Uncovered is Channel 4 News’ first bespoke digital weekly news programme and our first series designed and shot for an entirely vertical / portrait format. We have created a series of engaging international stories, exploiting the impact and immediacy of mobile video. It serves a younger, international audience who want to watch serious, engaging, long form journalism on their phones.
Uncovered combines innovative design, new production technologies and the best of Channel 4 News foreign reporting and production.
Through 20 episodes of the series, our correspondents have reported exclusively from behind the blockades in Gaza to the isolated villages of Mozambique on frontline of the climate emergency. From the blackface carnival of Colombia to the composting toilets of rural of off-grid Ireland. We are bringing untold stories from all around the world to a new generation.
Since launching six months ago the series has had 17 million views. Our audience has watched 15 million minutes of our documentaries. With the most watched episode being viewed three million times.
In Jharkhand province Kiran Moodley exposed the fake news sweeping WhatsApp groups across India – and it’s influence on the country’s colossal election, as 900 million voters headed to the polls.
In “Tricked into sex: teenage victims of vacation marriage” Jamal Osman reported a heartbreaking story of redemption from the brothels and slums of Kenya – along the way meeting the female police chief challenging the exploitation of young women for the sexual gratification of tourists.
As Sudan’s crisis continues to convulse, our report from Yousra Elbagir as she was forced to flee the country she had been reporting on for months was one of the very first in depth pieces on the uprising. From images of live ammunition and tear gas fired into an emergency room to citizens pursued for filming on their phones it was an important piece of journalism for viewers inside and outside Sudan.
In another dispatch from one of the world’s most volatile places we reported from both sides of the Venezuela border as the country appeared to be on the brink of collapse.
Meanwhile Guillermo Galdos brought our viewers the extraordinary story of the young indigenous trans women of the mountainous region of central Colombia. Here they have found unlikely sanctuary as coffee pickers after being forced out of their villages by unsympathetic elders.
To make the series we have created an new workflow incorporating the latest camera equipment including drone videography, gimbals and small-form factor cameras. It has allowed our teams to be flexible and mobile whilst ensuring high-production values and impactful storytelling.
Our post-production is a combination of exceptional visuals with a design style that is bold, vibrant and feels native to a mobile device. Each episode has bespoke and complex graphics clearly communicating the context, background and statistics.
Uncovered presents stories that resonate beyond borders. It’s intimate reporting that has global reach – helping blaze a new way forward for visual storytelling on digital platforms.
