#Ex-White House comms director Bill Shine joins NewsNation

Former Fox News executive and White House director of communications Bill Shine has joined NewsNation, according to a new report Wednesday.

Shine was hired by NewsNation, a new, 24-hour news service from WGN, in June 2020, before its official launch, the DailyMail reported.

Shine will help oversee talk shows across NewsNation, which was launched to take on CNN and other mainstream media networks. The news outlet promised fact-based, unbiased reporting and will draw from an army of 5,500 reporters from WGN stations and newsrooms, across the country, the company claims on its website.

Shine, who left Fox News in 2017, served as co-president of the network, but departed amid criticism of his handling of sexual harassment at the company. Under Shine’s tenure, Fox rose to become the most watched cable network in the country.

In addition to Shine, NewsNation is bringing on former senior staffers from MSNBC and CNN, the DailyMail reported, but did not provide further details.

A source told the publication that Shine is close friends with a number of big-name media types from Shepard Smith and Chris Cuomo to Sean Hannity, and that execs at NewsNation believe Shine’s “expertise and relationships” will help the startup expand into a “bigger platform.”

A rep from NewsNation did not comment on Shine but offered: “NewsNation’s mission is to provide news based on facts, not opinions. Consistent with our commitment to deliver unbiased news to our viewers, we’ve hired a number of employees and consultants with diverse news production and reporting backgrounds from CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, CBS, NBC and ABC, amongst others.” 

The rep added: “All of these news professionals have the best-in-class expertise to allow NewsNation to drive forward our mission of providing high-quality, unbiased, fact-driven news.”

Nexstar launched NewsNation in September 2020 with the goal of taking the nightly six-hour program to 24 hours within the next 24 months. Last month, the network added over 8 million new homes and said its channel, WGN America, would change its name to NewsNation.

Parent company Nexstar owns or operates 198 TV stations across the US, including newsrooms in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.