Meghna Chakrabarti is the award-winning host and editor of On Point. Based in Boston, she is on the air Monday through Friday.
On Point has been frequently recognized for excellence in journalism under Meghna's leadership.
In 2023, On Point's series "Smarter Health won a first-place award from the Association of Health Care Journalists. The Alliance for Women in Media honored the show with two national Gracie awards in 2023: Best National Radio Investigative Feature for "An 'invisible epidemic': Survivors of domestic violence on living with traumatic brain injury" and Best National Public Affairs show for "Behind the decades-long fight to close the 'boyfriend loophole.'"
In 2022, On Point's episode "A Look Back at 1992 Los Angeles and America Since Rodney King" won the Gracie Award for Best News Documentary. The Alliance for Women in Media also gave Meghna an honorable mention for best nationally syndicated non-commercial correspondent/host. On Point's episode on Los Angeles since Rodney King also won a 2022 regional Edward R. Murrow award for best news documentary.
In 2021, On Point won a National Edward R. Murrow award for best news documentary for "What the President Knew." The show examined presidential decision-making before 9/11 and the COVID pandemic.
Chakrabarti is the former host of Radio Boston, WBUR’s acclaimed weekday local show. She's the former host of Modern Love: The Podcast, a collaboration of WBUR and The New York Times (2016-2020) and was the primary fill-in host for Here & Now, NPR and WBUR's midday show. She reported on New England transportation and energy issues for WBUR’s news department.
Chakrabarti has won awards for individual reporting from both the Associated Press and the Radio Television News Directors Association for her writing, hard news reporting, and use of sound. The Asian American Journalists Association awarded Chakrabarti and her team the national excellence in radio/audio award for Radio Boston's special series on the eviction crisis in East Boston.
A former fellow at the Metcalf Institute for Environmental Reporting, Chakrabarti holds bachelor’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering from Oregon State University (summa cum laude), as well as a master’s degree in environmental science and risk management from Harvard University, and an MBA with honors from Boston University. She is the mother of two bright sparks, and the lucky spouse of a wise and patient man.
Recently published
The 'why' behind how we talk
An accent doesn’t just tell someone where you are from – but who you are – your cultural background, race, age and class. How the way we talk tells people...
Seattle's new socialist mayor has big plans
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson had no prior political experience. She took over as the city faces an affordability crisis and a homelessness emergency. How's she doing roughly three months into...
New questions for the Epstein files investigation
Former attorney general Pam Bondi refused to appear at a congressional hearing about the Epstein Files. First Lady Melania Trump gave a press conference to deny that she knew about...
The teachers pushing back on screens in schools
It's not just phones anymore. More teachers and even entire U.S. school districts are cutting back the time students spend on laptops and other screens. How do students really learn...
The real cost of the war with Iran
The U.S. has been spending up to $2 billion every day on the war with Iran. But that’s just military expenditure. What’s the real, long-term economic toll?
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What happened to shame in politics?
Shame is a powerful feeling that can keep behavior in check. So what happens when political leaders feel no shame at all?
How China's superfast charging cars are leaving American EV’s in the dust
An electric vehicle battery that charges almost as fast as it takes to fill a tank of gas. And it might soon be available almost everywhere except the United States....
What are Israel's goals in Lebanon?
So far, more than a million people have been forcibly displaced by Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says eradicating Hezbollah is critical for Israeli security. But...
What happens when religious fundamentalists come to power? (Part One)
Shia fundamentalism has come to define Iran’s place in the Middle East and the world. And that wasn’t an accident. How Iranian leaders use Shia Islam to exert their power.
From the archive: History-making astronaut Christina Koch
NASA astronaut Christina Koch is making history as the first woman to travel around the moon as a crew member on the Artemis II mission. It’s not the first time...