Dr Christopher Masters PSM

2009

Honorary award citation

He has reached the pinnacle of Australian investigative journalism thanks to his work on crooked cops and public figures, and now Chris Masters will receive acknowledgement of a different kind at a UQ graduation ceremony on July 24.

Mr Masters will receive a Doctor of Letters honoris causa at a 6pm ceremony which celebrates the achievements of students from areas as diverse as journalism, history and music.

His many stories filed for the program included The Moonlight State in 1987, which helped prompt the Fitzgerald Inquiry into Queensland police misconduct and associated corruption.

The Moonlight State is widely acknowledged as a catalyst in the fall of the then Queensland Government, with the Fitzgerald Inquiry netting more than 100 convictions, the jailing of a Police Commissioner and a change in Australian attitudes toward systematic corruption.

Mr Masters has published three books based on his investigative reporting: Inside Story (1992) Not For Publication (2002), and the controversial bestseller Jonestown in 2006.

Jonestown was named Biography of the Year by the Australian Book Industry Association in 2007 and also won the Harry Williams Award at the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards in the same year.

His other honours include a Public Service Medal in 1999 and a Centenary Medal in 2003 for his service to Australian society in journalism.

Mr Masters retired from Four Corners in March and serves on the national board of directors for children’s cancer charity Redkite.

Awards

Doctor of Letters honoris causa
2009