Elizabeth Vargas Reports premieres on NewsNation Monday, April 3 at 6 p.m. ET. The hour-long program is live and covers the news of the day. Vargas described it to B+C as “the newscast of record,” with no opinions, just straight news, including one-on-one interviews with newsmakers.
Joining Nexstar Media Group-owned NewsNation was “too tempting” to pass up, she said.
“The news cycle right now is so historic and extraordinary, nationally and internationally,” she added. “I just couldn’t resist.”
Vargas hosted 20/20 for 15 years and was co-anchor of World News Tonight, both on ABC. She and Bob Woodruff anchored ABC’s evening news starting in early 2006, following Peter Jennings’s death. She was also news anchor and host on Good Morning America. She currently hosts syndicated show iCrime out of WPIX New York, and will continue to do so. That show launched in fall 2022.
Vargas spoke of a “fewer stories, more in-depth” approach on Elizabeth Vargas Reports.
Nexstar has 200 stations, including ones it partners on, in 116 markets. Vargas noted how the major TV news players will fly in a correspondent or anchor to a big story, but Nexstar likely already has boots on the ground where news breaks. “All those reporters can be our reporters,” she said. “We have a presence in every city.”
Like iCrime, the show shoots at WPIX in midtown Manhattan. Vargas said she’ll occasionally get on a plane to report from where news happens, but her travel schedule will be light compared to her time on 20/20.
Vargas described herself as “a voracious consumer of news.” David Muir, anchor of World News Tonight, does “a phenomenal job,” she said, while Anderson Cooper has “a smart, smart show” on CNN. She also singled out Chris Cuomo of NewsNation, and Stephanie Ruhle and Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC.
Asked about mentors, Vargas named a couple of ABC News superstars in Diane Sawyer and the late Barbara Walters. She described Sawyer as generous and thoughtful, with a knack for reading interview subjects’ expressions and asking probing follow-ups. “Working alongside her was a real privilege,” she said.
She described Walters as exceedingly well prepared for interviews and very direct with subjects once interviews took place. “Watching her work was watching a master class,” she said.
When Vargas’s program was announced earlier this year, Michael Corn, NewsNation president of news, called the host “by far one of the most talented journalists working in television news today. We’re confident that Elizabeth’s honest and empathetic interview style, coupled with her determination to get to the heart of important stories, will strike a chord with viewers as we continue delivering on NewsNation’s promise to bring you news you can trust.”
Vargas is excited to get Elizabeth Vargas Reports rolling. “It’s been a few years since I’ve done daily news,” she said. “It’s time to get up and running.”
