The War On Journalism

Description

Mass media is in Crisis. Newspapers and TV networks that once led the world are Failing. Yet they Co-wrote their own Epitaph - with Dirty Deeds and Power without principle. In The War on Journalism, former ABC Four Corners investigative journalist Andrew Fowler traces both the evolution of the fourth estate and its internet-driven disruption. Ours is the era of the media 'outsider', like lawyer-turned-journalist Glenn Greenwald, who challenged everyone from The Guardian to Rupert Murdoch's global media empire to reveal Edward Snowden's treasure trove of secrets. As issues raised by the likes of WikiLeaks and Snowden play out, rattled governments threaten to jail both whistleblowers and those who publish their leaks. And in our post-9/11 world, every mobile phone is a tracking device. The public's right to know is a battleground. Will our world be democratic or dominated by executive government, spying on its own citizens and producing fraudulent arguments to fight horrific wars? This is a defining moment, not just for journalism but for us all. Book jacket.

Author description

ANDREW FOWLER is an award-winning investigative journalist and a contributing reporter for ABC's Foreign Correspondent and Four Corners programs. He has been chief of staff and acting foreign editor of The Australian newspaper and a reporter with SBS Dateline and Channel 7, as well as heading up the ABC's Investigative Unit. Andrew began his journalism career in the early 1970s covering the IRA bombing campaign for the London Evening News. He first interviewed Julian Assange for the Foreign Correspondent in early 2010 and went on to write the bestselling book, The Most Dangerous Man in the World, which has been translated and published in countries as diverse as China, South Korea, SA, Russia, Indonesia, Romania and Taiwan. The Most Dangerous Man in the World was described by Daniel Ellsberg (whistle-blower of the Pentagon Papers) as 'A gripping thriller. By far the best account of Julian Assange's motives and the talents that make him so dangerous' and by Geoffrey Robertson QC as 'the most balanced, fair and factual account yet published of a saga much misrepresented in the media'. Andrew's original ABC program about Assange and WikiLeaks won the New York Festival Gold Medal and he has subsequently interviewed Assange in October 2011 and July 2012. Andrew Fowler currently spends his time between Paris and Sydney, writing and making documentaries.