Inside Frontline with Michael Kirk

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Kirk will recount his career in journalism from his days at KUID-TV in Moscow to current projects for the PBS series Frontline April 9. His talk, which will include video segments from several of his documentaries, will begin at 5 p.m. in the University Auditorium.

Kirk will attend the Edward R. Murrow Symposium at Washington State University April 10. WSU is honoring Frontline for its contributions to broadcast journalism. Kirk will join the program’s executive producer, David Fanning, for a workshop at WSU.

Kirk has covered the most important stories of the past two decades, and he has done so in the best tradition of Edward R. Murrow. Several recent programs have dealt with the war in Iraq, national defense policy and foreign policy issues. At a time when all forms of media are under pressure to put profits ahead of public service, Frontline remains an example of how good journalism can help the public make sense of critical issues.

Kirk graduated from the University of Idaho in 1971 with a degree in journalism. He was editor of the Argonaut his senior year. After graduation, he began his career as a writer, reporter and producer at the university's award-winning public television station, KUID-TV.

“In the formative years of KUID, Mike Kirk’s work helped define the public service mission of the statewide public TV system,” says Peter Morrill, general manager of Idaho Public Television. “The documentaries he produced examined perplexing issues that started discussions about solutions. Mike and David Fanning continue that tradition today on the national and international stage.”

From 1977 to 1979, Kirk worked in a similar capacity at the PBS affiliate in Seattle before becoming a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He helped to create the PBS series “Frontline” and was the program’s senior producer from 1983 to 1987. He now runs the Kirk Documentary Group based in Boston. He has produced more than 100 national television programs and documentaries. He is the recipient of Peabody, du Pont-Columbia, Emmy and Writers Guild of America awards for his work.

He is a member of the University of Idaho’s Alumni Hall of Fame and a recipient of the School of Journalism and Mass Media’s Bert Cross First Amendment award. In addition, the School presents the Michael Kirk Award in Broadcast News every spring to an outstanding senior.