The Chicago journalism community is grieving the departure of Allison Payne, a TV reporter and host who spent more than 20 years in the Windy City and passed away on September 1, aged 57 in Detroit, Mich., as per WGN-TV, where she formerly served.
Payne, a native of Michigan, began working for WGN-TV in 1990 when she was 25 years old. In addition to “tracing ex-president Barack Obama’s origins in Kenya and journeying to the Ivory Coast beside the Rev. Jesse Jackson,” she has published a variety of other prominent tales from around the world.
She co-anchored the channel’s noon newscast broadcast and primetime news over the course of her 21-year career at WGN, where she earned 9 Emmys.
In the city, Payne “actively participated by guiding kids and eventually developing a platform for those wishing to join the journalistic profession,” according to WGN-TV
The native of Detroit left WGN in 2011 so that she could move back to her hometown.
2011 saw Payne go back to Detroit, where she started dealing with a number of medical problems. Payne spoke of having several mini-strokes prior to leaving Chicago TV news. She has talked openly about her battles with both alcoholism and depression. It is still unknown what led to her death.
On digital networking, condolences for Payne swiftly flooded in.
Vicky Baftiri, a supervisor for WGN, posted: “I’m devastated. In addition to being my mentor and dear friend, Allison Payne was my TV godmother. When I first began this insane business, she protected me, and I wish I could have done the same for her. She was gorgeous, intelligent, and giving.”
This is a substantial setback for Chicago media, according to Rick Pearson of the Chicago Tribune. I knew Allison as a friend. She assisted me in discovering more about the Black population, and we admired one another.
By the accounts of her coworkers, she was a “wonderful anchor” and an “exceptionally skilled journalist.”
Roland S. Martin, a journalist, wrote that Allison was “a sweet, compassionate woman; a superb anchor, with an adorable grin.” “She had major health problems during the past few years. So suddenly gone.
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