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NewsNation Launch Thread


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Thread Notice: On March 1, 2021 WGN America will rebrand as NewsNation. As it will then become a proper cable news network, this thread documenting the start of the show as it existed on WGN America will be closed on that date. Please consider starting new threads to cover other aspects of the new network.

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I'm hesitant to sing it's praises this early, but I am genuinely impressed with the style, look, and delivery so far. It has that familiar local feel at the National level, which will work for it. With the power of time, patience, social media, and sustained effort, I think they will slowly pull viewers from all of the big cable networks. 

 

I hope they drop the overt "We have no bias" soon. The way they carry themselves says it all, so that will get old quick. 

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So the hourly top-of-the-hour format seems to be:

 

Hour 1: The day's top stories with in-depth reports on the biggest stories.

Hour 2: Shorter recaps of the stories that were covered in-depth in hour 1; longer and more in-depth segments on stories that were covered briefly in hour 1; pepper in several additional new stories.

Hour 3: Reairing or revisiting longer segments on the main stories from hour 1; pepper in some new stories; include some shorter recaps of some stories from the first two hours.

 

By doing this, they still touch on all of the main stories each hour, but the stories vary in their length and depth depending on which hour you're watching. You still get all of the main information of the day each hour, but only one or two of the hours will contain all of the field reporting and interviews. By doing this, they keep each hour fresh and give you something new to look forward to if you keep watching every hour. I like it.

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Here’s the final set of pics for the night. Overall, solid start. And however bias this may sound..I love hearing.. ‘Live from Chicago.. This is News Nation... Your News Your Nation’. 
 

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I'm really enjoying this new newscast. It brings something new and different to the TV news landscape, especially as most of the main cable news channels are opinion and pundits and only cover a few years. I'm glad they're not repeating the same old stories either. 

 

This done remind me a little of the old Headline News format with one story after the other.

 

I love that they focus on weather too compared to the other channels. They were talking about a tornado warning in Texas when the Weather Channel went to tape.

 

I also liked that the anchors had a little fun now and then too.

 

I think if this is a big success, I wouldn't mind seeing this become a full-time channel as WGN is pretty much mostly reruns of movies and TV and has only average ratings.

 

I loved seeing Dean Reynolds back on TV as I enjoyed him on CBS.

 

 

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9 minutes ago, jase said:

Here’s the final set of pics for the night. Overall, solid start. And however bias this may sound..I love hearing.. ‘Live from Chicago.. This is News Nation... Your News Your Nation’. 
 

 

 

B9EA1FF2-8799-42AC-B799-E51C42FC3AF6.thumb.jpeg.5408989318770a2367b62e2d5812513c.jpeg

 

 

Is that a LOWER THIRD COPYRIGHT?! Who are they and what have they done with Nexstar? 😛

Definitely glad to see they didn't stick with the usual 10 second copyright tape. Would have been hilariously out of place. 

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It's interesting; many of the stories on this that I saw are ones you'd see on your local news if they would have occurred in your area, but few would have "bubbled up" to the national news level, until now. This "local news on a national scale" allows those local news stories to reach the national stage.

 

To me, this is really not produced anything like a national network newscast *or* a cable news channel would be produced these days. It really feels like they're producing it exactly how they'd produce a local newscast, except "the United States" is the market they're doing it for.

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The opening jib shots with the prompter off camera made the anchors look a little odd in intros. 
 

The pacing and storytelling was a little dry and boring. I got bored a few minutes in. 
 

The reporting talent is weak, minus one or two people. I felt like some of the reporters were not ready for primetime. 

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I got to agree, it was odd to see an In credit nexstar media group copyright instead of the usual 10 second animated one..but I do agree it REALLY wouldve look WAYYYYYYYYY outta place on a national scale ..unless they plan on doing a national version of the animated credit ,  with a newsnation logo in place of "LOCAL" followed by the famed "bang,bang,Bang" and then the famed nexstar logo.

