Background Briefing

For young men struggling with body image, social media offers a radical solution: get taller by breaking your legs. As the cosmetic limb-lengthening industry booms worldwide, Emilia Terzon explores the secretive online communities obsessed with undergoing the procedure, and meets the doctors left to deal with what happens when it goes wrong.

Hair loss ads are everywhere. Telehealth clinics with thousands of five-star reviews promise fast consults and discreet delivery to your doorstep. But what happens when the treatment messes with your brain chemistry?

Before and After is a new series by Background Briefing that exposes how medical hype spreads online, who profits, and who pays.

Kim saw a teacher’s aide laughing at a video of a vulnerable student and reported it to the principal. She had no idea it would come to define the next seven years of her life.

After years of manipulation, Alliyah is determined to see justice done. When Kellie appears in the dock, what will she say? And how will the judge respond?

Alliyah steps into a police station on the outskirts of Brisbane, and says: “I want to report a crime.” After keeping the so-called relationship with Kellie secret for almost a decade, Alliyah is finally ready to tell their story. 

A new job and a surprise encounter show Alliyah that another way is possible. Will they manage to slip out of Kellie's control?

When the principal discovers Alliyah and their teacher Kellie are exchanging secret messages outside class, Kellie is warned — but not fired. Then, on the last day of Alliyah’s graduation, another message arrives: “Secret squirrel… you can’t tell anyone.” As suspicion mounts at home, Alliyah's connection with Kellie grows stronger and more dangerous by the day.

12-year-old Alliyah’s clowning around in science class, testing the waters to see how the new teacher will respond. An unusual bond grows between them — and what starts with a death stare and a smirk, soon slips into a world of secrets.

She's every student’s favourite teacher — warm, funny, the kind who bends the rules. But for one 12-year-old, Alliyah, her attention goes far beyond the classroom. The Favourite is a five-part series by Background Briefing about how a secret remained hidden in plain sight for nearly a decade.

When a marine scientist starts picking up traces of pesticides in oysters, she follows a trail that leads inland — to NSW blueberries carrying a poison not permitted for use in Australia. 

Catherine Taylor investigates how money, disadvantage and resources risk holding back our brightest students.

The Yes In My Backyard movement is lobbying for denser cities and more housing in places people want to work and live. The YIMBYs want these homes built yesterday, but as Gina Rushton explains, the NIMBYs haven’t given up yet.

Fascinated by true crime? Or intrigued by what drives people to break the law? Criminal Psychology, a gripping series from All in the Mind, takes you deep inside the minds of those who cross the line into extreme behaviour. In this four-episode series, they explore the psychological drivers behind arson, kleptomania, serial killers and Munchausen by Proxy, with people who work closely on these cas...

This week, Nick Bryant returns to the US for the first time in four years, finding a country that doesn't want to talk about politics, despite being in the eye of the Trump storm.

An Australian doctor sells his car and writes a will — unsure if he’ll ever make it back home. He crosses the concrete walls that surround the Gaza Strip and begins work inside the last functioning hospital in the north. But in the chaos of war, something unfolded that no one, including him, could have predicted.  This week, reporter Marty Smiley brings us the story of Dr Mo's impossible mission.

It started with a bizarre customer-service experience and soon transformed into something darker. Outrage rippled across Youtube, spurring an army of online vigilantes into action. But as reporter Maddison Connaughton discovered, the stakes were higher than anyone anticipated.

Most Aussies see wombats as an iconic native. But reporter Tynan King discovered one regional NSW town where farmers see them through a scope.

Big Rob has gone from online vigilante to censured politician, starting little fights that have become big problems for his divided city. 

A new series by Background Briefing investigates when small feuds take on a life of their own.  First episode coming June 28.

This week, reporter Catherine Taylor investigates a new strain of avian flu virus that's running rampant across Europe, Asia, South America and the US. How long can we keep it from reaching us?

Rhiannon Stevens investigates the existential threats facing Wikipedia from artificial intelligence and Trump’s America.

This week, Annie Louey discovers what happens when your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing means your career is no longer worth the money.

There’s something shaping what appears in your newsfeed that you might not be aware of. Reporter Gina McKeon investigates.

This week, reporter Annika Blau  gets the inside story of a union powerbroker’s rise, and the people who risked it all to stop her