NewsNation Media Bias

NewsNation's bias is Center.

Note: AllSides rates online, written content only, not broadcast content.

Feb. 2022 Independent Review Finds NewsNation has Center Bias
Alleged Accusations of Right Bias
About NewsNation
Who Owns and Funds NewsNation

Feb. 2022 Independent Review Finds NewsNation has Center Bias

AllSides rated NewsNation Center following a Feb. 2022 independent review by AllSides editors.

Overall, we found little evidence that NewsNation's bias pushed more to the left or the right overall. The team found:

Some crime stories could be seen as emotionalist clickbait, such as Watch: Driver assaults, drags mother of 2 with car, Child's body found in freezer, mom's boyfriend arrested.
Stories about the border issue involved investigative reporters who reported on the ground. NewsNation focused equally on the experience of local sheriffs and the stories of people trying to leave Mexico.
NewsNation reposts many Associated Press stories, a source which AllSides at the time rated Lean Left. An example of this is the story Abortion ruling eliminates hurdles for Colombian women, which reflects a left-wing view on abortion.
Some story choices could be seen as appealing more to the left, such as the story of web designer denying a gay couple services, a story about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "clapping back" at Tucker Carlson, and a story about school board members getting death threats over critical race theory and mask mandates.
A story about a U.S. trucker convoy story was balanced.

Alleged Accusations of Right Bias

Note: This section describes third-party accusations and reports of bias. Third-party accusations do not factor into AllSides Media Bias Ratings™.

In March 2021, Variety reported on "conservative bias concerns" at NewsNation. Variety did not attribute the concerns to an on-the-record source, pointing only to staff departures and the fact that Fox News executive Bill Shine is a consultant to NewsNation but has no formal role at the company. Variety pointed to a New York Times article that also asserted there were "staff complaints of a right-wing tilt and concern over the involvement of the former Fox News chief Bill Shine." This was allegedly according to anonymous inside sources: "Six people at the network, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal discussions, said “NewsNation” has increasingly become a venue for right-wing views," New York Times said. The NYT article also says there were "staff complaints of a right-wing tilt and concern over the involvement of the former Fox News chief Bill Shine."

The Variety article cites sources familiar with internal meetings and says Nexstar chairman-CEO Perry Sook "told staffers that the goal from the start was to produce a telecast that reflects centrist views. As such, NewsNation would naturally lean more to the right than other mainstream news outlets because, in Sook’s view, the political perspectives of journalists in most newsrooms lean to the left."

Variety further stated, "Another source at NewsNation blasted the criticism, arguing that there was no movement from the pledge to offer down-the-middle news headlines outside of shows specifically designed for more opinion and commentary."

About NewsNation

NewsNation was formerly known as Superstation WGN and WGN America. On March 1, 2021, the channel was relaunched from WGN America to NewsNation with expanded programming.

According to a press release, as of Jan. 2021, WGN was reaching 75 million U.S. television households.

NewsNation bills itself as unbiased. During the launch of NewsNation, Sean Compton, Nexstar Inc.’s Networks Division President, said, “Rebranding WGN America as NewsNation underscores the network’s clearly defined mission of delivering fact-based and unbiased news, while making it easier for viewers to find this new informative source for news."