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While I found the story about the girl who couldn't remember fascinating, and the human interest piece about the singing paramedics cute, I was not a big fan of the "around the Nexstar Nation" segment where they go to random parts of the country for their stories (trucks hydroplaning in North Carolina? Kidnapped children returned in Georgia? Man dying after road rage fight in Missouri?) I guess that is Ashley Ketz's job, but it tells me that those stories aren't important enough to be posted on the NewsNation web site that this is just filler. 

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5 minutes ago, CalItalian2 said:

The most boring newscast I've ever seen. There is absolutely no soul to this newscast. Just stories that fly by. This will lead to the end of WGN America under Nexstar ownership. 

 

That's kind of the point. News is cheaper than syndicated programming costs. Soon there will be a morning and evening block for the CW, MyNetTV and Fox stations who don't have network programming, which will further reduce local syndication costs and further reduce staffing needs.

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For those old enough to remember it, the first day of News Nation was very similar to the first day of CNN. Like any new broadcast, it will take time to evolve. Hopefully not to the same point as the current CNN. True, it is not an MTV style in your face production. But it is not only an alternative to the chaos of the other news networks... it is an alternative to the so-called reality and game show gluts on the broadcast and entertainment networks. It’s not something I’ll likely watch every day or for the entire three hours. But like local morning newscasts, and the old CNN, it will be one I will dip into here and there.

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I enjoyed what I saw the first half hour on my phone. Would have liked to be able to cast it to my television or watch it on a Roku app. There's no way I'm going to watch 3 hours on the phone or tablet. And if it's true that Nexstar is going to charge for this, the first month is the last I'll watch of it. 

 

It was infinitely better than the screaming matches or talking heads on the other cable news networks from 8-11. JMHO

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I watched it last night and honestly I loved it! I will be a regular viewer for sure. Very well executed, the GFX package is nice, and the music is nice as well. If they can keep it up Nexstar will be doing good and they can create other newscasts maybe during the day. I wish them the best! 

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Since I'm with Youtube TV these days and it doesn't carry WGNA, I watched a bit on the app. Add me to the list who thinks it's crazy to think they're going to put this behind a cable authentication paywall after a month, because that doesn't seem very forward-thinking, especially when there are multiple news streaming options out there right now.

 

Something else also jumped out at me, and this may have happened and I didn't see it, but I would've figured with Compton's background in radio, he would know "appointment setting" is very important, especially in a long broadcast like this. To not have some sort of feature or category of stories at a set time every hour and promote it as such seems like a miss to me. You've got three hours, you have to assume people are going to come in and out, it would make sense to say "headlines at :20 and :40 every hour" to give people a reminder/reason to check in.

 

Also, I noticed on the app there's a radio section that includes an update branded "NewsNation At This Hour". Is this branding they're now using on WGN Radio?

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12 hours ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

I also liked that the anchors had a little fun now and then too.

 

THIS. Particularly the close with everyone talking at the desk and using Stevie Wonder; it felt very World News Now. That vibe could DEFINITELY set them apart from the fighting/arguing/doom & gloom BREAKING NEWS breakdown happening every night on cable news. Not that it needs to be all 3 hours, or that they can't end on a more serious tone if they're covering serious breaking news, but having that sense of positivity and camaraderie is a far cry from the "My Name, My Show" types available elsewhere.

 

Straightforward news with people who enjoy being with each other and are amped about bringing you the news. What a concept!

 

 

ALSO- for folks who have mentioned wanting to be able to cast NN to their TV's, for years I've been using this suite of apps for my Chromecast, Roku, and Fire devices and they're quite straightforward in casting videos from the app's browser on my phone to the device (I have an iPhone but it looks like they're in the Google Play store too).

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Overall, a really good effort.  I was able to watch online and chrome-cast it to my TV.  Didn't watch all 3 hours, but caught the first hour and some of the second.

 

Old habits die hard, so it may take some getting used to, especially the means of having to watch it since I don't have WGN America....yet.

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