This book was too long which took away from it. If the studies had been shorter, it would have been a good read. The potential was there, just not executed well. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving this book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

The premise of this book is spot on, but the execution needed some work. Overall, I like the idea of using case studies to illustrate the issues that are being explored but some editing would have helped with the clarity. Often because of the speed of journalism and the political climate, it seems as though, even books in this genre at publication are rushed and under-edited. The ideas are valid and points are good but the communication style needs some cleaning up.
It is still a worthwhile book.
#Truthteller #NetGalley

Truthteller by Stephen Davis is an honest attempt to bring to the notice of the common masses various tricks deployed by the governments and institutions throughout the world to prevent the truth from becoming public knowledge.

The book contains various cases reported by the author himself over the period of his occupation as an investigative journalist, wherein he provides intricate details (which would have been otherwise missed) pertaining to each and then pulling it apart thread-by-thread until the truth is revealed (or a dead-end is encountered in the investigation).

I'll never read the news the same way again. This statement is now a fact. Hope it opens the mind of the readers who blindly believe their chosen representatives for reasons best known to them. Let's not be deceived anymore. No sir.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC.

Verdict: One time read.

I was, unfortunately, unable to download this title as it had been archived so my rating will be neutral at three stars.

This was a difficult read due to the long winded case studies that dominated the first half of each chapter. I was not impressed with the author's arguments and found his source material to be just as boring.

The book is not just about stories of the work of a investigative journalist its about truth. We have a war on truth and it is getting out of hand for all of us. This book is needed for all people to read to understand how truth can be interfered with simple stories as saving a whale. Governments, politicians,business owners and others sometimes do not want the truth to come out because it could be embarrassing or damaging to their reputation.. This book brought a better understanding for myself because I am one of those people who rail against the media for being dishonest on the right and left. I get frustrated when my social media is filled with propaganda and messages that I know is false is spread all over my social media because other people are not being responsible and retweeting false information. For me it has turned me off to the point I limit my news consumption to 1 to 2 hours of tv news and 1 hour of social media. I had to do that for myself because I was angry at the irresponsibility of people who should be trusted in posts. I hate piss poor headlines that are misleading and when you point it out it takes to long to for the one who made the error to correct it which leads to misinformation sometimes by that time the damage is done. I like the way you suggest at the end of the book how to be responsible for truth in your own social media accounts and how to teach your children so that we can begin to rebuild trust in truth.. The author suggested also that journalist need to look at the way they use social media as well to ensure that when they are quoting say a president that is lying and they know the quote is a lie to maybe put the whole story out and not lead with misinformation. Responsibility for truth belongs to all of us. One thing I would have like to seen covered in the book examples where truth and responsibility was important no matter the cost to the ones affected but the author mainly spent time on examples of truth distortion by different situations. I hope everyone takes time to read this book and understand the message in the book not the stories itself. I also think that media needs to focus more on investigative reporting instead of opinion reporting people do not understand the difference. They think Sean Hannity is a reporter when he is nothing more then a opinion mouth piece this goes the same way on the left for Lawrence O'Donnell.

Thank you to NetGalley and Exisle Publishing for allowing me to read this book for a fair and honest review. I want to thank Stephen Davis for writing this book it has helped me look further into what it means to participate in responsible social media with truth.

This book is all over the place, literally speaking. It contains much-needed critique of journalism, and lack thereof, but lacks editing; reading this book continuously made me feel as though it had not been edited at all.

The writer of this book may have high standing in the field of journalism, but it is often lacking in references, depth, and is somewhat conspiratorial overall. Pointing out faults is one thing, but pointing to "the truth" without scientific evidence is merely speculation, and defeats the purpose of a book that bears the word "truthteller" in its title.

Here's part of the dubious copy:

"There is a daring rescue in the icy wastes of Antarctica. An Air Force Hercules flies in.The heroic midwinter flight — in total darkness and with a temperature low enough to freeze the plane’s oil and fuel within minutes — gets worldwide coverage. But who was rescued and why? Journalists begin asking questions. There is surprising level of secrecy and wild rumours: of nuclear accidents, of patients with burns. Sources give out information and then deny giving any. Officials provide contradictory details. Everyone acts like there is something to hide. But the truth remains elusive. The Antarctic is far away and impossible to get to without official permission. It is a territory controlled by no nation. Operations there, scientific and otherwise, are not well understood. Journalists cannot do the one thing that they would do on other stories closer to home: go to the scene and start asking questions. Even in the internet age, distance still counts.The story just goes away."

