The Fifth Estate (TV program)
The Fifth Estate is an English-language Canadian newsmagazine television program. It airs on the national CBC Television network as well as on CBC News Network. The name is a reference to the term "Fourth Estate", and was chosen to highlight the program's determination to go beyond everyday news into original journalism. The program has been on the air since September 15, 1975, and its primary focus is on investigative journalism. It has engaged in co-productions with the BBC, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and often with the PBS program Frontline.
Journalists
Journalists associated with the show, past and present, include:- Theresa Burke
- Marie Caloz
- Stevie Cameron
- Harvey Cashore
- Adrienne Clarkson
- Neil Docherty
- Gillian Findlay
- Hana Gartner
- Ron Haggart
- Bob Johnstone
- Mark Kelley
- Joe MacAnthony
- Linden MacIntyre
- Bob McKeown
- Sheila MacVicar
- Victor Malarek
- Eric Malling
- Habiba Nosheen
- Ian Parker
- Francine Pelletier
- Sally Reardon
- Peter Reilly
- Glenn Sarty
- David Studer
- Robin Taylor
- Warner Troyer
- Anna Maria Tremonti
- Jim Williamson
- Trish Wood
Episodes
- 9/11 Truth movement
- Death of Ashley Smith
- Airbus affair, Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber
- William Francis Melchert-Dinkel
- Airport Security
- Al-Qaeda in Europe
- Benny Hinn
- Brendan Burke
- Brandon Crisp
- Chris Benoit, Wrestler: Fight to the Death
- Chuckie Akenz
- Charles Manson and The Manson Family
- Scouts Canada
- Communications Security Establishment
- David Frost and Mike Danton
- Jian Ghomeshi
- Rob Ford
- Dick Cheney
- MIM-104 Patriot and its ineffectiveness during the Gulf War as a missile defense system
- Guy Paul Morin
- Suicide of Amanda Todd
- Jane and Finch
- Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
- Pierre Vallières
- Polygamy in Bountiful, British Columbia
- PROFUNC
- Steven Truscott
- To Sell a War
- Tunagate
- David Russell Williams
- Mark Twitchell
- Donald Trump
- Iglesia ni Cristo
- Julian Assange
Season 34 (2008–09)
| Episode | Title | Original air date |
| 10 | Someone Got Away With Murder | January 21, 2009 |
Season 36 (2010–11)
The 2010–11 Television season was the 36th season of The Fifth Estate.| Episode | Title | Original air date |
| 1 | Enemies of the State | October 15, 2010 |
| 2 | The Confession | October 22, 2010 |
| 3 | The Fall and Rise of Theo Fleury | October 29, 2010 |
| 4 | The Life and Death of Abdinasir Dirie | November 5, 2010 |
| 5 | Behind the Wall | November 12, 2010 |
| 6 | The Girl in the Suitcase | November 19, 2010 |
| 7 | The Legacy of Brendan Burke | November 26, 2010 |
| 8 | Presumed Dead | December 3, 2010 |
| 9 | After the Earth Shook | January 7, 2011 |
| 10 | Justice for Nadia | January 14, 2011 |
| 11 | Death of the Don | January 28, 2011 |
| 12 | WikiRebels | February 4, 2011 |
| 13 | Death at the Olympics | February 11, 2011 |
| 14 | The Devil You Know | February 18, 2011 |
| 15 | You Should Have Stayed At Home | February 25, 2011 |
| 16 | Missing | March 11, 2011 |
| 17 | Getting Off Easy | March 18, 2011 |
| 18 | My Friend the Bank Robber | March 25, 2011 |
| 19 | A Question of Innocence | April 1, 2011 |
Season 37 (2011–12)
The 2011–12 Television season was the 37th season of The Fifth Estate.| Episode | Title | Original air date | CBC viewers |
| 1 | Truth and Lies: The Last Days of Osama bin Laden | September 9, 2011 | 599,000 |
