Northern News Now
U.S. local/mainstream, Gray-affiliated
Background
Northern News Now launched in 2021 as a combined news brand for KBJR-TV (channel 6, NBC/CBS) and KDLH (channel 3), both based in Duluth, Minnesota's Canal Park and owned by Gray Television. The merger of the two stations' news operations followed Gray's broader strategy of consolidating duopoly markets to cut costs while maintaining separate network affiliations. Gray Television, headquartered in Atlanta, is one of the largest local TV station owners in the U.S. and has at times required its stations nationwide to air centrally produced content, including a Boris Epshteyn commentary segment and a Greta Van Susteren-hosted public-affairs show, drawing criticism that this skews coverage rightward; a 2017 anchor-read 'unbiased journalism' script tied to a pending Gray acquisition was also widely mocked as itself a partisan gesture. At the local level, however, Northern News Now functions like most small-market affiliate newscasts: its output is dominated by weather, regional crime, sports, and community stories rather than national political commentary, and it has not been the subject of notable national-politics bias controversies on its own. Media watchdog sites that track Gray's Washington bureau describe that national content as minimally biased and fact-based, suggesting bias concerns are concentrated in specific syndicated segments rather than pervasive across all Gray stations. There is no public record of Northern News Now itself taking an editorial stance for or against the Trump administration; its coverage of national politics largely consists of wire-service and network-affiliate feeds rather than locally produced opinion content.
Sources
- KDLH - Wikipedia
- KBJR-TV - Wikipedia
- Gray DC Bureau - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check
- As news ownership consolidates, will local TV become more partisan? - CSMonitor.com
Profile compiled 2026-10-01; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.