Biography

Barbara Meagher came to URI in 2003 after a 21-year career as a television news reporter and anchor. During her tenure at WLNE-TV, Providence, RI, she interviewed such national figures as Jesse Jackson, George Burns, George H.W. Bush, Mary Tyler Moore and Senator Edward M. Kennedy; she covered the “Big Dan’s” rape trial in New Bedford, MA (1984), the Rhode Island credit union crisis (1991-1992) and the subsequent trial of fugitive banker Joseph Mollicone. She then developed a specialty investigating government spending in the ongoing series, “You Paid for It!” Her reporting led to a New England Emmy nomination for Individual Achievement (1996) and….a sandwich created in her name at a Providence deli.

She guides and supervises interns for the Journalism Department and teaches History of Journalism, Multimedia Reporting, Foundations of American Journalism, and other classes.

Her academic interests include how governments uphold their responsibility to provide information to the public, and the transitions journalists are making in the workplace to thrive and survive in the digital age.

She holds an M.S. in Broadcast Journalism from the Boston University College of Communication and a B.A. in Special and Elementary Education from Boston College.