‘NewsNation Now’ debuts new edition that shows off more of Nexstar’s NYC newsroom studio

Nexstar’s NewsNation launched a new iteration of its dayside “NewsNation Now” broadcast from its New York studios, a newscast that showcases more of the New York broadcast facility the company has created.

The broadcast debuted Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, 

Anchored by former Fox Business host Connell McShane, the new two-hour block features a mix of handheld and more traditional camera work that leverages the space’s multiple video walls and working newsroom space.

McShane uses the same NYC studio that Nexstar debuted in April 2023 for “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” 

The space, designed by Nexstar Design, features a large open space with movable anchor desk in the middle and a large span of LED along one wall. Additional, narrower LED segments are placed around the space, which is also ringed by an enclosed control room and editorial workstations and LED ribbon above, creating using 66 Neoti UHD 600mm × 337.5mm tiles.

This includes 23 along the south header, which stretches over part of the newsroom, and 15 on the west elevation. An additional 10 tiles form the ribbon that tucks behind the north video wall, while 18 are installed in the space above the control room view.

“Vargas” has mainly utilized the north video wall and control room backgrounds, but McShane’s broadcast showcases more of the newsroom.

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For example, McShane ventures into the newsroom itself, walking toward the handheld camera as he talks. Seven Neoti tiles on each column showcase the show branding, while other segments are done from a flashcam-like position that showcases a row of desks and the primary anchor desk and video wall in the distance.

Other segments move into the studio area proper where the camera follows McShane around the space to reveal graphics and live shots of guests and field reporters on the video walls, including the north video wall created using 200 Neoti tiles that measures 200 feet wide by 10 feet high.

Meanwhile, 50 panels come together to form the five-foot-wide west video wall array, which can be tracked, and the east wall has been created using 30 tiles and comes in at three feet wide.

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It’s also not uncommon for parked robotic cameras to show up behind McShane.

McShane also takes a seat at the anchor desk for some segments, including using it as an in-studio interview location.

The video wall graphics behind McShane make use of the white, interlocking block pattern used elsewhere on NewsNation that is also a visual nod to the network’s bracketed logotype.

NewsNation can add in video and graphical feeds as needed, which are displayed inside a simulated glass frame being held by virtual brackets and tension wire.

Except for the live video feeds, OTS shots with a rotation of imagery and occasional “video on video” style shots to showcase field footage, the LED walls typically only feature generic looks with network branding, a move that likely minimizes the amount of design work that’s required to produce a show.

In some ways, it appears “Now” is attempting to replicate the floating camera and video wall-heavy look used at CNN for its special event coverage and “CNN NewsCentral,” but it has, so far, lacked the large collections of stills, video and text headlines used at CNN and shows using a similar production approach. 

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