Four Corners: May 21
Four Corners needs to lift its game and stop playing stories that are already available to viewers through YouTube.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Programming
Every time Four Corners announces it will screen a story from the BBC’s Panorama, I check on YouTube and the story is already there.
Next Monday it will screen ‘Madeleine McCann: The Last Hope’ which aired in the UK in April. I don’t know what the answer to keeping up with technology is, but it seems pretty silly that a flagship show like Four Corners has Kerry O’Brien sitting down to introduce a clip that’s on YouTube.
This has been happening for a while now, and I reckon Four Corners needs to lift its game.
It 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. Did she wander off? Was she stolen? If she was taken, was it by an organised child trafficking ring?
Five years ago Madeleine McCann disappeared from a family holiday apartment in the Algarve, Portugal. This little girl, who would now be eight, has never been found. Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, are adamant that their daughter was abducted. Portuguese police viewed the parents with suspicion. At the same time British crime experts claim the Portuguese police investigation was compromised by their failure to secure the crime scene and a lack of follow through in tracking down witnesses and suspects.
Early last year Madeleine’s parents persuaded British Prime Minister David Cameron to order a review of the case. This new investigation, by a top unit of the Metropolitan Police, has combed through thousands of documents and cost British taxpayers millions of dollars. Is it now the last chance of discovering what happened? For the first time, the senior UK investigator tells BBC Panorama how he is working collaboratively with Portuguese police and explains why he believes he has the best opportunity yet to help solve the mystery of Madeleine McCann.
Meanwhile, the reopening of this sensational cold case has raised new questions. Why did David Cameron order the investigation? What role did News International have in his decision and are the Portuguese police really co-operating with their British counterparts?
‘Madeleine McCann: the Last Hope’, reported by Richard Bilton and presented by Kerry O’Brien, goes to air on Monday 21st May at 8.30pm on ABC1.
7 Responses
maybe if they just showed panorama/horizon etc as stand alone series and concentrated on fewer but better episodes of 4 corners it might work better
I like that they play things from overseas. Plus not everyone can use the internet to constantly look at videos. I guess the NBN just isn’t a priority for bushfire areas. It’s been over three years and still nothing. Although at least we have the internet. Mainly.
Apart from Jason, I’m going to disagree with everyone here.
Of course, if ABC had a money tree in their backyard then every episode of Four Corners should be domestically produced. But they don’t, so I think it’s a little harsh to demand they ‘lift their game’ when it’s clearly a budget issue. Otherwise, they could put massive breaks within the 2012 season like Foreign Correspondent are doing this year & screen non-news related rubbish like Country Town Rescue. Is that a better option?
On the Kerry O’Brien point: I’m beginning to think Four Corners should go back to being host-less. Where are the interviews he was meant to be doing? Get rid of Kerry & you’ve saved some money there.
Yep, this is happening more and more. This is the sort of thing I’d expect from 7 or 9. It’s old news and not befitting a program like Four Corners. The 7:30 (prev the 7:30 Report) has gone off the boil, too.
Not just Four Corners…although you do expect better from them….but many TV shows…also newspapers and woman mags…seems to be the norm these days…to just lift it off the internet….
Lazy journalism
BBC’s Panorama is a known and respected program in its own right. Why not show that program in its entire series on the ABC.
And those pompous Four Corners people will still crow about how good they are at investigative journalism.
They’ve been doing it for years.