Since conducting his first television interview 25 years ago with the French resistance leader Daniel Cordier, Ivan Broadhead has traveled the world to file on issues relating to human rights and social justice, reporting and producing for public broadcasters including the ABC, BBC, NPR, RTHK and VOA.
Among Broadhead's award-winning assignments, his 2008 Sydney Morning Herald investigation into the radioactive contamination of Enewetak atoll sparked global concern and provided evidence for a case before the International Court of Justice, while in 2009 he was the first non-Chinese journalist to be granted privileged access by the Chinese Government to PLA peacekeeping operations in the Congo. That same year, his RTHK investigation into the crystal meth trade between China and South Africa won the HKCC gold medal for broadcast radio, revealed $500m in illicit revenues and saw Broadhead injured in an armed standoff.
His South China Morning Post investigation into Australia Zoo's land use policy, and its impact on aboriginal communities, was recognised at the 2010 Amnesty International Human Rights Reporting Awards in the print feature category. His RTHK documentary, Kony and Us, tracking the eponymous warlord across the DRC, Central African Republic and South Sudan, was a joint-recipient of the 2012 Amnesty Award for broadcast radio.
Broadhead's recent work with refugee communities, particularly in the area of gender equality, has also been widely acknowledged. Soccer Nuns, the tale of the Tibet women's football team, sole radio laureate at the 2016 Amnesty Awards, was described by The Spectator as: "A documentary that shows why we should preserve this corner of the BBC." Reviewing The Number One Ladies' Landmine Agency, Broadhead's 2018 BBC documentary about Sahrawi women on the frontline of Africa's last colonial war, the Daily Telegraph wrote: "Sobering and inspiring in equal parts."
Broadhead is currently developing a podcast series, This Life, to provide a voice for inspirational, everyday folk - a counterpoint to celebrity culture. This will be followed by research for a proposed book examining Chinese development efforts in Africa and Latin America.
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