Fraudcast news

When Patrick Chalmers joined Reuters as a foreign correspondent in 1994, he thought he’d got his dream job in journalism. Inspired by the agency’s commitment to freedom from bias, he foresaw a reporting career focused on social justice and making societies fairer. A decade later, he walked away to be an activist.

Fraudcast News recounts how Patrick’s eyes were opened. Deftly mixing the personal and political, he gives a rare insider view of our media’s failures. Far from holding the powerful to account, they present the news in ways that serve narrow elites, promoting their interests and priorities over those of wider society. Though some reporters certainly do bark, very few ever bite. Most are more lapdog than watchdog, leaving their publics misinformed.

The consequences stretch around the planet. Poor reporting on politics and power allows the privileged to amass vast wealth at the expense of most humans on the planet. Conventional media skate around the problems, doing little to highlight the causes, still less solutions. Fraudcast News describes how ordinary people could do far better, bringing to life the alternative stories that might change our world.

Praise for Fraudcast News

“If you want to find out how the media works and why it fails to address social or environmental injustice there is no better place to start than Fraudcast News.”

– Clive L. Splash, Professor, Chair of Public Policy and Governance, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.

“For me, a truly great book is one that stays in your thoughts for a long time after reading it. I thought about this book daily for months after finishing it, because its main argument seems to be at the root of almost every injustice in the world.”

– Mat Ward, Green Left Weekly

“Patrick Chalmers has written an important and timely book…. he lifts the lid on the subtle and pervasive bias of our mainstream media.”


– Ian Fraser, author of Shredded: Inside RBS, the Bank That Broke Britain

“A revealing insight into why the media are failing to inform the public about some of the most fundamental and important challenges facing us today.”

– Ben Dyson, Founder of Positive Money

“… a quietly upbeat message about ‘alternative journalism’ … We need more books like this.”

– Ronald Young, political scientist and author