Elizabeth Vargas NewsNation Show Will Focus on “Ignored” Americans – The Hollywood Reporter

Elizabeth Vargas thinks there is room for a new evening news.

“I think a lot of people feel like they’re just being ignored or put off by the extreme nature of only one side, or the two extremes arguing with each other,” Vargas says. The Hollywood Reporter. “I think there is a way to report in a smart way about what is happening in this country and around the world right now. That doesn’t devolve into shouting matches or, you know, political talking points that in many cases don’t even really relate to the events we’re covering.

Vargas, a veteran TV news correspondent and anchor (she succeeded the legendary Barbara Walters as anchor of ABC’s 20/20), launches her new show Elizabeth Vargas reports on NewsNation Monday during the critical evening news window from 6-7 p.m.

“It’s every day’s newscast of record for NewsNation. It’s not an opinion show, it’s a news show. So we’ll be covering the biggest stories of the day in depth,” says Vargas. “I think at 6 p.m. Many people already know the headlines of what happened. So we get into the very biggest stories, and later in the show — like in the last 20 minutes of the show — maybe [feature] two big stories that affect everyone across the country and may not be in the headlines that day, but are incredibly important to people everywhere.”

“Viewers are hungry for fact-based news that speaks to all of America, and we want to deliver that,” said Michael Corn, president of NewsNation.

The news anchor also hopes to get news interviews, leaning on her decades of experience — and a promise to be honest — of booking guests.

“You know, if someone comes on my show, they’re not going to be able to spew disinformation unchallenged,” she says. “But I’m not here to elevate or downplay anyone’s point of view or political opinion either.”

The old veteran of ABC news is the latest journalist to join NewsNation, the (relatively) new cable news from local TV giant Nexstar. Vargas joins other TV news veterans like Chris Cuomo (CNN, ABC News), Dan Abrams (MSNBC, ABC News), Leland Vittert (Fox News) and Ashleigh Banfield (MSNBC, CNN) in the NewsNation lineup.

“With decades of experience, Elizabeth’s credibility, fearlessness and intelligence are an increasingly rare combination in this industry,” says Corn. “She’s dynamite in the anchor seat and we expect viewers to be in for a real treat.”

And like many of those other shows, Vargas’ schedule will lean on the stories that competitors like Fox News, CNN and MSNBC say are being ignored. While former President Donald Trump is expected to be booked this week, there will still be big news to report.

“I just think there are a lot of stories out there that — and I include myself because I currently live in New York City — that those of us on the beltway sometimes get caught up in some sort of all politics of what’s going on, and those stories are important,” Vargas said. “Don’t get me wrong, you know, we’re in the middle of a presidential election cycle. And a historic one with a possible indictment for the first time ever against a former president of the United States [this interview was conducted before Donald Trump’s indictment]. This is historic. But there are other stories that are really important to people across the country that I don’t think get covered on the evening news.

Vargas cites the mental health crisis that millions of families are going through, or the borderline crisis that she says has only recently received attention from other evening news outlets.

“For a long time we were the only network with reporters on the ground in eastern Palestine [Ohio] when the train derailed, so I think there are a lot of issues and stories in the heart of this country that are really important and sometimes don’t get much attention on the evening news,” she added.

Indeed, Vargas, like her NewsNation colleagues, plans to make use of what she calls the station’s “secret weapon”: the journalists who work at Nexstar’s 200 local TV stations across the country.

“That’s huge, huge, because when that train derailed, we had a local reporter who was really close to the crime scene and got there really quickly and could give us the local angle,” she says. “Networks can’t afford to put correspondents in every city in every city across the country and pay them to sit there and wait for something to happen.”

But it will also be an uphill battle. Cable news viewers are a habit, and it’s hard to get them to switch channels or bring in a non-news viewer.

“Do we understand that this is a huge task to launch a brand new network? Absolutely,” says Vargas, adding that she and her team read the dismissive clippings from the CNN and Fox News launches to inspire them.

“The chance to build a show from scratch and a brand new network that runs 24/7. That almost never happens in a few weeks. The last time that happened was when Roger Ailes built Fox News, and years before that when Ted Turner built CNN,” says Vargas. “And, you know, those were some really tough early years for those networks, as they struggled to gain a foothold and find an audience. But I always remember thinking that must have been so exciting, to build something from scratch.

But first comes building trust.

“This is not a show with a good or bad history. It’s a brand new show on a brand new network,” said Vargas. “But we’re going to gain that trust and slowly earn that audience night by night by taking it night in, night out by doing an honest and full and in-depth analysis of what’s happening.”

