If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. In the spring of 2019, Sook and Timothy Busch, Nexstars president, were visiting a Nexstar station in El Paso when they realized that Nexstars local focus, numerous stations, and nonpartisan lens meant it was uniquely positioned to produce and aggregate stories from the southern border. Further, their personality-driven news shows often feature the opinions of the hosts. Articles and headlines often have minimally loaded language, such as this Trump, Pence highlight policy-focused events in D.C. The company went public in 2003, after its first big acquisition. In January, before the pandemic hit, Nexstars stock price had nearly doubled from two years prior. Nexstar Media Group's deal to buy Tribune Media Company for $4.1 billion is the latest merger to test Trump administration regulators tasked with overseeing a rapidly consolidating . It now has 199 stations across the United States, including NewsNation, a cable outlet based in Chicago that the company envisions as a competitor to Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. The local TV news industry has changed rapidly in the past decade. President Trump is absolutely correct that the election results are in doubt, the lawyer, Jenna Ellis, said on the program, which is pre-recorded and had aired just one episode prior to that evenings show. The ideal figures to hold those officials to account are local journalists familiar with state budgets, local lawmakers, and the unique contours of their communities. A review of hosts indicates that more lean left, such as Dan Abrams and Chris Cuomo, who holds the 8:00-9:00 pm prime time slot. Members of the NewsNation staff were also upset upon learning that Bill Shine, a former longtime top executive at conservative-leaning Fox News, was employed by Nexstar. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/business/the-hill-sale-nexstar-media.html. The reporting is factual and usually sourced. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Ad-Free Login Fair Use Policy Revenue is generated through advertising. Shine has never been to NewsNation headquarters and is one of several consultants Nexstar uses for the channel. Wiernickis segment did not mention that Bensman specifically has a history of pushing the conspiracy theory that the terrorist group ISIS was infiltrating the United States through the southern border. This review will focus on website content, and fact-checking of TV news programming as NewsNation continues to broadcast WGN programming during the day and overnight, with news programming making up almost half of the 24-hour schedule. Despite Nexstars claims that its consolidation is helping high-quality local news flourish, its stations are essentially left to face the same market pressures as any other. Stephen Battaglio writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times out of New York. They have recently gained another digital reporter and a California correspondent. The two cover an enormous radiusoften driving multiple hours to cover a storyand usually write between two and four pieces a day, mostly related to migration. NewsNation has also added dedicated correspondents in Washington and Atlanta and hired Rich McHugh, the former NBC News producer who worked alongside Ronan Farrow. Nexstar corporate officers suggested that its impossible to generalize about the stations or their programming. Susan Tully, Nexstars senior vice president of local content development, explains, Now we own a station in market 2 [in Los Angeles] and a station in market 195 [in San Angelo, Texas]. But after eight months on the air, NewsNation has been plagued by minuscule ratings and internal strife over allegations of meddling in news coverage. Despite strong-arming traditional pay TV companies and forging new agreements with streaming services, Nexstar has yet to see a return on that investment even after it reduced NewsNations news hours from three to two and launched two new current affairs programs in their place. Legal experts weigh in, ChatGPT who? The latest: Durbin praises Garland for restoring independence to Justice Dept. Butthe piece also included this soundbite from Bensman: Citation These are the most credible media sources. Nexstar has also invested heavily in its Washington, DC, bureaupart of an industry-wide prioritization of national figures and newswhich conducts interviews with members of Congress and sends the interviews to stations in the states they represent. It is best known for fast aggregation and a steady stream of links from The Drudge Report. The founder, chairman, president, and CEO of Nexstar is Perry A. Sook. Several recipients of Nexstar donations, including Sens. Thats a staggering amount of airtime, and it reveals a contradiction at the heart of the mandate to produce original local programming every day. WTNH staff described problems long familiar to local journalists across the country: too few reporters and too-quick turnarounds. Media Type: TV Station , which features local businesses that have paid the station to appear. The network also hired Ashleigh Banfield, a veteran of CNN and MSNBC, to host a nightly newsmaker interview program at 10 p.m. Eastern. The news came in early February one day after NewsNations news director, Sandy Pudar, resigned.Advertisementsif(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,600],'thedesk_net-box-4','ezslot_0',125,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-thedesk_net-box-4-0'); Nexstar staffers also felt NewsNation did not go far enough in challenging Trump during a one-on-one interview last September that was largely regarded as a softball Q&A and an embarrassment to television journalism. According to Open Secrets, Nexstar Media group gave more money to Republicans in the 2018 election cycle (45% to Democrats, 55% to Republicans); however, in 2020, they gave more to Democrats. In other cases, producing news reports and shows that are relevant across an entire state or regionor, less often, the whole Nexstar Nationserves to