[assistant] shes there. [floor director] once you do your first hit for the bar testimony, well bring you over here. [director] can i see 44 please . Rob, good. Thank you. 46 at the weather wall, lovely, watch shading on 46. News nation is all about news. Absent of bias, absent of opinion. [director] were two and a half minutes away from air after i cut off youll be on 42. Youre gonna come out to a three shot after i cut off a 44, robs going to the main desk. [jennifer] i think we are so right now, hyper focused on politics. Theres so much other news out there on a daily basis. [director] okay, stand negovan by. Joe, can you hear me . [joe] ive had several people say to me already. This show is exactly what ive been looking for. I dont want someone to tell me how i think. Tell me the news. [director] turn the lights down in the weather center, please. Whos in the background there. Whos walking around. Theres a Million People at the weather wall. Get the people out of there. [rob] the hard part is behind the scenes. We do the light lifting. The people you dont see do the heavy lifting. [director] were all good, one minute to air. [rob] the viewers should know that and on air people should remember. 45. [director] okay, she knows shes coming out to camera 43. Joe knows hes coming out to 42. Okay, 30 seconds. I hope that they feel its trustworthy. I hope that they feel its entertaining. We are going to deliver the news without the bias. All right team, lets rock and roll. Have a good show in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, ready camera 43, three, two, one, fade up 43 music. [marni] good evening, i am [director] ready 42. plane engine roaring bright upbeat music [sean] the building of news nation for me starts in october of last year we first presented the idea. So we called it project neutral. And the reason we call it a project neutral was because were so sick and tired of the polarization of news. News should not be polarizing. I approached our chairman and ceo, perry sook about using the assets of our newsrooms. When nexstar said they were buying tribune, we were gonna put together 110 newsrooms, 5,400 reporters, bunch of helicopters, satellite trucks. And it made sense to figure out what to do next, utilizing the strengths of all those assets. About three or four weeks after that meeting, im sitting in my office and jen lyons, whos one of the most accomplished local news directors in television was in my office and she said hey, youre in charge of wgn america. You know what you really should do . You should do a newscast in prime time, a National Newscast thats unbiased. I actually had planned on approaching jen about the position anyway, and she made it real easy for me. A couple of weeks later here i am. Im working for wgn america because we kinda had the same thought. bright upbeat music [sandy] weve fallen into the trap of taking a big story and everyone having an opinion on it. Everyones shouting everyone talking about issues, but not really understanding the issue. It became inherently clear as i would watch the Cable News Networks to try and find out what was going on. I couldnt find out what was going on. They kind of abandoned news a long time ago. When you look at the other cable news channels. And thats what led me to say, there needs to be a National Newscast because theres not enough information. Its only centered on dc and politics. [sean] theres a lot that happens in the middle of the country and were gonna be able to fill that void. Its so funny because when we set out to do this project, so many people were like, how are you gonna do that . And its simple. This is what we learned in school. In my journalism class, we were trained a certain way and that was to report facts without bias. This is what journalism is supposed to be. And this is what local journalism, local newsrooms do right now. Theyre not telling people how to think. Its the Cable Network model that were not going to do. It hasnt been done in a long time and it has not been done to this scale. So we announced in january, january 15th, that we were going to do this project. I flew to new york, i flew to dc. We kind of started getting everything to go. And then boom. The pandemic hit right as we were hitting the gas on this thing. And it brought everything to a screeching halt, but we had to keep going. We had a deadline, we knew we were gonna put this on the air. clock ticking does anyone have a fever, cough, or shortness of breath . Have you come in contact with anyone known to have covid19 . In the last 14 days have you traveled to a normal free hotspot. 98. 4 99. 1 97. 8. This is the bramco safe orientation, workers must comply with all osha regulations. Hard hats, safety glasses, long sleeve shirt, long pants, and work boots required at all times. Now with coronavirus going around dont wander anywhere you dont need to be within the building. Be exactly at the news studio. Started the project second week of march, we were here a couple of weeks and thats when the covid19 really hit hard. Covid19 was such a curve ball. And as we were planning to build this newsroom, it became suddenly urgent. upbeat music [gary] we left for a week between nexstar wgn bramco we all tried to figure out the next step. How do we get the work done . How do we keep people safe . There was some very good protocol put together. Face masks became mandatory. The wristbands are for answering the questions properly. Not long after we got that started, they brought in the temperature checks. We staggered start time so that everybody wasnt coming in at the same time, wed have crews starting at six, seven, eight oclock so that it gave people an opportunity to get through the protocol and get to work and be productive. And in a strange way it was nice to be able to hire so many people when so many people were losing jobs. bright upbeat music with all the cancellations, from all the concerts, plays, everything else. The stagehands were not in a good spot. And this put a lot of guys to work for quite some time. bright upbeat music it actually felt good that we were in the hiring phase. We had construction when everyone else was in shutdown mode. It