Meghan Smith is a senior digital producer on the Equity and Justice team for GBH News, where she produces multimedia stories and edits local news content. She is dedicated to covering the local disability communities and how accessibility is being addressed in cities and towns across the state.
She has won several journalism awards, including a Public Media Journalism Award, a national Clarion, and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award. In 2020, she won a New England Emmy for the short documentary Redemption: MIT’s Prison Education Program. She produced and edited GBH’s You & Julia at Home cooking series.
Originally from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, she attended Boston College, earning a degree in Political Science, and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Harvard Extension School. In her free time, she enjoys embroidery and needlepoint.
What are you reading or listening to now?
I love subscribing to physical magazines like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and National Geographic. At the moment, I am very behind, so I’m making my way through my pile of old issues. I’m also reading a great book (Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV) by Emily Nussbaum about the history of reality TV.
Who is your role model or inspiration?
As I’ve gotten deeper into reporting on disability and learning about the history of the community, I’ve been inspired by activists like Judy Heumann, Ed Roberts, and Alice Wong. They pushed society to be more inclusive and made disability inclusion a matter of civil rights.
Why did you become a public media journalist?
Public media is an essential part of the journalism landscape. I am glad we get to tell stories that not only inform people but also uplift them and maybe call them to action.
What is one word to describe your job?
Listening.
Describe an impact that your journalism has produced.
I recently did a story about the viral reaction to vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s son Gus at the DNC this summer. I heard from several neurodiverse people and parents of neurodiverse kids that they were really moved by the way I covered it.
What are your hopes for GBH News and the Equity and Justice team going forward?
I hope we spend a lot of our time listening, without assumptions. Our goal is to make journalism feel like a two-way street and make people feel heard. I also hope we can experiment with reaching people and telling stories on new platforms.
