Elizabeth Vargas has been on national television for more than two decades. Yet, Elizabeth Vargas Reports, which debuts tonight at 6 p.m. ET on NewsNation, is the first TV news program that’s built exclusively for her.
As the saying goes, “good things come to those who wait.”
The former ABC News veteran is best known to the news viewers as the co-anchor of 20/20, a role she held for 15 of the 21 years she spent at the broadcaster (1996-2018). However, she also has experience in the evening news format, having anchoring and co-anchored the World News Tonight franchise in the mid 2000’s.
Fast forward to 2023, and Vargas gets to tap into that evening news experience as the anchor of NewsNation’s first-ever evening newscast. But that’s not all. She continues to flex that true-crime reporting muscle as host of the syndicated program iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas, which was recently renewed for a second season.
Oh, and she also hosts her own podcast.
TVNewser recently spoke with Vargas about the new evening newscast, her decision to join NewsNation, the recent layoffs at ABC News and the late Barbara Walters.
This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity purposes
TVNewser: What can we expect from Elizabeth Vargas Reports each weeknight? Will it resemble a World News Tonight or an NBC Nightly News-style broadcast, or something different?
Vargas: It is not going to be an hour long version of World News Tonight. That’s a great show and David Muir does it amazingly well, but that’s not what our show is. By 6 p.m., honestly, people already know what the headlines are. We’re going to go much deeper into our stories, and we’re going to pick a handful of the most interesting, most important stories that have happened, and provide a lot of in-depth analysis. We’ll talk to the newsmakers and do a lot of live interviews, which is kind of my wheelhouse and what I enjoy doing most. I’m really looking forward to it.
I think viewers right now are craving nuance and context. There are a lot of shouting, talking heads and highly partisan takes on things, and I think it’s important to stay away from that and get more in depth into what the big stories are each day.
Given how news ratings have fallen across the board, and the additional challenges of being at a smaller upstart like NewsNation going up against longtime 6 p.m. hosts, how are you hoping and/or trying to bring in audiences?
It’s a brand new news network, we’re just getting up and running going 24/7 with our news coverage. This is a brand new show, I don’t have any illusions as to how hard we’ll have to work. However, I think if we do a great show, the audience will find us.
I think that right now 10% of viewers are very far right, and there is a cable channel that caters to that audience. The same thing can be said for the far left [10%]. Then there’s sort of the “forgotten” majority that are the 80% of the middle, center-right and center-left, or moderate. That is where I am, personally, and that’s where I think there’s an underserved majority audience there right now. That’s who we’re hoping to appeal to – people who are looking for the big stories of the day that are covered in depth, not in a highly partisan way.
How’d you end up at NewsNation? What were the discussions like to get you on board?
For the last 15 years I was at ABC I was anchoring 20/20, and that show really evolved into documentary style work. Later, I went to A&E and did several documentaries over there. I did a series on cults and eight or nine documentaries just in that first year. Then, I launched a syndicated show, which is just been renewed for season two and doing quite well, called iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas.
[Nexstar CEO] Perry Sook and [Nexstar Networks President] Sean Compton invited me to lunch and convinced me to join “the last great adventure in television news.” I said, “You know what? That sounds pretty cool.” I’ve always thought it must have been so cool when Ted Turner launched CNN out of nothing, and even the stories of Roger Ailes launching Fox News. For years people wrote “the little-watched Fox News,” and now it’s a juggernaut.Yes, the media landscape is incredibly fractured. There’s competition with streaming platforms and social media sites. But, I think there’s an audience out there who wants a thoughtful, moderate take on the news; and a smart one.
This is not an opinion show, and I have never in my career done opinion television. You will never know what my opinion is. My job is to ask smart, pointed questions to any side, and we’re going to make sure all points of view are covered on this show. Especially in a time that is so fraught, so polarized and so historic, I think having really smart, thoughtful, nuanced coverage with lots of context is more important than ever.
How is the culture at a start-up like NewsNation different from an entrenched network like ABC News?
The biggest difference is that NewsNation is nimble. I can say, “Hey, can we try that?,” and it’s done. And I’m not the only person [who can do that].
One of the reasons I also came [to NewsNation] is because Perry Sook and Sean Compton were very serious about this project, and are investing with the necessary resources. It is not a small thing to launch a brand new cable news network, it is a big thing. I spent 23 years at ABC News, and I’m very grateful for every year I spent there. I spent three years at NBC News before that. I have worked for the legacy broadcast networks, and I was incredibly privileged to have that opportunity. There is so much to say that is fantastic about those news organizations.
I replaced Barbara Walters on 20/20. I inherited that show from her. I replaced Peter Jennings on World News Tonight after he tragically died. I replaced somebody when I was hired away from NBC to be the news anchor on Good Morning America. I’ve never had a show built for me, and it’s kind of fun! It’s, “OK, we don’t have to do it the old way. Because there is no old way. There’s just the brand new let’s make it up way.” So, it’s very, very fun.
You previously worked with many of the folks who were laid off from ABC News yesterday, and others who will be laid off in the coming weeks and months. Seems to be the nature of the beast these days. What are your thoughts about what’s happening over there and what’s happening across the industry more broadly?
I have a lot of people I adore who are still there. It’s a tough time for everybody, most of all for those people who are hearing the bad news that they’re going to be leaving. But, it’s also hard for the people who remain to see their colleagues go. You never like to hear news like that, and unfortunately, as you said, it’s happening at a lot of places. What’s happening overall in this is business is that the business model is changing and these companies have to change as well. But it is the friends who are losing their jobs that is very hard.
Your predecessor at 20/20 Barbara Walters passed away right before the New Year. How did she influence you in your own career?
I watched Barbara work so hard for every interview and right up until the last moment on those interviews — even after she was literally a living legend. It taught me that you never coast; you always, always work.
The very first time I met Barbara was back in my early 30’s, when ABC hired me from NBC. I was a bit starstruck by Barbara. Just to watch her work so hard over the many, many years that I was there was a real privilege, honestly.
She was an amazing woman, and all of us, every woman on television right now and on television news owes a debt to her for busting through that glass ceiling, and having to endure a lot of boorish behavior!