ABC News will be taking over Times Square next Tuesday night for their Vote 2008 coverage. Real time election results will be revealed “on three iconic screens – ABC’s Super Sign, the enormous digital facade of NASDAQ and the 23-story high Reuters sign,” reads the press release.
Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos will anchor live coverage of election results from the Times Square studios, while “Good Morning America Weekend” anchor Bill Weir will be in the Square getting reaction to the results.
And while ABC gets much of Times Square, News Corp. has the rights to broadcast on the jumbotron, so Fox News Channel will be airing. Also, CNN plans to have another of its viewing parties in Times Square in the newly renovated Duffy Square atop the new TKTS booth.
“The Times Square approach is…a way of going to the people, the real people on the street, and involving them in the coverage, ABC News president David Westin tells TVWeek’s Michele Greppi.
Many more details about ABC’s coverage plans in the press release after the jump…
(image: ABC News Graphic Depiction)
ABC NEWS ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR ELECTION NIGHT TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4
Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer & George Stephanopoulos to Anchor Vote 2008 from the Crossroads of the World, Times Square
Comprehensive Coverage to begin at 7pm ET and Continue Throughout the Night as State-by-State Results Become Known
Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos will anchor live coverage of election results across from the country on Tuesday, November 4th. ABC’s Vote 2008 will originate from the Crossroads of the World, Times Square beginning with a special edition of World News with Charles Gibson at 6:30pm ET and continuing with full election coverage from 7:00pm ET until at least 2:00am ET. A special edition of Nightline will air at 2:35am ET.
On election night, ABC News will transform Times Square into an outdoor global viewing event, with thousands of people watching ABC News coverage of real time election results on three iconic screens – ABC’s Super Sign, the enormous digital façade of NASDAQ and the 23-story high Reuters sign. “Good Morning America Weekend” anchor Bill Weir will be in Times Square, reporting on reaction to the results.
Vote 2008 will report state-by-state results of the Presidential election as well as key House, Senate and Gubernatorial races. Gibson, Sawyer and Stephanopoulos will be joined on air by a team of ABC news anchors, correspondents and analysts including:
• Senior Political Correspondent Jake Tapper and John Berman at Obama election headquarters in Chicago
• Good Morning America Weekend News Anchor Ron Claiborne and David Wright at McCain election headquarters in Phoenix
• Good Morning America Weekend Anchor Kate Snow with Gov. Sarah Palin
• Good Morning America Anchor Robin Roberts and Good Morning America News Anchor Chris Cuomo reporting on reaction throughout the country
• Jim Avila monitoring voting procedures with Ballot Watch reports
• Jonathan Karl reporting from Capitol Hill on the next Congress
• Martha Raddatz reporting from the White House
• Bianna Golodryga monitoring reaction in the blogosphere
• Sharyn Alfonsi, Dan Harris, Jeffrey Kofman, David Muir and Pierre Thomas reporting live from battleground states.
• Political analysts Cokie Roberts, George Will, Donna Brazile and Matthew Dowd in Times Square Studios and Torie Clarke in Washington, DC
• ABC News Political Director David Chalian and Polling Director Gary Langer
• Presidential Historian Richard Norton Smith
• Senior Foreign Correspondent Jim Sciutto, Supreme Court correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg, Medical Editor Dr. Timothy Johnson, Iraq correspondent Terry McCarthy, Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross and Business Correspondent Betsy Stark reporting on the challenges facing the next administration
• College journalists from the ABC News on Campus program reporting live from their campuses on the youth vote
On Election Night, Terry Moran and Cynthia McFadden will anchor a special edition of Nightline at 2:35am ET from the candidate’s election night headquarters in Chicago and Phoenix. They will be joined by George Stephanopoulos.
ABCNEWS.com will provide four live streams on Election Day, behind-the-scenes video and expert news and analysis. The live streams will include ABC News NOW, McCain Election Night Headquarters, Obama Election Night Headquarters, and a roving stream that will access reports from ABC News reporters in battleground states.
Live blogging led by Rick Klein, senior political reporter and author of The Note, a team of ABC News reporters will cover the day on blogs including on the Political Radar, George’s Bottom Line, Political Punch, and Ballot Watch, a new blog that will track voting irregularities.
ABCNEWS.com will also roll out a number of new and updated interactive features for users, including: Real Time Results which will feature the national vote count, electoral vote projections, and a ticker which will display live results from up to five states simultaneously on the Home Page of ABCNEWS.com. Individual state pages will also display Presidential, Senate, House, and Gubernatorial results. An interactive, rollover map featured on ABCNEWS.com will allow users to view state-by-state results without a single click; results will display electoral votes at state, live, raw presidential vote data and a winner indicator; and Exit Polls which, for the first time, will be available for search by the user giving an inside look on the process by which networks analyze, interpret and display exit poll results. Users can also get real time results on ABC News’ mobile site (m.abcnews.com) and, for the first time, can text or SMS state abbreviations for real time results on Election Night.
ABC News NOW, ABC’s 24-hour digital network currently available to 44 million users across cable, broadband and mobile platforms, will provide coverage of election night beginning at 7:00 PM ET and continuing until at least 11:00 p.m., ET. Coverage will also be available live on ABCNEWS.com’s homepage, as well as the Politics section and the ABC News NOW section online. ABCs Sam Donaldson and Rick Klein, will co-host the coverage from ABC News studios in New York City.
ABC News Radio will provide extensive coverage of election results. Correspondents Aaron Katersky and Cheri Preston will anchor live from 7:00p.m. until at least 1:00 a.m. ET. ABC News Radio’s team of correspondents — Vic Ratner, Ann Compton, Jim Ryan, and Alex Stone – will contribute reporting and analysis from both campaigns; Steven Portnoy and Richard Davies will provide analysis from the ABC News Decision Desk; Matt Gutman and Pam Coulter will report on voter turnout from Florida and Ohio; and Bob Schmidt will be in Washington, DC reporting on the Congressional, Senatorial and Gubernatorial races. ABC News Radio will provide six Election Coverage Status Reports each hour starting at 7:00pm ET.
ABC’s Affiliate News Service NewsOne will serve domestic and international clients on Election Night with Linsey Davis and Carla Wohl reporting from McCain headquarters and Diana Alvear and TJ Winick reporting from Obama headquarters. Christianne Klein will report on Congressional races, popular vote and voter turnout from ABC News election headquarters in Times Square.
Marc Burstein is the executive producer of ABC News Special Events. Roger Goodman, Vice President, ABC Special Projects is the director.