Truthteller An Investigative Reporter's Journey Through the World of Truth Prevention, Fake News and Conspiracy Theories

by Davis, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9781925335897
• ISBN10: 1925335895
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2019-05-07
• Publisher: Exisle Publishing

Summary

There is a war on truth. And the liars are winning. There is an increasingly large number of weapons in the arsenal of the rich, the powerful and the elected to prevent the truth from coming out — to bury it, warp it, twist it to suit their purposes. Truthteller exposes this toolbox of lies and deception, and reveals how governments and corporations have covered-up mass murder, corruption and catastrophe.

In a world where Putin and Trump have successfully branded journalists as traffickers in fake news, while promoting the actual creators of fake news, investigative reporter Stephen Davis shows the tools that are used to deceive us and explains why they work. He draws from over three decades as an award-winning reporter, editor, foreign correspondent, television producer, documentary filmmaker, and journalism educator to analyse exclusive documents and interviews. Discover shocking details of deception in media across the globe and learn how to recognise and decode the lies we are told by those in power.

Truthteller is an essential guide for understanding the modern media world — for teachers, students and concerned citizens who want to know the facts, not fake news and conspiracy theories. It takes you inside the world of investigative reporting in an intimate history of a reporter’s battles, won and lost, the personal and professional costs and the lives damaged along the way.

Author Biography

Stephen Davis has been on the front lines of journalism for three decades as an investigative reporter in TV, magazines and newspapers and as a leading journalism educator, trying to uphold the ideals of the fourth estate, and to inspire his students to do the same. From the rainforests of Brazil to the icy wastes of Antarctica, from London to Los Angeles, from the Middle East to Australia and New Zealand, Davis has sought out the truth and sometimes found it. Along the way he has encountered lying politicians and corporate con men, spies and special forces soldiers, secret policemen and scared scientists. Among those who have tried to dissuade him from reporting his stories: men with Kalashnikovs, government lawyers, corporate PRs in fancy suits, senior police officers, billionaires, and newspaper owners. Davis has worked for The Sunday Times in both London and Los Angeles, been a war and foreign correspondent, a TV producer for 60 Minutes and 20/20, a newspaper editor, a documentary film maker for the BBC and Discovery, and has taught journalism to thousands of students from all over the world. He has won multiple awards for his investigative reporting, including a silver medal at the New York film and television awards, and has designed and run journalism degree programs in London, Sydney and Melbourne.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A toolbox for lies and deception
1. From the toolbox: The art of character assassination
The strange journey of Richard Tomlinson

2. From the toolbox: Shoot the messengers
If a forest is destroyed and no one is there to see it, does anyone care?

3. From the toolbox: Our conspiracy theories are better than yours
The Estonia mystery: Spies, smugglers, secret packages and Putin

4. From the toolbox: Delay, delay, delay until everyone gets bored
A murder confession is ignored

5. From the toolbox: Create your own reality
State-sponsored stories and other distractions

6. From the toolbox: Manufacture another truth
The human shields — how a cover-up was covered up

7. From the toolbox: The value of distance
An Antarctic rescue and the death of a scientist

8. From the toolbox: Official secrets and other means of suppression
How to avoid a government stopping your book being published

9. From the toolbox: Behind closed doors
Making lots of people angry in the world’s friendliest country

10. A different tool: Happy endings, deception practised by journalists and other good people
Misleading the world’s children

11. The assault on truth: Where to from here?