The Media and the Massacre: Port Arthur 1996-2016

The Media and the Massacre: Port Arthur 1996-2016

Sonya Voumard's The Media and the Massacre is a chilling portrayal of journalism, betrayal, and storytelling surrounding the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. Inspired, in part, by renowned American author Janet Malcolm's famously controversial work The Journalist and the Murderer, Voumard's elegant new work of literary non-fiction examines the fascinating theme of -the writer's treachery'. The author brings to bear her own journalistic experiences, ideas and practices in a riveting inquiry into her profession that is part memoir and part ethical investigation.

One of her case studies is the 2009 book Born or Bred? by two prominent journalists"Robert Wainwright and Paola Totaro"about the perpetrator of the Port Arthur massacre, Martin Bryant, and his mother Carleen Bryant. Carleen received an undisclosed legal settlement, over the bestselling book's use of her personal manuscript.

In the lead-up to the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre, The Media and the Massacre explores the nature of journalistic intent and many of the wider moral and social issues of the storytelling surrounding the events and their place in our cultural memory.

Sonya Voumard is a journalist, author and academic whose work has been widely published in major Australian newspapers, magazines and literary journals. Her first novel Political Animals, published in 2008, was inspired by her time as a political correspondent for the Age in Canberra. She has lectured for many years in creative non-fiction and journalism at UTS where she recently graduated with a Doctorate of Creative Arts, which explored the ethics of storytelling. Her most recent works have appeared in Griffith Review and Meanjin. She lives in Sydney.

The Media and the Massacre: Port Arthur 1996-2016
Transit Lounge Publishing
Author: Sonya Voumard
ISBN: 9780994395719
RRP: $29.95