Wake Forest University
Melissa Painter teaches broadcast journalism. She works as a news anchor and reporter for WGHP, a television station that covers the Piedmont-Triad. Painter began her career at WTVF in Nashville and reported for WBKO in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and WBBH in Fort Myers, Florida. She won a RTDNA award for her coverage of a legal loophole that allowed convicted sexual offenders to evade the National Sex Offender Registry. Senator Richard Burr referenced her reporting when he introduced legislation to close that loophole. Painter’s reporting also disclosed unreported test results that showed high levels of lead in the water at some Guilford County Schools. After her series of investigative reports, the school system replaced water fixtures and retested the water at every school in the district. Painter has earned four Emmy award nominations and two Associated Press awards. She graduated from Wake Forest University.