reduce cost. The vast majority of local TV stations nationwide are now owned by one of those big broadcasters. For Ad-Free Subscriptions go here: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/membership-account/membership-levels/, Terms and Conditions And the station size, the market size, the geographic part of the nation, it is so diverse and varied that there is no one way fits all., Investigative journalism, Tully says, is important to viewers in some markets and less so in others, and it is up to station managers to gauge demand. the Senate subcommittee tasked with overseeing the FCC. Based in Chicago, the program utilized the journalistic resources of the 110 television news operations throughout the United States under WGN Americas corporate parent Nexstar Media Group. On July 26th, 2022, NewsNation announced that former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo would join the network with a new prime-time show. Local news features original reporting with minimal bias, such as this: 8,730-Acre Maria Fire Burning on South Mountain Destroys 2 Structures, Threatens Homes in Santa Paula andSomis. After drawing on local station news operations to staff NewsNation for its launch, Sook has said Nexstar is looking to hire executives and talent with national network experience. Advertising generates revenue. It seemed like fertile ground for the Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Media Group, the countrys largest owner of TV stations, including Los Angeles outlet KTLA. However, in 2020 they . Media bias has contributed to Americans becoming more politically polarized. Nexstar had a strong year financially, reporting free cash flow of $1.3 billion in 2020, a 100% increase over 2018; TV stations typically see a boon from political advertising in election years. The firms last media bias chart, issued in January, placed NewsNation squarely in the center of the political spectrum, while rating CNN as skewing left, Fox News as hyper-partisan right and MSNBC as hyper-partisan left.. The Latest Fact Checks curated by Media Bias Fact Check 03/01/2023, Daily Source Bias Check: Lozier Institute, The Latest Fact Checks curated by Media Bias Fact Check 02/28/2023, Daily Source Bias Check: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, The Latest Fact Checks curated by Media Bias Fact Check 02/27/2023. We will see Nexstars dual purposesserving the public and expanding to maximize profitscontinue to be at odds. Ad-Free Sign up Ranking the media from liberal to conservative, based on their audiences. One special Nexstar project demonstrates how the company can bring high-caliber local coverage to new audiences. BENSMAN: Large numbers of migrants from Central America and really from throughout the entire world have heard about these policies and understand that it means they can get into the United States and stay forever. Nexstar executives believed they had to drastically change WGN America after it was acquired as part of its $4.1-billion deal for Tribune Broadcastings TV stations. Factual Reporting: HIGH Our tools help you to better understand diverse perspectives and reduce harmful, hateful polarization in . Carlson, Fox's wildly popular conservative pundit, said last week that he would begin airing footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot this week, after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) offered him what Carlson described as "unfettered" exclusive access to more than 40,000 hours of unreleased surveillance tape starting earlier in the month. In September, its cable network WGN America (a former Tribune holding) will launch a three-hour nightly prime-time program that will compete with cable news shows. Their bread and butter is traffic and weather. Jon Rosen, the executive producer, explained: Due to, I think, the amount of people on staff that we have and having to fill so much news time, I think theres a challenge for us to constantly be coming up with original and new story ideas.. Some regional broadcasts, such as town halls with lawmakers that run with limited advertising breaks, are a clear public service. These are the most credible media sources. Sook founded Nexstar in 1996, when he purchased WYOU in Scranton, Pennsylvania. NEW YORK (AP) Republican presidential contenders typically fight for prime speaking slots at the Conservative Political Action Conference. In review, NewsNation publishes news broken into categories such as U.S. (broken into subcategories), the Coronavirus, Weather, World, Shows, The Hill, NewsNation Live, and More. Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE Sanchez and Resendiz are able to execute their stories because of their investigative skills and due to an ingrained conception of themselves as accountability journalists. But they were also discussed as recently as last week on NewsNation. (In 2019, Sooks compensation was worth $16.4 million, while the median salary of Nexstars thirteen thousand employees was $43,537.). They argued that the merger would diminish local news because Nexstar lays off employees at some stations it acquires and relies too much on pumping content from its regional hubs. Political spending at Tribune peaked around 2000 when they gave $123,280, the majority of that to Republicans. From the February 16, 2021,edition of WLNS 6 News at 11 PM. The must-watch TV of the moment is local news. Im not so focused on being first, Graziano said. 3) The broadcast stations (NBC, CBS, ABC) and online news sites like Yahoo and Google have a more middle-of-the-road audience than other mainstream media outlets. Sean Compton, the Nexstar executive overseeing the operation, is longtime friends with former President Trump and his leading TV cheerleader, Fox News host Sean Hannity. Then, late last year, Nexstar finalized an acquisition of Tribune Media for $7.2 billion, a figure that includes the assumption of Tribunes debt. The unfolding crisis has shown local news outlets to be indispensablejust as it has threatened their survival. Starting about fifteen years ago, a handful of companies including Nexstar, Sinclair, Tegna, and Gray Television competed to buy up independent stations and media companies. Company executives have described NewsNation as self-funding, as the conversion to news is taking the cost of entertainment programming off its books. By Ben Smith and Katie Robertson. The site also launched an online morning show, Rising, in 2018, which succeeded by featuring right-wing and left-wing populist hosts. