NewsNation

E.W. Scripps CEO Adam Symson and NewsNation anchor Connell McShane told a NewsTECHForum audience Tuesday that TV news needs a more durable model based on more consistent community engagement and more room for conversation and discovery around subjects. (Image: Symson, left, and McShane)

Viewership for the fourth Republican debate fell since the last event, drawing more than 4 million for Nexstar’s NewsNation and its simulcast on The CW. But it was a record night for NewsNation, which drew 1.6 million viewers for its debate coverage, the largest audience in its history, according to Nielsen’s early fast national numbers. Another 2.5 million watched the simulcast on The CW, giving it its most watched program since 2018. In the 25-54 demo, NewsNation drew more than 350,000 viewers and The CW drew nearly 500,000. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

Yet with two of the three debate moderators associated with conservative media and not NewsNation, including podcast star Megyn Kelly, the event threatens to be at odds with the centrist image the Nexstar-owned network is trying to cultivate.

News leaders from E.W. Scripps and NewsNation will confront the high stakes the industry faces in a pivotal election year, the journalistic and technological resources they’ll bring to bear against it and the repercussions for American democracy itself in a keynote panel at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum conference on Dec. 12 in New York. Register here.

It will air Dec. 6 from Tuscaloosa, Ala., with moderators Megyn Kelly, Elizabeth Vargas and Eliana Johnson.

Cable News Network and CW Sports Programming will air on ReachTV’s network reaching over 50 million monthly viewers in hotels and airports nationwide.

The weeknight primetime host will celebrate the second anniversary of Dan Abrams Live on Sept. 27.

NewsNation today announced that chief Washington correspondent Blake Burman will take over as permanent moderator of the newly launched 5 o’clock weekday political program The Hill. He will begin his new role on Tuesday, September 5. Additionally, Mr. Burman will continue to report on the latest in politics from Washington, D.C., according to a NewsNation press release.

The fledgling cable channel NewsNation found a viewership niche in the murky claims of alien visitors but also had to run some corrections.

Nexstar’s cable news network NewsNation received some positive brand exposure during the ongoing congressional UFO hearings being held this week. Former military intelligence officer-turned whistleblower David Grusch repeatedly referenced his NewsNation interview when answering House Oversight subcommittee members’ questions about unidentified aerial phenomena, telling the panel he is “absolutely” certain that the U.S. government is in possession of UAPs, citing interviews he said he conducted with 40 witnesses over four years.

Cable operator Hawaiian Telcom has lobbed fresh accusations against broadcaster Nexstar Media Group over its ongoing carriage dispute involving several TV channels. On Monday, attorneys representing Hawaiian Telcom said it had reached an “agreement in principle” with Nexstar to return KHON (Fox and CW), KHII (MNT) and NewsNation to its cable TV platform, but the deal ultimately fell apart after Nexstar sprang a number of demands on the telecom at the last minute.

Station groups including Gray, E.W. Scripps and Nexstar are increasingly drawing on their stations to contribute stories for their national reporting projects. The ensuing collaborations are having a transformative effect on news production. Pictured: Susan Campbell reporting a story for one of Gray Television’s “consumer franchises” — Did You Know? — from KOLD Tucson.

The former White House press secretary made his first appearance on the upstart cable news network Thursday, appearing on its recently launched political table talk show The Hill to discuss Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s entrance into the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

She joins co-host Adrienne Bankert as the morning show expands to four hours.

Beginning Tuesday he will offer commentary and analysis across the Nexstar network’s daytime and primetime programming, including the new political ensemble program, The Hill, and special election and political coverage.

Cherie Grzech, VP of news and managing editor of Nexstar’s NewsNation, shares the importance of the network’s recent expansion to 24 hours of news each weekday and its two new state-of-the-art studios in New York. She says while other news organizations are cutting staff, NewsNation is still hiring producers and reporters. A full transcript of the conversation is included.

NewsNation and WPIX New York, both part of Nexstar Media Group, unveiled two new studios on Tuesday at The Daily News Building on 42nd Street in New York, where the network and station both operate from. NewsNation expanded to 24 hours, Monday through Friday, on April 24, and WPIX marks 75 years on the air this year.

Additional weekday programming, NewsNation Now, will run from 1 to 5 p.m. ET Monday-Friday.

Elizabeth Vargas thinks there’s room for a new evening newscast. “I think a lot of people feel like they’re just being ignored or they’re turned off by the extreme nature of just one side, or the two extremes arguing with each other,” Vargas tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I think there’s a way to cover what’s happening right now in this country and around the world in a smart way. That doesn’t devolve into shouting matches or, you know, political talking points that aren’t really even related in many cases, to the events that we’re covering.”

The multiyear agreement covers the broadcaster’s CBS, CW and MNT affiliates, four indies as well as NewsNation.

Leland Vittert will moderate the weekday panel show that will feature Chris Stirewalt, George Will, Johanna Maska, and Niall Stanage.

The Nexstar cable network also is adding a third hour to its NewsNation Live on March 6 at 10 a.m. ET.

Nexstar is bringing together two of its prized properties this spring with the debut of a daily The Hill program on NewsNation. Chairman-CEO Perry Sook revealed that the previously discussed series based on the political news outlet, acquired by Nexstar in 2021 for $130 million, will premiere in April and run Monday-Friday.