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.

Reviews

“Investigative journalist, Stephen Davis, raises new questions about the disappearance of Sydney man Richard Sajko, one of the city’s toughest cold cases.”
*Daily Telegraph*

“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.”
*NewStatesman America*

“Every page is quite extraordinary”
*The Matthew Wright Show*

“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”.
*Good Reading Magazine*

“If we end up in a society where nobody can tell the difference between truth and fiction that will be devastating for us all”
*Good Reading Podcast*

“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”
*Maxim Magazine*

“Very well written. It is compelling. A sort of travelogue into the heart of darkness known as spin, conspiracy theories, misinformation and truth prevention”.
*The Fourth Estate Podcast*

“deep fakes are going to make it even harder to tell the difference between fact and fiction”
*ABC Radio National – Sunday Extra with Hugh Riminton*

“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.”
*Hype Magazine*

“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.”
*The Australian Financial Review*

“Truthteller reinforces the value of journalism and the need for rigorous investigative reporting in a democracy.”
*Santa Barbara Independent*