slowed us down a little bit, but we were able to stay on course. The schedule was extremely tight. And when we got involved in the project, they had a rough idea of what they wanted here, but we didnt have drawings for what were gonna build. But the demolition got started. [jennifer] a small team at channel 9 got together. And we kind of sketched one out. [sandy] we sat in a room with the construction crews, with the designers, with the musicians, with the graphic artists. And it was just a very open ended up conversation. And within a few weeks they came back with drawings. And we have these six screens here, which can go to every city in america that were covering or wherever the top story is. [sandy] the set is modern. Its clean. It has beautiful technology. Time zones up here. We digitize those. Its really something ive never seen before. We kinda came up with a small version of it and then we put it on steroids basically when we took it to the set designer. [sandy] i think itll just help our storytelling and just showing the beauty of our country. And we can really make it as big as we can imagine. When you come in, theres gonna be all these monitors. And so ill just walk you through the show. So you guys have in your head, what were gonna do. Now, well be like, good evening. Theres a pandemic. And in st. Louis, theyre worried about school. [dave harpe] jen is currently showing our director what we got going on with the overall set. The nicer the home, the kind of the better experience there may be. And then those monitors. So at the end of weve got more news nation coming up. And were saying that the monitor slowly are all automated and go flat. bright upbeat music early in april, we had construction documents to go ahead and start the process of building the set. bright upbeat music but even at that point, there were still things that we didnt know. If there is a way to be able to, recess is not the word, but maybe can those drop down any further than that . [jen] its too high. Its at 32 inches. [jen] that feels fine. [sean] we have a lot of working space in here that we can do. I think it looks okay, right dont you think . Election night, breaking news coverage, weather events. This is a very versatile set. This is the main two shot. Skylines behind it. If we were to add the meteorologist and the breaking news anchor, where would they go . Youre real tight to your two guests. If you come off of them, its a better looking shot, if youre working with three cameras, you can do a four shot, a single, a single or a two. So my only thought is on Election Night, where is panelists are gonna be and how we going to produce Election Night with a couple of other people on the set. People dont watch it as set. They watch the content, but the set is the living room. Its not about how beautiful and glamorous the house is its the company that theyre with. I can tell you that ive never built Something Like this before all over zoom. [sandy] i think we only met four people in person that we hired before covid19 shut everything down. We did zoom call after zoom call after zoom call to try and find the right people. And its kind of amazing. I never thought we could do it. And so suddenly i was hiring our news anchors. Sight unseen they never met me in person. They never came to our building. We didnt wanna look for anchors that were branded with any specific network. We wanted to look for a team that had done a lot of local news. bright upbeat music i approached them laughs . I heard news nation was happening and i wanted to be part of it. bright upbeat music i saw right up on one of the websites that covers tv news. Told my agent, sniff around, see what these folks in chicago are up to. bright upbeat music i was interested in this project from the jump. I went to sandy and jen and said, i dont know what youre looking for, or where you are in this process, but im interested. Usually you have people come in and sit on set next to the person that youre trying to fill. And usually youre trying to fill one hole, not an entire cast. What are your favorite gestures when youre doing the forecast . Im a big fan of the warm air from the south. We got on zoom with albert and within 10 minutes, jennifer offered him a plane ticket to come and fly to chicago. And i just remember laughing. I just thought, well, thats blown our whole. It was a email from Jennifer Lyons on a wednesday, a zoom call on a thursday. And the next monday i was here in chicago interviewing and then a week after that, it was signing paperwork. [sandy] we basically hired him within four days of meeting him. And i think all he does is watches the weather. We went out, did marni tell you about dinner the other night . A handful of us went out for dinner the other night and albert and gerard, our two meteorologists were with us. And you could tell the clouds were gathering and these two were on their phones on the radar. And the waiter brought our food. And albert said, you might wanna move us under some cover. The rains coming. And the waiter said, how long do we have . And albert said, 12 minutes. And 12 minutes later here came the rain. People can smell when something is forced or phony or an act, or youre just turning it on because the cameras are on. When its real and genuine and organic, i think that that comes across. We are passionate about what we do. Were dedicated to our mission and were gonna have some fun along the way. Every one up on that desk is a seasoned, professional. Were also all, i think good people who take the job seriously, but also know when to have fun and again, to be authentic and relatable and human. [marni] what is your go to dance moves . Oh, marni, well played. [indistinct] [sandy] there were so many people who are interested and the amount of resumes we got was insane. And sandy, the news director to show you the power of National Exposure said, i have to admit im fan girling a little bit right now, because i was a morning ap when you were doing that overnight show. And i thought you were great on that show. [sean] rob nelson is one of new yorks best. And we were excited that he wanted to move to chicago. The offer came in march, contract