“NewsNation Now” anchor Connell McShane told TheWrap that he didn’t think he “could credibly do the job as a straight news reporter,” at Fox Business Network anymore, an environment that ultimately prompted his move to NewsNation.
“My contract expired in May at Fox Business and I had been thinking about moving on for some time because I didn’t feel like I could credibly do the job as a straight news reporter in that environment anymore,” he told TheWrap while discussing why he was ready to shakeup his next career move. “When I started to think about leaving, I then had to get onto the next part of that conversation, which is what would you like to do next?”
Before moving to NewNation’s 3 p.m. Eastern slot, McShane served as an anchor and chief national correspondent for Fox Business Network. McShane joined Fox Business as a business reporter when the network launched in 2007. Throughout his tenure at Fox Business, McShane served as coanchor for multiple programs, including “Fox Business Morning,” “Markets Now,” “After the Bell” and “State of the Economy.”
Now anchoring “NewsNation Now,” the journalist teased that with his latest project, it’s all in the name.
“The show’s called ‘NewsNation Now,’ so when something happens now, we’re going to cover it,” he said. “We’re going to throw out the rundown, throw out the scripts, and we’re just going to cover it.”
He added of his new network that “there’s so much opportunity here to build an audience,” and that he wants to “give people a place to turn, a place to come back to, a place that they can trust. I think over time we’ll build that trust as long as we consistently put together good competing shows every day.”
“And it’s already being done here at NewsNation,” he said. “So I’m just looking to build on it for two hours every afternoon.”
During the debut episode of “NewsNation Now,” McShane was able to cover a lot of ground, discussing current presidential polls, New York City’s influx of migrants, updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine and so much more.
McShane began his career as a sports broadcaster for WBRK Radio, serving as a play-by-play announcer for baseball coverage. He also previously worked for Bloomberg radio and television as a reporter.
McShane spoke to TheWrap prior to his new series’ premiere about why he made the decision to move to NewsNation and how he intends to approach his coverage at the network.
Can you speak to how you ended up at NewsNation?
My contract expired in May at Fox Business and I had been thinking about moving on for some time because I didn’t feel like I could credibly do the job as a straight news reporter in that environment anymore. When I started to think about leaving, I then had to get onto the next part of that conversation, which is what would you like to do next? Aligning the values that I have as a journalist with the platform or network that I might end up working for was really important to me.
With NewsNation — we started a conversation earlier this year. [They] came to me and said “Hey, listen, we want to put on a product that is unbiased and fact-based,” and that’s what I’ve always done, and that’s what I believe in. The fit just became the right fit.
That’s pretty much organically how it developed. I didn’t see a place to credibly do what I was doing at Fox anymore, I wanted to do something different, and NewsNation seemed like the perfect fit to do what I’ve always done.
What are you most looking forward to with NewsNation content-wise?
It’s “NewsNation Now,” 3-5 p.m. ET. Two hours a day, 10 hours a week. From my perspective, we can cover it all, we can talk to everyone. I don’t think we’re going to tell people what to think, but we can give people a lot to think about. The variety here is great. We’re not just talking about politics. We’re not just talking about business. We’re talking about everything. That’s what I’m most excited about and delivering that news in this fact-based, fast-paced way. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.
When you see the show, it’s going to have this modern look to it, but it’s an old school approach. Let’s make it fast. Let’s base it on the facts and let’s cover absolutely everything. We have the time to do it.
How are you approaching your coverage in what is arguably one of the most unusual presidential elections?
That’s one way of putting it. I’ll approach it the same way I approach every single story. I think when politics is the story of the day, we cover it like we would any story: in a fair way.
But that’s what we would do if it was the striking autoworkers, which is a big story today. If it is a story about immigration, if it is a story about farmers struggling in the Midwest, if it’s a high profile story about crime. You have all these stories, and the approach to them is the same. So when politics is the story of the day, when the election is the story of the day, we’ll cover it in that same way: aggressively, fair and we’ll try to make it as compelling as possible on TV. That’s always the approach.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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