Faculty Member Steve McCarthy Produces MSNBC Documentaries

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews dove into this unpredictable election year with two documentary profiles of presidential election front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump  produced by School of Communication and Media journalism and film instructor Steve McCarthy.

“Hillary Clinton: It Takes A Country” is a new special that aired Sunday, April 24 that looked beyond the headlines to examine the Democratic candidate’s historic political course.

It followed a re-run of “Citizen Trump,” the McCarthy-produced Chris Matthews special on Republican front-runner Donald Trump that aired originally in December.

“I’ve been covering Presidential campaigns since the ‘80s and this has to be the most interesting, unpredictable and surprising race I’ve ever covered,” said McCarthy, an Emmy Award-winning producer who has worked on programs such as “60 Minutes” and “Dateline.”

“What makes these two documentaries important is that we go beyond the horse race and tell the fascinating life stories of the two leading candidates, Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump,” McCarthy explained.“Through interviewing those who covered and participated in campaigns and by delving into the extensive archives of NBC News, I was able to stitch together compelling narratives of each candidate’s life.”

Working with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews has been a professional pleasure for McCarthy. “He’s one of America’s top political analysts and authors and his insights into these stories were important and powerful.”

McCarthy shared his experiences with his students, so they could see just how a cable news hour is produced. “We went over the booking, interviewing, scriptwriting and editing in the fall semester for ‘Citizen Trump.’ In the spring semester we did the same with the Hillary Clinton hour.”

Just as rewarding for McCarthy is the fact that the documentaries were a family affair. “I’m very proud of my son Justin and Daughter Alison for running cameras on all the shoots.”