Multimedia Journalist Bailey Liebert on the importance of telling stories with care

October 22, 2026

By: Anthony Payne

Bailey Liebert is a multimedia journalist at KLFY News 10 in Louisiana. She’s responsible for finding three stories a day, turning in one, operating her own camera, setting up her own interviews, commuting an hour to get them, and editing three versions of her stories ahead of a 4 PM deadline every day. She loves her job and wouldn’t change it for anything. What keeps her going? Connecting with people.

Bailey’s path started at age 15 with a broadcasting class, where she found herself entranced by the video editing process. Shortly after that, she worked with Student Reporting Labs as a special contributor during the pandemic, later becoming a part of the 2021 virtual Summer Academy class. “Telling people’s stories bonds us together and lets us move together as one,” Bailey stated in her bio for the 2021 Academy. Five years later, that ethos remains central to her work.

“I love every day going to work, pitching my stories and everything, but I feel like I have just such a deep love for the stories that I cover and the people that I talk to,” she says. I think that if you step away from it, if you focus less on the deadlines and more on the story that you’re covering and the people that you’re talking to, you make some great friendships. I’ve made some great relationships.”

When asked about moments and connections that have had a lasting effect, Bailey reflects on meeting a young girl named Riley while covering a balloon release memorial following a local shooting. Shortly after the balloon release, another shooting occurred and Riley was struck and later passed away in the hospital. 

“The mother reached out to me the day that Riley passed and she wanted to speak to me specifically,” Bailey says. “And so when I covered that story, I was able to connect with this mother who went through an incomprehensible loss, but also I was able to get her family some help. I brought some popularity to her GoFundMe and I was able to really grab the attention of the community, and realized something needed to be done. Realizing people actually trust me with some of the worst days and the worst news of their life, to cover their story correctly, is really really humbling.”

Bailey emphasizes that it’s important to connect with the community you’re reporting in, because people have so much distrust in the media as it is. “Don’t be so focused on getting that sound bite. Focus on fostering that relationship and fostering that trust before you pull out all of your big equipment, because people can shut down immediately,” Bailey continues. “Really shake their hand, express your condolences, tell them what you’re there for and what your goals are. And make sure that they know that you’re like a living, breathing human and not just somebody trying to get a sound bite out of them.”

Bailey graduated from UL Lafayette with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism in May 2025. Now at KLFY actually doing the thing, Bailey acknowledges how much things have changed since she started learning the skills to get there. Not only has production shifted toward short reels and a scrolling format, but being a jack of all trades has become essential as layoffs have become increasingly common. “It’s becoming more and more valuable to kind of know everything as a reporter so that you can move to multiple positions,” says Bailey. “You can’t just focus on one skill and make it the best that you can, make sure that you have a  wide skill set.”

In order to build an audience, she says, you have to find ways for people to connect with you as an individual. To do that, her advice is to prioritize your own style over what’s traditional: “Just keep being consistent and try to be as authentically yourself as you can, because we’re moving away from the stiffness of traditional news and traditional broadcast. We’re moving away from the ‘news voice.’ Be as authentic and fun as you can be on camera and keep those real reactions, don’t let it all be diluted by what you think news should be.”

 For Bailey, the only way to stay afloat in the industry is to be okay with it changing. “Don’t be afraid of the future,” she says. “Don’t be scared, because it’s coming whether you like it or not. News is not dying. News is always going to be here. There’s always going to be people who need to inform other people. It’s just not going to look like how we thought it was going to look. And that’s okay.”