| 2 | Swissair 111: The Untold Story | September 16, 2011 | 775,000 |
| 3 | Gatti-vs-Gatti | September 23, 2011 | 436,000 |
| 4 | Mayday | September 30, 2011 | 482,000 |
| 5 | Colonel Gadhafi: Palace of Secrets | October 7, 2011 | 577,000 |
| 6 | True Confession | October 14, 2011 | 504,000 |
| 7 | Scout's Honour | October 21, 2011 | 567,000 |
| 8 | 'Til Death Do Us Part | October 28, 2011 | 482,000 |
| 9 | Stories from the River’s Edge | November 4, 2011 | 509,000 |
| 10 | Murder, he wrote | November 18, 2011 | 535,000 |
| 11 | A Cold Case | November 25, 2011 | 612,000 |
| 12 | Holiday Hell | December 2, 2011 | 722,000 |
| 13 | Behind the Line | December 9, 2011 | 568,000 |
| 14 | Escape From Justice | January 6, 2012 | 853,000 |
| 15 | Diagnosis Murder | January 13, 2012 | 646,000 |
| 16 | The Lies People Tell | January 20, 2012 | 752,000 |
| 17 | Who’s Killing the Rizzutos? | January 27, 2012 | 622,000 |
| 18 | The Wreck of the Costa Concordia | February 3, 2012 | 1,317,000 |
| 19 | The House of Shafia | February 10, 2012 | 470,000 |
| 20 | The Lost Boys | February 17, 2012 | 565,000 |
| 21 | Fearless | February 24, 2012 | 298,000 |
| 22 | Fast Break | March 2, 2012 | 203,000 |
| 23 | Time Bomb | March 9, 2012 | 895,000 |
| 24 | Lost on the Ice | March 23, 2012 | 300,400 |
| 25 | Kidnapped | April 6, 2012 | 1,200,000 |
Season 38 (2012–13)
The 2012–13 Television season was the 38th season of The Fifth Estate.| Episode | Title | Original air date |
| 1 | Into the Death Zone ' | September 12, 2012 |
| 2 | Kingston Pen: Secrets and Lies | September 21, 2012 |
| 3 | Runaway Fighter ' | September 28, 2012 |
| 4 | The Widow's Web ' | October 5, 2012 |
| 5 | The Life and Death of Gloria Taylor ' | October 12, 2012 |
| 6 | Whistleblowers: Moment of Truth ' | October 19, 2012 |
| 7 | Lost in the Struggle: The Next Chapter ' | October 26, 2012 |
| 8 | Lucky 7 ' | November 2, 2012 |
| 9 | The Elephant in the Room ' | November 9, 2012 |
| 10 | Left for Dead ' | November 16, 2012 |
| 11 | Lance Armstrong: Master of Spin | November 23, 2012 |
| 12 | Hunting Magnotta ' | November 30, 2012 |
| 13 | Costa Concordia: The Captain's Tale | December 7, 2012 |
| 14 | The Imperfect Spy ' | April 10, 2017 |
| 15 | The Last Race ' | January 18, 2013 |
| 16 | Death in Paradise ' | January 25, 2013 |
| 17 | Target bin Laden | February 1, 2013 |
| 18 | Crossfire ' | February 8, 2013 |
| 19 | The Unrepentant ' | February 22, 2013 |
| 20 | The Vanishing ' | March 1, 2013 |
| 21 | Second Wave ' | March 8, 2013 |
| 22 | Ironman ' | March 29, 2013 |
| 23 | Mission Improbable | April 5, 2013 |
| 24 | Rate My Hospital | April 12, 2013 |
Season 39 (2013–14)
The 2013–14 Television season was the 39th season of The Fifth Estate.| Episode | Title | Original air date |
| 1 | The Secrets of Sugar | October 4, 2013 |
| 2 | Made in Bangladesh | October 11, 2013 |
| 3 | The Murder and the Money Trail | October 18, 2013 |
| 4 | Elephants on Board: A Journey to Remember | October 25, 2013 |
| 5 | The Strange World of Julian Assange | November 1, 2013 |
| 6 | The Rob Ford Story | November 8, 2013 |
| 7 | The Sextortion of Amanda Todd | November 15, 2013 |
| 8 | The Conspiracy Files: JFK and 9/11 | November 22, 2013 |
| 9 | The Last Great Escape | November 29, 2013 |
| 10 | Silence of the Labs | January 10, 2013 |
| 11 | The Man Who Hears Voices | January 17, 2014 |
| 12 | Walk the Line | January 22, 2014 |
| 13 | Voyage of the Black Dragon | January 31, 2014 |
