Research Interests

The past two decades, through his work at the Center for Public Integrity and since then, Lewis has been systematically investigating the origins and abuses of power in relation to the public policy decision-making processes in the United States and around the world. For example, in 1996, 2000 and 2004, he and his colleagues at the Center authored the popular and unprecedented The Buying of the President books, identifying the financial interests and unadvertised past behind the glossy candidate careers - always released for citizens before any votes were cast.

From 1999 through 2004, Lewis and his colleagues created a new way of monitoring and reporting on corruption, government accountability and openness around the world, culminating in a 750,000-word report prepared by 200 social scientists and journalists in 25 countries on six continents. This project spawned a new, nonprofit organization, Global Integrity, which Lewis co-founded and advises.

Since 2005, he has been preparing his sixth book about the relationship between truth, political and corporate power and the national news media. He has been researching the origins and trajectory of public relations and propaganda, deception by government and companies, and the truth-telling capacity of journalists and their news organizations. As part of this work, since 2007, he has conducted audio and video recorded interviews with some of the most respected U.S. reporters and editors whose independent reporting has had a significant impact on our nation's history since 1950.

Recently, Lewis also has been exploring new economic models to create and deliver investigative journalism, in and outside the United States, which is one of the two core missions of Investigative Reporting Workshop, which he initiated and leads. He is interested in attempting to expand the public space and economic potential for investigative reporting around the world. He has a longstanding interest in the subject: in 1997, Lewis began the Center's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the first network of 100 of the world's premier investigative reporters in 50 countries, collaborating to produce across-border, award-winning, public service journalism

Professional Presentations

As executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, Lewis conducted 35 news conferences at the National Press Club in Washington between 1990 and 2004. He has given scores of lectures and presentations on ethics, political influence, corruption or investigative reporting throughout the U.S. and in 22 countries on five continents. And he has guest lectured at more than two dozen major colleges and universities.

 

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

• 2009, Honorary Degree, University of Delaware
• 2004, PEN USA First Amendment Award
• 1998, MacArthur Fellowship (awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)
• Center for Public Integrity reports (initiated, final edited and approved by the executive director) were honored more than 30 times by national journalism organizations, such as Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and others. In 2004, “Windfalls of War: U.S. contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan” won the George Polk award.

Residencies

Fellow, Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard University

Selected Publications

• Great Expectations, Columbia Journalism Review, September/October, 2009
• Purveyors of Truth About the Powers That Be, Society of Professional Journalists centennial anniversary book essay, 2009
• 10 Rules of the Road for Nonprofit Center, IRE Journal, May/June 2009
• A Social-Network Solution, Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 2009
• Seeking New Ways to Nurture the Capacity to Report, Nieman Reports, Spring, 2008
• Iraq: The War Card.  With Mark Reading-Smith and many others, The Center for Public Integrity, January 23, 2008
• The Nonprofit Road, Columbia Journalism Review, September/October, 2007
• The Growing Importance of Nonprofit Journalism, Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard University, Spring 2007
• See Online Bibliography

Executive Experience

• Founding Executive Editor, Investigative Reporting Workshop, 2008-
• Founding President, The Fund for Independence in Journalism, 2003-2008
• Founding Executive Director, The Center for Public Integrity, 1989-2004 (Chair of the Board, 1989-2000

Grants and Sponsored Research

• Investigative Reporting Workshop, supported by several foundations, 2008-
• The End of Truth: Power, the News Media and the Public’s Right to Know (HarperCollins: forthcoming, 2010).
• The Fund for Independence in Journalism, 2005-2008
• The Center for Public Integrity, 1989-2004

Media Appearances

He has been interviewed hundreds of times by the major print and electronic news media about the influence of money on politics, abuses of power and other ethics-related issues at the state, national and international level. He has done numerous live and taped interviews for such programs as NBC’s The Today Show and Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, Good Morning America, 20/20, Nightline; CBS News 60 Minutes, Evening News and Morning News, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and Booknotes; PBS Frontline, NPR’s All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, Fresh Air, On the Media; The Daily Show, etc. Lewis has also been interviewed for various feature film documentaries, including Orwell Rolls in His Grave and Why We Fight.