The bits about Richard Tomlinson, known "spy", verge towards hagiography:

"The mystery of Richard Tomlinson will not go away. At the time I met him in Nice, he was under the watchful eye of French intelligence."

How do we *know* he was watched by French intelligence? Little niggling pieces like that are strewn throughout the book, which irritated me quite often.

The best and worst part about the book may be about the Estonia ship disaster, where close to a thousand persons died. Davis goes a long way to point to it being a complete cover-up, which he may be right about, but again, he's merely pointing wildly at indications.

I mean, I'd love to see some reliable sources for this paragraph:

"Intelligence sources have confirmed that the Estonia was carrying crucial data — telemetry and components — from the Soviet space and missile programs. The divers hired by the Swedish government, whose work is still an official secret, searched cabins occupied by a Russian space technology dealer, Aleksandr Voronin, who owned a company in Tallinn and who, along with his brother in Moscow, was suspected of trading in weapons and technology. British intelligence was behind the smuggling operation, working with the Swedes. Intelligence sources say the Russians learnt of the smuggling operation and tried to stop it. One possible source of the tip-off to the Russians was a man called Herman Simm. Simm was a senior Estonian official. He was the country’s top police officer at the time of the sinking. Later he was part of the state secret protection department and one of the liaisons with NATO, where he handled classified information. In 1998, Simm was arrested and convicted as a Russian spy. He had been selling them NATO secrets for a decade."

The book ends with a positive paragraph, which is where I'll let this review rest:

"We must start to treat information with the care it deserves, whether in our private lives or as citizens.We must take responsibility for the information we share. Do we really all want to be part of a long chain of people spreading lies around the globe? We can also teach our children to be intelligent consumers of information, to understand the difference between fact and opinion, to understand that gossip is just that, and to be prudent in what information they share on social media or in person. Let’s teach them to be less quick to come to an opinion, to ask more questions before making up their minds, and to realize that the complex problems of our planet can’t be explained in a tweet or YouTube clip."

I read this book not knowing what to expect and it is not normally something i would read Stephen Davis really knows his stuff though, the book is not everything i thought i would be but some interesting theories

over all the book felt short and kind of rushed in the end so many ideas and stories that i felt it left a lot open! part 2 maybe!! :)

Not what I expected from this book. I still learned a lot from reading through it! Good stuff. I am glad I continued despite not being exactly what I thought it would be!

Wow, nonfiction is not usually my go to genre, but the topic of this book and how prevalent it was to what is going on in the US right now made me want to read it, and I’m glad I did.

Stephen Davis is an investigative reporter who has covered numerous world events, and who has been privy to information that governments and people around the world have tried to hide. Davis does not just focus on one nation. The stories and events in this book cover, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, US, Britain, and other countries.

The book is broken down into ten different ways that stories are spinned and deception and cover-ups are created not only by the various governments, but groups of people on social media. The events in here range from the Gulf War to Antarctica to whales rescues in the 1980s to murder mysteries to current FBI text messages (to name a few). Davis has done his research, he has talked to numerous witnesses and experts, and has put the pieces of each event together in a seamless timeline of events that is eye opening. He also discusses how social media has also influenced what the world reads and believes, and it’s a little terrifying. You truly cannot believe everything you read.

This was one of the first times that I highlighted passages in a book I was reading for fun. Society needs to be aware that not everything is transparent and that there are things going on behind the scenes. We may not get the full truth, which is why it is so important to continue to have amazing investigative reports like Stephen there to try to uncover as much of the truth as they can.

I taught Journalism in high school for some years, and I believe that this book should be required reading in all journalism classes.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has questioned anything they have every read.

I was very excited for this book and jumped it to the front of my to-read pile. Davis as an investigative reporter knows his stuff. There are good theories here. My biggest problem with the book is how short it is. With 11 chapters and under 250 pages, things feel rushed. Davis will present an idea and give an example. Being so short many questions are left open. 

I must admit the book wasn't what I expected. As Davis tackles a lot of subjects, many countries, and time periods it feels scattered. I think knowing what you're in for here may help you enjoy it more than I did.

---
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.