Elizabeth Vargas NewsNation Show Will Focus on “Ignored” Americans – The Hollywood Reporter

Elizabeth Vargas thinks there is room for a new evening news.

“I think a lot of people feel like they’re just being ignored or put off by the extreme nature of only one side, or the two extremes arguing with each other,” Vargas says. The Hollywood Reporter. “I think there is a way to report in a smart way about what is happening in this country and around the world right now. That doesn’t devolve into shouting matches or, you know, political talking points that in many cases don’t even really relate to the events we’re covering.

Vargas, a veteran TV news correspondent and anchor (she succeeded the legendary Barbara Walters as anchor of ABC’s 20/20), launches her new show Elizabeth Vargas reports on NewsNation Monday during the critical evening news window from 6-7 p.m.

“It’s every day’s newscast of record for NewsNation. It’s not an opinion show, it’s a news show. So we’ll be covering the biggest stories of the day in depth,” says Vargas. “I think at 6 p.m. Many people already know the headlines of what happened. So we get into the very biggest stories, and later in the show — like in the last 20 minutes of the show — maybe [feature] two big stories that affect everyone across the country and may not be in the headlines that day, but are incredibly important to people everywhere.”

“Viewers are hungry for fact-based news that speaks to all of America, and we want to deliver that,” said Michael Corn, president of NewsNation.

The news anchor also hopes to get news interviews, leaning on her decades of experience — and a promise to be honest — of booking guests.

“You know, if someone comes on my show, they’re not going to be able to spew disinformation unchallenged,” she says. “But I’m not here to elevate or downplay anyone’s point of view or political opinion either.”

The old veteran of ABC news is the latest journalist to join NewsNation, the (relatively) new cable news from local TV giant Nexstar. Vargas joins other TV news veterans like Chris Cuomo (CNN, ABC News), Dan Abrams (MSNBC, ABC News), Leland Vittert (Fox News) and Ashleigh Banfield (MSNBC, CNN) in the NewsNation lineup.

“With decades of experience, Elizabeth’s credibility, fearlessness and intelligence are an increasingly rare combination in this industry,” says Corn. “She’s dynamite in the anchor seat and we expect viewers to be in for a real treat.”

And like many of those other shows, Vargas’ schedule will lean on the stories that competitors like Fox News, CNN and MSNBC say are being ignored. While former President Donald Trump is expected to be booked this week, there will still be big news to report.

“I just think there are a lot of stories out there that — and I include myself because I currently live in New York City — that those of us on the beltway sometimes get caught up in some sort of all politics of what’s going on, and those stories are important,” Vargas said. “Don’t get me wrong, you know, we’re in the middle of a presidential election cycle. And a historic one with a possible indictment for the first time ever against a former president of the United States [this interview was conducted before Donald Trump’s indictment]. This is historic. But there are other stories that are really important to people across the country that I don’t think get covered on the evening news.

Vargas cites the mental health crisis that millions of families are going through, or the borderline crisis that she says has only recently received attention from other evening news outlets.

“For a long time we were the only network with reporters on the ground in eastern Palestine [Ohio] when the train derailed, so I think there are a lot of issues and stories in the heart of this country that are really important and sometimes don’t get much attention on the evening news,” she added.

Indeed, Vargas, like her NewsNation colleagues, plans to make use of what she calls the station’s “secret weapon”: the journalists who work at Nexstar’s 200 local TV stations across the country.

“That’s huge, huge, because when that train derailed, we had a local reporter who was really close to the crime scene and got there really quickly and could give us the local angle,” she says. “Networks can’t afford to put correspondents in every city in every city across the country and pay them to sit there and wait for something to happen.”

But it will also be an uphill battle. Cable news viewers are a habit, and it’s hard to get them to switch channels or bring in a non-news viewer.

“Do we understand that this is a huge task to launch a brand new network? Absolutely,” says Vargas, adding that she and her team read the dismissive clippings from the CNN and Fox News launches to inspire them.

“The chance to build a show from scratch and a brand new network that runs 24/7. That almost never happens in a few weeks. The last time that happened was when Roger Ailes built Fox News, and years before that when Ted Turner built CNN,” says Vargas. “And, you know, those were some really tough early years for those networks, as they struggled to gain a foothold and find an audience. But I always remember thinking that must have been so exciting, to build something from scratch.

But first comes building trust.

“This is not a show with a good or bad history. It’s a brand new show on a brand new network,” said Vargas. “But we’re going to gain that trust and slowly earn that audience night by night by taking it night in, night out by doing an honest and full and in-depth analysis of what’s happening.”