Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club graded the episode with a C, stating "News Night 2.0" is mostly Bad Sorkin, teeing up too many opportunities for soapboxing and idealist proclamations while missing the verve of professionals actually putting together a news story." Alan Sepinwall compared it to the pilot episode, stating "News Night 2.0" unfortunately magnified many of the problems I had with that first episode, while losing some of the elements (Mac being in complete command even in such an untenable situation, the staff coming together to do a kick-ass newscast) I had liked the most."
