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

About the Book

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 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, an investigative reporter shows the tools that are used to deceive us and explains why they work. Using exclusive documents and interviews drawn from three decades as an award-winning reporter, editor, foreign correspondent, television producer, documentary filmmaker, and journalism educator, Stephen Davis reveals shocking details of deception in the United States, the UK, Russia, Sweden, the Baltic republics, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, the Arctic and Antarctic.

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.

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? Thanks Endnotes Index

About the Author :
Stephen Davis has been on the frontlines of journalism for three decades as an investigative reporter in TV, magazines and newspapers. He has reported from the rainforests of Brazil to the icy wastes of Antarctica, from London to Los Angeles, from the Middle East to Russia.

Review :
“Investigative journalist, Stephen Davis, raises new questions about the disappearance of Sydney man Richard Sajko, one of the city’s toughest cold cases.” “Davis…is the only journalist I know who has paid significant attention to BA149 [British Airways flight from Heathrow to Kuala Lumpar, that, on 1 August 1990, via Kuwait City and Madras had 367 passengers and 18 crew held hostage]. Governments become ever more proficient in covering up inconvenient truths.” “Every page is quite extraordinary” “Stephen Davis uses his skills as an investigative journalist to expose the tools at play in the propagation of falsehoods by governments, organisations and the media”. “If we end up in a society where nobody can tell the difference between truth and fiction that will be devastating for us all” “Truthteller author Stephen Davis’s investigation into the death of an Australian scientist in the Antarctic uncovers a culture far removed from the pristine image of life on the ice” “Very well written. It is compelling. A sort of travelogue into the heart of darkness known as spin, conspiracy theories, misinformation and truth prevention”. “deep fakes are going to make it even harder to tell the difference between fact and fiction” “Drawing on author Stephen Davis’ three decades experience as an investigative journalist, Truthteller uses real-world stories to illustrate the tools that governments and corporations use to deceive the media and the public.” “an entertaining and unsettling compilation of some of the world’s most elaborate official conspiracies. It serves as an acute reminder of just how mendacious – and gullible – we can be.” “Truthteller reinforces the value of journalism and the need for rigorous investigative reporting in a democracy.”