Peter Geoghegan

Journalist, author, broadcaster

Peter Geoghegan byline Picture for the Sunday National

Kirsty Anderson Newsquest / Herald and Times
16/01/19

DEMOCRACY FOR SALE

Democracy is in crisis, awash with dark money and digital disinformation. What can be done to save it?

Democracy for Sale takes a journey from Westminster to Washington, and far beyond, to see how money, vested interests and digital skulduggery are eroding trust in democracy – and what must be done about it.

Through exclusive interviews and original research meet the fabulously well-funded partisan think tanks, propagandists who know how to game a rigged system, and the campaigners and regulators valiantly trying to stop them. Find out how antiquated electoral laws are broken with impunity, and Silicon Valley tech giants have colluded in selling out democracy. Democracy for Sale follows the money that its donors would much prefer to remain in the shadows.

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT DEMOCRACY FOR SALE

A brilliant description of the dark underbelly of modern democracy: dark money, influence games and the new tactics of the new far-right. Everyone should read it.

Anne applebaum

AUTHIR OF 'TWILIGHT OF DEMOCRACY: THE SEDUCTIVE LURE OF AUTHORITARIANISM'.

Democracy for Sale forensically exposes the fault lines in our politics, and reveals how they have been exploited by the rich and the powerful to further their own interests. If you’re concerned about the health of British democracy, read this book – it is thorough, gripping and vitally important.

OLIVER BULLOUGH

AUTHOR OF 'MONEYLAND'.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Peter Geoghegan is an Irish writer, broadcaster and editor-in-chief at the award-winning news website openDemocracy. He led openDemocracy‘s investigations into dark money in British politics that were nominated for a 2019 and 2020 British Journalism award and the Paul Foot award in 2019 and 2021. His journalism has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the London Review of Books and many other publications. He has made documentaries for BBC Radio Four, worked on investigative TV programmes for Channel 4 and regularly appears on British and international broadcast outlets. He became editor-in-chief of openDemocracy in September 2021.

His most recent book, Democracy for Sale: Dark Money and Dirty Politics, was published in August 2020 by Head of Zeus. His previous book, The People’s Referendum: Why Scotland Will Never Be the Same Again, was nominated for the Saltire First Book Award. He is co-founder and current chair of Scottish investigative website the Ferret and lives in Glasgow and Lo