The exodus at NewsNation continued Tuesday with the resignation of Jennifer Lyons, vice president of news, who helped launch the struggling cable network, reports The Chicago Tribune.
Lyons, the former news director at WGN-Ch. 9 who was promoted last year to oversee the transformation of WGN America into a prime-time cable news operation, told Dallas-based owner Nexstar Media Group of her decision Tuesday.
“We thank her for her efforts in spearheading the launch of NewsNation and we wish her success in whatever she does next,” Nexstar spokesman Gary Weitman said in an email.
Lyons is the latest and highest-profile news executive to resign at NewsNation, which launched in September as a nightly newscast that pledged to deliver unbiased reporting, looking to lure viewers away from cable news giants CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. It has failed to deliver on both counts, with low ratings and growing criticism that its programming is drifting to the right of the political spectrum.
Last month, Sandy Pudar, another WGN-TV newsroom veteran, abruptly resigned as news director at NewsNation — one day after it was revealed in news reports that former Fox News executive and Trump White House director of communications Bill Shine had signed on as a consultant to NewsNation.
NewsNation managing editor Richard Maginn resigned last week.
The loss of Lyons, a respected Chicago TV news veteran who recruited the air talent and assembled 150 newsroom staffers at NewsNation, and coordinated the network’s launch, will leave a major hole to fill.
NewsNation reaches 75 million homes. After six months as a cable news network, it has barely made a dent in the ratings.
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