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Airdate: Foreign Correspondent 30th anniversary

ABC looks back on 3 decades with correspondents, past and present, about being on the ground as they reported history in the making.

ABC’s Foreign Correspondent celebrates its 30th year on air with a one-hour special chronicling the extraordinary changes that have transformed our world over the past three decades.

‘A Wild Ride’ will feature some of its most powerful stories from the past three decades. On revolution and war, tragedy and survival, terror and hope.

It will hear from correspondents, past and present, about being on the ground as they reported history in the making including Eric Campbell, Lisa Millar, Tony Jones, Jennifer Byrne, Mark Corcoran, Sally Neighbour, David Lipson and Deborah Snow, as well as founding executive producer Jonathan Holmes.

The ABC created the show in 1992, three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

It was the start of thirty tumultuous years.

As the Soviet empire disintegrated, Foreign Correspondent was there to cover the ethnic and religious conflicts that erupted across eastern Europe, and political upheaval inside the former Soviet states.

Across Asia, we reported on the people power movements which challenged and toppled dictatorships.

As the new millennium dawned, the challenges rolled in.

Foreign Correspondent was there to report on the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the ‘War on Terror’. And to analyse it for an Australian public desperate for answers.

From all around the globe we revealed the growing threat of climate change, a powerful force that is set to define the 21st century.

And we charted the rise of China, with its incredible social and economic transformation, building an archive of stories few broadcasters can match.

We tracked the rise of populist leader Donald Trump, his ‘Make America Great Again’ movement built on the deep divisions within the United States of America.

And we covered the increasing authoritarianism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, his brutal invasion of Ukraine a sign of his Tsar-like ambitions to recreate the old Russian empire.

Australian audiences are hungrier than ever for in-depth, on-the-ground reporting to help them understand what’s happening and why and to hear the human stories behind global events.

That’s our mission.

Presenter: South Asia correspondent Avani Dias
Producer: Deborah Richards
Editor: Nikki Stevens

8pm Thursday 28 July on ABC.

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