The Documentary Podcast

The tiny libraries dotting the New Zealand countryside providing books for local readers

The ordinary Italians coping with the Mediterranean migrant crisis

President Obama talks about his hopes for US-Africa relations, his concerns about Britain leaving the EU and frustrations over US gun laws.

South Africa is suffering rolling blackouts that are expected to continue for years. Neal Razzell reports on a crisis that some fear could threaten the country’s very stability.

Steph McGovern turns her attention to salt's role in our diet. She begins in Wales at the Halen Mon sea salt company, learning how they produce their salt from the waters of the Menai Straits, then moves on to learn more about the wide variety of artisan salts that have become so popular in recent years - from French Fleur du Sel to the beautiful pink Himalayan Rock Salt. She goes on to address the issue of salt and health.

The strangely-named investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) system is built into thousands of treaties between countries around the world. It is a key part of negotiations for a new trade and investment treaty between the US and the EU. Michael Robinson digs into the ISDS mechanism to find out these little-known lawsuits are threatening the democratic process.

India’s Parsi population is in steep decline. Now the government’s funding fertility treatment and advocacy to encourage the community to make more Parsi babies.

Steph McGovern sets out to explain the role of Salt in our history. She hears how it has taken root in our language, visits a chemistry class to find out about how it is produced and its importance to our physical well being. She talks to history professor Peter Wallenstein about the unexpected importance of salt in military strategy right up until the 20th Century.

In 1931, during the Depression, an unknown young black woman took her new-born son to a Pittsburgh orphanage. And so began jazz pianist Horace Parlan´s life. At the age of five, he was struck by polio and lost the use of three fingers on his right hand, yet somehow, against the odds, he managed a long career as a professional musician.

In Ukraine, whilst she reported on MH17, a miner gave the ID of a passenger to Natalia Antelava. A year on, she meets the passenger’s sister, and tries to find the miner.