signed in april and here we sit. Ladies and gentlemen, rob nelson crowd cheering drowns out the speaker [sandy] it took a leap of faith and said, yes. And so we started hiring over the computer and it was extraordinary. And some of our people that have come producers and talent, theyve never been to chicago before. And i said, trust us. Were gonna do it. I left seattle after eight years on the evening news. Born and raised in southern new jersey. I was born, i was raised in texas, my entire career in texas. [marni] for me, it was a leap of faith to leave a job. And people that i loved. Marni hughes is very popular in seattle, but shes worked in fort wayne and shes worked in other midwest markets. I grew up in small town america. And i think that has prepared me for what were doing with news nation and who we wanna reach. [sandy] we were picturing her with joe and we hadnt even hired joe yet. [sean] joe donlon came from the Pacific Northwest and worked in chicago. I knew jen and sandy. They had hired me in chicago. I trusted them. And i knew that if anyone could do this, its the two of them. And i said, if im lucky enough to get this opportunity, i am all in. Sign in sheet is going around somewhere. Make sure you signed in. And again, so i know who not to yell at. Starting on the three week, i think Everybody Knows were just about wrapped up in studio three. Second floor news room, overhead roughins, are moving forward. I requested the sprinkler guy to be here tomorrow. I coordinate, right . And so i dont necessarily know everything about everything. And im the first to admit that, but i ask the right questions. I get the right information. And we pass that information to the proper people. bright upbeat music they used to joke that i produced by committee. I would talk to everyone about it. And then we would bubble up to the top. What was the story of the day . Were doing political stories, but were not super political. Thats how i am. I like everyone else to, im generally the person that will say, well, what do you think . And i hear them out because i wanna hear what other people say, because im not the smartest person in the room. bright upbeat music i really enjoyed a job like this because it was pushing the envelope of what i do. It pushed me to investigate and learn. And its what makes it interesting. bright upbeat music [dave] now if youd have told me, at that meeting that we would be seriously talking about structural reinforcements to the 1960s buildings, to support set, i probably would have started drinking. A lot of times when we take jobs, people before us laid those roads and your job is to improve it. Dont screw it up. [jennifer] everyone, this is our temporary newsroom. Were committed on building this out. And i want this to be a project, a broadcast, a newscast that youre proud of every day. And youre proud to say you come to work here and that we are true to our mission. And you can say that we really accomplished something that nobody else has done. And that is to put news on the way the news used to be done, which was absent bias and just the facts. So again, congratulations on being part of the first wave to hit the beaches at normandy here, ill be back a couple of times in august when were into rehearsals. [sean] its a lot of work. Its not like just coming to work at a tv station and taking over the newsroom. Jen has had to build something from scratch. bright upbeat music the construction has been unbelievable. The pace at which theyre able to work. Sometimes three shifts a day. So 24 hours a day, it has gone up quicker than i could have ever imagined. bright upbeat music and its exceptional. The craftsmanship has been just beautiful. bright upbeat music were gonna start having the editorial meetings every day. Were gonna pretend like its the real deal. And were going to discuss the ideas, discuss what we need to get, how are we going to make it fact driven and not opinion driven and making sure were getting all sides of the story. Not just the side that we think we should have. This therell be healthy discussions. Everybodys opinion counts. We wont discount anyone, well just have the discussion. So speak up. So here we go. And richards going to run this. So go ahead, richard, youre on. This is a bigger meeting than its normally going to be. Im gonna say, because i use only people will be spread out across the day. I think well start with the digital people just to see whats trending and well do the zone producers, talk to their zones. Then well go to the supervising producers, and anybody else can jump in and well go from there. So digital, what do we got, anything . Its snow in wyoming . Yeah, thats number one post i think we will get the benefit of a lot of hard work at the local level. All of these nexstar stations, more than 100 of them and 5,400 journalists are working hard every day to create this interesting content. And what were doing, is sort of observing from 30,000 feet, all of this content across the country. gentle music you ever heard of Lake Oroville . No. Its too bad, you should have. Sometime in early 2017, after trump had gotten in, i saw the ratings in sacramento going through the roof. I couldnt figure out why. So i called the general manager. She told me, well, Lake Oroville is why were wall to wall coverage. If this dam breaks, thousands of homes are gonna be lost. Billions of dollars in destruction. People are gonna die. I said, how come ive never heard of it . Cause they were too busy covering the first four weeks of the trump administration. Thats why. I think if the tv industry has succeeded in making two phrases meaningless at this point, breaking news and exclusive, they slapped that graphic and that label on everything. Our responsibility is to communicate, to report the facts and to listen very closely to whats happening so that you at home can understand whats unfolding right before your eyes. Ive heard people ask, is there room for you in this center lane . And i would argue theres plenty of room because were really the only ones in it. [marni] but at the end of the day, if you watch our newscast and you agree with something and you disagree with something, then we