The fourth Republican presidential debate is tonight. It could be a big night for candidates Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy.

But it’s definitely a big night for NewsNation, the relatively new network hosting the event. NewsNation is trying to elbow its way for a spot among the big cable news guys — CNN, Fox News and MSNBC — and tonight it gets a chance to get in front of more eyes than it ever has before.

On the surface, NewsNation likes to position itself as more of a down-the-middle news network. NewsNation political editor Chris Stirewalt suggested as much to me during an interview this week.

Talking about the cable news landscape, Stirewalt told me, “There is a market for aspirationally fair and, dare I say, fair and balanced news coverage in this world. It’s the underserved part of the market. And it’s a harder way to get there. Trying to be fair. Trying to present a balanced view of the world is a harder way than just flattering people and reinforcing their existing prejudices and biases. But it’s worth doing because it’s good for the country. And it’s worth doing because it’s a lot more vocationally satisfying to do. It feels better, it’s more enjoyable. It’s more sustainable in a lot of ways.”

But, as Associated Press media reporter David Bauder noted, NewsNation doesn’t straddle the line so much as it leans a little right. Bauder wrote, “Critics, like the liberal media watchdog Media Matters, suggest NewsNation leans more right than down the middle. A Daily Beast writer who watched the network for a week this fall, Joe Berkowitz, had a similar view, writing that ‘left-leaning voices are heard on NewsNation rarely, briefly and cursorily — as if to tick a box.’”

Stirewalt came from Fox News, as did consultant Bill Shine and Cherie Grzech, NewsNation’s senior vice president of news and politics.

As far as viewers, Bauder writes, “Ratings suggest it’s still looking for an audience — and has a way to go. NewsNation averaged 99,000 viewers in prime time in November, compared to Fox News Channel’s 1.73 million, MSNBC’s 1.14 million, CNN’s 540,000 and Newsmax’s 207,000, the Nielsen company said.”

Let’s say, just for a moment, that NewsNation is more centrist than anything else. I asked Stirewalt if consumers really do want a down-the-middle cable news network. They might say they do, but when it comes to viewing habits, don’t they retreat to their corners? Do they really want straight news?

For example, take Shepard Smith, a well-respected journalist who left Fox News back in 2019 because he didn’t like what Fox News’ prime-time stars were saying.

“Opine all you like, but if you’re going to opine, begin with the truth and opine from there,” Smith told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour a few months after he left Fox News. “When people begin with a false premise and lead people astray, that’s injurious to society and it’s the antithesis of what we should be doing: Those of us who are so honored and grateful to have a platform of public influence have to use it for the public good.”

So Smith went to CNBC to anchor a straightforward newscast — a newscast that was quite good. And no one watched. After two years, and an average audience of around 222,000, the show was canceled.

NewsNation, meanwhile, has some recognizable names, including former CNN hosts Chris Cuomo and Ashleigh Banfield, Dan Abrams, and anchor Elizabeth Vargas, who will co-moderate tonight’s debate.

But despite the notable names, tonight’s debate could be a pivotal moment for the fledgling network, as it’s likely to have its biggest audience. It took over for the old WGN America network in late 2020 and has been trying to carve out its place since then. Stirewalt said tonight is a chance for the network to show audiences the hard work it has put in to prove it’s a network worth watching.

“We understand that (this debate) is important for the country,” Stirewalt said. “It’s important for voters. It’s important for these candidates. But it’s also our chance to introduce ourselves to a wider audience. And we feel pretty good about that.”

For NewsNation, it could be as simple as letting people know it exists.

Variety’s Brian Steinberg writes, “The debate could lend NewsNation a boost in time for a business opportunity. All the cable-news outlets are expected to see subscribers decline in 2024, according to projections from Kagan, a market-research firm that is part of S&P Global Intelligence. But the run-up to next year’s presidential election is seen bringing new ad dollars. NewsNation’s subscriber base is seen falling to 62.6 million next year, according to Kagan, compared to a projection of 67.5 million for 2023. Ad dollars, however, are estimated to reach $74.8 million next year, compared with $73.9 million this year.”

As far as the debate, Vargas will moderate, along with former Fox News and NBC News personality Megyn Kelly and Eliana Johnson from the conservative Washington Free Beacon.

Washington Post Guild announces first work stoppage in 50 years

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague, Angela Fu.

At least 750 Washington Post employees will walk off the job Thursday after the paper’s union accused the company of violating federal labor law.

The strike, which is scheduled to last 24 hours, will be the first work stoppage at the Post since the 1970s, union leaders said at a press conference Tuesday. They said the company has broken labor law by refusing to bargain with the union in good faith; the two sides have been negotiating a new contract for 18 months.

“Part of the reason that we are demanding that the company come back to the table and bargain with us fairly is over issues like our inadequate wages or their inadequate wage offer,” guild chief steward and science reporter Sarah Kaplan said. “But it’s bigger than that. Really, it’s about this pattern of behavior at the Post.”

Several teams — including metro, investigations, health, design and social media — have had 100% of their members pledge to walk out, the union said. Workers on the commercial side and at the Post’s printing plant will also strike. The union is asking readers not to click on links to Post stories for the duration of the strike.

The walkout comes as the Post undergoes buyouts to avoid layoffs. The company announced in October that it was seeking to reduce its headcount by 240. Last week, however, top executives told staff that they were short of their goal and that the company would implement layoffs if not enough people accept buyouts before the mid-December deadline.

Poynter will have more coverage of the strike Thursday.

