Documentary filmmaker Michael Kirk has produced more than 200 national television programs. A former Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University, Kirk was the original senior producer of FRONTLINE, PBS’ flagship long-form documentary series, from its inception in 1983 until the fall of 1987, when he created his own production company, the Kirk Documentary Group.

The winner of every major award in broadcast journalism, including five Peabody Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards, two George Polk Awards, 15 Emmy Awards, and 12 Writers Guild of America Awards, Kirk has produced, directed and written more than 100 hours of FRONTLINE — including multiple installments of “The Choice,” the acclaimed election-year series profiling the two major-party presidential candidates.

His recent and upcoming work includes:

2024

• Democracy on Trial — A two-hour documentary probes the roots of the criminal cases against former President Trump stemming from his 2020 election loss. Amid the 2024 presidential race, the documentary examines the House Jan. 6 committee’s evidence, the threat to democracy and the historic charges against Trump. (2 hours)

2023

• McConnell, the GOP & the Court — How Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell helped transform the Supreme Court and U.S. politics. Amid scrutiny of the high court and a power struggle in the GOP, FRONTLINE examines McConnell’s rise and role in pushing the judiciary to the right and America’s polarized democracy. (1 hour)
• Putin's Crisis — With Vladimir Putin facing down a mutiny, FRONTLINE examines how the Russian leader reached this moment of crisis. The documentary tells the story of Putin’s rise, his clashes at home and abroad, and how his troubled Ukraine war led to the greatest threat yet to his grip on power. (1 hour)
• Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court — As controversy erupts around Clarence and Ginni Thomas, FRONTLINE tells the inside story of their path to power. This investigation traces how race, power and controversy collide in the rise of the Supreme Court justice and his wife and how the couple has reshaped American law and politics. (2 hours)
• Putin and the Presidents — FRONTLINE investigates Russian President Vladimir Putin’s clashes with multiple American presidents as he’s tried to rebuild the Russian empire. (1 hour)

2022

2021

• United States of Conspiracy — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was outside the Capitol as rioters stormed the building, mobilized by President Trump’s false claim that Democrats stole the presidential election. It was only the latest in a series of conspiracy theories that have moved from the fringes to the center of American politics. In United States of Conspiracy, FRONTLINE’s acclaimed political team investigates the alliance among Jones, longtime Trump associate Roger Stone and the president, how they weaponized those theories for political power, and their role in the deepening battle over truth and lies. An updated version of the 2020 documentary by the same name. (1 hour)
• President Biden — President-elect Joe Biden takes office at a time of tremendous crisis for the country. On the eve of Inauguration Day, FRONTLINE tells Biden’s life story through the crises he faced. President Biden examines the defining moments in Biden’s life that shaped him and reveals how the President-elect and the country arrived together at this unprecedented moment. (1 hour)
• Trump’s American Carnage — The violent storming of the Capitol was a crisis years in the making. FRONTLINE investigates how the seeds of political violence in the Trump era were planted by the president and fed by Republican leaders for the past four years. Trump’s American Carnage reveals how Trump seized control of the Republican party, the bargain that Republicans made to stay in power, and the deep conflict the party now faces over its future. (1 hour)
• America After 9/11 — On the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, FRONTLINE examines the legacy of 9/11. America After 9/11 draws on two decades of original reporting across four presidencies, revealing the mistakes and missteps that reshaped America at home and abroad— and ultimately ushered in the fear and mistrust that led to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. (2 hours)

2020

• America’s Great Divide: From Obama to Trump — A two-part series investigating America’s increasingly bitter, divided and toxic politics. (4 hours)
• United States of Conspiracy — An investigation of the alliance among conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, longtime Trump associate Roger Stone and the president — and their role in the deepening battle over truth and lies. (1 hour)
• The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden — The life stories of Donald Trump and Joe Biden: the roots of their drive to be president, the moments that shaped them, and the life method that has brought them to this point. (2 hours)
• Supreme Revenge: Battle for the Court - Following the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, an updated look at the battle for the Supreme Court that draws on the previous year’s documentary. (1 hour)

