Peter Charley

Peter Charley is an Australian journalist, documentary film maker, television producer and author.

Early life and education Charley was born in , New South Wales, Australia. His father, Philip Nivison Charley was the son of Sir Philip Belmont Charley and grandson of Major Philip Charley, one of the ‘Syndicate of Seven’ who founded Broken Hill Proprietary Ltd in 1883. In 2021, BHP's revenue was estimated to be 60.82 billion. Charley spent his teenage years at boarding school in Australia and in Papua New Guinea where his family was based in Goroka, Madang and Port Moresby. In 1973, he was invited to accompany a medical expedition into the remote Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea to investigate an outbreak of the fatal brain disorder kuru caused by ritualistic cannibalism.

Charley attended The Scots School, Albury, and Newington College, in Sydney. He studied communications at New York University and holds a master's degree in media practice from The University of Sydney. At Harvard University, Charley studied Central Challenges of American National Security, Strategy and the Press (via Ed-X). Charley undertook European studies at the European Academy in Berlin and studied Spanish Language at Escuela Dinámico in Antigua, Guatemala, and Spanish Language and Latin American Culture at the Academia de Español in Quito, Ecuador.

Journalism career Charley began his career as a reporter on The Sydney Morning Herald and the Sydney Sun newspapers in Australia where he worked as a general news reporter, feature writer and music critic. He later worked as an on-air news and current affairs reporter and producer at the Seven Network in Australia before moving to New York, where he worked as Associate Producer at Sixty Minutes, Channel Nine, and as a reporter for National Public Radio.

Charley traveled extensively throughout Central and South America, covering conflict and civil unrest in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil.

Charley's coverage of conflict also included unrest in Syria, Cambodia's fight against the Khmer Rouge, East Timor's struggle for independence, the Bougainville war, unrest in South Africa, Libya and the Los Angeles riots.

In 1986, Charley was appointed Show Producer of the weekly, current affairs program, The Reporters, produced by Fox Television, New York.

Between 2000 and 2007, Charley worked as Executive Producer of the ABC TV's flagship news program, Lateline. He then joined Australia's SBS television as Executive Producer of the international current affairs program, Dateline – a position he held for seven years. In 2014, he left Dateline to take up the role of Senior Executive Producer of Al Jazeera's North American investigative unit, based in Washington, DC.

At Al Jazeera, Charley was responsible for producing, writing and reporting the controversial two-part series 'How to Sell a Massacre' which involved a three-year undercover infiltration of the National Rifle Association of America. The program led to the resignation of 'Pauline Hanson's One Nation' Senate candidate Steve Dickson after secretly-recorded video showed Dickson and One Nation's Chief of Staff James Ashby meeting with officials from the NRA and with representatives of Koch Industries in Washington, DC. In 2019, Charley was approached by HarperCollins to write a book on the making of the documentary series. The book, 'How to Sell a Massacre - One Nation, the US gun lobby and $20 million - inside journalism's most audacious sting', was published in August 2020, reaching an Amazon ranking of Number One Best Seller under the categories of Federal Jurisdiction Law, Conventional Weapons and Warfare History, Political Freedom, Journalism & Nonfiction Writing Reference, and Radical Political Thought.

Charley has twice been invited by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to participate as Juror for the International Emmy Awards competition to judge international television programming.

Awards Title of work Award name Award given Award year Notes On Life’s Border – The Plight of North Korean Refugees in China Johns Hopkins University'sSchool of Advanced International Studies First Prize, SAIS Novartis Awards 2000 On Life’s Border –The Struggle of North Korea’s Refugees Walkley Award Winner, Excellence in International Reporting One Last Chance New York Festivals Best Investigative Report Columbus International Film & Video Festival Chris Award Statue Kidnapped Human Rights Press Award, Hong Kong Winner 2009 Dateline, SBS New York Festivals Best Current Affairs Program 2013 The Dark Side New York Festivals Gold World Medal, Sports 2017 Gold World Medal, Current Affairs The Poacher's Pipeline Society for Environmental Journalists Honorable Mention, Outstanding In-depth Reporting Asian Television Awards Highly Commended CINE Golden Eagle Awards Finalist, Investigations Association of International Broadcasters Highly commended, Investigative Headliner Awards Second Place, Documentary Rockie Awards, Banff World Media Festival Finalist, Social & Investigative Foreign Press Association Media Awards Winner, Environment Story of the Year Wildlife Conservation Film Festival, New York Best Middle East Film Vancouver South African Film Festival People's Choice Winner Envirofilm Awards Winner, Best Story Presentation 2018 New York Festivals Silver World Medal, Current Affairs Silver World Medal, Nature and Wildlife Spy Merchants DIG Awards, Riccione, Italy Best Investigative Documentary, Long Form New York Festivals Gold World Medal, Current Affairs Football's Wall of Silence Association of International Broadcasters Highly Commended, Investigative British Academy of Film and Television Arts Finalist, Current Affairs category 2019 New York Festivals Gold World Medal, Current Affairs Gold World Medal, Sports Islamophobia New York Festivals Gold World Medal, Current Affairs Silver World Medal, Religious Kennedy Awards Nominee, Journalist of the Year How to Sell a Massacre Broadcast Awards Finalist Kennedy Awards Winner, Most Outstanding Investigative Report Finalist, Scoop of the Year Graham Perkin Awards Finalist, Australian Journalist of the Year New York Festivals Gold World Medal, Film Gold Lovie Award Winner, Documentary 2020 Webby Awards 'Al Jazeera Investigates Extra' Nominee 2021 Telly Awards Gold Medal Gold Mafia Signal Awards Best Writing 2022 General News & Politics Gold Telly Award Social Impact 2023 Silver Telly Award General Documentary - Long Form Political Commentary New York TV & Film Awards Gold World Medal Documentary - Social Issues Social Issues Podcast New York TV & Film Awards Silver World Medal Documentary - Current Affairs Cannes Film Festival Finalist

Published works Books

Charley, Peter (2026). The Truth Illusion – How America’s Addiction to Lies is Eating the Nation Alive. Berlin: De Gruyter Brill. .

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