Matt Meagher
Senior Investigative Correspondent

Matt Meagher, a former Boston school teacher whose talent and nose for news has earned him eight Emmys and an Alfred I. duPont Award, continued his personal tradition of excellence this season -- his eighth at INSIDE EDITION -- by garnering the prestigious George Polk Award for outstanding national reporting.

Matt's revealing investigation of wrongdoing in the door-to-door insurance industry also won Sigma Delta Chi and National Headliner awards and was honored by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) as the best investigative report on network/syndicated television in 1996.

Last season, Matt's hard-hitting expose on how some Medicare providers run kickback scams was deemed the year's best investigative report in both the National Headliner and Sigma Delta Chi awards competition.

His eye-opening investigation into how U-Haul, the nation's largest move-it-yourself vehicle provider, has put unsafe trucks on the road, also was singled out for honors. It was chosen Best Investigative Series by the NY City Chapter/ Sigma Delta Chi Deadline Club and won an honorable mention in the 1996 National Press Club Journalism Awards. In addition, the report sparked a U.S. Transportation Department investigation.

Matt was pursuing a Master's Degree in broadcast journalism at Boston University when he broke into the business, first as a reporter/producer at WBUR-FM, then a news intern at WCVB-TV. He later moved to WTSP-TV in St. Petersburg, Fl, where he reported and produced several prime-time documentaries, hosted and produced a weekly public affairs program, and worked as an anchor and general assignment reporter. He subsequently went on to head investigative units at KTVI-TV and KMOV-TV, both in St. Louis, and at WBZ-TV in Boston.

Some of Matt's previous work at INSIDE EDITION includes exposes on the disturbing rise of teen gambling in the nation's high schools, and how powerful politicians pushing pet projects were slowly destroying some of the nation's most treasured national parks.