Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones
 |
|
| Author | Chris Masters |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Alan Jones |
| Genre | Biography |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin Australia |
|
Publication date
|
October 2006 |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 512 (Hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 85485455 |
| 791.443 22 | |
| LC Class | PN1991.4.J664 M37 2006 |
Jonestown: The Power and The Myth of Alan Jones is a controversial 2006 biography of radio personality Alan Jones by Chris Masters. The biography deals in part with Jones's sexuality; Masters asserts that Jones is homosexual, something that Jones does not self-identify as. Masters began Jonestown in 2002 after profiling Jones for an episode of the current affairs program Four Corners.
The book was nominated for the 2006 Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction for its "depth of research, fluency of narrative and professional engagement."
The book won the Australian Book Industry Awards, Australian Biography of the Year 2007
ABC Enterprises announced on 29 June 2006 that it was cancelling the publication of Masters' manuscript; ABC Enterprises director Robyn Watts stated that this was because it would "almost certainly result in commercial loss, which would be irresponsible". This statement was widely believed to be a veiled reference to the fact that Jones's lawyers had threatened an expensive defamation lawsuit if the book reached publication. 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 criticized the Board's decision, and a petition against the decision circulated, with signatories including ABC radio personalities Richard Glover and Phillip Adams.
Mike Carlton, Jones's rival Sydney radio broadcaster, suggested on 2UE in his show on 5 July 2006 that the book might detail homosexual encounters on Jones's part and Jones's lawyers had told the ABC that Masters' materials were "replete with false and inappropriate sexual innuendo".
In the introduction to Jonestown, Masters described Jones as having concealed his sexuality "more for the sake of preserving a dishonest power base" than for reasons of personal privacy, an explanation he repeated later when accused of being motivated by prurience. Additionally, Masters says that Jones's attempt to mask his sexuality is a defining feature of his personality and provides an explanation for many aspects of his behaviour. In the book's final chapter, Masters quotes a study performed by Roy Morgan Research that reported that "46% of [Jones's] listeners believe that homosexuality is immoral, compared to 35% of all Australians." Masters' attempts to explain so much about Jones by reference to his sexuality caused the commentator Miranda Devine to see his book as homophobic.
...
Wikipedia