Richard Farmer's Daily Email Briefing

ACCESS BACK ISSUES
HERE

NEWS AND VIEWS
Australia

Other Countries

Chris Masters

Reporter with ABC TV's Four Corners.

Biographical information from ABC website

Chris Masters is Four Corners’ longest serving reporter. His first program was the landmark "Big League", a 1983 investigation of judicial corruption, which precipitated the Street Royal Commission.

Chris won his first Walkley Award in the following year for "Search Without Rescue" a report on a failed air-sea rescue in the Bass Straight. In 1985 he won the prestigious Gold Walkley for "French Connections", a report on the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, and an international exclusive of the program was shown all over the world.

In 1987, Chris’s report on Queensland corruption, "The Moonlight State" helped trigger the Fitzgerald Inquiry, the first of a series of national enquiries into policing.

Chris went on to win a Logie Award for "Inside a Holocaust", his 1994 account of the Rwanda genocide. In the following year he received another Walkley for "The Cowards’ War", a report on the Bosnian conflict.

Chris has published two books based on his investigative reporting, "Inside Story" and "Not For Publication"; an unauthorised biography of broadcaster Alan Jones is currently awaiting release.

Chris was awarded a Public Service Medal in 1999 and a Centenary Medal in 2002. He is also a part time teacher of journalism, and in 2004 he was appointed Adjunct Professor at RMIT University.

Biographical Notes from The Walkley Awards website

Best Non-Fiction Book - Winner

Chris Masters, Jonestown, Allen & Unwin

Released in October 2006, Jonestown is the result of a four-year investigation into one of Australia's most intriguing characters – talkback broadcaster Alan Jones.

Chris Masters' fascination with Jones began with a Four Corners report in 2002.

The "power and myth" of Jones, his propensity to cavort and cajole with the top end of town while still ostensibly remaining the voice of the average Aussie battler, prove the central paradox of Masters' entertaining and intriguing study.

A passion for investigating power and its abuse is a constant in Masters' 40-year career.

This quality, and his dogged determination to for truth and accountability, have marked out Masters as arguably our best investigative journalist.

Masters began his career with the ABC in 1966 and he's now the longest-serving reporter on Four Corners, having joined the program in 1983.

His reports "The Big League" and the "Moonlight State" both led to groundbreaking royal commissions whose effects still resonate throughout the nation. Masters is also adjunct professor in journalism at RMIT University in Melbourne.

This is Masters' fourth Walkley win, including his Gold Walkley in 1985 for his Four Corners report on the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.

Judges' comments

A finely written, well rounded portrait of the Sydney broadcaster and a clear standout among this year's entries. Masters deftly cuts across criticism that he had an axe to grind, balancing a rigorous study of the role and pervasive influence of radio talkback on government and policy makers – and the potential for media corruption – with a richly detailed and human picture. Undertaking this particular subject and managing to get the resulting book published against considerable opposition reveals a courage in Masters that is inspiring to fellow and aspiring authors.