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‘NewsNation’ Promises to be ‘Neutral,’ ‘Opinion-Free.’ Will It?

Posted on 02 September 2020

If you want more proof that the traditional media leans to the left, a brand new prime time broadcast is launching wit the claim that it will be, "neutral,"  "opinion-free" news. It's called NewsNation and will be produced by the Nexstar Media Group with across the nation on that company’s 185 TV stations and 5,400 employees.  According to an article posted on Tuesday by Stephen Battaglio, a Los Angeles Times reporter:  Sean Compton, executive vice president for WGN America, said the company has done extensive research that determined there is an appetite for straight-ahead TV news in the evening as an alternative to opinion hosts such as Fox News star Sean Hannity and CNN’s Don Lemon. ... Nexstar executives insist their promise of a politically neutral newscast is more than a marketing gimmick. Among the 150 people hired for the Chicago-based program (a process Jennifer Lyons, vice president of news for WGN America, described as “speed dating on Zoom”) are two producers dedicated to scrutinizing every story for language that could be construed as biased. “Even the studio location for ‘NewsNation’ will separate it from the competition,” Battaglio added. “Instead of being based in the glitzy media hubs of New York or Washington, the program will air from the headquarters of WGN-TV” located in a 59-year-old white brick building on Chicago’s north side. Dean Reynolds, a veteran CBS New journalist, will be joining NewsNation as a national political correspondent. Earlier this year, NewsBusters called him out for making this laughable claim about 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg: "The 38-year-old former Navy officer and one of the youngest presidential candidates in modern history rose to the top of a crowded Democratic field with a moderate platform." (That's false as Buttigieg supports new gun control legislation and he’s also endorsed packing the Supreme Court with liberals.) Reynolds departed CBS after a recent round of cut backs.  On election night, NewsNation will have reporters from Nexstar stations in key swing states when returns for the 2020 presidential race come in. The program will expand beyond three hours that night and on other occasions when there are breaking stories. The channel intends to average 100,000 viewers a night in the 25- to 54-year-old group advertisers want to reach. That figure is 25 percent of what CNN averaged in primetime during July. Battaglio stated that some viewers may still be satisfied with the half-hour evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC, which collectively average more than 20 million viewers a night.