After tense night, election mystery remains for media
A man stops to watch election returns on electronic billboards in Times Square, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in New York. Cable and broadcast news divisions followed the story closely, even as they learned that election night coverage was a relative dud with viewers. An estimated 56.9 million people watched coverage over 21 networks during primetime hours Tuesday, down sharply from the 71.4 million viewers on election night 2016, the Nielsen company said. For weeks, media outlets had warned that Americans would need patience on election night and beyond, and that turned out to be their most accurate prediction. Even if Biden won the presidency, Democrats were sure to face questions about why the race was so close and why predicted gains in Congress didn't materialize.
Convention-covering networks challenged by competing stories
Republicans decided the show must go on and, for the most part, television networks followed. The convention is taking place in the shadow of huge stories that are happening right now, CNN's Anderson Cooper said. Networks, after giving extensive coverage to the Democrats last week, are cognizant of being fair to the Republicans. The president has been showing up every night, the president could talk about it. But former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, also a CNN contributor, said Republicans were there to try and reelect President Trump and that has to continue to remain their focus.
Coronavirus upends conventions, changes TV coverage
LOS ANGELES The Democratic and Republican conventions will lack for crowds but not television coverage. The Democratic meeting will be virtual, with Biden planning to make his acceptance speech from Wilmington, Delaware. Broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC plan an hour of nightly coverage of the conventions at 10 p.m. EDT. CNN's commentators for the Democratic meeting include Van Jones, Jennifer Granholm, Andrew Yang, and Scott Jennings. Commentary for the Republican convention will be handled by Rick Santorum, David Urban, Amanda Carpenter and Granholm.