Election Night 2024: How the News Networks Prepared to Cover This Historic Contest

Election Night is TV news' Super Bowl, and the major news outlets have spent untold hours getting ready for Tuesday night. That's when millions of viewers tune in looking for the answer to one question: Will the next commander in chief be Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump? TVNewser had its own question for executives at some of those outlets: How does this Election Night feel different and how did that impact the way they prepared? Read on for their answers. Marc Burstein, ABC News senior executive producer of special eventsWe will tell our viewers what we know and what we don’t know and, in the case of the latter, why we don’t know it. As always, it will be a very transparent process. We have an incredible team of correspondents, producers, technicians, graphics artists and data scientists led by World News Tonight anchor David Muir and we will be prepared for every possible outcome. Paul Royall, BBC News executive news editor In one of the most tightly contested elections in modern history, and at a time when there is more disinformation and polarization than ever, BBC News offers viewers a unique perspective. For the first time, our coverage will be exclusively led out of Washington, D.C. by chief presenters Caitríona Perry and Sumi Somaskanda. We’ll have extensive coverage across the channel and on digital, featuring a wide network of reporters on the ground from key battleground states and candidates’ headquarters. We’ll also talk to our expert correspondents in the Middle East, Russia, and China. Additionally, BBC Verify’s dedicated U.S. team will provide real-time fact checking and necessary context for audiences. The BBC is the most trusted news brand in the world, and our reputation for impartial journalism makes us an important option for millions of viewers. We will guide audiences through every twist and turn and explain the global consequences of the contest, with clarity and a focus on the facts, not opinions David Reiter, CBS News 24/7 senior vice president, special events and special projects Given this unprecedented election year, how could this election night not be different? CBS News has been reminding our audience for a while now that we may not have a clear winner come Tuesday night and why that’s not a sign that something’s wrong. A close election, and that’s what we have, might take a few days. We will be there to guide our audience through what we know and what we don’t for however long it takes. When it came to preparation, we’ve been training for a marathon—not a sprint—of coverage. Our teams in front and behind the cameras have been setting and preparing for insightful, around-the-clock storytelling for as long as it takes, both from our Election Headquarters in New York and from our team of reporters across the country. Another aspect of a potentially long post-election period without a winner is how we respond to a barrage of misinformation and disinformation aimed at sowing distrust in results. So, in addition to our amazing political team, our Democracy Watch and CBS News Confirmed teams will be working to provide fact-checking and give our audience real reporting and context. Finally, we are leveraging all parts of CBS News and Stations. On Election Night and beyond, you’ll see correspondents from 60 Minutes as part of our coverage, as well as the amazing political reporters at our stations around the country. All of this will come to life on broadcast and CBS News 24/7, with more people in more places than ever before ready to help our viewers make sense of this incredibly important moment in our country. Abigail Crutchfield, CNN vice president of Washington programming & special events programming This race has been unpredictable and unusual from the very start, and that uncertainty is one of the biggest influences on how we are approaching and preparing for next week. Anything can happen, which is why we have contingencies in place to be prepared for whatever scenario is thrown our way, with CNN’s expert team available to audiences however they get their news for as long as it takes. Nate Hurst, C-SPAN political editor This Election Night feels different in that it's almost a return to the pre-COVID modus operandi—the candidates are racing across the finish line with lots of in-person events. That's a big change from 2020, when most events were virtual, including those Election Night victory and concession speeches that C-SPAN is known for showing. So this year, we’re looking at dozens of incoming feeds and really stretching our technical wings just as far as we can. One good thing is we still have the massive improvement in digital video transfer, one that really accelerated during COVID, and that's allowed us to take in even more video, both from the field and our partners. Our theme in the control room that night is maximalism: of results, of the candidates, and, of course, our viewer's voices. Doug Rohrbeck, Fox News senior vice president of Washington news and politics Every election night feels different from the last. However, this ‘24 cycle has been a roller coaster ride. We’ve come to expect the unexpected along the way; and that will be our approach on Election Night. Joining