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 founder, chairman, president, and CEO of Nexstar is Perry A. Sook. This spring, viewership soared while earnings plummeted. The executives added that the deal would make Nexstar the fourth largest digital news property in the United States, ahead of Fox, ABC, CBS, The New York Times and BuzzFeed.. National news is covered through a combination of the Associated Press, CNN, Los Angeles Times, and other large media outlets. Now that the economy is in free fall, the near-monopoly status of Nexstar and Sinclair means that their stations will have a better chance of surviving. In an email to The Hills staff on Friday, Mr. Finkelstein wrote that The Hill was highly profitable, with profit and revenue increasing at a rate of 50 percent a year. This also included Nexstar station KRON in San Francisco, a market with the potential to reach over 2.3 million households. Obviously, increasing awareness is Job One for us, Sook told analysts in February. companies to control stations beyond the market cap. If Nexstars general mandate to encourage localism does not explicitly incentivize station managers to embrace a muckraking ethos, in other words, its unlikely to happen. Article When I asked Gary Weitman, Nexstars chief communication officer, whether Nexstars political activity presented a potential conflict of interest, he responded, The pac is there because Nexstar is in a regulated industry and there are a number of issues that its important to be heard on, and thats what the pac enables us to do. I dont see that as a conflict.. Last year, CNBC hired former Fox News anchor Shepard Smith for a nightly just-the-facts presentation at 7 p.m. Eastern. According to Open Secrets, Nexstar Media group gave more money to Republicans in the 2018 election cycle (45% to Democrats, 55% to Republicans). FROM THE MAGAZINE: Coping with the inundation of news online, TOP IMAGE: Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images, The unfolding crisis has shown local news outlets to be indispensablejust as it has threatened their survival. 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. Many believed that Trumps spreading of disinformation about the election helped fuel the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. WGN-TV is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which owns over 200 TV stations nationwide. Like its slightly smaller rival, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar produces content that can be played on multiple stations across the country. Photo courtesy Nexstar Media. 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. Veteran cable news host Ashleigh Banfield joined NewsNation in March. team is small. In 2017, Nexstar acquired Media General, which ran local newspapers and television stations, for $4.6 billion. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, How strong is Dominions defamation case against Fox News? Nexstar is rolling out new state bureausit now operates news bureaus in twenty state capitalswhich could fill those gaps. Their stories run on the website and are also aired on Nexstar stations across the border region, from San Diego to Albuquerque to McAllen, thereby reaching larger audiences than stories for a single local paper or TV station would. 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. NewsNation, with its main studios in Chicago, was touted as an unbiased alternative to Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, which fill their prime-time hours with opinion and commentary. One question that ended up on the editing room floor was what Trump planned to do if he lost the election, a legitimate query as he was behind in the polls and ultimately defeated by President Biden in November. Despite its branding emphasis on local news, Nexstars banner projects are designed to share state and national stories with regional audiences. Unlike Sinclair, however, Nexstar's syndicated content is usually less openly conservative. Nexstar Media Group plans to launch a nationwide primetime news show called News Nation over its WGN America cable network tomorrow, a risky move under the best of circumstances let alone. When I asked Gary Weitman, whether Nexstars political activity presented a potential conflict of interest, he responded, The, Campaign organizers say Facebook boycott will continue, Coping with the inundation of news online, Emergency upon Emergency: How the press reacted to, A Matter of Necessity: Shefali Luthra covers abortion for, Anonymous Woman: Speaking with the press, an abortion fund worker faces an impossible dilemma, Everywhere and Nowhere: Notes from a parachuting national reporter on abortions local stories, Peer to Peer: News you can use, via Google Doc, The Poetics of Posting: A conversation with Mia Sato of, Sources on Sourcing: Six people weigh the risks and benefits of talking with the media, Out of Control: How a search for answers about reproductive health can lead you down a tunnel of misinformation. Revenue is generated through advertising. They cover community events. The company runs a corporate political action committee that has donated to dozens of congressional Democrats and Republicans across the ideological map. Country: USA The company went public in 2003, after its first big acquisition. WGN America has set the anchor team for the nightly three-hour newscast that is coming to the primetime lineup of Nexstar Media Group's cable network as of Sept. 1. Except for the Revolving Door section, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License by OpenSecrets.org. such as textbooks, contact OpenSecrets: info[at]crp.org. These new bureaus are both a service to local residents and a relatively modest investment: the Jefferson City, Missouri, bureau, for example, which opened this year, has a single full-time reporter who can reach some 2.5 million viewers in at least four Missouri markets. Company executives have described NewsNation as self-funding, as the conversion to news is taking the cost of entertainment programming off its books. