Michael Schwarz is a producer and writer whose work has been honored by some of the most prestigious awards in broadcasting, including three national Emmy Awards, two George Foster Peabody Awards, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for Investigative Journalism, the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, and the Grand Prize in the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards for Coverage of the Disadvantaged.
From 1988 to 1996, Schwarz held various staff positions at KQED/San Francisco. At the time of his departure he was in charge of the station's production activities. In this capacity he was responsible for helping bring "Tales of the City" to PBS. Programs produced under his supervision won more than 30 awards.
Schwarz brought national attention to KQED when he initiated a landmark First Amendment lawsuit against the State of California over the right of broadcast journalists to bring television cameras into the witness gallery in order to document an execution. The suit prompted a worldwide debate, extensively covered by the press, about both capital punishment and television journalism itself.
Prior to his work with KQED/San Francisco, Schwarz wrote and co-produced the Emmy Award-winning "Abortion Clinic" and "Living Below the Line" for "Frontline" on PBS. He has taught broadcast journalism in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea as a Fulbright Lecturer at the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development. He began his career in television working for Granada Television's acclaimed "World in Action" series in London.
Schwarz founded Kikim Media, an independent production company, in 1996.
