Michael Kirk


Michael Kirk is a documentary filmmaker and the original senior producer of Frontline, PBS' flagship documentary series, from its inception in 1983 until the fall of 1987, when he created his own production company: the Kirk Documentary Group. He is a former Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University and has produced more than 200 national television programs covering salient stories in America's history for just over 4 decades.
Kirk was born in Denver, Colorado and later grew up in Boise, Idaho where he attended Bishop Kelly High School. He received a degree in journalism from the University of Idaho in 1971 and was a Harvard University Nieman Fellow in 1980.

Early life and education

Kirk was born in Denver and later moved to Boise, Idaho, where he attended Bishop Kelly High School.
He received a degree in journalism from the University of Idaho in 1971 and was a Harvard University Nieman Fellow in 1980.

Career

Kirk's history with PBS's FRONTLINE dates back to its inception and debut in 1983. He has since continued to produce a series of films through his own production company, Kirk Documentary Group. Kirk has produced more than 200 national television programs, winning every major award in broadcast journalism, including six Peabody Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards, two George Polk awards, 17 Emmy Awards, 13 Writers Guild of America Awards, and a Cronkite Award. He has directed and written more than 100 hours of FRONTLINE - including five installments of "The Choice," the acclaimed election-year series profiling the two major-party presidential candidates.
Some of his award-winning documentaries include Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power, and the Supreme Court ''Money, Power and Wall Street, League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis, United States of Secrets, Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA, The Choice 2016, Trump's Takeover, and Putin's Revenge. He produced films about the 2008 financial crisis,
Inside the Meltdown; Bush's War, about the Iraq War under George W. Bush; and The Way the Music Died, about the dire straits of the record industry.
Kirk has made upwards of 20 films on the Obama and Trump presidencies, including Trump's Comeback, The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump, The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden, Supreme Revenge, Zero Tolerance, Trump's Takeover, Divided States of America, The Choice 2016, United States of Secrets, Putin's Revenge, The Choice 2012, The Warning and many others. Kirk's most recent films-- Democracy on Trial, The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump, and Biden's Decision—were the top three most streamed FRONTLINE'' documentaries in 2024.

Recognition and awards

Kirk was inducted into the University of Idaho Alumni Hall of Fame in 2000 and given an honorary degree in 2013. He is a former Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University.
Since 1984, Kirk has notably received every major award in broadcast journalism: six Peabody Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards, two George Polk awards, 17 Emmy Awards, 13 Writers Guild of America Awards. More recently, in 2023 and 2024, Kirk won a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award for Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court. Kirk's 2019 film Putin's Revenge shared a Gold Baton from the duPont-Columbia Awards. That same year, Kirk and Mike Wiser then won a Writers Guild Award in the Documentary Scripts – Current Events category, for Trump's Takeover. In 2015, 2016, and 2017, Kirk had consecutive Emmy wins for United States of Secrets, Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA, and The Choice 2016.
Michael Kirk's body of work has been widely acknowledged throughout his career. Philip Kennicott described Kirk's documentary style in The Washington Post as "rigorous, even obsessive about getting the chronology straight" and added "if newspapers do the rough draft of history, Kirk does a very smooth and fascinating second draft."
As reported by critic Robert Lloyd in The Los Angeles Times, Kirk's multi-award-winning film, United States of Secrets is "nuanced" and "compelling". Variety Sonia Saraiya wrote that his four-hour mini-series Divided States of America "may well be the most important piece of journalism about this tumultuous era of identity politics and populist backlash."

Filmography

  • The Rise of RFK Jr.
  • Trump's Comeback
  • The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump
  • Biden's Decision
  • Democracy on Trial
  • McConnell, the GOP & the Court
  • Putin's Crisis
  • Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and The Supreme Court
  • Putin and the Presidents
  • Lies, Politics and Democracy
  • Pelosi's Power
  • Putin's Road To War
  • America After 9/11
  • Trump's American Carnage
  • President Biden
  • United States of Conspiracy
  • The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden
  • United States of Conspiracy
  • America's Great Divide
  • Zero Tolerance
  • Supreme Revenge
  • The Mueller Investigation
  • Trump's Showdown
  • McCain
  • Trump's Takeover
  • Putin's Revenge
  • Bannon's War
  • Trump's Road to the White House
  • Divided States of America Part 1:
  • President Trump
  • The Choice 2016
  • The Secret History of ISIS
  • Netanyahu at War
  • Secrets, Politics and Torture
  • Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA
  • Losing Iraq
  • United States of Secrets
  • League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis
  • Cliffhanger
  • Inside Obama's Presidency
  • The Choice 2012
  • Money, Power & Wall Street
  • The Anthrax Files
  • Top Secret America
  • Revolution in Cairo
  • Are We Safer?
  • Obama's Deal
  • The Warning
  • Breaking the Bank
  • Inside the Meltdown
  • Dreams of Obama
  • The Choice 2008
  • Caring for Your Parents
  • Bush's War
  • Cheney's Law
  • Endgame
  • The Lost Year in Iraq
  • The Dark Side
  • The Torture Question
  • Karl Rove the Architect
  • Rumsfeld's War
  • The Way the Music Died
  • From China With Love
  • Cyber Wars!
  • The Long Road to War
  • The War Behind Closed Doors
  • The Man Who Knew
  • Did Daddy Do It?
  • Battle for the Holy Land
  • Misunderstood Minds
  • American Porn
  • Gunning For Saddam
  • Target America
  • LAPD Blues
  • The Clinton Years
  • The Choice 2000
  • The War in Europe
  • Killer at Thurston High
  • Give War a Chance
  • The Child Terror
  • Secrets of an Independent Counsel
  • Once Upon a Time in Arkansas
  • The Fixers
  • The Navy Blues
  • The Kevorkian Verdict
  • So You Want to Buy A President
  • Waco: The Inside Story
  • Hot Money
  • The Kevorkian File
  • The Trouble with Baseball
  • Clinton Takes Over
  • To the Brink of War
  • Indian Country
  • AIDS: A National Inquiry
  • Poison and the Pentagon
  • Mount St. Helens: Why They Died
  • Boeing vs. the World: The Jet Set
  • Do I Look Like I Want to Die?
  • Backstreets
  • Some of the Presidents' Men
  • Sweet Land of Liberty: the Moscow Pullman Gay Community
  • The Press
  • Teton: Decision and Disaster
  • Kellogg: The Best to You Each Morning''