A special report

I want to call special attention to this piece co-published and produced by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and PBS’s “Frontline.” It’s Lomi Kriel, Lexi Churchill and Jinitzail Hernández with  “Someone Tell Me What To Do.” Using new analysis, it looks back at the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

I encourage you to read it, so I don’t want to give away too much, but this is how it starts:

The children hid. They dropped to the floor, crouching under desks and countertops, far from the windows. They lined up against the walls, avoiding the elementary school doors that separated them from a mass shooter about a decade older than them. Some held up the blunted scissors that they often used to cut shapes as they prepared to fight. A few grabbed bloodied phones and dialed 911. And as students across the country have been instructed for years, they remained quiet, impossibly quiet. At times, they hushed classmates who screamed in agony from the bullets that tore through their small bodies.

Then, they waited. Waited for the adults, whom they could hear in the hallway. If they were just patient, those adults would save them.

We, sadly, know that many were not saved that day. And the thought of children holding up little scissors to protect themselves is heartbreaking.

The “Frontline” episode about this debuted Tuesday night and should be available online today at the “Frontline” website.

One more …

I also want to highlight another particularly strong piece of journalism that reviewed five years’ worth of public documents to examine how federal officers and their task forces use deadly force.

It’s NBC News’ Simone Weichselbaum, Hannah Rappleye, Adiel Kaplan, Alexandra Chaidez and Jean Lee with “Defying presidents and Congress, the ATF, DEA, FBI and U.S. Marshals shroud their shootings in secrecy.”

The piece states, “Congress and a string of presidents for nearly 30 years have been pushing federal law enforcement to reform and become more transparent. But those four agencies overseen by the Justice Department, among the most prestigious in the country, have been slow to adopt reforms long embraced by big-city police departments, such as the use of body cameras and the release of comprehensive use-of-force data.”

Changes at Telemundo

NBC Universal News Group announced a big change at the top of Telemundo on Tuesday. Luis Fernández will take over as chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. He replaces Beau Ferrari, who will move into a senior advisory role under Cesar Conde, chairman of NBCUniversal News Group.

For Fernández, it’s a return to the company. He’s the former president of Noticias Telemundo — the news division of Telemundo. Fernández has a long and distinguished career in Spanish-language media, including CEO of Radio Television Espanola, Spain’s state-owned public radio and television corporation. He also was president of Univision Entertainment and Univision Studios.

In a statement, Conde said, “Throughout his extraordinary career, Luis has time and again shown visionary leadership, building and growing the most successful Spanish language media organizations in the United States and overseas. At this moment in Telemundo’s storied history, we are so fortunate to have someone of Luis’s experience and stature to rejoin our team and excited about what the future holds for Telemundo and its audiences under his leadership.”

Trump’s rant

Donald Trump, speaking at an event last weekend in Iowa. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney)

Earlier this week, the anti-Donald Trump advocacy group, The Lincoln Project, put out a video of Trump’s various verbal blunders and slurring speech. The point The Lincoln Project was claiming was that Joe Biden is more fit — mentally and physically — than Trump.

That sent the former president off on a rant on his Truth Social. Trump wrote, “The perverts and losers at the failed and once disbanded Lincoln Project, and others, are using A.I.(Artificial Intelligence) in their Fake television commercials in order to make me look as bad and pathetic as Crooked Joe Biden, not an easy thing to do. FoxNews shouldn’t run these ads, just as low ratings CNN & MSDNC will not, under any circumstances, run negative ads on Biden or the Democrats. They are, after all, in-kind campaign contributors to the Dems!”

Forbes senior contributor Matt Novak wrote, “The only problem? There’s no evidence the Lincoln Project’s ad uses anything but authentic footage of Trump.”

Media tidbits

• CNN announced a couple of Republican presidential town halls for next week. On Dec. 12, CNN’s Jake Tapper will host a town hall with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 9 p.m. Eastern. On Dec. 13, CNN’s Abby Phillip will host a town hall with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. That also will air at 9 p.m. Eastern. Both town halls will be from Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, and will air on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español and CNN Max.
• Vanity Fair’s Charlotte Klein with “How Jessica Lessin’s The Information Has Survived a Decade of Media Tumult.”
• Semafor’s Max Tani with “Politico owner warns of ‘non-democratic’ governments buying the Telegraph.”
• For The Orange County Register, longtime journalist Bob Rawitch with this opinion piece as the California legislature considers the California Journalism Preservation Act next year: “The decline of local print newspapers is a blow to our democracy.”
• ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith tells Outkick’s Clay Travis that he deserves to be the network’s highest-paid talent. Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy has the details.
• Speaking of ESPN, “Pardon the Interruption” co-host Tony Kornheiser was back in the studio for the first time since 2020. He had been doing the show remotely from home since the pandemic. Awful Announcing’s Chris Novak has the story.
• Variety’s Brian Steinberg with “Nickelodeon Taps SpongeBob, Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks to Help Call Super Bowl LVIII.”
• My Poynter colleague Angela Fu with news from Pittsburgh: “NewsGuild settles suit from former member.”

Hot type

• For The New York Times Magazine, Sarah Viren with “Podcasters Took Up Her Sister’s Murder Investigation. Then They Turned on Her.”
• The Ringer’s Miles Surrey with “The Best TV Shows of 2023.” And I wholeheartedly agree with the top choice.
• Another top 10 list from The Ringer. It’s Adam Nayman with “The Best Movies of 2023.”

One more thing

Finally, a personal note. The Poynter Institute is a nonprofit organization, and we are funded by donations, grants and income from journalist training — the last of which is affected by the budget difficulties facing many news organizations. If you like this newsletter, and the stories about the media industry and insights from industry experts you find on Poynter, your donation will help us continue to do that work for our readers. As you plan your year-end giving, know that even small donations make a big difference. Thanks for your support.

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