WRAL reporter gets a promotion. Here’s what to know about the new role
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- WRAL’s Destinee Patterson promoted to enterprise reporter.
- Alex Littlehales also recently joined as an enterprise reporter.
- Patterson recently won an Emmy for coverage of a shooting at North Hills.
WRAL just promoted one of its award-winning multimedia journalists.
Destinee Patterson, who joined the station in 2023, is now an enterprise reporter.
“Winter is almost officially over and I’m in full bloom now,” Patterson wrote in a Thursday, March 19 social media post. “So excited to step into my new role as an Enterprise Reporter at @wral. This new position gives me the room to dive deeper, to ask even more questions, and to uncover more than initially meets the eye.”
Patterson has contributed to WRAL’s coverage of education, station news director Mike Friedrich said in an email to The News & Observer. For example, her work has helped local residents understand the complicated issues St. Augustine’s University is facing and the impact of artificial intelligence in schools.
“Destinee is a tenacious journalist, who really owns the stories she covers,” Friedrich said in an email. “Destinee has led or had a significant role in several important stories in our community.”
The N&O has reached out to Patterson for comment on this story.
The station recently hired Alex Littlehales as an enterprise reporter and member of “5 On Your Side” team. Since January, WRAL has also welcomed state government reporter Caroline Yaffa and Megan Cloherty.
Destinee Patterson’s journalism career
An Illinois native, Patterson graduated from the University of Missouri in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Before coming to WRAL, she worked as a multimedia journalist and weekend evening anchor at KSLA in Shreveport, Louisiana, and at KOMU, an NBC affiliate in Columbia, Missouri.
In February, Patterson received an Emmy for her work covering the shooting at North Hills. She was also named a TV News Multimedia Journalist of the Year in 2024 by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.
Recent changes at WRAL
In February, WRAL promoted Kirstyn Clark to weekend anchor. Clark joined the station in July 2025 as a reporter.
Her promotion came about a month after Lora Lavigne became a weekday morning co-anchor. Lavigne filled Michelle Mackonochie’s spot on the anchor desk, after Mackonochie moved to evening newscasts to replace Lena Tillett, who left WRAL for a new role at NBC10 News in Philadelphia.