have done our jobs because weve told both sides. The question is, will people watch . They say this is what they want. Were about to find out. bright upbeat music its a lot of people working together to gather the news. Theyre making beat calls. Theyre finding out whats going on. Theyre getting information from their sources and the nice thing about nexstar and news nation is that people are working in their community. So the journalists are gathering the news in their community. I wanna look at this as sort of a local newscast for the nation. These arent correspondents who parachute in for a few days and cover the story and then go back to new york, go back to dc, go back to la. These are reporters who know the community. And then we have zone managers and their sole job is to Pay Attention to their zone of the United States and work with our newsrooms. Whats bubbling up in each community. It down, its a more than a one thing. And theres a saying, i learned long ago when i was in journalism school, that if your mother says she loves you, check it out. So one of the things that we looked at was unconscious bias. And we needed to figure out how we can remove it, even down to the word because every word matters we have one priority and thats to deliver you facts without bias. We have people to fact check us. Was it a press conference . Or was it just them literally saying hydroxychloroquine is a cure for the coronavirus . It was kind of we have people who will fact check. Im not in the newsroom, but if i was, theyd be Fact Checking me. Ill give you an example of how this is, it seems really straightforward. But remember the other day, when 150 Health Experts urged the country to shut down . Who are those Health Experts . We are an advocate for the viewer. Our agenda does not matter. So its facts and being right on track with the message and the information. But its also beautifully told stories that people wanna stop and watch. So the news nation app is gonna be a 24 7 digital app. And its very important we have an audio component for people who are jogging or in their car, take a train in a big city. I wanna make sure that you can press listen and get an updated newscast, once an hour, 24 hours a day. bright upbeat music people live busy lives. Theyre constantly on the go. And i know in my own house, were multitasking. So we have to reach people where they are. And then its also, were about entertaining. [sean] well have to use the radio team, but at least theyre radio people. You got a radio cast, the quality audio cast people on the go. Its important folks to know that were there for them seven nights a week. And that includes every holiday. We grab a wonderful weekend team. bright upbeat music they are devoting as many resources to the weekend show as they are to the weekday show. Four different personalities on that show, but theyre gonna develop their own chemistry and their own style. bright upbeat music rudabeh is going down she just doesnt know it yet. Shes a player. Dont let her fool you. Well be live christmas eve, christmas day, new years eve, new years day. Were doing news seven nights a week, 365 days a year. bright upbeat music [rob] were all walking into this as the new kid in class. But heres the thing, the school is new too. bright upbeat music there are people behind the scenes working hours and days and often weeks to produce what you see when you tune into a newscast. bright upbeat music [jen} theres this shot here. This will be as far wide as we can go. Can you ped up again and show the shot where we see the lighting grid . Every detail is important from the video that we shoot, the interviews that we do, the words that we choose, the graphics that are on the screen. So if we take a look at our logo, news nation, very clean, very minimal, but very bold. Those are all people behind the scenes working together to make sure that youre getting the best information. bright upbeat music so theyre really, to me there hasnt been that point where you have to wake up and go, wow, look what weve done. Because every day theres a big changing event. Tonight, therell be rehearsals. Tomorrow night, therell be weekend rehearsals. [joe] weve been proceeding here as if were on the air each night. And so this thing i dont really know, i think itll hit me once its on the air. I think its hitting jen right now. As were in rehearsals, its getting, 15, 16 hour days. Its a grind cause we wanna get it right. Even though we arent on the air, were going through it every day as if we are. [director] stand by, ready, camera 44, ready music. violin music ten, nine, eight, seven. [rob] id say the first year were gonna develop. Were gonna evolve. [director] six, five, four. How it all comes together. Theres a trillion moving pieces to it. [director] three, two, one. Were gonna do what we do. And were gonna focus on our mission and were gonna do the best we can. You got 44 music cue. News nation will be a place people can turn to for news they trust, from people they know. [joe] and look just by virtue of the time were on. We are going to be competing against some of the biggest names in television. I need a pan. And pan some of the biggest networks, they have a big headstart, but thats not gonna keep us from what were doing. I think there is a place for what were doing and im not going to worry about what anyone else is doing. Im gonna worry about what were doing. Good question. It is tuesday, august 4th. Welcome to news nation. bright upbeat music [annoufor superthonics,ng is a paid presentation welcome to news nation. Brought to you by ideal living. Get ready to relieve pain with every step you take. If your feet get achy, tired and sore, its probably because theyre not properly supported. If you suffer with ankle pain, knee pain, hip pain, if you cant get through a day without an aching back, the problem is probably still with your feet. I didnt take care of my feet. They hurt in certain places they got a little swollen. I do have back pain just from being on my feet all day. [announcer] when your feet are out of alignment your entire body is out of alignment and youre in pain. 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