Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
“I’m an old shoe leather reporter,” Leland Vittert said recently. Vittert is NewsNation’s Chief Washington anchor and host of, On Balance, who will be anchoring the station’s Presidential election coverage.
It’s an exciting time to be at the station as the 2024 election will be the first Presidential election since becoming a 24/7 cable news network and fortunately it’s not his first election. “I ended up with an internship in radio between my junior year of high school and my senior year of high school, which was the summer of 2000, so, this is my seventh presidential cycle,” he said.
While the names have changed since his first election, Vittert noted there are still some similarities. “What I think is so amazing is 2000 was Bush v Gore and all we could talk about was how divided America was, how this is the most contentious election we’ve ever had, how the stakes are so high, the direction of the country is at stake,” he recalled. “And it’s been the exact same theme about every election since then.”
One thing Vittert believes is increasing every year is the tension. “There’s no question that every year the vitriol has increased and the focus on the themes in fields rather than policies. Increasingly, policy has mattered less in every single election.”
He went on to say, “I think since 2000 the culture war and the vibe war, and the feeling war has mattered more and more over the past seven cycles. It is only ratcheted up in the meaningful discourse over the direction of our country has mattered less and less.”
The station is the only major news outlet who will be using an outside company to report on calling the race. They have partnered with Decision Desk HQ to call the electoral college races. “This is the first time I’ve gotten to work really intimately with the decision desk. Scott Tranter, who is the head of data science there is the best in the world. The resources that Decision Desk has, which are sort of far vaster than any other individual network ever employs, is pretty remarkable.”
Vittert said another reason he is looking forward to working with Decision Desk is that “They have one mission, one mission only, which is to get it right and to get it right as quickly as they can.”
Vittert believes this is key to the station’s journalistic integrity. “The fact that we’re going to be able to get race calls that are completely irrespective of any influence from any management, I think, is completely unique to NewsNation.”
He went on to say, “For a network that’s committed itself to being balanced and fair, the idea that we’re taking out any influence from talent or from management or from the campaigns over when race calls are made, especially after 2020, really shows our commitment to a news product that’s better and separate than anybody else’s.”
While speaking with voters, Vittert noticed one of the biggest things motivating them this year was, “The economy, the economy and the economy. I think you will lose sight, in Washington and other places, of how focused people are on a day-to-day life.”
A second major issue on a lot of voters’ minds he said is fentanyl. “Fentanyl was an enormous issue. We talked to, of all people, a sheriff whose son overdosed on fentanyl and died. I mean, you think about it, if it can kill the sheriff’s son, it can kill literally anybody.”
Although this seems to be a major voting block Vittert found it interesting that, “In the two presidential debates and the vice-presidential debate, there was not one question about fentanyl. And this is something that’s for swing voters, for rural, mostly white working-class voters that are going to decide this election. What they tell me is it is the number two issue for them and oftentimes the number one issue because their kids are at risk of dying from fentanyl and it isn’t discussed.”
The station invested heavily this year in swing states, including broadcasting several senate debates. “The Senate debate in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada, all of which very well could decide the balance of power in the Senate, will have been on NewsNation, so simulcast by our Nexstar stations. I went to Pennsylvania and did the Senate race out there. Also, Nevada for the debate there. Our investment in being in the swing states and telling the stories that are most important to the voters there rather than the storylines that are most important in Washington, I think is very different.”
The former Fox News Anchor noted one of the more interesting parts of this year’s election is how voters are starting to diverge on not race but social class. “In Nevada and one of the things we’re going to be focused on there is the Latino vote. We also have a Latino vote in Pennsylvania that is now breaking towards Donald Trump or at least breaking in larger numbers than it has in the past towards Donald Trump over the immigration issue.
“You see that also with the African American vote. As you go talk to African American communities, which I think we’re all learning is no longer a monolithic vote, they often talk to you about immigration as one of their key issues.”
Another part of the effort NewsNation is putting toward neutral reporting and journalism is their ‘Driving the Vote’ segment with Senior National Correspondent Brian Entin. The first of the series dropped Sunday, October 20. The outlet is planning on releasing more segments daily through election day.
Vittert’s advice for those look to follow in his ‘shoe leathered’ journalistic footsteps is to “Always say yes, because that’s how you get opportunities. Right? Now more than ever does the marketplace demand really objective journalism and people are seeking that out.”
He added, “Never before in America has there been a greater need for journalism because the trust in media is now at an all-time low. If you’re really committed to aggressively covering both sides and to not giving in to groupthink and to not giving in to conventional wisdom in Washington to understand that Washington is 64 square miles surrounded by reality. Then there’s an enormous opportunity because the marketplace is demanding.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
