NewsNation hires Dallas reporter for D.C. job

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Following the appointment of its Washington bureau chief, Nexstar Media Group has made another key hire for its cable news venture NewsNation.

Allison Harris from Fox owned KDFW in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, will join the struggling news venture as a political correspondent based in the district.

Harris also worked for a variety of stations across the midwest. She is married to NBC News correspondent Garrett Haake.

NewsNation was previously known as WGN America and carried a variety of syndicated programming. Nexstar acquired it as part of its purchase of Tribune’s broadcasting assets and launched a three hour primetime newscast under the name “NewsNation” in 2020.

The network dropped the NewsNation name March 1, 2021, adopting the former name of the newscast, which became known as “NewsNation Prime.”

At the time, the network also shuffled some anchors and launched new programming. Nexstar bosses say that more news is coming — most likely a morning show is up next.

The network’s newscasts have never made a splash in the ratings — with some ratings coming in so low they don’t even register on the ratings system Nielsen uses.

Nexstar also heavily bills the network as offering “bias free” reporting — a fact noted in the press release announcing Harris’ hire — but has come under fire for its hiring of Bill Shine, a former Donald Trump staffer and head of Fox’s right leaning commentary channel, as a consulant.

The company doubled down on its commitment to bias, even as staffers feared the new programming lineup would bring more opinion into the news.

Jennifer Lyons, who was VP of news, quit in March 2021, following the departure of the network’s news director and managing editor.

No official reason was given for these resignations, but insiders told multiple sources the trio were frustrated with the network’s increasingly biased viewpoints.