An insider’s view: Chris Stirewalt’s new role at NewsNation

A pivotal election night

Four years ago, Chris Stirewalt found himself at the center of a political maelstrom. As part of the Fox News Decision Team, he was one of the experts responsible for calling states for either Donald Trump or Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election. The decision to call Arizona for Biden earlier than other networks sent shockwaves through the political realm and had lasting repercussions across the media landscape.

Bringing transparency to 2024

For the 2024 election, Stirewalt will not be huddled in the backroom. He will be front and center as an on-air analyst for NewsNation, a newcomer in the cable news industry owned by Nexstar. His mission? To reverse engineer election night coverage and finally bring viewers into the decision-making process that has long been shrouded in mystery.

Pulling back the curtain

“There was a sort of Wizard of Oz component, that in some other room, in some other place, there were magical beings that were doing this work of forecasting the outcome of a presidential election,”

Stirewalt tells a prominent media outlet. He argues that in today’s fragmented media environment, it’s crucial to show people how decisions are made and to be fully transparent about the process.

In a bold move, NewsNation will forgo traditional in-house forecasting. Instead, they will rely on the independent Decision Desk HQ to make the calls. This transparency will be further enhanced by placing cameras in the Decision Desk HQ office at Georgetown Law School, allowing viewers and anchors—including Chris Cuomo, Elizabeth Vargas, and Leland Vittert—to see the team at work.

A new standard in election coverage

Stirewalt acknowledges the personal challenge of stepping back from direct involvement, having been immersed in elections since 2010. However, he believes this new approach will ensure that commercial and partisan biases do not influence election calls. By keeping the forecasting process independent, Stirewalt and NewsNation aim to provide context and explanations without internal biases.

Learning from the past

The 2020 election provided a stark example of what can go wrong. Stirewalt witnessed firsthand the pressure exerted on Fox News to revise its Arizona call. Despite these efforts, Fox stood by its decision, and Biden ultimately won the state.

In a crowded news landscape, Stirewalt is betting that his objective, nerd-centric approach to election coverage will resonate with viewers. He believes that while personality and spin dominate much of television news, the time for unbiased data and transparent calls has come.

A new era for NewsNation

The 2024 election stands as a critical test for NewsNation. Having rebranded from WGN America in 2021, this will be the network’s first presidential election as a 24-hour news channel. In a period of media tumult, Stirewalt is confident that there is an audience craving independent, transparent coverage free from partisan silos.

“I don’t know how big that audience is in America that would like aspirationally fair news and would not like to be cosseted and flattered and lied to, but it’s not zero,”

he asserts.

Beyond the vote count

Stirewalt sees this election coverage as an opportunity for NewsNation to fulfill its promise of providing fair and independent news. He believes that during an election, people deserve to be treated as adults, wanting transparency rather than comfort. By meeting viewers’ needs for accurate information, Stirewalt hopes NewsNation can set a new standard in election coverage.

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