Chris Masters (writer)

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Christopher Wayne Masters (born 1948 in Grafton, NSW) is an Australian journalist and author. He is the son of Charles Masters and the journalist and author Olga Masters and the sibling of rugby league coach and journalist Roy Masters, film maker Quentin Masters, radio broadcaster Ian Masters and media producers Sue Masters and Deb Masters

Masters was educated at Macquarie Boys High School, Parramatta and on leaving school joined the ABC.

He is currently the longest serving reporter on the Four Corners TV current affairs program.

In 2004 he was appointed adjunct professor in Journalism with the School of Applied Communication at RMIT University.

Masters was awarded the Public Service Medal in 1999 and the Centenary Medal in 2001 for "service to Australian society in journalism".

In May 2006 RMIT University awarded Masters an honorary doctorate in Communications.

He serves on the national board of directors of the children's cancer charity RedKite

[edit] Jonestown

In 2002, Masters profiled radio personality Alan Jones for an episode of Four Corners, and then went on to write a biography titled Jonestown: The Power and The Myth of Alan Jones. On 29 June 2006, ABC Enterprises decided to cancel publication of Masters' manuscript; ABC Enterprises director Robyn Watts stated that publication was being withdrawn because it would "almost certainly result in commercial loss, which would be irresponsible". This was widely believed to be a veiled reference to the fact that Jones' lawyers had threatened an expensive defamation lawsuit if the book reached publication.[1] ABC program Media Watch reported that the decision to cancel publication had been made not by ABC Enterprises but by the ABC Board. Many ABC personalities have criticized the Board's decision, including a petition against the decision, with signatories including Richard Glover and Phillip Adams.

Jones's Sydney radio rival broadcaster Mike Carlton suggested on 2UE in his show on 5 July 2006 that the book might detail homosexual encounters on Jones' part[2] and Jones' lawyers had told the ABC that Masters' materials were "replete with false and inappropriate sexual innuendo".[3] Certainly, in Jonestown Masters advances the theory that Jones' attempt to mask his sexuality is a defining feature of his personality, and provides an explanation for many aspects of his behaviour - including, for example, his decision to live in a particular suburb of Sydney (Chippendale), close (accord to Masters) to a gay beat. His attempts to explain so much about Jones by reference to his sexuality leaves Masters open to a charge of homophobia, which conservative commentators (in an ironic effort to defend Jones' reputation) have been happy to exploit.

The ABC's refusal to publish the book did not delay it for long; Masters had little difficulty in finding publishers willing to take it on, and Allen & Unwin released it in October 2006. Lengthy excerpts were also published in The Sydney Morning Herald [4].