Tell Me No Lies: Investigative journalism and its triumphs
Does investigative journalism make a difference? Embedded as we invariably are in a swamp of deceit, it is easy to think not. So 600 pages of even the most uplifting of ‘investigative’ reporting look weighty enough to drag down all but the most buoyant of readers.
Don’t be misled. John Pilger has mined a collection of gems. Among the brightest – Martha Gellhorn in Dachau, Amira Hass in the Gaza Strip, Anna Politkovskaya in Chechnya, Felicity Arbuthnot and Jo Wilding in Iraq – are brilliant words by women of great courage. One is left in wonder less by how much of it there is than by the craving for more.
The leitmotif of this disparate collection comes from James Cameron. In North Vietnam during the worst of that most terrible of wars, he wrote: ‘Once you turn all the political value judgements into terms of people, they become both simpler and more difficult.’ However elaborate or powerful the deceit, however intricate or laborious its exposure, the point invariably comes back to this. Sample the book, try imagining a world without it, and only then think to ask what difference it makes.
- Product information
- edited by John Pilger
- Publisher
- Vintage
- Product number
- ISBN 0 099 43745 7
- Star rating

- Product link
- www.randomhouse.co.uk/vintage
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.

- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.

- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
