Chris Masters Biography
Chris Masters PSM is an Australian journalist and novelist who has won many Walkley and Logie Awards. He is a member of the national board of directors of RedKite, a children’s cancer charity.
How old is Chris Masters? – Age
He is 74 years old as of 4 December 2022. He was born in 1948 in Grafton, Australia. His real name is Christopher Wayne Masters.
Chris Masters Family – Education
He is the fourth son of rugby league coach and journalist Roy Masters, filmmaker Quentin Masters, radio broadcaster Ian Masters, and media producers Sue and Deb Masters. Masters attended Macquarie Boys High School in Parramatta, where he earned his Leaving Certificate in 1965.
Chris Masters Books
Masters has published four novels. In 1992, he wrote his first Inside Story, which detailed the story behind some of his Four Corners broadcasts. His second book, Not for Publication, was released in 2002 and focused on his television work once more. Jonestown was his third book, and Uncommon Soldier was a book about an Australian soldier. Masters’ work was also essential in bringing down Ben Roberts-Smith.
Chris Masters Four Corners
He joined ABC television’s flagship public affairs program Four Corners in 1983 and has since become the program’s longest-serving reporter. His first broadcast was the seminal “Big League,” a 1983 exposé of judicial corruption that aided in the establishment of the Street Royal Commission.
He received a Gold Walkley Award for his Four Corners report “French Connections” on the infamous loss of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985. Masters’ 1987 Four Corners report “The Moonlight State” prompted the Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption in Queensland.
Chris Masters Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones
Masters profiled radio personality Alan Jones for a Four Corners broadcast in 2002 and later authored a biography titled Jonestown: The Power and Myth of Alan Jones. ABC Enterprises chose to cancel the publication of Masters’ work in June 2006, citing commercial loss as the reason. The ruling alluded to Jones’s lawyers’ threat of a defamation lawsuit. The decision was made by the ABC Board, and numerous ABC personalities, notably Richard Glover and Phillip Adams, have condemned it. Mike Carlton, a Sydney radio presenter, and Jones’s adversary speculated that the book may disclose Jones’ gay experiences.
Masters’ materials, according to Jones’ lawyers, were “replete with false and inappropriate sexual innuendo.” Masters’ book advances the thesis that Jones’ attempt to suppress his sexuality is a defining trait of his personality and explains many aspects of his conduct, including his desire to teach young male sportsmen. His explanation of much about Jones via the lens of his sexuality left Masters open to accusations of homophobia, which supportive commenters have exploited. The ABC’s reluctance to publish the book did not prevent it from being published by Allen & Unwin in October 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald also published lengthy excerpts.
Chris Masters Career
In 2004, he was given the position of Adjunct Professor in the School of Applied Communication at RMIT University in the field of journalism. In 2006, RMIT conferred Master with an honorary doctorate in communications.
On June 14, 1999, Masters received the Public Service Medal, and on January 1, 2001, he received the Centenary Medal for “service to Australian society in journalism.” RedKite, a charity that fights childhood cancer, has him on its national board of directors.
The Harry Williams Award for Literary Work Advancing Public Debate was presented to Jonestown in 2007 by the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. Additionally, it won the Walkley Book Award for Best Non-Fiction in 2007. Front Line Absent: The 2018 Walkley Book Award had a shortlist that included Australia’s Special Forces At War in Afghanistan.
Masters investigated and reported on Ben Roberts-Smith, winner of the Victoria Cross, for more than seven years with the assistance of Nick McKenzie and the ongoing support of Nine Network. After the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times reported that Robert-Smith had murdered Afghans during multiple deployments to the country between 2006 and 2012, he filed defamation lawsuits against them. Roberts-Smith lost the case because Masters and McKenzie’s work was clearly supported by evidence.