Debt Threat
The first programme will show how rapidly the shock wave of the credit crunch is spreading and why it is now moving far beyond the sub-prime homeowners where it began.
Dec 31, 2007•22 min
The Documentary Podcast: Archive 2007
The BBC World Service's wide range of documentaries from 2007.
Last refreshed: ⓘ
Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.
Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
Episodes
Assignment - Blackwater
There are now as many private security contractors in Iraq as there are US soldiers. To whom are they accountable when things go wrong? Steve Evans reports on the most controversial contractor, Blackwater, which has been criticised by the Iraqi government, American politicians and its own employees.
Dec 27, 2007•23 min
Quest for a Cure
Peter Day reports on whether the US Food and Drug Administration will licence the HIV/AIDS drug Maraviroc.
Dec 21, 2007•23 min
Global Account - Part 4
Allan Urry investigates links between the Pentagon, politicians and weapons manufacturers.
Dec 20, 2007•23 min
Assignment - Inside Uzbekistan
Since the Uzbek government put down an uprising in Andijan in 2005, the country has become more and more isolated from the west. But ahead of the country’s first Presidential election since 2000, our Central Asia correspondent Natalia Antelava made a secret trip across the state, recording her impressions.
Dec 19, 2007•23 min
Press for Freedom - part three
Building democracy: What is the role of radio in building democracy? In Papua, a new radio station is being installed as part of Indonesia's 68H network. 68H has introduced electricity by building a dam to power the station in the village. How did 68H get around censorship under Suharto? And why is radio such a key player in building civil society?
Dec 19, 2007•23 min
Press for Freedom - part two
Freedom of the internet:How do the motives of mainstream news websites compare with the agendas of blogs? In part two of 'Press for Freedom', we talk to Iraqi blogger Salam Pax and others who have delivered on-the-ground viewpoints in regions where the government would have otherwise silenced them. In Kuala Lumpur, we hear from the government-owned Bernama press, who also fund Nam News Network, supposedly the only unfiltered news wire in a non-aligned world.
Dec 19, 2007•23 min
Citizen Journalists
What is the future of news, when the internet may undermine the old-fashioned paternalistic precepts? BBC's Alan Little investigates.
Dec 17, 2007•23 min
Press For Freedom Part 1
BBC's Roy Greenslade looks at how far reporting 'the truth' can be endangered by governments, corporations and the new wave of internet publishing.
Dec 12, 2007•23 min
Making News Part 1
The BBC and other international broadcasters boast "objective" news and impartial window onto the world, but is such a thing really possible? Alan Little investigates.
Dec 10, 2007•22 min
Assignment - Leila's story
Leila is a young woman in Iran, sold into prostitution by her family at the age of 9, later forced into a temporary marriage, and then sentenced to hang at the age of 18. She was finally reprieved, but what does her story tell us about Iran's ability to legally protect its own children.
Dec 07, 2007•22 min
Global Account Part 2
Africa's Cocaine Coast - Guinea-Bissau is awash with cocaine and is ranked by the United Nations as the fifth poorest country in the world. Grant Ferrett investigates.
Dec 07, 2007•23 min
Seeing Iraq, Thinking Vietnam Part 2
Jonathan Marcus explores the impact of these two conflicts on the american political psyche.
Dec 03, 2007•22 min
Global Account - Part 1
Angus Stickler travels into the disputed "Red Zone" of Southern Thailand to discover the victims of a brutal and under-reported war.
Nov 29, 2007•23 min
Assignment - Inside Gaza
Six months ago, the radical Palestinian faction Hamas took total control of the Gaza Strip. Israel and Egypt responded by closing their borders with Gaza. Magdi Abdelhadi travelled to the Gaza Strip to see how the 1.5 million Palestinians living there are coping.
Nov 29, 2007•23 min
Seeing Iraq, Thinking Vietnam Part 1
Correspondent Jonathan Marcus compares the impact of the two conflicts on American society and politics.
Nov 26, 2007•23 min
Jihad and the Petrodollar part 2
Roger Hardy follows the money trail and looks at the case of two prominent Saudi charities.
Nov 23, 2007•23 min
Assignment - The internet chatroom murder
This week on Assignment, a story of lust, deception and betrayal on the internet. It tells the extraordinary story of a middle-aged factory worker who undergoes a virtual and very real transformation after he goes online - a transformation which ends in murder.
Nov 22, 2007•22 min
Taxing Questions (part four)
The final part of a four part series in which Maurice Walsh discovers why globalisation and the black market have drastically undermined governments' ability to generate revenue in the form of tax.
Nov 21, 2007•23 min
Taxing Questions (part three)
In the third of a four part series Maurice Walsh discovers why globalisation and the black market have drastically undermined governments' ability to generate revenue in the form of tax.
Nov 20, 2007•23 min
Can America Go Green? - Programme 3
The BBC's UN correspondent Laura Trevelyan explores how the US could retreat from its role as the planet's biggest polluter. In the final part of the series, Laura explores the degree to which Americans are speaking out and altering their lifestyles in the face of global warming.
Nov 19, 2007•23 min
Taxing Questions (programme two)
In the second of a four part series Maurice Walsh discovers why globalisation and the black market have drastically undermined governments' ability to generate revenue in the form of tax. Maurice visits Zambia to examine what has happened to the money generated by the country's booming copper industry.
Nov 16, 2007•20 min
Jihad and the Petrodollar - part 1
Has Saudi Arabia fanned the flames of Muslim militancy by exporting its own puritanical form of Islam to every corner of the globe?
Nov 16, 2007•23 min
Assignment - The neglected thalidomiders
Fifty years ago, the drug thalidomide was introduced as a treatment for pregnancy sickness. The results for unborn children were devastating. Many of those affected have been compensated - but not thalidomiders in Spain. Geoff Adams-Spink investigates why.
Nov 15, 2007•27 min
Taxing Questions (programme one)
The first part of a four part series in which Maurice Walsh discovers why globalisation and the black market have drastically undermined governments' ability to generate revenue in the form of tax.
Nov 12, 2007•23 min
Can America Go Green? - Programme 2
The BBC's UN correspondent Laura Trevelyan explores how the US could retreat from its role as the planet's biggest polluter. In this episode: Laura reports on General Electric. Once pilloried as a polluter (and taken to court for dumping waste in the Hudson River), the industry giant, under the leadership of Jeffrey Immelt, has gone green and sees its future prosperity tied to developing green technologies.
Nov 12, 2007•23 min
In Search of a New Kyoto
In a special BBC WS One Planet debate, we bring together four people at the heart of their governments' response to climate change – from the USA, Indonesia, Brazil and the UK.
Nov 09, 2007•23 min
Inside the Climate Change Talks (part 3)
The final part in a three part series in which Mike Williams explores the complex web of negotiations to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
Nov 07, 2007•23 min
Inside the Climate Change Talks (part 2)
The second part in a three part series in which Mike Williams explores the complex web of negotiations to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
Nov 05, 2007•23 min
Inside the Climate Change Talks (part 1)
The first part in a three part series in which Mike Williams explores the complex web of negotiations to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
Nov 05, 2007•23 min
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android