Robin Meade: Last News

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor In NewsNation, New York City isn’t the de facto location for a morning-news program. On Monday, the Nexstar Media-backed cable-news outlet expands its Chicago-based “Morning in America” to four hours and adds Markie Martin, formerly the network’s Dallas correspondent, as a co-anchor alongside Adrienne Bankert. There is some precedent for such a format. Robin Meade succeeded at it for 20 years by holding forth from Atlanta on behalf of HLN. Her program, “Morning Express,” was canceled earlier this year by Warner Bros. Discovery in a cost-cutting maneuver. “I grew up in small-town Oklahoma, and often felt that national news networks catered more toward big-city lives,” says Martin in a recent interview. “I think our content lines up with what every American cares about on a daily basis.” Martin arrived in the Windy City for her new assignment just about a week ago, and was in need of furniture for her new apartment.

The hundreds of layoffs at CNN this week were, as CNN boss Chris Licht predicted, a “gut punch,” but the question for staffers — and viewers — is what will happen next.

UPDATED, 9:16 AM: Some of the major cutbacks at CNN are occurring at HLN, which will cease live programming and will partner with Investigation Discovery to produce its true-crime slate.