Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) School of Journalism and Graphic Communication (SJGC) alumna Karah Bailey is now a morning anchor for WTXL ABC 27 Tallahassee. Bailey says her SJGC foundation set her up for success and has proven instrumental in her career.
“My professors took great care to cultivate general news awareness and to simulate the challenges and pressures of real-world content creation in a caring environment,” she said.
Bailey was a 2016 Election Night Special anchor for FAMU TV-20, SJGC’s student-run television network. The special won an Associated Press Award. The broadcaster interned for WTXL in 2016 and upon graduation, took a role as a multimedia journalist.
“Karah Bailey was a dynamic student- a true multimedia journalist, ”Associate Professor Kenneth Jones, said. “She was someone who would help other students. It’s fulfilling because the reason I’m at FAMU is to help students build careers and have great lives.”
Jones said Bailey frequently helped other J-school students with writing and editing. SJGC’s broadcast journalism curriculum includes TV news and advanced TV news courses that require students to write, shoot and edit live shots in the field. Bailey says this prepared her for her roles at WTXL.
“That experience proved beneficial since we’re required to do one or two live shots a day,” she explained.
SJGC frequently has alumni return to give students insight into something Bailey says was immensely beneficial.
“Those candid, caring conversations can be really easy to overlook or just skip because of class schedules and the like, but once I really dialed in and took advantage of them, some of the words and guidance they shared in those moments have stuck with me, Bailey said.”
Watch Bailey and the rest of the Sunrise team weekday mornings from 5 – 7 a.m. on ABC 27.
