‘I’m Not Going to Fake Objectivity’: Dan Abrams Talks His New Show and Explains Why He’s Returning to Cable News
Dan Abrams, founder of Mediaite, chief legal analyst for ABC News and soon-to-be host of a prime time cable news show, is my guest on this week’s episode of The Interview podcast.
It was announced on Monday that Abrams will be returning to cable news. NewsNation, a recently-launched network from local news giant Nexstar, tapped Abrams to helm their 8 p.m. hour. Dan Abrams Live will kick off in September, and Abrams describes it as a show aimed at a more “moderate, independent minded audience” that may be a little sick of the partisan battleground that the rest of cable news has devolved into over the last few years.
“I think that one of the reasons that people don’t trust the media is because so many cable news hosts and others claim they’re objective,” Abrams told me. “And people don’t believe them. So I’m not going to fake objectivity. I’m going to say here’s where I’m coming from. Here’s what I think on this. But I may be wrong. So now you know, audience. So there’s no hidden bias.”
“I think that there is definitely a sense out there from many people, that on cable news today they’re telling you how to think,” Abrams said. “That if you don’t agree with what they are saying you’re an idiot or you just don’t get it. And I’m going to try to ensure that whatever one’s viewpoint… I’m going to treat it all with a kind of respect and say, all right, here’s how I feel and I’m going to lay it out, say this is what I think on this so you can judge.
Abrams is not new to prime time. Back in 2008, he hosted a show on MSNBC in what would become Rachel Maddow’s timeslot — 9 p.m. With his departure from MSNBC, Abrams left cable news for more than a decade. But the bitter partisanship of the Trump era, paired with an offer from NewsNation, prompted him to reconsider.
It wasn’t that I was in the business or in the market for trying to host a cable news show in particular, because I’ve felt for a while now that the kind of show that I would want to do probably wouldn’t work on any of the the current Big Three in cable. And I was talking to NewsNation more broadly about the topic of an OTT network, etc., something that could target the more moderate, independent minded audience.
And as the conversations continued, Michael Corn got hired, who was the executive producer of Good Morning America, who I know very well. And that was after the conversations had already started. And they finally just said, look, why don’t you host a show for us? Doing exactly all the things that you’re saying you think cable needs.
And my response was, let’s discuss it. But there has to be a commitment network-wide, in particular in prime time, to doing more moderate but opinionated analysis for it to work on cable. And so they have begun the process of building out what they view as an alternative to what’s out there.
Abrams’ new show will put him up against Tucker Carlson on Fox News, Chris Hayes on MSNBC, and Anderson Cooper on CNN.
We discussed how he’ll handle the competition, what he plans to cover on his new show, and how cable news and the media industry more broadly have changed since 2008.
Download the full episode now, and subscribe to The Interview on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
