The best stories from SBS in 2014

As the year draws to a close, here's a look back at some of the year's best stories and features from SBS - the ones which offered a different perspective and sparked debate.

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1. Documentary series: First Contact

Six non-Indigenous Australians with strong opinions get immersed into Aboriginal Australia for the first time. SBS's eye-opening, three-part documentary series sparked stimulating conversation and debate across the nation when it first aired in November. Watch the entire documentary series online.  
Ray Martin with the six participants on First Contact. (SBS)
Ray Martin with the six participants on First Contact. (SBS)

2. Interactive documentaries

Cronulla Riots: The day that shocked a nation

These are the untold stories of the Cronulla riots. Go beyond the media headlines with SBS’s interactive experience: watch the documentary, explore the themes and delve deeper into the riots. Click to view documentary.



After 6/4

Were the events in Tiananmen Square Beijing, 1989 a “massacre” or a “riot” and why should we remember “6/4” 25 years on? Click to view documentary.



Exit Syria

An intimate, up-close picture of life in Jordan's Za'atari refugee camp – home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. Our small crew - journalist and director Sherine Salama, cameraman Nikolas Lachajczak and fixer Jinan Al Nakshabandi – spent three weeks in Za'atari in October and November 2013, gaining unprecedented access to people and events on the ground. Click to view documentary.



The Other 9/11

September 11 is a date marked by violence and sorrow in the minds of many around the world. For Chileans, it is doubly so, because on that day, in 1973, the country's democratically elected president, Salvador Allende was overthrown in a brutal military coup. What followed were years of repression, torture, forced disappearance, fear and for many Chileans, exile. This is the story of what happened in Chile, and the secret part Australia played. Click to view documentary.

3. Data Visualisation: Where are Australia's immigrants born?

Find out using our interactive map:

4. Multimedia: 'I'm so sorry, but your baby has no heartbeat'

It's a devastating experience shared by millions of women, yet miscarriage is still rarely discussed. Sydney mother Linda Anderson shares her story of losing an unborn child in this multimedia piece by Sylvia Varnham O'Regan.

5. How far have we come in our acceptance of mixed race people?

What was once a shameful taboo with a deep, dark racist history is now the face of the modern world. But as Lin Taylor reports, how far have we really come in our acceptance of mixed race people? Read the feature and share your mixed race story.

6. Meet the face behind Wicked Campers

Wicked Campers was embroiled in controversy after a Sydney mother started an online petition calling for the campervan hire company to take its "misogynistic and degrading" slogan-covered vehicles off the road. SBS spoke exclusively to Wicked Campers about their controversial spray-painted slogans.
Wicked Campers' Leanne Webb says the company doesn't try to be controversial (Screenshot: SBS)
Wicked Campers' Leanne Webb says the company doesn't try to be controversial (Screenshot: SBS)

7. The Secret Cross-Dressers' Society

Some men like cars. Some men like fixing things. Some men like cars and fixing things, but also women’s clothes. It’s a secretive double life. Wives, children and workmates can be kept in the dark for a lifetime. 

With unprecedented access to Australia’s oldest cross-dressing club, this is a look at the secrets that lie at the back of men’s wardrobes. Watch this short documentary by The Feed's Andy Park

8. SBS Finalists and winners

Crisis accommodation shortage hits migrant women: Operators of services for domestic violence victims say Australia is facing a critical shortage of emergency accommodation for women and children. As Naomi Selvaratnam reports, those from migrant and refugee communities are among the worst affected. (Finalist for a Young Walkley award)

Free the Bears: Dateline's David Brill investigates an Australian grandmother's tireless work to stop the mistreatment of bears in Asia. (Winner of a United National Association of Australia Media Award)

Banished: In Florida's Miracle Village, nearly everyone is a child sex offender. Dateline's Aaron Thomas meets the residents of this controversial community and the pastor trying to save them. (Finalist in the 2014 Amnesty International Australia Media Awards)

Surviving the terror of the organ-harvesting trade: An Eritrean refugee living in Melbourne told SBS Radio's Beyene Weldegiorgis in graphic detail about being kidnapped and held captive in Egypt by Bedouin tribesmen who demanded either a ransom or one of his kidneys. (Winner of a United National Association of Australia Media Award)

Joining the Fight: Insight's Jenny Brockie asks why Australians are being drawn to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Produced by Elise Potaka, Saber Baluch and Alix Piatek. (Finalist for a United National Association of Australia Media Award)

9. Politicians Born Abroad

How does a Nigerian-born punk with a childhood in the Middle East and a father in MI6 grow up to serve in the Australian parliament, and how has the German ancestry of one Senator brought his politics under the microscope? Stephanie Anderson explores the backgrounds of our migrant politicians.
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10. Ice Towns

The rise of crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, is devastating regional Victoria. It is a drug that is most often associated with bigger cities but ice is also infiltrating small towns such as Horsham and Shepparton, destroying families and communities. Watch The Feed's short documentary. 

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11. Body swapped in morgue: remote communities call for action

A lack of proper morgues in remote communities is causing grieving families to suffer more pain when it comes to burying their loved ones. 

"We thought it was my brother, opened the body bag and I saw a different face. A woman’s body. Then I closed it up and put the body back in the freezer and we came out and stopped the funeral," Robin Nilco told Living Black's Hannah Hollis. Watch the full report.
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Robin at his brother's grave. (SBS)

12. And finally... Lee Lin Chin on The Feed

The entire playlist for your viewing pleasure:
Of course, we couldn't include everything on this list. What were some of your favourite programs, content and stories on SBS this year? Tell us in the comments below or tweet @SBSNews.

 


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