Big Story

Big Story

Big Story is CGTN’s flagship investigative journalism program; a platform showcasing a selection of feature news-driven documentaries from around the world. Through unique documentary storytelling, the program explores global events, current affairs, and critical issues impacting people all across the globe through thought-provoking international stories conveyed with cinematic style.

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Big Story
  • Good with Numbers

    A new generation of math and science innovators are pushing research to new levels. Big Story features high school students - and younger - who are at the forefront of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Some of these young people are even winning international competitions, ...

  • Balance: Biodiversity in the Americas

    From the Galapagos Islands to the Chesapeake Bay, from the Amazon River to the Colombian jungles along the Tropical Pacific, natural wonders are plentiful in the Americas. However, the continent is presently facing an existential challenge brought about by human activity. Balance: Biodiversity in...

  • Balance: Biodiversity in China

    Even as the world inches toward its sixth mass extinction event, the first one driven by human activity, an army of conservationists and researchers is fighting to restore balance and protect the biodiversity in China, one of the largest countries on earth.

    In 2021, China announced that it would...

  • Unbearable: Sandy Hook 10 Years Later

    On December 14, 2012, twenty children and six adults lost their lives to a 20-year old wielding an assault rifle against them at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The horrific death toll and the fact that it was an elementary school shocked a country that seemed to have gr...

  • Abandoned – Afghanistan After the U.S. Occupation

    Following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban, Afghanistan had less than 50 miles of paved roads in the entire country. A 2,000-mile national highway network connecting major cities had been pulverized by decades of war and neglect. Confident that it would become the backbone of a ...

  • The Race Gap in the U.S. – Native Americans

    Native Americans are the most vulnerable minority in the United States. This episode of the series The Race Gap in the U.S. takes us to South Dakota, homeland of the Lakota people, to examine why this came to be. It was in the Dakota Territories where the «progressive» experiment with the boardin...

  • The Race Gap in the U.S. – Hispanics

    At the turn of this century, Hispanics became the largest minority group in the United States. This milestone, however, hasn’t changed the way members of the community are being treated by authorities. Whether it’s migrants trying to cross the border in search of a better future, or just people g...

  • The Race Gap in the U.S. – African Americans

    New York City has one of the most segregated school systems in the country. This episode of The Race Gap in the U.S. takes a deep dive into the intricacies of a system that has experienced many changes and still managed to stay the same, perpetuating in the process the stark racial inequities tha...

  • The Race Gap in the U.S. – Asian Americans

    Since the pandemic hit, attacks against Asian Americans are on the rise. The special series The Race Gap in the U.S. premieres with an episode exploring the forces behind the vicious circle of racial hatred stoked by politicians, and the very real consequences of those actions.

    Correspondent G...

  • Big Story - Forever Young

  • New Endeavors

    This year China celebrates the centennial of its political party's founding and a new vision for how to run a global superpower. 'New Endeavors' looks at how the country's priorities put into action have lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty and built world-class infrastructure and technolog...

  • The Sounds of Mali

    A land of desolation and scarcity, the Sub-Saharan country of Mali once known for its music has come to be known for its perpetual conflict. Once home to an internationally renowned music festival, the mystical ancient city of Timbuktu has come to be known for its extreme danger.

    At one time, Ti...

  • Two Degrees Celsius

    Since 1980 the average temperature of the Earth’s surface has been on an unprecedented climb, with the last decade seeing temperatures reading nearly a full degree Celsius higher than average year over year. Scientific research warns that a global rise of 2 degrees Celsius is a point of no return...

  • The Molecule Movers


    With black market chemists working around the clock to circumvent global narcotics sales laws, synthetic drugs have taken the global market by storm. From North America to Europe, legal chemical alternatives to conventional illicit drugs are popping up at alarming rate. With new chemical substa...

  • Rise Up: Poverty Alleviation

    The United Nations’ goal to end global poverty by 2030 has never been at greater risk. After decades of substantial progress, the global COVID-19 pandemic now threatens to derail the colossal humanitarian effort.

    However, all hope is not yet lost. Thanks to the efforts of those offering servic...

  • Rise Up: Poverty Alleviation in China

    China's massive anti-poverty campaign faces its biggest challenge yet as COVID-19 takes its toll. Despite the global pandemic, the on-the-ground work to eradicate extreme poverty by 2020 pushes forward.

    Infrastructure, such as railways and highways, represents new opportunities for China's poo...

  • State of Fear: The U.S. Legacy in El Salvador

    El Salvador ranks among the world’s most dangerous places. Violent crime associated with gang activity creating war zone like conditions in a nation that has been at peace for nearly three decades. These conditions have caused thousands to flee the country for the nearby United States.

    Once in t...

  • The Spanish Gate

    Spain’s location makes it a pathway for North African narcos moving drugs to Europe as mere 9 miles separates Morocco from Spain’s coast. A speed boat under the cover of night can cross the Straits of Gibraltar in a matter of minutes.

    In 2019, over 21,000 kilos cocaine were intercepted by Spanis...

  • Running Water: COVID-19 in Africa

    With the global COVID-19 pandemic still in full swing, people across the world are being advised to constantly wash their hands to avoid contracting the virus. However, for some this suggestion proves more challenging than others.

    South Africa and Kenya are two nations suffering from water scarc...

  • A Long Lost War: The U.S. Military in Afghanistan

    The last four decades have seen Afghanistan exist as a nation ravaged by perpetual war following successive invasions by the Soviet Union and the United States. Today, left mainly on its own, Afghanistan remains in a state of civil unrest as its government continues its battle for hegemony agains...

  • Pandemic Response


    The United States has seen more deaths from COVID-19 than any other nation in the world. With divided public opinion and legislative action, the United States has struggled to get a grasp on the pandemic and prevent its further spread.
    Now under federal pressure to return to daily life, busines...

  • Collateral: Drug Trafficking During COVID-19

    Most industries have felt adverse effects as COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly across the United States and Mexico; this includes the illicit world of drug trafficking.

    Due to the economic hardships faced by people on both sides of the border, more people are turning to either purchasing or t...

  • Reconciliation: Colombia's Journey for Peace

    In 2016 the Colombian government and rebels from the country’s largest militant group, the Leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army known as the FARC signed a pivotal accord hoping to bring an end to over four decades of civil war.

    Though four years have passed since the cont...

  • Up North

    ‘Up North’ takes viewers to Norway, Russia and France to see how wildfires, lack of snow and melting ice are impacting daily life as temperatures continue to climb.