With the news media and the very concept of truth under attack, Moments of Truth demonstrates why an independent press is more important than ever in preserving our democracy.
Journalists - our "Fourth Estate" - have played a vital role in exposing abuses of power. Through the first-hand accounts of prominent reporters, this film explores the progression of investigative journalism in the United States since the early 1950s. From the McCarthy hearings and civil rights abuses to secret CIA prisons and corporate malfeasance, investigative journalists have stood at the frontlines of history, fighting for our right to know and protecting our freedom of speech.
From pioneering investigative journalist Charles Lewis comes the definitive oral history of the news media's search for truth. Based on the Investigating Power project, Moments of Truth is a feature-length production of the Investigative Reporting Workshop.
Status
Moments of Truth is currently in pre-production. To date, interviews have been conducted with 27 noteworthy journalists. Additional interviews will be filmed in 2020.
Production Team
Charles R.E. Lewis
Executive Producer
Charles Lewis is a professor of journalism at the American University School of Communication in Washington, D.C., and the founding executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop. He has been a Ferris Professor at Princeton University, a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Lewis, a former ABC News and CBS News “60 Minutes” producer, founded two Pulitzer Prize-winning nonprofit news organizations, the Center for Public Integrity (1989) and its International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (1997). He is the author of several books including “935 Lies: The Future of Truth and the Decline of America’s Moral Integrity” (2014) and “The Buying of the President” (2004), a New York Times bestseller. Lewis was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 1998.
Kris Higgins
Producer
Kris Higgins is the Director of Operations and Production for the Investigative Reporting Workshop. He oversees IRW’s video production, including interviews for the Investigating Power series, and the business activities of the PBS FRONTLINE documentaries. He holds a MFA in Film & Media Arts.
Angela Pinaglia
Associate Producer
Angela Pinaglia is a Batimore-based filmmaker and educator. Her feature-length documentary, Life in Synchro, was an official selection of film festivals across the country including San Luis Obispo International, Oxford, Vail and DC Independent.