Behind the Headlines

For the documentary film Behind the Headlines, Germany‘s largest daily newspaper opens the door to its world-renowned investigative department for the first time, providing insight into work processes that are otherwise strictly confidential.

Two years after exposing the Panama Papers, the investigative journalists at Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung are facing new challenges: the political murder of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galicia and a mysterious arms dealer linked to the Iranian nuclear missile programme. Then a secret video is leaked to them in the spring of 2019, uncovering a new scandal involving Austrian Vice Chancellor HC Strache.

In his film, Daniel Sager shows the complex work process that the journalists and the editorial team went through before the so-called Ibiza video was published. Checking the authenticity of the material and possible legal consequences, researching the origin and sources of the video – the film makes all steps up to publication transparent for the viewers.

Behind the Headlines is an important contribution to the discussion on credibility and the role of the media in democratic societies.