TheGrio To Simulcast CNN Debate, Announces Pre- And Post- Event Coverage — Update
UPDATE: TheGrio will simulcast CNN’s presidential debate on Thursday while providing pre- and post- event coverage.
TheGrio will start live coverage at 8:30 p.m. ET with a preview show hosted by April Ryan, Washington, D.C. bureau chief and senior White House correspondent, and senior correspondent Natasha Alford. The pre show will focus on issues affecting the Black community and provide background on the candidates’ positions.
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The coverage will air on TheGrio television network, streaming FAST channel and digital platform Local Now.
After the debate at 10:30 p.m. ET, Ryan and Alford will get reactions, including from those in politics and advocacy.
Columnists for theGrio, Touré and Michael Harriot, will provide additional commentary.
Byron Allen, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, said that the coverage “will provide comprehensive analysis to ensure that viewers gain a deeper understanding of the political landscape and the stakes involved for America.”
PREVIOUSLY: NBC News and MSNBC will simulcast CNN’s presidential debate next week, meaning that the event will be seen across all major broadcast and cable networks.
NBC News’ Lester Holt and Savannah Guthrie will anchor analysis immediately following the simulcast of the CNN event at 9 p.m. ET. In Atlanta, Tom Llamas will kick off debate preview coverage at 7 p.m. on NBC News Now, joined by Kristen Welker and Hallie Jackson. NBC News Now also will simulcast the event, and Llamas, Welker and Jackson will pick up post-debate special coverage on the streaming channel starting at 11 p.m. ET.
Coverage will start on Wednesday, with Peter Alexander in Atlanta, Gabe Gutierrez and Vaughn Hillyard there for MSNBC and NBC News Now and Monica Alba at the White House. Mike Memoli and Ali Vitali will contribute analysis to the NBCNews.com live blog. In addition, Shaquille Brewster will report from Philadelphia with a focus group of Black voters, and Gadi Schwartz will watch the debate with swing voters in Maricopa County, AZ.
On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow will lead pre-debate coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET and will be joined by Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid, Ari Melber, Chris Hayes, Alex Wagner, Lawrence O’Donnell, Stephanie Ruhle and Jen Psaki. Alex Wagner will join from the spin room in Atlanta. Maddow will lead the debate analysis afterward until 1 p.m. ET. Other highlights: Jonathan Lemire will be in Atlanta for Way Too Early at 5 a.m. ET, and Morning Joe will feature special coverage before and after the debate. Claire McCaskill, Tim Miller and Greg Bluestein will provide analysis. Chris Jansing will host MSNBC Reports live from Atlanta before and after the debate at 11 a.m. ET and at 1 p.m. ET.
The debate also will be shown on Noticias Telemundo, MSNBC on Peacock and MSNBC.com.
Meanwhile, NewsNation’s coverage will be hosted by Chris Cuomo along with anchors Dan Abrams, Elizabeth Vargas and Leland Vittert, with coverage starting at 8 p.m. ET, and continuing after the simulcast. Chris Stirewalt, Geraldo Rivera, Bill O’Reilly, Adam Carolla, Anthony Scaramucci, Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), Medhi Hasan and Nina Turner are scheduled to appear to offer analysis.
C-SPAN’s coverage will start at 8 p.m. ET with viewer calls and social media reaction, followed by a post-debate program, along with sights and sounds from the spin room. Greta Brawner will host.
PREVIOUSLY: CBS News said that it will simulcast CNN’s presidential debate next week, with plans for pre- and post- event coverage on the broadcast and streaming network.
Norah O’Donnell will anchor coverage starting at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the simulcast at 9 p.m. ET. That will be followed by analysis and reporting from the network news team,
O’Donnell, who will anchor from the network’s New York studios in Times Square, will be joined by Gayle King, John Dickerson, Margaret Brennan, Major Garrett and Ed O’Keefe. Robert Costa, Nancy Cordes and Caitlin Huey-Burns will be in Atlanta, where the debate is taking place, and Weijia Jiang will report from Raleigh, NC, where she will be watching the debate with undecided voters. CBS News political contributors Joel Payne and Terry Sullivan will offer analysis and reactions.