| 14 | Rabbi of the Pure Hearts: Inside Lev Tahor | February 28, 2014 |
| 15 | The Rise and Fall of Mike Duffy | March 7, 2014 |
| 16 | Return to Paradise ' | March 14, 2014 |
| 17 | Dead Enough ' | March 21, 2014 |
| 18 | Your Tips, Our Stories | March 28, 2014 |
| 19 | To be announced | March 9, 2015 |
Season 43 (2017–18)
The 2017–18 Television season was the 43rd season of The Fifth Estate.| Episode | Title | Broadcast Date |
| 1 | Murder in Cottage Country | September 15, 2017 |
| 2 | Pit Bulls Unleashed: Should They Be Banned | September 22, 2017 |
| 3 | The Truth Smugglers | September 29, 2017 |
| 4 | Jagmeet Singh: The Colour of Politics | October 13, 2017 |
| 5 | Motherisk: Tainted Tests & Broken Families | October 20, 2017 |
| 6 | Via Rail Terror Plot : The Inside Man | October 27, 2017 |
| 7 | TransCanada and Keystone XL : The Money Pipeline | November 3, 2017 |
| 8 | The Super Scalpers | November 10, 2017 |
| 9 | The JFK Files: The Murder of a President | November 17, 2017 |
| 10 | Basil Borutski and the Wilno Murders: Circle of Fear | November 24, 2017 |
Season 45 (2019–20)
The 2019–20 Television season is the 45th season of The Fifth Estate.| Episode | Title | Broadcast Date |
| 1 | Targeted ; Is Murder In Your DNA? | September 22, 2019 |
| 2 | When Terror Comes Home | September 29, 2019 |
Reception
Awards
The Fifth Estate has won many awards, including Gemini Awards – among them ten for Best Information Series, numerous domestic investigative journalism awards, many New York and Columbus awards, International Emmys, and in 2000 and 2010 the Michener Award, Canada's top journalism prize, which is open to all media and has only one annual winner. A 2003 co-production with The New York Times and PBS's Frontline was recognized with the Pulitzer, Peabody, Polk and other awards.The Fifth Estate is one of two television programs to win an Academy Award, a prize presented to theatrical films: Just Another Missing Kid, originally a The Fifth Estate episode, was released in theatres in the United States and won the 1982 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
Controversy
The CBC was successfully sued for libel over an episode that aired on February 27, 1996. Two doctors were interviewed for an episode about prescription drugs. Both doctors alleged their interviews were unfairly edited to give the false impression they were involved in kickbacks, coverups of patient deaths and other disreputable activities. Cardiologist Martin Meyers asked for an apology plus $25,000, while researcher Frans Leenen asked for an apology plus $10,000. The CBC opted to fight the charges in court. The doctors ultimately prevailed. Myers was awarded $200,000, plus interest and costs, while Leenen won $950,000, plus interest and costs that could total over $2 million, a record for Canadian libel. The CBC has no libel insurance. Judges in both cases ruled that journalists at The Fifth Estate had twisted the facts and acted with malice, with one writing in his decision; this was sensationalistic journalism of the worst sort and should serve as an embarrassment to this so-called 'flagship' investigative programme. The episode's host Trish Wood, producer Nicholas Regush, the researcher and executive producer David Studer were assessed punitive and aggravated damages.The CBC and The Fifth Estate were sued by the Iglesia Ni Cristo after officials said a November 11, 2018 broadcast, "Church of Secrets", defamed their church.