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact-check record. Blake Russell, executive vice president of station operations and content development, says that Nexstar sometimes supplies local stations with more staff when they expand their news programming: It depends on the market.. Fair Use Policy After using airtime on Nexstars TV stations across the country to promote the news service a plan that simply hasnt worked the company has tapped Chicago ad agency Leo Burnett to develop a multimillion-dollar national campaign to promote the channel. The program pulled only 236,000 viewers in April, despite having a highly recognizable anchor. *Based on data released by the Federal Election Commission on April 01, 2021 except for independent expenditure and communication cost, contributions to federal candidates, and contributions from individual donor data, which were released by the Federal Election Commission on March 22, 2021. TODD BENSMAN (CIS SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY FELLOW): You have just an open border. Instead, the interview treated Bensman as an expert on immigration policy who can provide a legitimate opposing view to the Biden administrations plan. In 2017, Nexstar acquired Media General, which ran local newspapers and television stations, for $4.6 billion. But his employment, which began in June and was not revealed to staff for six months, was disturbing, especially to some of the female staffers. Banfields program is less politically oriented and has featured many liberal guests, such as commentator Keith Olbermann and screenwriter-director Aaron Sorkin. As of July 2020, Nexstar Media Group owned 196 stations. To no ones surprise, these false claims were widely discussed and debated on conservative-leaning news channels, including the Fox Business Network, One America News Network and Newsmax. The number of nightly viewers in the 25-to-54 age group preferred by advertisers for news programming has been in the range of 9,000 viewers nowhere near the 100,000 viewers in the demographic that Nexstar has targeted. Nexstar, he added, is very much interested in that fit theyre very balanced.. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, Many reports contain videos from TV news content. Nexstar executives declined a request to discuss recent internal moves at NewsNation and issued a statement defending the stations position. Nielsen data show the network averaged 27,000 viewers in prime time during the month of April, compared with 2.2 million viewers for Fox News, 1.6 million for MSNBC and 1 million for CNN. There's some evidence to suggest that The Hill's former owner Jeremey Finkelstein is friends with former President Trump and has interfered with the site's output. Trump, Pence highlight policy-focused events in D.C, Justice Department probing Trump effort to overturn election, Some mouthwashes could help curb coronavirus, The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Then, late last year, Nexstar finalized an acquisition of Tribune Media for $7.2 billion, a figure that, includes the assumption of Tribunes debt, The deal sealed the companys dominance over Sinclair, which had tried to purchase Tribune in 2018 but failed to get support from the FCC. It was a huge undertaking for her, said another former WGN colleague of Lyons who was not authorized to speak publicly. NewsNation was launched by Irving, TX-based Nexstar Media Group as a nonbiased alternative to the opinionated prime-time hosts. I like to say that were as far to the left as the right will go and as far to the right as the left will go, Jimmy Finkelstein, who took a controlling stake in The Hill in 2014, said in an interview. Then the U.S. government blindsided it, WGA asks members to vote on key demands in bargaining with studios, Alec Baldwin and Rust producers sued by crew members over fatal shooting, Rupert Murdoch admits he knew Fox News hosts endorsed false election fraud claims, deposition shows, Historic movie lot that gave Studio City its name to get $1-billion makeover, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, Shocking, impossible gas bills push restaurants to the brink of closures, Review: A reimagined Secret Garden fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre, Im visiting all 600 L.A. spots on the National Register. And regardless of how much an individual station manager personally values accountability reporting, in the end that manager is tasked with keeping the station profitable, which means running more hours of news programming with a lean staff, making it much more difficult for a reporter to spend two months setting up a necessary interview with a government official. Getty Images. such as textbooks, contact OpenSecrets: info[at]crp.org. Ron DeSantis by 15 points among Republican presidential primary voters is the latest cause for heartburn among Senate . The program bears the name of Joe Donlon, the broadcast journalist who just a few months earlier had been accused of the cringe worthy interview with Trump. It is this experience, as much as geography, that varies across the Nexstar Nation. found that 76 percent of local television stations were worried about losing business due to the coronavirus crisis. DC Conservative justices stress price tag of debt relief. And whats happening? ad fontes media Most Extreme Left Hyper-Partisan Left Comm The Supreme Court's conservative justices cast doubt on President Biden's student debt forgiveness plan during oral arguments on Tuesday in a pair of challenges to the administration's relief program. 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