Biden’s decision took most TV news networks by surprise
Many of them knew it was coming, but not exactly when.
The nation’s major TV news channels appear to have been caught flat-footed by President Joe Biden’s Sunday announcement that he would end his campaign for the White House in 2024, with many top anchors not visible on screen in the minutes after the president announced his dropped a bomb. .
Broadcast networks showed faces that weren’t that familiar. CBS News broke into programming at 2:02 p.m. with reporting led by Kristine Johnson, an anchor at the company’s New York station WCBS, suggesting that Norah O’Donnell, Margaret Brennan or Major Garrett were not immediately available ( O’Donnell and Brennan joined about 45 minutes later). NBC News posted a special report 30 seconds later, anchored by Hallie Jackson, who was recently named to helm the weekend broadcasts of “NBC Nightly News.” ABC News broke in at 2:04 p.m. with reporting led by senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott.
Biden’s first announcement, via social media, was posted at about 1:46 p.m
On CNN, viewers watched as Alex Marquardt, the network’s top national security correspondent, anchored the reporting, but Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper – three anchors who often handle duties at moments of national importance – were not on screen (Blitzer searched cover as anchor work around 3 p.m.). At Fox News, Bret Baier, who usually reports on top political news together with Martha MacCallum, called the newsroom. MSNBC quickly transitioned from Jen Psaki leading one of the network’s opinion-driven hours to Katy Tur, scheduled to anchor from 2 p.m., who regularly leads an hour of coverage on weekdays. Rachel Maddow joined Tur on camera about 50 minutes later.
It is fair to say that the news producers had reporters on site in case any news came from President Biden. CNN, CBS and others had reporters stationed in Rehoboth, Delaware, where Biden, isolated with Covid, is stationed this weekend. But it was clear that the president’s move had not been telegraphed to the news media in advance, as none of them could be in the studio within minutes of the unveiling.
Many of the outlets were expected to launch special reports on Sunday afternoon or in primetime. Lester Holt was expected to host Sunday’s broadcast of “NBC Nightly News,” while Jackson was expected to anchor an early evening broadcast on NBC News Now. Fox News Channel brought in many of its weekday hosts to lead Sunday afternoon and evening news coverage. MSNBC planned to convene Maddow, Psaki, Joy Reid and Nicolle Wallace at 7 p.m. followed by Stephanie Ruhle at 10 p.m. and Jonathan Capehart and Ayman Mohyeldin at midnight.
