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. 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

Gold Telly Award
Issued by Telly Awards · May 2023
The Truth Illusion
https://www.tellyawards.com/winners/2023/television/general-social-impact
Silver Telly Award
Issued by Telly Awards · May 2023
The Truth Illusion
https://www.tellyawards.com/winners/2023/television/general-documentary-long-form-above-40-minutes
Silver Telly Award
Issued by Telly Awards · May 2023
The Truth Illusion
https://www.tellyawards.com/winners/2023/television/general-political-commentary
Gold World Medal
Issued by New York TV & Film Awards · Apr 2023
The Truth Illusion
https://tvfilm.newyorkfestivals.com/Winners/WinnerDetailsNew/301711dc-00bb-407b-b536-762783bee3d5
Gold World Medal
Issued by New York Festival Radio Awards · Apr 2023
The Truth Illusion
https://tvfilm.newyorkfestivals.com/winners/List/7839e438-6aec-439e-bf9a-7ca894d7d5dd
Shorty Award Bronze Medal
Issued by Shorty Awards · Apr 2023
The Truth Illusion
https://shortyawards.com/15th/winners
Silver World Medal
Issued by New York TV & Film Awards · Apr 2023
The Truth Illusion
https://tvfilm.newyorkfestivals.com/winners/List/7839e438-6aec-439e-bf9a-7ca894d7d5dd
Gold Medal
Issued by Signal awards · Oct 2023
Gold Mafia - Podcast
https://network.aljazeera.net/en/awards/al-jazeera-wins-four-signal-awards
Gold Medal
Issued by Signal Awards · Oct 2023
Gold Mafia – Podcast: Episode 6
https://network.aljazeera.net/en/awards/al-jazeera-wins-four-signal-awards
Silver Medal
Issued by Signal Awards · Oct 2023
Gold Mafia – Podcast: Episode Three
https://network.aljazeera.net/en/awards/al-jazeera-wins-four-signal-awards
Cannes Film Festival Cannes Film Festival - finalist
Issued by Cannes Media & TV Awards · Jul 2023
The Truth Illusion
https://www.cannescorporate.com/en/
Webby Award
Issued by Webby Awards · Apr 2023
The Truth Illusion
https://winners.webbyawards.com/2023/video/general-video/documentary-longform/242602/al-jazeera-investigations--the-truth-illusion
A.I.B. Award
Issued by Association of International Broadcasters · Nov 2022
The Truth Illusion
https://theaibs.tv/AIBs-2022/Gala-evening/The-AIBs-22-winners-book.pdf
Foreign Press Association Award - finalist
Issued by Foreign Press Association, London · Nov 2022
The Truth Illusion
https://www.fpalondon.org/fpa-media-awards
Venice TV Award - nominee
Issued by Venice TV Awards · Sep 2022
The Truth Illusion
https://venicetvaward.com/winners-and-nominees-2022/

Published works

Books

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Video

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