Balibo

When Indonesian forces invaded East Timor, newly independent of Portugal, in 1975, the world turned a blind eye. Well, not quite. Two Australian television channels had reporters on the ground. Five of them – zealous young journos in their 20s, one of them, Gary Cunningham, a New Zealander – ignored every warning and kept their cameras rolling as the Indonesians made their advance on the Fretilin base at Balibo. It was not until 2007 that a NSW coroner's enquiry confirmed that the... more Balibo Five, as they have become known, were not killed in crossfire, but trapped and coldly executed by the invaders.