2019

• Supreme Revenge — Examining the no-holds barred, partisan conflict over President Donald Trump’s nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and how Sen. Mitch McConnell has helped to transform America’s highest court. (1 hour)
• The Mueller Investigation — Inside Trump’s war with investigators looking into allegations of collusion and obstruction of justice, featuring interviews with key players who provide new details about the battle between the president and Special Counsel Mueller, the FBI and the DOJ. (1 hour)
• The Mueller Report — A PBS NewsHour /FRONTLINE prime time special featuring the full documentary, “The Mueller Investigation.” (1 hour)
• Zero Tolerance — How three outsiders fed anger over immigration to help make Trump president and ignite a border crisis. Inside the unlikely plot to transform the GOP, curb immigration, and unleash a divisive political weapon that would fuel division and violence. (1 hour)

2018

• Trump’s Showdown — An examination of President Trump’s fight against the Justice Department’s investigation of his campaign. (2 hours)
• Trump’s Takeover — The inside story of how President Trump came to dominate the GOP. (1 hour)
• McCain — The political biography of Senator John McCain. (1 hour)

2017

• Divided States of America — A two-part series examining the growing political divide during the Obama administration and Trump candidacy. (4 hours)
• Trump’s Road to the White House — How Donald Trump won the presidency. (1 hour)
• Bannon’s War — The inside story of the early chaos inside the Trump administration. (1 hour)
• Putin’s Revenge — The history of grievances that led to the Putin-led disruption of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (2 hours)

2016

• The Choice 2016 — The personal narrative and political history of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. (2 hours)
• President Trump — The personal story of Donald Trump. (1 hour)
• The Secret History of ISIS — The growth of ISIS and how the U.S. missed the warning signs. (1 hour)
• Netanyahu at War — The clash between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama. (2 hours)

2015

• Secrets, Politics and Torture — The secret history of the CIA’s controversial “enhanced interrogation” program. (1 hour)
• Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA — The political evolution and influence of the NRA. (1 hour)

2014

• Losing Iraq — The role of the U.S. in the Iraq war, from the 2003 invasion to the violent rise of ISIS. (90 mins.)
• United States of Secrets: The Program — The effort to hide the U.S. government’s massive surveillance program. (2 hours)

2013

• League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis — An investigation of the NFL’s effort to refute scientific evidence that concussions are linked to alarming incidents of early-onset dementia. (2 hours)
• Cliffhanger — A look into the nation’s fiscal crises and the inside history of how Washington has failed to solve the country’s problems of debt and deficit. (1 hour)

2012

• The Choice 2012 — The political biographies of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. (2 hours)
• Money, Power and Wall Street — The inside story of Wall Street’s massive financial collapse and crisis. (4 hours)

2011

• Top Secret America — An examination of the huge, unwieldly, top-secret world the U.S. government has created since 9/11. (2 hours)
• The Anthrax Files — A reinvestigation into the anthrax case a decade after the attacks. (1 hour)

Decades of Documentaries

Kirk’s long career has yielded two other “Choice” dual biographies — of Obama and John McCain (2008) and George W. Bush and Al Gore (2000) He produced, directed and wrote three investigations of the 2008 financial crisis: The Warning, the unique story of a regulator's warning about the dangers of derivatives in the 1990s; Breaking the Bank, an inside look at the complicated financial and political web threatening Bank of America; and Inside the Meltdown, a major investigation into the collapse of the American economy.

In the spring of 2008 he produced, directed and wrote the four-and-a-half-hour, two-part special Bush's War. He produced a number of additional films on what some called “the war on terror,” including Cheney's Law, Endgame, The Lost Year in Iraq, Rumsfeld's War, The Torture Question, The Dark Side, The War Behind Closed Doors and The Man Who Knew.

Over the years, Kirk has also covered a wide variety of subjects beyond politics, the economy, and national security in acclaimed documentaries including Waco — The Inside Story, a behind-the-scenes look at the FBI siege of the Branch Davidian compound; The Kevorkian File, an in-depth examination of Dr. Jack Kevorkian's controversial cases; Death by Fire, a look inside the arson/murder case of one man at the center of the death penalty debate; Caring for Your Parents, which followed five families caring for their elderly parents; Navy Blues, an examination of gender politics in the military; The Way the Music Died, a behind-the-scenes look at the recording industry; and the groundbreaking Misunderstood Minds, an exploration of the personal stories of five families confronting the challenges of their children's learning disabilities.

Kirk frequently speaks to academic and corporate institutions on topics ranging from current events to issues confronting journalism. He has also appeared on a number of television programs, including Morning Joe, the Today show, CNN/MSNBC/FOX news programs. He has been interviewed on hundreds of radio broadcasts and podcasts.