![]() A former radio executive, Compton produced a syndicated Trump commentary program that aired during the height of Trump’s reality-TV fame on “The Apprentice.”įormer President Trump’s tweet on the launch of NewsNation.Ī flashpoint occurred on Sept. 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. ![]() ![]() ![]() The staff also reflects a diversity of viewpoints, which they are encouraged to express.”įrom the start, there were suspicions in the TV news industry that NewsNation might have a conservative slant. “Consistent with our commitment to deliver unbiased news to our viewers, NewsNation has hired a number of employees and consultants with diverse news production and reporting backgrounds from a variety of news organizations such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, CBS, NBC and ABC. “NewsNation’s mission is to provide news based on facts, not opinions,” the company said. Nexstar executives declined a request to discuss recent internal moves at NewsNation and issued a statement defending the station’s position. Lyons did not respond to a request for comment. “It was a huge undertaking for her,” said another former WGN colleague of Lyons who was not authorized to speak publicly. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Lyons was a long-admired figure in local Chicago media, and her stature helped attract on-air talent and other news professionals in the market to join NewsNation. Lyons’ departure in March after overseeing a launch that required building a staff of more than 150 people was a blow to morale at the operation, according to one former Nexstar employee who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. What’s more, over the last three months, several of NewsNation’s top editorial executives - including the newsroom’s leader, Jennifer Lyons, a veteran news director from Nexstar’s Chicago station, WGN - have exited.Īlthough executive shakeouts are common at startup operations, media industry veterans in Chicago believed the exodus at NewsNation was prompted by editorial interference from upper management and concerns that the channel would lean more to the political right and away from its stated mandate to be unbiased. 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. 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. Nexstar executives cited consumer research showing viewers were looking for nonpartisan news coverage.īut after eight months on the air, NewsNation has been plagued by minuscule ratings and internal strife over allegations of meddling in news coverage. Skilling hosted nearly 40 years of severe weather seminars, and explained daily weather forecasts on the Tribune’s weather page for more than 25 years, according to the newspaper.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. “You name it, he’s covered it,” Stasi added. Over the years, he has covered tornados, blizzards and torrential rain in the Chicago area. ![]() He carefully explains complex meteorological concepts in layman’s terms, supported by graphics often featuring isobars and upper-airs charts. “But Tom has taken it to a much higher level. “There was a time when weather forecasting was seen as a not-serious profession,” WGN-TV News Director Dominick Stasi said in a news release. He was a meteorologist at WITI-TV in Milwaukee before moving on to WGN. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing when I get done with this except I won’t have deadlines.”Ī native of Aurora, Illinois, Skilling studied meteorology and journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I’m going to retire at the end of February, after a marvelous 45 years at this incredible television station,” said Skilling, 71. ![]()
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