Sichuan Earthquake: One Year On

Too often there is a tendency in broadcast journalism to cover the breaking story, the event of great significance, only to allow the same story to disappear from public concern or interest. But remembering, following up, is especially crucial when those disasters are man-made, when much of the suffering could have been avoided. For Now-Broadband TV, following up the deadly 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, was a profound commitment. Although the Chinese government denied responsibility for any feature of the earthquake, some citizens in the region argued otherwise, among them parents of children killed in the terrible events of May 12. A central conclusion in this report is that many recently built school buildings were constructed with substandard materials. The report also discovered that contractors had sold the original material to other citizens in the communities, who used them for private construction projects. Had the schools been built as required, had contractors and officials not engaged in corrupt practices, hundreds of children might still be alive. Sichuan Earthquake: One Year On refused to forget, refused to ignore crucial questions, and for doing so receives a Peabody Award.