Australia. This week, Background Briefing tracks down the notorious and elusive Jean Nassif, who gives his first exclusive sit-down interview since he left Australia more than a year ago.
Published 08/16/24
Testosterone is often marketed as a silver bullet that can help you build muscle mass, improve your energy levels and fix your sex life. But as reporters Tynan King and Maddison Connaughton discover, the reality doesn’t always live up to the hype, and the people running testosterone replacement therapy clinics don’t always have their clients' best interests at heart
Published 08/09/24
Anna grew up believing she was an orphan. But she later discovered she’d been lied to. And that she's one of many Australian adoptees who has been misled.
Published 08/02/24
Nathaniel Train was renowned as a distinguished principal who could deliver impressive results for disadvantaged schools. His childhood friend, reporter Josh Robertson, investigates what fateful events led to Nathaniel's transformation into a cold-blooded killer.  
Published 07/26/24
One morning reporter Josh Robertson woke up, read the headlines, and made a terrible realisation.
Published 07/19/24
He is shut off from the outside world. Locked inside a makeshift jail in north Syria for the past five years, Hamza doesn’t even know who the Prime Minister is. This Australian citizen is one of thousands of suspected ISIS members imprisoned with no charges.   
Published 07/12/24
Sometimes they’re armed with a chainsaw, sometimes a bottle of poison, and often they’re operating in broad daylight. So why is it so hard to catch Sydney’s tree killers?
Published 07/05/24
Daniel Duggan’s career was spent pushing warplanes to their limits. Now the United States wants him extradited from Australia and prosecuted for conspiracy. The Australian pilot says he innocent, and believes he’s a pawn in the geopolitical contest between the US and China.
Published 06/28/24
Olivia went on Australia’s biggest show to find love. She came out as Australia's "most hated" reality TV star and lost almost everything. Reporter Annika Blau investigates the making of a TV villain.
Published 06/21/24
It was the infamous Royal prank call that shattered lives. One woman took her own life; another is haunted to this day. Reporter Rachael Cusick investigates - how did a joke go so wrong?
Published 06/14/24
On the outskirts of Dubai there is a secret scam factory, where hundreds of employees smoke, eat, and pretend to be glamorous women — but one has a secret plan to shut it all down.
Published 06/06/24
There's a saying that every good story needs a bad guy. 
Published 06/04/24
How the Commonwealth Bank tried to stop a royal commission by using dirt files, intimidation, threats and surveillance against whistleblowers and journalists. Reporter Adele Ferguson investigates.
Published 05/31/24