Martin Smith (documentarian)

Martin Smith
Smith in New York City (2007)
Born	Martin Elder Smith (1949-01-28) January 28, 1949 (age 77) South Pasadena, California, U.S.
Education	Brown University (attended) New York University Tisch School of the Arts (BFA, 1975)
Occupations	Director writer producer correspondent
Employer	Rain Media
Known for	Producer and correspondent for FRONTLINE
Spouse	Marcela Gaviria (2012–present)
Children	5
Website	RainMedia.net

Martin Smith (born January 28, 1949) is an American producer, writer, director and correspondent. Smith has produced dozens of nationally broadcast documentaries for CBS News, ABC News and PBS Frontline. His films range in topic from war in the Middle East to the 2008 financial crisis. He is a member of the Overseas Press Club and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Early life and education

Martin Elder Smith was born on January 28, 1949 in Los Angeles County, California, to Elden Smith, as the nephew of H. Russell Smith.

He was raised on a citrus farm in Riverside, California until his family moved to Los Angeles when he was ten years old. He graduated from The Harvard School for Boys in 1967. He studied Comparative Literature at Brown University and has a BFA (1975) from the Institute of Film & Television at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University.

Career

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In 1976, Smith was a film editor at CBS News. In 1982, Smith directed and wrote "Guatemala", a documentary, which won a George Polk Award and an Emmy. In 1983, Smith produced for the PBS series NOVA and FRONTLINE.

In 1986 he produced "Who's Running This War" for FRONTLINE, it cited a Colonel North who was operating out of the basement of the Reagan White House". It won a George Polk Award. In 1989 he was executive producer of "Inside Gorbachev's USSR" with Hedrick Smith, winning a George Polk Award and DuPont-Columbia Gold Baton. In 1990, he was hired as a senior producer at FRONTLINE.

Between 1994 and 1998, Smith worked with Peter Jennings, the ABC News anchor, as a senior producer for Peter Jennings Reporting, including "Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped", recipient of a 1995 Edward R. Murrow Award in and a n.d. Peabody Award.

In 1998 Smith founded an independent production company, as RAIN Media. It produced programs for FRONTLINE, including: "The Terrorist and the Superpower", which was produced three years before the attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon.

After the September 11 attacks, Smith produced films on the attacks – "Looking for Answers" (2001), and "Saudi Time Bomb?" (2001). They won a DuPont-Columbia Gold Baton, jurors said: "the series never flinches from showing why terrorist groups harbor such hate for America and includes people whose attitudes toward the United States are undoubtedly offensive to many viewers. Yet all of the programs are balanced and never sensationalized."

In three films, "In Search of Al Qaeda", (2002), "Return of the Taliban" (2006) and "Obama's War" (2008), Smith twice interviewed President Pervez Musharaff on Pakistan's duplicitous Afghanistan policy. This work had a major impact on US policy at the time, revealing Pakistan's double dealing. Excerpts from "Return of the Taliban" were used by US commander Karl Eikenberry in high level briefings of Bush administration officials.^{[citation needed]}

After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Smith produced four films on Iraq for FRONTLINE: "Gangs of Iraq" (2007), "Private Warriors" (2005), "Beyond Baghdad" (2004) and "Truth, War and Consequences" (2003).

Smith has produced films about business and finance: "HEAT" (international business leaders reacting to calls for carbon reduction in the face of climate change), "The Madoff Affair" (world's biggest Ponzi scheme). "Money, Power and Wall Street" (causes of the 2008 financial crisis) won a George Polk Award

Smith completed "The Untouchables" which examined the Justice Department's failure to hold Wall Street bankers accountable for mortgage fraud in the run-up to the 2008 collapse. "The Untouchables" sparked an enormous reaction after its initial airing. Two Senators, citing Smith's interview with a senior Justice Department official in the documentary, demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder explain the department's position regarding not investigating big banks for alleged crimes for fear of collateral consequences. Several US attorneys' offices have screened the film and redoubled their efforts to investigate cases of fraud on Wall Street.

Smith produced "The Rise of ISIS," "Life in Baghdad," "Inside Assad's Syria," "Confronting ISIS," "Inside Yemen," "Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia" and "The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia."

In 2020, with his wife Marcela Gaviria, Smith produced, wrote and directed "The Virus: What Went Wrong?" for FRONTLINE.

Personal life

After living in New York City for many years with his wife and producing partner Marcela Gaviria of Bogotá, Colombia and raising a family, they moved to the Western Catskills area of New York State. He has five children and six grandchildren.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (July 2026)

sources:

Awards and honors

Cf. RainMedia Inc. listing.

References

• Martin Smith PBS. Retrieved: 2018-02-21.
• Producers: Martin Smith PBS. Retrieved: 2018-02-21.

Citations