Feder: Nexstar boss decries 'endless adrenaline shots of conflict'

The head of the nation's largest owner of television stations - including Chicago's WGN-Channel 9 - is challenging his company's local newsrooms to "personalize, humanize and localize" the stories they report and give their communities more hope, Robert Feder writes.

That's the word from Perry Sook, chairman, president and CEO of Nexstar Media Group.

"Our journalists must do their job and cover the story, but it is how we cover the story that is important," Sook told employees in an internal email last week. "I'm not sure that endless adrenaline shots of conflict are really telling the story anyway. We need to spend more time on the why. In an excerpt from an interview I read over the weekend, one person pointed squarely at the media when he said, 'Stop feeding fear and anger every day. Stop making people so fearful. Give them hope.' I challenge you to get together with your fellow employees and talk about how we can give our communities hope. What stories can we tell to personalize, humanize and localize what is going on in the country today?"

Nexstar is poised to launch "News Nation," a three-hour prime time nightly newscast originating from Chicago on WGN America cable network, starting September 1.

Get the full report, and more Chicago media news, at robertfeder.com.