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources. From a programming perspective, this regional strategy could be an opportunity to fulfill an acute need. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Ad-Free Login Armed with a team of national reporters and backed by over 100 local newsrooms spread out across the country, Nexstar promised quality broadcast journalism free from opinion or bias, setting aside three hours on its only cable news channel WGN America for NewsNation. The opportunities to foster necessary, dynamic journalism are therethey just need proper attention. 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. (In 2019, Sooks compensation was worth $16.4 million, while the median salary of Nexstars thirteen thousand employees was $43,537.). In January, before the pandemic hit, Nexstars stock price had nearly doubled from two years prior. For Nexstar Media Group, the largest local TV news company in the United States, the spring brought surges in viewership and declines in revenue to match the rest of the industry. Sook has declared that Nexstar has the largest news gathering organization in the country, and staff at the corporate headquarters, in Irving, Texas, refer to their vast network as the Nexstar Nation.. Two Nexstar insiders not authorized to discuss the matter publicly said Donlon was not involved in the editing of the interview and was unhappy with the final product. Advertising generates revenue. All plans give access to our growing exclusive content! Launched last year, NewsNation was billed as an attempt to bring a straightforward, no-nonsense prime-time national news block at a time when political opinion and debates dominated cable news. Thats a staggering amount of airtime, and it reveals a contradiction at the heart of the mandate to produce original local programming every day. The. Of course, consolidation is in Nexstars interest, too. Those distinctions, and Nexstars enormous reach across the country, make the company a unique bellwether of whether consolidation can be in the public interest. These are the most credible media sources. [6] See all Least Biased Sources. "Nexstar has long viewed the acquisition of Tribune Media as a strategically, financially and operationally compelling opportunity that brings immediate value to shareholders of both. ICYMI: Campaign organizers say Facebook boycott will continue. Open Secrets following the money in politics, OpenSecrets Following the money in politics, Contributions from this PAC to federal candidates (, Contributions to this PAC from individual donors of $200 or more (. And in contrast to the private equity firms that have gutted local print newsrooms nationwide, Nexstars corporate management largely comprises veterans of local broadcasting. On Sunday mornings, the station airs Capitol Report, a half-hour roundtable conversation with Republican and Democratic public figures about hot topics being debated in Hartford. The Hill is owned by Nexstar Media Group, the country's largest television station owner, which purchased the publication in 2021. In a dissenting opinion, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called the new policy bureaucratic and cruel. She wrote, It perversely means that the public will have fewer opportunities to comment on the use of the public airwaves.. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/business/the-hill-sale-nexstar-media.html. Nexstar executives declined a request to discuss Shines role or the recent internal moves at NewsNation. On paper, Nexstar stations reach 38 percent of American households that own a TV, just below the maximum allowed by market caps designed to prevent monopolies. NewsNation has also added dedicated correspondents in Washington and Atlanta and hired Rich McHugh, the former NBC News producer who worked alongside Ronan Farrow. There is no space for news headlines in prime time, said one Nexstar news veteran. 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. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. At AllSides, we reduce the one-sided information flow by providing balanced news from both liberal and conservative news sources, and over 1,400 media bias ratings. Media Bias Fact Check offers a number of sustaining Ad-Free membership plans to fit your budget! Then, late last year, Nexstar finalized an acquisition of Tribune Media for $7.2 billion, a figure that includes the assumption of Tribunes debt. When I asked about accountability reporting, Rich Graziano, the general manager, told me that investigating government institutions is not his main priority for WTNH. TheDesk.net, published by Matthew Keys, covers radio and television broadcasting; streaming media; technology; journalism and social media. 