Anchors David Muir and Lester Holt are in the midst of a spirited competition for first place in television’s evening news ratings. After several years in second, ABC’s World News Tonight with Muir has lately pulled even with NBC’s Nightly News and some weeks a relative handful of viewers separate the shows.
When Election Day is over and the votes have all been tallied, many TV-news operations see a chance to pull back on the throttle and get back to regular coverage. ABC News believes a new cycle is about to begin. It plans an aggressive bout of coverage on Wednesday, Nov. 9, that Tom Cibrowski, ABC News, suggested would kick off a new effort to draw viewers — and, presumably, the ratings and ad dollars that come with them.
If the wild, unpredictable 2016 presidential campaign is a reality show starring Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, think of election night as the series finale. Based on the record-shattering ratings for the debates and all-time audience highs for the cable news networks during the past year, it’s likely that Tuesday will be the most-watched night of election coverage ever.
Besides following on TV, many of viewers on election night will have second or third screens at hand to dive deeper into results. Here’s a thumbnail sketch of network plans:
Exclusives
Donald Trump once again singled out NBC News journalist Katy Tur by name during a rally on Wednesday, reigniting concerns about reporters’ safety at Trump rallies.
CNN has tried to distance itself from the actions of Donna Brazile, its paid political operative, but the moment will be wasted if boundaries are not reset.
Email Flap Brings Out The Worst In TV News
Sonia Saraiya: “In an alarmingly vague letter to Congress, FBI Director James Comey wrote that the investigation into whether Hillary Clinton had endangered national security by using a private email server was once again, possibly, relevant. That has not stopped media organizations, in the full flush of pre-election coverage, to make this some kind of “October surprise” for the Clinton campaign, seizing on it as a turning point in the narrative of election 2016.”
TV news operations were left vamping Friday after Hillary Clinton wrapped a campaign speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, without addressing news that FBI Director James Comey is reviewing new information related to the candidate’s personal email server.
NBC Nightly News will introduce a new open this evening. The open starts with a computer generated view of Earth before zooming in quickly to the New York City area. The camera flies by the Statue of Liberty and over Manhatten before coming to rest on a view of 30 Rock.
A debate full of personal swipes exchanged by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton also included Trump’s snarky suggestion that moderators Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz were favoring Clinton.
Jane Pauley doesn’t plan to wear a bow tie, as her predecessor, Charles Osgood, famously did. But that’s about the only change coming to the long-running CBS broadcast as she takes over the anchor spot from Charles Osgood this Sunday. “I assure you I’m not coming in and shaking anything up,” says Pauley, explaining that, when Executive Producer Rand Morrison seemed to open the door to any tweaks she might propose, “I laughed and said, ‘Rand, it ain’t broke!’ “
CBS News said its evening-news anchor, Scott Pelley, would lead the broadcast from Florida in order to provide on-the-ground perspective on the effects of Hurricane Matthew, a signal that the storm and potential damage resulting from it are likely to take more command of an already busy news cycle.
CNN, ABC Feuding Over Next Debate?
Anderson Cooper — who has just signed a new long-term deal with CNN — and ABC’s Martha Raddatz are moderating Sunday’s town-hall debate together, and, sources say, the rival network anchors are at odds over who gets to grill the candidates on the most blistering topics.
ABC News and CNN are both using Facebook to solicit feedback ahead of next weekend’s town-hall style presidential debate.
NBC News is planning a wealth of election night virtual reality coverage of its Democracy Plaza events, and the company sees it as a first step to creating a community that can eventually be monetized. “The audience just needs to be big enough that we can get some response from them, both in terms of how they use it as well as talking to people who have used it. And that will [shape] the experiments to come,” says Nick Ascheim, its digital SVP.
Jane Pauley will take over for Charles Osgood as anchor of CBS Sunday Morning beginning with the show’s next broadcast on Oct. 9. The news was announced Sunday morning at the end of the show’s special tribute to the retiring Osgood.
NEW YORK (AP) — CBS says it will donate the bow tie that Charles Osgood wears Sunday to host his final edition of “Sunday Morning” to the Smithsonian’s National Museum […]
In a series of interviews over the past week, the Republican nominee has asserted that “the system is being rigged” against him. The first of three scheduled debates between Trump and Hillary Clinton will be held on Sept. 26, with NBC’s Lester Holt as the journalist questioning the candidates.
In an interview Monday on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Donald Trump predicted the upcoming presidential debates would be “very unfair,” and suggested doing away with moderators entirely. “Let Hillary and I sit there and just debate,” he said.
Univision is launching a newscast at noon ET, but it’s how the show is going to be delivered that’s the real news. Noticiero Univision Edición Digital (Noticero Univision Digital Edition) will broadcast on the Univision network, and it will also stream on Univision.com, Facebook Live, YouTube and Periscope.
At least one unnamed NBC executive has admitted that Matt Lauer’s interview performance in its Commander-in-Chief Forum Wednesday was a “disaster.” Both Lauer and his close buddy Andy Lack, NBC News and MSNBC chairman, are getting walloped for a possible lack of preparation and a definite lack of on-air fact checking. Officially, NBC isn’t speaking to criticism of the event.
When Lester Holt presides over the first presidential debate on Sept. 26, he may look to Wednesday night’s presidential forum hosted by NBC News colleague Matt Lauer as a warning. Lauer was blasted on social media for his performance at the Commander-in-Chief forum, especially among supporters of Hillary Clinton. Then he took took heat from political journalists for not challenging Trump when he claimed that he opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning.
Sherman, New York magazine’s national affairs editor, has been on the forefront of reporting on Fox News and Roger Ailes. Sherman published an unauthorized biography of Ailes in 2014, called The Loudest Voice in the Room. According to CNN, he was the subject of a 400 page opposition research report commissioned by Ailes.
The Clinton campaign and Obama’s former speechwriter ripped NBC over a story on a coughing fit the Democratic presidential nominee experienced on Monday in Cleveland.
ABC’s Muir Reflects On 2 Years As Anchor
In the two years since David Muir took over as anchor of ABC World News Tonight, he’s done town hall specials with President Obama and Pope Francis and moderated primary debates with both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. He’s done his evening newscast from San Bernardino; Orlando, Fla.; Paris; and Brussels to report on terrorist attacks, and Dallas, where five policemen were shot dead in July. He reflects on his second anniversary in the job.
Telemundo on Wednesday announced the appointment of Gemma Garcia as executive producer of Noticiero Telemundo. In her role, she will supervise and oversee the editorial vision, production logistics and personnel […]
The NBC morning show sees ad dollars grow sharply with highly rated Olympics and widens its lead over rival Good Morning America on ABC. Just a few issues linger.
