WRAL’s 5 On Your Side reporter leaves on-air duties for a new position

A fixture for WRAL-TV viewers for nearly 30 years is stepping away from on-camera work to pursue a new job within the company.

Monica Laliberte, the station’s longtime 5 On Your Side reporter, has been named the director of communications and engagement for Capitol Broadcasting Company, which owns WRAL and Fox 50, as well as other businesses.

The change is effective this week, but Laliberte still has some segments of 5 On Your Side that will air in the coming weeks, likely through February. WRAL reporter Keely Arthur will become the new 5 On Your Side reporter.

The reason for the career change is twofold, according to Laliberte: an all-too-common weariness that comes from the unforgiving grind of the news business, and a new opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

“(Journalism) is 24/7/52, weekends, holidays — and most days we spend covering bad things that happen,” Laliberte told The News & Observer this week. “And I think viewers can get caught up on the news, turn it off and move on, but gosh, we just keep living it all day every day.

“You add what’s happened with the pandemic and politics, and gosh, what feels like a breakdown of human kindness and compassion and empathy, and just mix in the reality that today we’re all as old as we’ve ever been and as young as we’ll ever be — and I think just like so many people right now, it got me to thinking about possibilities.”

The position is a new one for CBC, but one that has been in the works for a while, Laliberte said. And once she started having conversations with management about what she might bring to the job, it evolved into something she feels particularly suited for.

“I’ll be going from helping our viewers to working to support and grow our great employees across all CBC divisions, as well as helping to recruit new employees,” said Laliberte, who has been involved in recruiting and mentoring at WRAL for years.

“I feel like it’s right up my alley,” she said. “To get to do this and to get to stay with this great company and coworkers where I already know the basics of how things operate here — it’s just a fantastic, challenging new role.

“I’d be crazy not to take the leap,” she said.

Joel Davis, WRAL’s vice president and general manager, told The N&O: “While we’ll miss Monica on TV after February, we are so happy she’ll continue to be a presence in our company in her new role. We pride ourselves as a company where people can continue to grow without ever having to leave us.”

On the side of the wronged

Laliberte started at WRAL in October 1994, coming to Raleigh from WESH in Orlando, Florida, where she grew up.

She came to WRAL specifically for 5 On Your Side, and while she has had additional roles there over the years, the consumer advocate job is the one she has held since Day 1.

During that time, Laliberte has gone to bat for viewers who found themselves on the bad end of deals with contractors, remodelers, vacation scammers, roofers, landscapers, used car dealers, cabinet makers, fence installers, headstone carvers — the list goes on and on and on.

“I’ve always wanted to fight for people who paid hard-earned money for services or goods they didn’t get,” Laliberte said.

“I feel like our stories are some of the most interesting and informational on our newscast. It’s news you can use and we use our ability to expose to make a difference. I like holding people accountable for unethical or incompetent practices.”

Laliberte has also reported on the station’s popular restaurant sanitation score segments.

Many of Laliberte’s stories have won awards (a report on flooded cars after Hurricane Floyd won a prestigious regional Edward R. Murrow Award, just to name one), but her favorite stories are the ones that righted wrongs, she said.

“And I’ve always had a special fire in my heart to go after those who rip off elderly people, because that always makes me sick,” she said.

There have been plenty of lighter stories during her tenure, too, she said. She took viewers along for the very first Disney cruise; visited the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama; and spent time at the Consumer Reports Testing Center in New York, from which she and her producer filed “a record number 0f stories in a matter of days.”

But for every sea jaunt with Mickey Mouse there has been a corresponding roach motel stay (for a story on a vacation scam at a Bahamas hotel surrounded by barbed wire) — all for the benefit of viewers.

Laliberte said the station gets hundreds of complaints sent in by viewers each week, and she and her producer go through each one.

The majority of the complaints are legitimate, she said, but perhaps are not stories. In some instances she can help fix a problem, and it may never make it on air. Laliberte said they try to focus on the complaints that might have the greatest impact for the greatest number of people.

“What I hate the most is that there are so many legitimate complaints that I can’t get to, there’s just not enough time in the day,” she said. “But if you can’t help everyone, do you help no one? Of course not. We help the people we can. I wish we could help everyone ... so many people deserve the help.”

‘Incredible new adventure’

Laliberte’s career switch — which she calls “an incredible new adventure” — is one she not only welcomes, but is excited for.

Laliberte talks about her “two life mantras”: the first is “to have PEP — Passion, Energy and Personality,” and the other is “to be an exclamation point.”

“When I started the conversation about the possibilities in this job change, my ‘PEP’ immediately kicked in,” she said. “And right now when I think about what’s ahead for this new role, I almost want to hold a ‘PEP rally.’”

As for what she’ll miss after her transition into the new role, Laliberte is sure it won’t be the TV cameras.

“I’m going to miss writing the most. I love to write stories and tell the stories,” she said. “And I’m gonna miss not being able to share solutions with people that I know I can help.”

All in all, has it been the best job at the station?

“It’s pretty darn good!” she said.

“I have never had one day that I was bored in this job. Not one,” she said. “I’m just ready for a change and a new adventure.”