Because so much of her life was lived in the public eye, former First Lady Nancy Reagan moved in the same circles as many members of the media. Tomorrow, several of them will take part in her funeral at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.
ABC’s Diane Sawyer will deliver a reading from the Gospel according to John (14:1-6). Later, NBC’s Tom Brokaw will deliver reflections as will both of Mrs. Reagan’s children, Patti and Ron. Ron Reagan hosted a show on MSNBC in the 2000s. George Will, a longtime ABC News political analyst who now contributes to Fox News, is an honorary pallbearer.
Here are the plans so far for the networks:
ABC: Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos leads coverage from New York starting at 2 p.m. ET. Stephanopoulos will be joined by ABC News Anchor Barbara Walters, ABC News Political Analyst Cokie Roberts and Presidential Historian and Director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum Mark Updegrove. ABC News Correspondent Matt Gutman will report live from the Library.
NBC: Lester Holt will anchor special live coverage from the Library starting at Friday at 2 p.m. ET. He will be joined by presidential historian Michael Beschloss. Holt will anchor Nightly News from Simi Valley with reporting from Andrea Mitchell and Brokaw. Natalie Morales will preview the service live from Simi Valley for the Today show.
CBS: CBSN will carry the service live anchored by Elaine Quijano and Vladimir Duthiers with reports from Simi Valley and a full report on CBS Evening News.
MSNBC: Brian Williams anchors from MSNBC headquarters beginning at 1 p.m. ET along with Mitchell and Chris Matthews. Beschloss will take part as will former speechwriter to President Reagan, California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.
Fox News: Shepard Smith anchors coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET from outside the Library.
Yahoo: Anchor Bianna Golodryga will host Yahoo’s live special coverage beginning at 1:45 p.m. ET with guests Sally Quinn and chief national correspondent Lisa Belkin.