Alexandria Ikomoni
Multimedia Journalist, WFXL Fox 31
Alexandria Ikomoni attended Kennesaw State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communication and a concentration in Media Studies. She also has a minor in Accounting.

Alexandria Ikomoni is a Multimedia Journalist with the Albany, Georgia news station WFXL Fox 31, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Alexandria has worked at Fox 31 news for nearly two years now, amassing much experience both as an on-air personality as well as working as a journalist.
When asked why she decided to pursue journalism, Ikomoni stated that, “It was more for my personality. I love telling people stories. I love to speak for people who can’t talk for themselves. I enjoy meeting new people every day.” Additionally, Ikomoni said, “I want to inform people about what is going on in the community and hold government officials accountable for their actions. I am not afraid to ask the questions that need to be asked. I ask questions to address what the public needs to know. It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. You simply have to test boundaries because that is journalism. You have to be willing to be passionate and driven.”
Alexandria Ikomoni attributes much of her current success as a Multimedia Journalist to her internship with Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA/11Alive News in the summer of 2016. She stated that, “95% of my preparation for the job itself came from the internship. You can do only so much in class but you need to be involved in the industry for it to truly make sense and for you to learn certain skillsets. Experience is crucial.”
As a multimedia journalist for Fox 31, she is often asked to fill in as an on-air personality. Additionally, she is responsible for writing a minimum of two news stories a day that she must present to her station.
“Mostly we look for stories about what interests us,” she said, “but we also look for stories the viewers in the community find interesting and would like us to discuss.”
Past stories include an article detailing data from the CDC noting an increase in breastfeeding, a story on how Albany officials look to prevent a future sewage spill in Albany, and an article on how a Lee County mother memorializes her son in doing good deeds within the area to raise awareness for Kawasaki Disease.
Currently, she is working on a news story about an increase in crime in Albany. Ikomoni says, “The statistics are saying that crime increases greatly during the summer months when the kids are out of school. After the police gather a heavy presence in a specific area, the crime shifts to another area.” She is now working to gathering information by speaking with local residents in the community, listening to concerns and asking local officials how they will ensure residents’ safety.
When asked how she works to verify the information she receives for her stories, Ikomoni stated that the “Sinclair Broadcast Group has a second source requirement. We can get information from a certain person, but we need a backup source in case the person wants to change their mind. We always ask for a second source. However, information from a public figure, like a police chief, is reliable. Their sources come from a database or another official spokesperson. Additionally, stories from an individual person about their personal experiences are reliable.”
“At the end of the day,” she says, “we simply need to find a reliable source.”
During this interview, I asked Alexandria Ikomoni if there has ever been a moment when her superiors have asked her to think of the profit of the company in terms of the news stories or information given to the public. This question arose when reading The Elements of Journalism. The authors were discussing the ways in which news stations tailor news stories to fit a certain agenda in terms of profit for a specific news station. Ikomoni explained that she does not have a specific answer for that because she is not aware of such a practice at her news station. She did say, however, that “news station ratings generate sales due to certain commercials aired.”
Ikomoni said that, “We do focus on making sure we have ratings and stories that pull good ratings. We have a system that allows us to see who watches our station, for how long they watch, their age range, gender, whether or not they have children and so on. With that information, we can target our audiences based on our public’s interests.”
In order to make their specific station different from their competitors, Ikomoni said, Fox 31 employees “have to be creative and think outside of the box. You have to find a different angle for the story that the competition won’t have. For example, our competition station does not like to do feature stories or connect with the viewers by talking to people personally, both on air and off the air. They rely on formal statistics. By talking to people, we have found that viewers can relate to a mother or a child more by us speaking to them personally rather than by using statistics.”
Such a tactic by Fox 31 promotes the idea that their specific news station is a public forum where people can become involved and truly feel like a member of a larger community.
“It is our goal every single day to have that community engagement and for everyone to be involved with our station,” Ikomoni stated. “Sometimes we need to be made aware of stories or public concerns in order to understand what is happening locally within our community. We love it when viewers chime in for our evening show through our social media accounts!” she said.
As a final question, I asked Alexandria Ikomoni how Fox 31 works to fight the negative rhetoric being aimed toward journalists and media outlets, not only from this current administration, but historically as well.
She stated that, “ I feel the media is under attack right now more than ever. We need to work to be objective in giving the truth about news.
“Additionally,” she said, “we are being scrutinized. It is our job to do the best we can and not leave any room for anything to blow up in our faces.”
“My personal goal as a journalist is to make sure that I am fair and objective and giving out correct information to the public,” Ikomoni stated.
As the two years of her first contract come to a close, she said that she has had a wonderful time in Albany not only working at her job but traveling around to smaller cities and discovering new places. However, in the future, she would like to move to a larger city or head back to her roots in Atlanta to find another position. She said that she wold love to one day cover pop culture topics, feature stories or human interest stories.
When Alexandria Ikomoni is not at work, she can be found doing many speaking engagements for kids around the Albany community that discusses jobs. She wants the kids to “be the best they can be and to pursue their dreams.”
“I believe it is important to be involved in the community on that level. Personal involvement is how people get to know you and begin trust you as a reliable person,” she said.
She also partners with her news station in volunteering for events like the Relay for Life, the Walk for Alzheimer’s and events with the Habitat for Humanity.
Be sure to follow Alexandria Ikomoni on Twitter @AlexandriaWFXL or email her any questions you may have at aoikomoni@wfxl.com.