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. According to a Kinetiq database search, this piece aired across the nation at least 24 times between February 16-17, including on stations in Texas, Colorado, Michigan, California, and Florida. Mr. Finkelstein took a controlling stake in The Hill in 2014. While Nexstars corporate management has figured out how to make the company profitableamass power in retransmission negotiationsthey are no different from newsrooms anywhere in that they havent made this kind of reporting profitable. And whats happening? Earlier this year, Sook said that Nexstar was already taking in more revenue from political spending than ever before. Overall, we rate NewsNation Least Biased based on minimal editorializing of content and reasonable balance with story selection. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. AccordingtoOpen 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. 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.. In reality, Nexstar says, its stations reach 63 percent of American households, well surpassing the cap. As of July 2020, Nexstar Media Group owned 196 stations. paving the way for accelerated consolidation. The founder, chairman, president, and CEO of Nexstar is Perry A. Sook. 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. Ad-Free Sign up [4] The first television station bought by Nexstar was WYOU in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He is based in Northern California. For her to walk away is a big deal.. 01/22/21 10:32 AM EST, Nexstar Media cited a group founded by a white nationalist and eugenicist to discuss immigration policy, airing it on at least 24 local news stations, From the February 16, 2021,edition of WLNS, East Palestine reveals how right-wing media has continued to poison citizen journalism, Newsmax guest: There's onlythree races - [Mongoloid], Caucasoid, and Negroid, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch insisted the network cover a proto-Jan. 6 rally more favorably: This is a huge celebration of the president., Chris Hayes: Dominion filing proves Mike Lindells money is worth more to Fox than the truth, Listen to a radio caller confront Sean Hannity over Dominion filings showing that Fox News lies for profit, Local news outlets at the U.S.-Mexico border frequently cite nativist anti-immigrant groups in reporting on immigration, The AP repeatedly cited nativist groups with ties to white nationalism in articles on immigration, Local and national media outlets are citing anti-immigrant extremist groups to discuss Bidens immigration plan. about fifteen years ago, a handful of companies including Nexstar, Sinclair, Tegna, and Gray Television competed to buy up independent stations and media companies. We cant find advertisers that want to take advantage of it. Ad revenue for local TV companies has dropped as much as 40 percent since the beginning of the pandemic. Like its slightly smaller rival, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar produces content that can be played on multiple stations across. Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic To request permission for commercial use, please contactus. 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. Dont miss reporting and analysis from the Hill and the White House. Nexstars enormous reach across the country makes it a unique bellwether of whether consolidation can be in the public interest. Now, without the usual in-person strategiesrallies, events, door-to-door canvassingand with reduced expenses, campaigns may allocate more funds to television. This is probably because Fox's audience is just so large that it couldn't be relegated to an extreme end of the chart. 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. Lyons did not respond to a request for comment. Stephen Battaglio writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times out of New York. Many reports contain videos from TV news content. Employees say there is no sign of a retreat. 20005. The reporting is factual and usually sourced. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, Sook seems to have anticipated this; in 2019 he requested, and was denied, a bonus of $41.4 million in future stock options. One chart I didn't get to include in my post Tuesday morning on Pew's new study of Americans' media habits was the one below. Producers and writers with experience at Fox News, CNN and MSNBC came on board earlier this year to work on Donlons new program. In March, WGN America changed its name to NewsNation, and currently has five hours of news programming a night, which is repeated for West Coast viewers. (D. Van Zandt 11/2/2020) Updated (10/18/2022), Last Updated on October 18, 2022 by Media Bias Fact Check, Left vs. News Nation is an American cable news television channel owned by Nexstar Media Group, which debuted on September 1, 2010. On March 1, 2021, the channel was relaunched from WGN America into NewsNation, a cable news network named after its flagship news program. Mr. Finkelstein, the heir to a New York real estate fortune and a longtime associate of former President Donald J. Trump, said that he had purchased control of The Hill in 2014, when it was primarily a print publication that covered Congress, at a fraction of the valuation he sold for. Percent since the beginning of the chart a dissenting opinion, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called the new policy and... 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