Stephen Sackur on Investigations That Shook the World

Drawing on his long and distinguished reporting career, the former BBC HARDtalk presenter mounts a passionate case for fearless, truth-telling journalism in a world turned toxic by disinformation.

In a media landscape dominated by a handful of tech oligarchs, in which lies are weaponised and reality is warped by algorithms, independent journalists are increasingly on the front line of the fight to save democracy itself.

From Woodward and Bernstein's famous expose of a crooked American president to the shocking murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia who confronted deep-rooted corruption in Malta, Hard Truth explores ten dramatic cases where journalists showed astonishing bravery in uncovering the truth; sometimes paying the ultimate price.

Stephen Sackur spent many years holding political leaders to account as the presenter of BBC HARDtalk. He takes us inside a series of global investigations, highlighting the work of extraordinarily courageous journalists, many of them women, in a journey that takes him from the West Bank to Washington, Moscow to Manila.

This is also the story of Sackur re-examining the assumptions underpinning the journalism he grew up with. Is it enough to bear witness and move on? What does impartiality mean when the truth itself is drowning in a sea of disinformation and lies? Do we need journalists who see themselves as activists for the truth?

Ultimately, Hard Truth shows us that there is hope, that the fight to truth can still be won.

Stephen Sackur joined the BBC as a graduate trainee and spent many years as a foreign correspondent, covering the 1989 revolutions and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the first Gulf War. He was based in Cairo from 1992 to 1995, and in Jerusalem from 1995 to 1997. Sackur then moved to Washington where he covered the 2000 election. He presented HARDtalk from 2005 to the final episode in March 2025. He joined Times Radio as a regular presenter of The Times at One.