Haley Townsend is a career journalist coming up on a decade in the profession. Most recently, she’s worked with local TV station digital teams to develop their audience strategies for some of the largest markets and websites in the country.
Haley was born and raised in Birmingham, Ala. where she got her start in local media in college, eventually heading the university newspaper the Kaleidoscope while pursuing a degree in English, professional writing with a minor in business administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Her passion for community-centric journalism was sparked during her time at the helm of the Kaleidoscope, as she realized the importance of providing a forum for stakeholders to both inform and challenge perspectives through thorough multimedia reporting during the period of time when the future of UAB football, bowling and rifle programs was uncertain. Prior to serving as editor in chief, she also worked as the social media editor for UAB Student Media, the parent brand housing the Kaleidoscope, UAB BlazeRadio, Aura Literary Arts Magazine and UABTV, and as copy editor for the Kaleidoscope.
Haley was offered the position of primetime digital content producer for CBS 42 shortly before graduating from UAB. Less than a year after settling into the role of digital content producer, she was promoted to the role of digital executive producer, taking a leading role in the planning and production of digital content and initiatives. In February of 2017, Haley became the digital team lead for CBS 42, overseeing all digital products, platforms and assisting in leading the digital execution of station-wide initiatives.
In 2018, Haley was sent to Dothan, Ala. to assist WDHN and WMBB in live-streaming and digital coverage of Hurricane Michael. After weathering the hurricane in Dothan, she continued to lead digital coverage for dothanfirst.com and mypanhandle.com, remote managing a team of journalists from around the country to sustain 24-7 live video, video and written coverage to a population desperate for information. She later traveled to Panama City and spent a week at WMBB leading the MyPanhandle team and journalists from around the Nexstar Nation in aggressive production of on air and online coverage of the aftermath of the devastation.
In December 2018, Haley moved from Birmingham, Ala. Nexstar station WIAT CBS 42 to Nexstar station WCMH NBC4 to serve as their digital director. There, she served as the midwest regional digital content coordinator for Nexstar, produced digital coverage from the Super Bowl, assisted other stations with breaking news coverage of natural distasters, including the Dayton tornados and the Nashville Super Tuesday tornadoes, and led exemplary statewide digital coverage for the coronavirus pandemic and established the "Coronavirus in Ohio" coverage brand.
She joined the News Nation team in July of 2020 and enjoyed bringing the journalistic integrity and community focused storytelling of local news to WGN America's national platform in the form of unbiased, fact-based reporting.
