Charles Lewis, investigative reporter, addresses Progressive Community
Charles Lewis, national investigative journalist, former producer of 60 Minutes, and founder of The Center for Public Integrity, addressed the Sussex Progressive Community group Sept. 21.
Speaking to a packed room at Fish On Restaurant in Lewes, Lewis highlighted various investigations described in his recent book, "935 Lies: The Future of Truth and the Decline of America’s Moral Integrity." The title refers to the number of times the Bush administration told the American people there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Lewis pointed out that, even though President Bush acknowledged there were no weapons of mass destruction, over 50 percent of Americans still believe there were WMDs.
Lewis stressed that he in nonpartisan and noted that lying by those in power spans history and political parties. He pointed out that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that led to direct U.S. involvement in Vietnam was based on misrepresentations by the Johnson administration, including the falsehood that an American destroyer had been attacked.
Lewis pointed out that investigative reporting is complicated, time-consuming and can be dangerous. He told of his meeting with members of the Ku Klux Klan during a 10-month investigation of the 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Ala., in which four African-America girls were murdered and a fifth maimed for life.
Throughout his address, Lewis stressed that, without the truth, democracy cannot exist. He also emphasized that investigative reporters must follow the acts, not the words of the subject under investigation.
Lewis is currently a tenured professor and founding editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. He is a graduate of Newark High School and the University of Delaware.
Sussex Progressive Community is a nonpartisan group that meets periodically to learn about and discuss issues important to informed citizens. For more information email Joanne Cabry at sussexprogressives@gmail.com.
