Another vote from the Vatican, but no Pope yet. The cable news networks reported on the latest round of black smoke within seconds of each other at 6:39amET. Fox News’ Shepard Smith and CNN’s Chris Cuomo led coverage from Rome on their respective networks. MNSBC covered the latest vote during “Morning Joe.”
The smoke initially appeared to be a light grey color, leading to some slight hedging on CNN at the very top of their report. “When you look at the smoke, it’s not as dark as it was last night. And that’s part of the mystery here,” Cuomo said. He introduced John Allen and Father Edward Beck and joked they were there “to share the blame if I’m wrong about the color of the smoke.”
The broadcast networks all began their special reports at 6:39amET. CBS’ Norah O’Donnell and ABC’s Josh Elliott anchored from Rome, while Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer anchored for NBC from New York, with Lester Holt contributing from Rome.