Cable upstart news network NewsNation recently completed an expansion to feature news content for 24 hours each weekday. Cherie Grzech, the network’s Vice President of News and Managing Editor of the outlet, said the move couldn’t have been a bigger priority.
“It was tremendously important,” Grzech told TVNewsCheck’s Talking TV. “Obviously, when a breaking news story happens, the American public wants to go to someplace they can trust and someplace they can get the news immediately. So, when we weren’t able to provide that in the middle of the day, that was a dimension and a milestone we really wanted to hit…it’s really been a great and exciting week for us with that 24/5 move.”
NewsNation launched a revamped midday and early afternoon lineup, and added shows like The Hill, hosted by Leland Vittert, and Elizabeth Vargas Reports. It also debuted new studios in New York in the WPIX building, which Grzech said showcased the network’s investment into becoming a player in the space.
“The studios in New York are absolutely exceptional. I was up there a couple of weeks ago, and to see the video wall that is in Elizabeth Vargas Reports‘ studio, which Cuomo will be in soon, that is just an amazing entity because you’re able to show so many different visual elements at the same time, [whether] graphics to have someone understand the story better or a live shot to take you to the scene.
The numbers, I mean, I think we have over 300 LEDs across the New York studio, and then our control room, if not the biggest, is one of the biggest control rooms in the country in any network setting. It really allows our personnel to see all of the various feeds that are coming in, not only from NewsNation, as we talked about, but from Nexstar, from other entities, so that we can be monitoring what’s happening across the country and bring it to the viewer as quickly as possible in the control room.”
