Matt Shearer

Matt Shearer, also known as Reporter Matt, is a Massachusetts-based journalist who covers local stories in short-form videos on WBZ's social media accounts.

Early life and career Shearer is from Acton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in 2005, and attended Emerson College, where he began working at WERS. Shearer got started in radio working as a producer on the Jim and Margery Show on Boston's WTKK. When reporting, he wears headphones and a backpack of equipment. He uses a microphone, and records the videos with his iPhone. He spends time interviewing a wide range of people, recording audio continuously, then writes the story and inserts clips as appropriate.

In 2022 Shearer produced a story about the "Dunkin' Desert" of Stow, Massachusetts. The restaurant chain Dunkin' Donuts is known for being widespread in the state, and when both locations in Stow closed, Shearer interviewed local residents about the loss. The video went viral, which Shearer attributed to the way it is both absurd to be upset at a mild inconvenience and also meaningful in the way it changes the daily life of residents. Another similarly themed video focused on residents' reactions when one of three Market Basket supermarkets on the same stretch of Boston Road in Billerica, Massachusetts, closed. In 2024, inspired by the New York-Dublin Portal, he set up a portal from Boston Common to Worcester Common, using laptops on folding tables, with the resulting video highlighting a friendly rivalry between the two cities.

Shearer was nominated for Boston/New England Emmy Award in the category Multimedia Journalist-Single Shift. According to Shearer, he did not realize he had to buy a ticket for the ceremony, so when the day came he stood outside with a sign saying he was nominated and needed a ticket.