Competing with established cable news networks such as CNN and Fox, “News Nation” is seeking to carve out a niche with a mission of delivering “unbiased” straight news.

“We’re going to tell you what happens, we’re not going to tell you what to think about it,” said Jennifer Lyons, 52, the longtime news director at WGN-TV in Chicago who is now overseeing the new national cable news broadcast.

Lyons said the need for information “brings to light” the importance of cable news.

“There’s a lot of good things to tell about the country and there’s a lot of breaking news out there that goes uncovered, because the cable news stations are talking about what’s happening at the White House,” Lyons said.

WGN America, which started as a superstation in the 1970s by uploading WGN’s local broadcast schedule to satellite, dropped Cubs baseball and Chicago news several years ago, converting to a full-fledged cable channel with original and syndicated programming.

Lyons said a number of the new hires began training Monday, with linguists and rhetoricians helping guide a fact-based, unbiased narrative that she said will be different than the opinion-based programming that dominates other cable news networks during prime time.