Michael is doggedly curious about the lives of others, and is passionate about reaching new audiences craving deeply-reported, long-form storytelling captured with cinematic style. Since joining ABC10, he has brought his viewers on journeys to places like Afghanistan, the US/Mexico border, Puerto Rico, and into California’s deadliest wildfires, telling the stories of those threatened by war, natural disaster, political repression, and gang violence. His ability to produce, report on-camera, shoot cinema-quality visuals, write, and edit his documentaries have allowed him to work using a small footprint and gain exclusive access to subjects who may have otherwise turned away bigger crews.
In 2019, Michael won four Emmy Awards, including outstanding achievement in the documentary category for his film, “Afghanistan: What is Winning?”, which he solely produced, filmed, and edited. The documentary examined how, after 17 years of war, President Donald Trump’s South Asia strategy was playing out on the ground, the impact the war has had on both Afghan civilians and Americans back home, and the future of U.S. involvement in the country.
In 2018, he won three Emmys, including outstanding achievement in video journalism; as directory of photography for the documentary “Puerto Rico Rises”; and as a reporter in the ABC10 special “Embedded: Northern California Wildfires”. “Puerto Rico Rises” also won the Walter Cronkite Award for Enterprise storytelling. Michael was also part of a team of four reporters awarded a Regional Edward R. Murrow for their coverage of California’s wildfires in 2017.
Before joining ABC10, Michael worked as a multimedia breaking news reporter for The Indianapolis Star from 2013-2016. Using innovative digital reporting techniques, he elevated the paper to the number one source of breaking crime news in the city. To accompany many of his stories, he produced breaking news videos and short documentaries for the paper's digital audience, one of which screened at the Indiana Black Expo Film Festival in 2016. He also used his role as a breaking news reporter to launch several long-form projects, including an examination of the police department’s crisis intervention team, the state’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis, and an investigation into the treatment of female prisoners suffering from mental health issues.
Michael has also frequently produced, shot, and edited video packages for AJ+, Al Jazeera’s digital news vertical.
Additional print, photo and video work have appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, The Atlantic, Reuters, The Weather Channel, Chicago Social Magazine, Denver’s Westword, The Lexington Herald-Leader, The Louisville Courier-Journal, Newcity and more.
Michael was born in Detroit, MI, and raised in its suburbs. After a short stint in Los Angeles nursing an unsuccessful acting career, he moved to Boston and received his bachelor's degree in print and multimedia journalism from Emerson College. When he’s not writing or behind the camera for work, he’s often traveling the world with his fiancé, albeit still behind the camera.
You can follow Michael at @MichaelAnthonyAdams. Visit http://www.michaelanthonyadams.com to learn more.