The network will cover weather as a current event. They have two meteorologists on staff and hundreds of local meteorologists on call. There are no plans to have regular sports reports.
In addition to Chicago-based anchors, producers, editors, and researchers, News Nation has been leveraging the resources of Nexstar’s 110-TV newsrooms and 5,400 TV journalists nationwide.
“We have boots on the ground everywhere,” Compton added, “This makes sense because we’re in Sioux Falls, and we’re in Los Angeles and Chicago. CNN doesn’t have people in Fort Wayne.”
News Nation is led by Jennifer Lyons, 52, who was promoted from news director at WGN-Ch. 9 to vice president of news for WGN America.
Her first and most important job so far is to recruit the news talent while the country was locked down due to the pandemic. Some 1,100 people applied and the vetting for the small screen was mostly done over Zoom and computer screens.
“The daunting part was finding the talent,” Lyons said. “You’re starting from scratch and you’re doing it all over Zoom.”
