Ashleigh Banfield to take a fresh approach to the news with new prime time talk show for WGN America

Award winning journalist Ashleigh Banfield announced Tuesday that she will be turning her talents towards a brand new prime time talk show for WGN America. 

Ashleigh exclusively tells DailyMail.com that she is ‘super excited’ about her new program, Banfield, which she dubbed ‘a reboot of The Larry King Show.’    

The veteran television host says she hopes to erase the negative stigma of ‘fake news’ through unbiased long-form interviews with news makers, celebrities and other types of fascinating people. 

News maker: Ashleigh Banfield announced her new long-form WGN America talk show, ‘Banfield’, on Tuesday and exclusively spoke with DailyMail.com

‘It’s really a reboot of The Larry King Show,’ she gushed about the program. ‘There is no outlet for people to go to get an in-depth interview or coverage. I think it is sorely missing.’ 

Banfield will see the journalist call on her over 30 years of experience for coverage of the day’s news without spin or bias – which Ashleigh says is ‘critical in the national conversation.’ 

‘There is a cacophony of lectures, a cacophony of opinion, a cacophony of anger … but we’re not listening,’ reflected Banfield. 

For Ashleigh, there has never been a more important time in her career to deliver facts without punditry and she hopes her show can rise above the types of slanted news coverage on other networks. 

‘There has been a huge bias of omission in a lot of news broadcasting and that is leaving people angry and unfairly so,’ the Emmy winner said, adding: ‘People are exhausted by the rhetoric and the anger.’ 

'It's really a reboot of The Larry King Show,' she gushed about the program. 'There is no outlet for people to go to get an in-depth interview or coverage. I think it is sorely missing.'

‘It’s really a reboot of The Larry King Show,’ she gushed about the program. ‘There is no outlet for people to go to get an in-depth interview or coverage. I think it is sorely missing.’

‘We are just not acting as one, we’re not listening as one, we’re not speaking with respect as one,’ Ashleigh said. She went on to observe that people have ‘retreated to our echo chambers for a little too long’ and it’s time for a change. 

The longtime anchor is ready to take up that challenge with her new series and is looking forward to not only getting to the news of the day but also getting to the heart of an issue by spending some quality time with her guests.  

‘For 33 years I have been a broadcast journalist and in the last half decade there has been an attack on our profession and its devastating,’ Ashleigh explained. ‘To hear people yell “fake news” is a gut punch.’ 

To someone like Ashleigh, who has interviewed Taliban prisoners in worn-torn countries, the current attack on journalism is one she feels personally.

The intrepid reporter went on to reveal that even her children have been ‘bullied by people who say ‘your mom is part of the fake news.” 

'There has been a huge bias of omission in a lot of news broadcasting and that is leaving people angry and unfairly so,' the Emmy winner said, adding: 'People are exhausted by the rhetoric and the anger.'

‘There has been a huge bias of omission in a lot of news broadcasting and that is leaving people angry and unfairly so,’ the Emmy winner said, adding: ‘People are exhausted by the rhetoric and the anger.’

‘I am thrilled that WGN and NewsNation have said “enough”,’ Ashleigh said, adding that she’s excited to provide a place for viewers to ‘get the facts, not the spin.’  

‘No one is happy with the way things are and it’s going to take some hard work to get back to the way we used to be – which was a very united, proud country,’ she continued.    

Banfield had floated the idea of a Larry King-esque series at MSNBC when she returned from filming in the Middle East in the early 2000s, but the idea was shot down by executives.

‘Honestly, this has been a passion of mine for a long time,’ she said. ‘When I returned from Afghanistan I asked if I could tweak this war correspondent show into more of a Larry King format and the answer was no.’

Banfield went on to have a flourishing career in her combined 33 years on television. She’s served as a prime time and morning news anchor for HLN, CNN and MSNBC, a correspondent for ABC News and NBC News, and the host of several programs for networks like TruTV and A+E. 

Most recently she worked as a legal analyst and host for Court TV and contributor to Investigation Discovery’s ID Murder Mystery series. 

Throughout her storied career, Ashleigh said she was always grateful to simply have a job, but that her dream of spearheading her own in-depth show was always in the back of her mind.  Now it has finally come to fruition.

'For 33 years I have been a broadcast journalist and in the last half decade there has been an attack on our profession and its devastating,' Ashleigh explained. 'To hear people yell "fake news" is a gut punch.'

‘For 33 years I have been a broadcast journalist and in the last half decade there has been an attack on our profession and its devastating,’ Ashleigh explained. ‘To hear people yell “fake news” is a gut punch.’

Due to the pandemic, the hour-long chats on Banfield will begin as virtual conversations with Ashleigh in studio and the guests appearing remotely. When things are safe enough, Banfield will pivot to a more traditional in-person format. 

‘As WGN America begins expanding its programming and distribution in 2021, Ashleigh’s national appeal and network experience will help us reach new viewers seeking balance, not bias in news reporting, and talk programming that offers several points of view,’ said Sean Compton, President, Networks, Nexstar Media Group said in a press release. 

Adding: ‘Ashleigh is one of the most acclaimed, award-winning anchors in television news, reporting from across the country and around the globe, with a reputation for fairness and integrity. We are excited to add ‘Banfield’ to our growing lineup of news programming.’

WGN America is a subscription television network whose ethos is to take a straight approach to delivering news – what Banfield called the network’s ‘unbiased approach to fact.’

Nexstar Media Group, Inc.’s WGN America currently reaches 75 million households in the U.S. and will be expanding later in January to another 8.5 million homes through a new partnership with streaming platforms Sling TV, Hulu, YouTubeTV and fuboTV.  

Banfield will air weeknights at 10pm ET starting March 1, 2021. 

Tune in: Banfield will air weeknights at 10pm ET starting March 1, 2021

Tune in: Banfield will air weeknights at 10pm ET starting March 1, 2021