Chris Masters (1) (1948–)

“What a little worm” to steal a quote from Black Adder. I need to state upfront that I am not a fan of Alan Jones, or anything he does, and this thoroughly researched and well written piece by Australian journalist Chris Masters, does nothing to change my mind. Alan Jones has certainly worked hard to achieve what he has – did the background work, greased palms, wheedled his way into the right circles (and that is hard work folks) – and Masters’ biography demonstrates that. Right along with his temper tantrums, toadying, narcissism, crippling self-doubt, loneliness and dealing with his sexuality. Well worth reading if you have an interest in Jones or Australian broadcasting.… (mehr)

An excellent character study of a pretty despicable person. I really enjoyed reading Masters' methodical, seemingly even-handed dissection. You could almost see Masters sighing and muttering under his breath as he relates tale after tale of Jones' megalomania, narcissism, hypocrisy and the occasional good deed. He takes you one step at a time through his subject's life, showing how Annakin slowly becomes Darth, as Jones yearns increasingly for approbation and a need to feel powerful. Masters shows you that the intellectual mannerisms are essentially a fraud: Jones' experience of higher education was minimal — his time at Oxford merely a one-year diploma in education.

Masters occasionally slips out of this clinical dissection, drifting somewhat puzzlingly into first-person narrative style, as he throws in an anecdote or two about crossing Jones' path, or indeed, about the publishing of the book itself. It's odd, but I found it rather refreshing, really. What grates somewhat more is the constant references to Jones apparently repressed homosexuality. Somehow it just comes across too much as point-scoring, a sequence of in-your-face cries of "hypocrite" that gets old. Based on the evidence presented, Jones is clearly gay, but has spent most his life forced to hide it. So he's probably deserving of some sympathy on that point, but Masters chooses instead to criticise the way Jones hides it, such as consorting with a couple of fake "girlfriends". So the tone was slightly off for me there.

One thing I really gained was an appreciation for how these kinds of socialites operate. There are lots of fun personal letters reproduced in full, written by fawning politicians, sports personalities or (famously) media regulators.

So, a truly horrible person whose activities are a real bane to the democratic process in Australia, documented, dissected, and finally taken down a peg or two. Amen.… (mehr)