Paige Barnes

Paige is an inquisitive storyteller who values community-based journalism. She started in print writing before trying her voice in radio and eventually moving to broadcast TV. Cincinnati is home for her as she's a graduate of Wyoming High School.

Prior to joining Local 12 as a reporter in June of 2023, Paige worked for the company's sister station, WSBT 22 in South Bend, Indiana, as the weekend morning anchor and multimedia journalist.

While in South Bend, she uncovered two businesses working out of the former Drewry's Brewery factory that went undetected by the city. The property owner did not have an occupancy permit due to the risk of asbestos exposure and owed tens of thousands in back taxes.

She is also passionate about education in America reporting on the controversial debate about Critical Race Theory in school and the use of School Resource Officers (SROs)

Paige has spent time in Chicago and is a Columbia College Chicago alum. She was there during the height of the George Floyd protests and photographed and wrote about the downtown riots; that coupled with COVID-19 as the city of 2.7 million people worked to return to "normal."

Fun fact: She was adopted from southeast China at 18 months old and has since been back to her orphanage. Paige was fortunate enough to see the Great Wall, the Terracotta Army and China's "panda capital" of Chengdu.