ABC News has announced its 2016 Republican and National Democratic Convention coverage plans, which will include an hour in prime time on four consecutive nights (Monday – Thursday) for two weeks. In addition to providing updates and special reports throughout the day, George Stephanopoulos will anchor live, on-site coverage of both conventions during the 10 p.m. ET hour, coast-to-coast. ABC will be on-site for the Trump show in prime time from July 18-21 and for the Democrats in prime time from July 25-28.
Good Morning America, World News Tonight, Nightline and This Week, will all broadcast live from the respective cities. This Week will kick off each week of convention coverage, first live from Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena (a venue the network is quite familiar with at this point) on July 17 and then from Philadelphia on July 24. Robin Roberts will join Stephanopoulos to anchor GMA, Monday through Thursday, while David Muir will anchor World News Tonight from Sunday through Thursday. Dan Harris and Byron Pitts will lead Nightline coverage live on Monday through Thursday. Additionally, The View will provide on-site coverage of the conventions, with Paula Faris in Cleveland on July 21 and Joy Behar in Philly on July 28. This is a first for the program.
Other contributors include ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz, World News Tonight Saturday anchor Cecilia Vega, World News Tonight Sunday anchor Tom Llamas, and senior foreign correspondent Terry Moran. Special correspondent and senior strategic advisor Matthew Dowd will join Stephanopoulos in prime time and for special reports. Political analyst Cokie Roberts, contributor Kristen Soltis Anderson, Fusion anchor Alicia Menendez and contributors Donna Brazile and Bill Kristol will provide additional analysis on the race.
Nate Silver, editor-in-chief of the stats and analysis site FiveThirtyEight, will also be on the ground to provide context and analysis. FiveThirtyEight is an ESPN/ABC property.
Speaking of FiveThirtyEight, ABC appears to be all in on the digital side well. There will be live streams of Strait Talk hosted by Dowd and LZ Granderson, live interviews from Roberts, political director Rick Klein and evening coverage from ABC News digital host Amna Nawaz, contributing correspondent Devin Dwyer, congressional correspondent Mary Bruce, deputy political director Shushannah Walshe and the FiveThirtyEight team. In addition, ABC News will produce a series of short form videos, and there will be special convention editions of ABC In a Minute and Lost and Found digital video franchises.