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.”

Former ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas will host a new show on Nexstar Media Group’s NewsNation cable news network.

Elizabeth Vargas Reports will have its debut April 3. The hour-long show will start at 6 p.m. ET and originate from the network’s new studio in New York City.

The program will feature one-on-one interviews with headline makers and reporting from the NewsNation staff.

Vargas will also be a regular contributor to NewsNation’s daytime and primetime lineup of news and talk programming.

“Elizabeth Vargas is by far one of the most talented journalists working in television news today,” said Michael Corn, president of news at NewsNation. “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.”

After it acquired WGN America, Nexstar added NewsNation newscasts to the channel. It later renamed the channel NewsNation, with plans to replace syndicated programming with live news. Vargas joins Chris Cuomo and Ashleigh Banfield as anchors on NewsNation.

Vargas was host of ABC’s newsmagazine 20/20 for 15 years. She also served as co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight and hosted Good Morning America.

Vargas is currently host of the syndicated series iCrime. She also hosted America’s Most Wanted on Fox. She also hosted A&E Investigates, doing a series of documentaries now available on Hulu. 

“I am thrilled to join the NewsNation team,“ Vargas said. “The mission of NewsNation is more important now than ever — delivering the news and newsmakers to all of America, and to cover the issues that truly matter to everyone, everywhere. I can’t wait to begin.” ■

Former World News Tonight co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas is starring in new syndicated strip, iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas, launching this fall.

The show is sold on stations covering more than 95% of the country – including on the Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray, Scripps, Cox, Tegna, CBS, Fox and Weigel broadcast groups – and will premiere September 12. On Nexstar’s WPIX New  York, iCrime will lead into an afternoon local newscast, while Sinclair has picked up the show on more than 60 stations.

The 30-minute series will look at crime through the smartphones that everyone now carries. The series will feature clips of actual crimes captured on smartphone video; interviews between Vargas and crime victims, bystanders, law-enforcement officials and the amateur videographers themselves; and a panel of true-crime experts. 

“Cell-phone videos have completely changed the social landscape,” said Vargas in a statement. “Anyone, anywhere, with a cell phone can record crimes as they happen, and those videos can have a huge impact. iCrime will cull the most powerful of these videos, while providing important insight on the law and how to keep safe. I could not be more excited to host this new show.”

Bystander cell-phone video has been key evidence in many high-profile cases in recent years, including 17-year-old Darnella Frazier capturing the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers on her smartphone. That video was ultimately key in the conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin for Floyd’s murder.

"The emergent widespread use of smartphones to immediately record everything as it happens gave us the idea to produce iCrime," said Co-Creator and Executive Producer Scott Sternberg, a true-crime production veteran who has worked on such series as The Real Story with Maria Elena Salinas, Exposed with Deborah Norville, Killer Siblings and On the Case with Paula Zahn as well as new 24-hour true-crime streaming platform, Crimestream. 

“Video from anywhere and everywhere of real situations shot by all of us is a natural way to give viewers a daily dive into the unbelievable realism of crime videos. And having a host like Elizabeth Vargas brings iCrime to another level."

The show is executive produced by Vargas, Sternberg and Trifecta Entertainment CEO Hank Cohen.

“This new form of Everyman recordings has become an important new social media tool in helping law enforcement gain truth in crimes committed across the country,” said Cohen in a statement. 

True crime seems like a natural fit for daytime, which is largely watched by women 25-54, the key demographic for both syndication and true crime. That said, true crime hasn’t really taken off in syndication, with shows such as Warner Bros.’ Crime Watch Daily, which came from the producers of Warner Bros.’ Extra and aired in syndication from 2015 to 2017, failing to secure a steady audience. 

On the other hand, networks such as Dan Abrams’ Law&Crime streaming and basic cable network are attracting audiences, especially with events like the recent live-streaming of the defamation trial between movie star Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard. True-crime focused podcasts also tend to dominate the medium’s top-10 lists.

Trifecta Entertainment will handle all domestic distribution of iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas, and its president, Michael Daraio, will oversee all advertising and sponsorship sales. Scott Sternberg Productions will be responsible for international sales. ■

NAMIC, WICT and The Walter Kaitz Foundation on Monday (Sept. 19) will partner to offer a panel discussion on the successes and challenges of women of color in business, one of several conversations on inclusion within the cable industry during its annual Diversity Week.