our steadfast anchors and veteran analysts in the studio will be a rock-solid roster of journalists spread out across the country, covering the battleground states, key races, and more. Our goal now and through election night—as well as the following days—has always been to educate the audience and explain the twists and turns along the way. Matt Frucci, NBC News executive producer for Saturday and Sunday's Nightly News and NBC News Special Reports This Election Night feels different because of all the uncertainty around it, but we're ready and prepared for all scenarios. And our plan, as always, is to be clear, accurate, and measured. Our job is not to add to the uncertainty, but help make sense of it. We know our Decision Desk holds itself to such a high standard so we can trust their calls. And we couldn't ask for a better on-air team to shepherd us through it. Lester [Holt] and Savannah [Guthrie] are the absolute best at what they do. And they are supported by the strongest political team in studio and in the field. Our correspondents didn't just parachute into the battlegrounds, it's been a years-long effort to report on the key communities. Elliot Jacobson, Newsmax executive vice president, programming Based on the poll numbers and early voting, there’s a view that the results won’t be available Election Night but in the days after. We want to make sure our viewers understand this as they view our programming that day. Paige Lodbell, NewsNation executive producer special projects and events This is our first Election as a 24/7 news operation here at NewsNation. With that comes a lot of excitement and responsibility. We know viewers are looking for facts and information they can trust on Election Night, so we are all about transparency. That’s why we’ve partnered with Decision Desk HQ—an independent organization—for race calls. They will call the races, and we will report those calls. For weeks and months, we’ve been working with DDHQ on our graphics and data feeds and understanding how the events of the night might unfold. For viewers who tune into NewsNation on Election Night, they will get to see coverage focused on results, not partisan politics. In fact, we will have a camera on DDHQ throughout the night so if our team feels like there are questions about a certain race call, we can go to Scott Tranter of DDHQ to explain it. We will also be utilizing a new visual tool called "Election Pulse," which will show you the probability throughout the night of each candidate winning. As the returns come in and we get the votes, the needle moves and you can watch it in real-time, giving you an inside look at how and why the race is called. We decided to use this instrument so that viewers are constantly informed and there is complete transparency about the state of the race. Sara Just, PBS News Hour senior executive producer and WETA senior vice president This election year feels different in several ways: Most importantly, we have never gone into an Election Day with the race looking this close in polls. I don’t think the news industry has ever been reporting with more detail about how election counting takes place, as well as the confidence that election officials around the country have in the security of the voting systems. Yet, there are armies of lawyers from both parties that are ready to go to battle on multiple fronts to challenge or defend the outcome. And, as the first presidential election after Jan. 6th, there is much more awareness around the risks of misinformation and our responsibility as journalists in combatting it, as well as real concern about the mood of the country no matter who wins. All of that impacts our reporting and the country’s overall level of tension in ways we have never seen before. For us at PBS News, this is our first Election Night with co-anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett at the helm and our first one produced in our beautiful new studio. Our team has been working so hard behind the scenes to get ready to bring the most thorough, reasoned, thoughtful election reporting and analysis from our studios and from PBS reporters around the country. We start streaming at 12 pm ET on Election Day and go on the air on PBS stations, starting at 7 pm ET. Brian Donlon, Scripps News senior director of live news This is my third Election Night—John Kerry/George W. Bush, Barack Obama/John McCain, and now Trump/Harris. This one feels more polarized than the first two combined. There is little any of us can do on Election Night to overcome that, but it has impacted our preparation. For example, if someone were to declare victory despite the results indicating otherwise, we’re ready to respond to that. We have our Disinformation Desk national correspondent, Liz Landers, and a team of producers ready to react and inform with facts. As with all of Scripps News’ reporting, we will hew to the middle, offering fact-based reporting with correspondents in all the battleground states while still providing contextual analysis from our group of contributors.

Politics

Election Night 2024: How the News Networks Prepared to Cover This Historic Contest

Executives from multiple outlets explain why 2024 feels different from previous elections

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