The Electronic Whorehouse

Paul Sheehan, author of the massive bestseller 'Among The Barbarians', is one of the most controversial, iconoclastic and thought-provoking commentators in Australia today. In 'The Electronic Whorehouse' he turns his formidable intellect to the subject he knows best - the media itself.

Revealing the agendas, manipulations, back-biting, cat-fighting and herd instinct that make up much of our traditional press - both print and electronic - Sheehan relentlessly shines a spotlight on the media's handling of some of the most heated issues under debate today; such as the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, ethnic crime, the Stolen Generation and Aboriginal genocide.

Gleefully putting political correctness to the sword, he challenges many of the liberal media's most sacred assumptions in a way that will outrage some - yet at heart his agenda is not political, it is a full-blooded attempt to expose hypocrisy and bias in what have been previously unassailable bastions.

In so covering the worst (and best) of our modern media, Sheehan also outlines the potential - for good and bad - of the internet and digital information age in the dissemination of both news and propaganda.

Above all, Sheehan is a master storyteller and his portraits, anecdotes, examples and set pieces give 'The Electronic Whorehouse' the same compulsive readability as a page-turning novel. Pyrotechnically controversial, this will be the most talked-about bestseller this year.