The streaming channel CBS News 24/7 also will feature a preview of the debate on America Decides at 5 p.m. ET and The Daily Report with John Dickerson at 6 p.m. ET. CBS News 24/7 also will simulcast the debate.
The network will join other outlets Fox News, ABC News, NewsNation, PBS News and C-SPAN in simulcasting the CNN debate.
PREVIOUSLY: Fox News is the latest network to announce that it would simulcast CNN’s presidential debate next week.
The Fox News coverage will start at 7 p.m. ET with an early edition of Jesse Watters Primetime. That will be followed by pre-debate coverage with Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum, Dana Perino and Watters in New York, and Sean Hannity from the spin room in Atlanta. They will be joined by political analyst Brit Hume and contributors Kellyanne Conway, Richard Fowler and Karl Rove. Aishah Hasnie will be reporting from the spin room, Peter Doocy will be at the White House and Chad Pergram will look back at how the Commission on Presidential Debates, which had sponsored the events since 1988, was shut out of the process this cycle. The simulcast will start at 9 p.m. ET, followed by Hannity from the spin room in Atlanta and then Fox News @ Night with Trace Gallagher. Fox Business Network will also feature the debate via Fox News.
Shannon Bream will anchor the network’s coverage on Fox Broadcasting network, which also will simulcast the debate. Fox Nation will feature a stream of the Fox network coverage, with Rachel Campos-Duffy providing pre- and post- debate analysis with Charlie Hurt, Marci McCarthy and Matt Towery. FoxNews.com also will livestream the Fox broadcasting feed of the CNN event.
CNN is making its feed available to other networks, with a set of conditions, first reported by the Los Angeles Times. There will be two commercial breaks, but outlets can insert their own spots; they just can’t feature their own anchors and personalities during the 90-minute debate itself. The network also wants it know that it is sponsoring — and paying for — the event. Fox News’ simulcast has the title, Fox News Democracy 2024: CNN Presidential Debate. Hannity, meanwhile, has attacked one of the debate moderators, Jake Tapper.
So far, ABC News, NewsNation, PBS News and C-SPAN have announced plans to carry the simulcast.
BIden and Trump are bypassing the previous organizers of general election matchups: The Commission on Presidential Debates. The group, which has sponsored the debates since 1988, had made its feed available across networks and streaming platforms.
PREVIOUSLY: PBS News is the latest network to announce that it will simulcast next week’s CNN presidential debate, with NewsHour anchors Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz leading coverage.
CNN is making its feed of the June 27 available to other networks, with ABC News so far also announcing a simulcast.
Bennett and Nawaz will have post-debate coverage and analysis, with reporting from Laura Barrón-López, Lisa Desjardins and Pamela Kirkland. Amy Walter, Faiz Shakir and Kevin Madden will provide analysis.
PBS News, by the way, is the rebranded name for PBS NewsHour. The nightly newscast will retain the same name, but the news operations will be under the umbrella of PBS News.
PREVIOUSLY: ABC News will simulcast next week’s CNN presidential debate, with plans for pre- and post-debate coverage led by anchor David Muir.
The network will provide a one hour special report on the June 27 event starting at 8 p.m. ET on the broadcast network and ABC News Live, followed by the CNN debate at 9 p.m. ET. After that ends, the network and streaming channel will provide post-debate programming with analysis of the candidates and the state of the race.
CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are moderating the debate itself.
CNN is making its debate feed available to other networks for simulcast. Last month, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump accepted the network’s invite to debate, breaking with a 36-year tradition in which the general election events were hosted by the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates. The commission’s debates were available across networks and platforms, with the group in charge of selecting its own moderators.
Joining Muir will be Linsey Davis, Mary Bruce, Martha Raddatz, Jonathan Karl, Pierre Thomas, Matt Gutman, Rebecca Jarvis, Rachel Scott, Terry Moran, James Longman, Mireya Villarreal and Rick Klein. Donna Brazile and Reince Priebus will provide analysis.
Davis will also anchor a special edition of Prime with Linsey Davis at 7 p.m. ET. White House correspondent MaryAlice Parks and deputy political director Averi Harper will report throughout the day.
Muir and Davis will moderate the second presidential debate on Sept. 10. The network also is making that debate feed available to other networks.
The debate will be held at CNN studios in Atlanta without an audience. There will be two commercial breaks, and mics will be muted when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak.
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