What is NewsNation? How a rising cable news outlet landed Tuscaloosa GOP debate

Among the first questions asked when the announcement came Tuscaloosa would be home to the next GOP presidential debate on Dec. 6:

What exactly is NewsNation?

While not a household media name such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox, or one of the big three broadcast networks, NewsNation is a rising cable outlet formed from the roots of WGN. Following the lead of Atlanta's WTBS evolving into TBS, a cable- and satellite-distributed national station, in 1978 Chicago's Channel 9, WGN-TV went nationwide, going by WGN Superstation or Superstation WGN until 2008, when it was rebranded WGN America.

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Owners Nexstar Media Group re-launched it as NewsNation, named after its flagship program, on March 1, 2021, creating a straight news format all day on weekdays, and eight hours on weekends.

Confirming earlier rumblings of Tuscaloosa as the pick, the Republican National Committee announced early in November they'd be partnering with NewsNation, "The Megyn Kelly Show," the Washington Free Beacon website, and online video platform Rumble to share the evening with viewers.

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NewsNation will be in Tuscaloosa for days before and after, broadcasting shows live from the University of Alabama's Frank Moody Music Building — where the debate will be held, 7-9 p.m. Dec. 6 ― and on the Quad, the central greenspace for the UA campus.

To build on its WGN legacy, NewsNation has hired veterans such as longtime ABC journalist Elizabeth Vargas; political analyst Chris Stirewalt; former ABC and CNN journalists Chris Cuomo and Ashleigh Banfield; and contributors such as former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and columnist George Will. Vargas will moderate the Tuscaloosa debate, alongside former Fox and NBC host Kelly, with Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon.

So why plunge into an already crowded pool of news sharks? In a phone interview with Stirewalt, from Washington D.C. — "I'm a swamp creature" — he said NewsNation seeks to fill a gap.

"I think it is obvious that there is a big underserved market in television news for aspirationally fair, and journalistically sound, reporting," he said. "The market is so saturated with highly opinionated, highly emotional coverage that there was a big space left on the table."

Stirewalt wrote a book, published in 2022, titled "Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back." His old colleague at Fox News, Cherie Grzech, senior vice-president of news and politics at NewsNation, suggested instead of merely talking about the problem, "You better get in the game."

On Nov. 3, 2020, pre-midnight on Fox, Stirewalt drew ire for standing with analysts in calling Arizona for Joe Biden in the presidential race. In an op-ed for The Los Angeles Times published Jan. 28, 2021, shortly after he was fired by Fox, he wrote about the glut of emotionally-based, factually sloppy media outlets creating "informational malnourishment," feeding people what they want to hear, regardless of what they need.

From that election night on, he became "... a target of murderous rage from consumers who were furious at not having their views confirmed." He dismissed Republican claims of voter fraud, saying on air: "Lawsuits, schmawsuits — we haven't seen any evidence yet that there's anything wrong."

In the Times op-ed, Stirewalt wrote: "The lie that (Donald) Trump won the 2020 election wasn’t nearly as much aimed at the opposing party as it was at the news outlets that stated the obvious, incontrovertible fact."

Still, he laughed at the suggestion his independence from any political narrative played part in the RNC's choice of NewsNation for the Dec. 6 debate. Rupert Murdoch later said Stirewalt's "leaving" had nothing to do with the correct call on Arizona. Shortly after his departure, Stirewalt was hired by conservative online magazine The Dispatch as a contributing editor, and joined NewsNation in May 2022.

"Fox News didn't owe me a job," he said, "and 10 years any place in the business is a long time. In the end, we just do our job to the best of our abilities, and call 'em like we see 'em."

Stirewalt is not up on particulars about how the RNC chose NewsNation, though he suspects the presence of Vargas, who joined NewsNation late in 2022, played a big part, as did reputations of Grzech and Michael Corn, president of news.

Jonathan Killian, vice president of creative marketing and brand communications at NewsNation, said "We raised our hands," making the same pitch to the RNC they make to the public every day.

"The reach of Nexstar alone is massive," he said, "and our journalism speaks for itself."

A Tuscaloosa homecoming

A builder at heart, Killian is excited to be co-creating a cable news network "from scratch," he said.

"Our CEO calls it the last great adventure in television. We're building something for an audience that's being underserved, what we call the sensible middle," he said. "We think most people live between the 35-yard lines, and are not being served by the cable news ecosphere as it exists."

It's not only the right thing to do, but happens to be a good business strategy, he said, for a marathon, not a sprint.

As new news kids on the block, they're humbled by this choice, he said, and "definitely cognizant of what an important opportunity this is for us."

It'll also be a kind of homecoming for Killian, a '94 UA alumnus in telecommunication and film, who began his career at the old WCFT Channel 33 in Tuscaloosa.

"The moment I heard, I just had goosebumps," he said.

Killian knows the music facilities well, as a former drum major for the Million Dollar Band, and is thrilled NewsNation will get to showcase the Moody Concert Hall.

"From a creative standpoint, we're leaning in to the beauty of the location; that massive (Holtkamp) pipe organ lit up with patriotic colors," he said. "The debate stage will be the concert stage," home to the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, Huxford Symphony Orchestra, and frequent host to other ensembles, guest, faculty and student artists.

"We'll have LED walls, with graphics up on the second level. The balconies will be lit up. It's going to be beautiful."

How the debate will be like football

Having avidly followed the first three GOP debates, Stirewalt has predictions for the Tuscaloosa event. Anticipating this reading audience, he dropped back on football metaphor.

"By the time they get to Tuscaloosa, there's no more hidden-ball tricks," he said. "Everybody's been watching game film. You can only surprise them one time.

"(Nikki) Haley and (Vivek) Ramaswamy both surprised, in the first debate. Then the question is 'Do you have staying power? Is what you're selling something people can hear again and again and again .... ' You've gotta get some reps in.

"(Ron) DeSantis ... has been playing a prevent defense. He's not been trying for big plays. If you have higher polling numbers than the other people on stage, that's not an unreasonable idea. But he doesn't have that anymore."

Prepping to ask questions that will elicit more than stump speeches, that push candidates to think on their feet, and offer voters substance to feed on, that's a major goal, Stirewalt said. But with seasoned mediators in Vargas and Kelly, "...that gives us a running start. They don't need to be trained up."

They're trying to toe a line between staying utterly objective, avoiding even the appearance of attack, and not lofting up air balls. NewsNation can't promise a substantive debate, he said, because even with experienced pros making the calls, someone's going to run audibles, exercise options. But he believes in the theory: Always give people a chance to do the right thing; they may surprise you.

"You've gotta murder-board these questions," he said. "You've gotta make sure, like somebody sitting for a doctoral dissertation: What are the facts we're basing this on? Is it journalistically sound and appropriate? And does it serve the purpose of helping voters decide?

"It's not our job to play 'gotcha.' I would no more do that than I'd wear an Auburn sweatshirt to Tuscaloosa."

NewsNation knows it could burn brighter, and faster, by playing the rage-competition game, but chose a different pace.

"TV news does not have to be partisan, it does not have to be unpleasant, does not have to be angry, it does not have to be scary. It can be useful, and can make us better Americans," he said.

"It may not sound sexy to say 'We're gonna try to do news that can be credible with a wide variety of folks, and bring that together fairly.' It doesn't have much sizzle, but it does have staying power."

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Rising cable news outlet to broadcast Republican debate in Tuscaloosa