The week’s festivities — which will include Women in Cable Telecommunications’ day long Leadership Conference and Touchstones Luncheon on Monday, the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications’ 30th annual conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the annual Kaitz Foundation fundraising dinner Wednesday evening — will be highlighted by a Monday afternoon, jointly presented general session titled “Leadership Lessons for Women of Color.”

The event will feature some of the industry’s top female executives providing insights and strategies on how to transcend the challenges facing women of color in the workforce and make it to the top of their respective fields, according to the organizations. Slated to appear: Monica Diaz, vice president of diversity, inclusion and wellness at ESPN; Tamara Franklin, executive vice president of digital for Scripps Networks Interactive; Susan Jin Davis, senior vice president of operations and compliance for Comcast; and Michelle Rice, executive vice president of content distribution and marketing for TV One.

Dr. Ella Bell, associate professor of business administration at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business and founder of nonprofit organization ASCENT-Leading Multicultural Women to the Top, will moderate the panel, which will provide a strong, informative kickoff to the rest of the Diversity Week activites, Maria Brennan, president and CEO of WICT, said.

“We will be presenting a perspective from women of color and looking at what are the common denominators of these powerhouse women in the industry who have really overcome the statistics and really risen through the ranks inside the media world,” Brennan said.

Overall, executives from WICT, NAMIC and Kaitz said that the industry’s focus on diversity during and beyond this week continues to make good business sense as its subscriber base becomes more diverse.

“Whenever we talk about diversity we couple it with inclusion because there’s nothing inside of the research that says diversity and inclusion is bad for business,” Brennan said. “It’s quite the opposite — if you ignore the research and the data, you would be doing so at your own risk and probably at your own peril.”

Added Kaitz Foundation executive director David Porter, “Diversity Week is a critical industry effort that allows us to recognize excellence while fostering leadership development and networking opportunities for our employees.”

Here are some of the highlights of Diversity Week:

WICT Leadership Conference: Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner Kersee and Comcast Corp. senior executive vice president and chief diversity officer David Cohen will be the guest speakers at the opening general session of the conference, which will feature several keynote speeches, master classes, talks, interactive roundtables and think tank discussions.

“What’s unique about the Leadership Conference is that we deliver the teaching in many different learning platforms, and we do that because everyone learns differently,” Brennan said. “By breaking up the formatting and the content, we have the best chance of ensuring that people assimilate the information and it sticks with them.”

The Leadership Conference’s tent-pole event, The Touchstones Luncheon, will feature as its keynote speaker Danai Guira, co-star of AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead. During the luncheon, WICT will honor Kathleen Finch, Scripps Networks Interactive chief programming, content and brand officer, as its Woman of The Year. The organization will also highlight its Women to Watch honorees, Laura Gentile, ESPN’s senior vice president of espnW and Women’s Initiatives, and Mary McLaughlin, Comcast Cable’s senior vice president for the Beltway region.

NAMIC Conference: NAMIC will field a star-studded lineup of speakers for its conference. The two-day event will kick off Sept. 20 with a general session keynote address delivered by Reggie Love, former assistant to President Barack Obama, NAMIC said.

ABC News’ 20/20 co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas will be the special guest speaker for NAMIC’s 2016 L. Patrick Mellon Mentorship Program Luncheon, in partnership with WICT and Kaitz.

Music industry icon and New Edition/Bel Biv Devoe member Michael Bivins will discuss his career and BET’s upcoming New Edition biographical miniseries during the conference’s Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Awards presentation, according to NAMIC.

In between the high-profile keynoters, the conference’s theme, “Diversity 3.0: Innovation Through Inclusion,” will be executed through sessions aligned with three educational tracks of Business Solutions, Leading and Learning, and Content and Imagery, said the network.

“NAMIC is honored to present such a distinguished line-up of speakers and session facilitators. Our sincere thanks is extended to this year’s planning committee co-chairs and all of the sponsors that have provided support for this milestone 30th anniversary conference,” said Eglon Simons, NAMIC president and CEO.

Kaitz Foundation Dinner: Inclusion, impact and inspiration are the themes for Kaitz’s Sept. 21 annual fundraising dinner, which is on track to raise more than $1.6 million to fund diversity-themed programs and organizations within the cable industry. CNN’s Weekend Edition anchor Fredricka Whitfield will host the gala, which will feature on-stage appearances from dinner co-chairs John Martin, Turner chairman and CEO, and Tom Rutledge, Charter Communications chairman and CEO, as well as Michael Powell, CEO of the NCTA – The Internet & Television Association.

Kaitz will honor A+E Networks with its Diversity Champion Award and The National Association of Latino Independent Producers with its Diversity Advocate Award, Porter said.