Far-left KARE 11 anchor Jana Shortal fought back tears while announcing that her longtime program was being booted from broadcast television and relegated to the station’s streaming platform. Shortal delivered the emotional news after nearly 11 years of hosting “Breaking the News,” a commentary-heavy program frequently used to lecture viewers about progressive cultural causes. Although KARE 11 has not completely canceled the show, removing it from television represents a substantial loss of visibility. The anchor’s regular 6:30 p.m. broadcast slot will instead be absorbed by an expanded traditional newscast.
The final televised edition of “Breaking the News” is scheduled to air Friday, September 25th. KARE 11’s regular 6 p.m. newscast will then expand to a full hour beginning Monday, September 28th, pushing Shortal’s program out of the broadcast schedule. “Breaking the News” is expected to reappear October 5 on KARE 11+, where it will stream on weekdays at 5:30 p.m. Viewers will need to use the station’s website, mobile app, or connected-television service to continue watching it.
“KARE 11 has made the decision to take ‘Breaking the News’ off the air at the end of this week, concluding our time together on broadcast TV on this show after nearly 11 years,” Shortal said. The anchor’s voice repeatedly cracked while explaining the decision to viewers. Shortal attempted to present the online edition as a continuation of the program. “But that said, this work will continue, as our show will move to streaming on KARE 11 Plus weekdays at 5:30 early next month.”
Shortal grew increasingly emotional as the video posted to Facebook continued. “I am so proud of the show we were able to produce with a team who did it for one reason, and that was you,” the anchor said. “We laughed and cried together, and we covered some of the most consequential events in Minnesota history.” Shortal described hosting the program as the greatest honor of the anchor’s career and urged the television audience to follow the show online.
Despite the station’s effort to present the change as a digital expansion, the program is unmistakably losing its place on traditional television. “Breaking the News” previously occupied a weekday evening slot immediately following KARE 11’s flagship 6 p.m. newscast. It will now compete for viewers on an optional streaming service while the station devotes the former television slot to conventional local news. The demotion follows years in which Shortal increasingly blurred the line between reporting and left-wing cultural commentary.
In August, Shortal used the program to attack OutKick founder Clay Travis after he offered $10 million for the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces to play a boys’ high-school state championship team of his choice. The proposed game was intended to demonstrate the substantial physical differences between male and female athletes, but Shortal dismissed the challenge as a “thinly veiled sexist joke.” The anchor claimed the offer revealed “the actual truth of how he and his organization feel about women’s sports.” Shortal’s lecture quickly drew criticism from media figures who accused the anchor of intentionally ignoring the point behind the challenge.
Watch Shortal announce the show’s demotion here:
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Shortal returned to the culture-war pulpit in September after Texas quarterback Arch Manning laughed while discussing an artificial-intelligence video depicting coach Steve Sarkisian slapping ESPN reporter Holly Rowe. Manning apologized, but Shortal was unsatisfied and demanded apologies from the reporters and university staff members who had also laughed. “Yeah, real funny,” Shortal said before declaring that protecting women in sports required the other men to speak up. The episode gave viewers another example of the moralizing commentary that had become a regular feature of the supposedly local news program.
KARE 11 didn’t connect the programming decision to Shortal’s political or cultural commentary. The station described it as part of a broader effort to direct more viewers toward its digital products, claiming that streaming minutes increased by 104% during 2025. Management also said the online format would give Shortal’s team additional “time and freedom” for its preferred storytelling and perspectives. The corporate explanation doesn’t change the fact that KARE 11 is giving its valuable television airtime to a regular newscast while moving Shortal’s program off to an online platform.
Shortal closed the announcement by thanking the viewers who had watched the show during its television run. “For now, I just want to say thank you,” the anchor said while struggling through the final portion of the video. “You absolutely made all of my television dreams come true by watching ‘Breaking the News.’ It has been the honor of a lifetime. Please share this video so everyone can find out from me.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.