The funeral services for First Lady Barbara Bush, wife of President George H.W. Bush, mother of President George W. Bush and grandmother of Today show correspondent Jenna Bush Hager, will take place on Saturday afternoon in Houston, and TV news will be on hand to provide in-depth coverage of the event.
Below are coverage plans for the news networks. We will update the post throughout the day as additional information rolls in.
ABC News
Advertisement
- ABC News presents Celebrating Barbara Bush, a special report covering former First Lady Barbara Bush’s funeral on Saturday, April 21st beginning at 12:00 p.m., ET on ABC.
- Chief anchor George Stephanopoulos anchors from New York along with analyst Cokie Roberts.
- Anchor Amy Robach reports from Houston with Contributor Mark Updegrove, presidential historian and LBJ Foundation president and CEO.
CBS News
- CBS News will deliver two hours of live coverage of former First Lady Barbara Bush’s funeral tomorrow from 12 – 2 p.m. ET on CBS. CBSN, CBS News’ 24/7 live, streaming news service, will livestream CBS’s coverage.
- CBS News’ special coverage will be anchored by CBS This Morning Saturday co-host Anthony Mason and CBSN anchor Reena Ninan from New York with CBS News Correspondent Bianna Golodryga co-anchoring from Houston.
- CBS News Correspondent Weijia Jiang will report from Houston. CBS News Contributor Bob Schieffer will also join the coverage.
- CBS Newspath will provide extensive coverage for CBS affiliates around the country and international partners. CBS News Radio will air Special Reports on Saturday starting at 11:00, ET with Steve Futterman and August Skamenca in Houston in addition to Peter Maer contributing to the coverage.
- CBS Sunday Morning will feature a story on the funeral as well as a commentary by historian Douglas Brinkley. Face the Nation will also provide coverage on Sunday.
CNN
- CNN’s special coverage for The Funeral of First Lady Barbara Bush will begin at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, April 21.
- Anchor Wolf Blitzer will lead the coverage alongside chief political correspondent Dana Bash and chief national correspondent John King from the network’s Washington Bureau.
- CNN’s special correspondent Jamie Gangel, who has long profiled the Bush family, will report from St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas where the funeral service will be held.
- Kaylee Hartung will also be in Houston and White House reporter Kate Bennett who covers the East Wing of the White House will be live as well.
- Leading up to the ceremony, CNN Presidential Historians Douglas Brinkley and Tim Naftali and CNN contributor Kate Andersen Brower will pay tribute to the life and legacy of First Lady Barbara Bush.
- In addition, Kristan King Nevins, former Chief of Staff for Barbara Bush will join the coverage to celebrate and reflect the life of the First Lady. Once the funeral service begins, CNN will carry uninterrupted coverage of the service.
- In addition to live television viewing, the Funeral of First Lady Barbara Bush can also be viewed via CNNgo at CNN.com/go and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Samsung Smart TV and Android TV along with all CNN mobile apps for iOS and Android.
C-SPAN
- C-SPAN will have live coverage of memorial services for Former First Lady Barbara Bush on Friday and Saturday.
- FRIDAY: Barbara Bush Lying in Repose at Saint Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston live at 1 p.m. ET on C-SPAN & C-SPAN.org
- https://cs.pn/2K2cTWv
- SATURDAY: Barbara Bush Funeral Service – Live at noon ET on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Radio & C-SPAN.org
- https://cs.pn/2JYMDMQ
Fox News
- Shepard Smith will anchor Fox News’s coverage live from St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston from 12 – 3 p.m. ET.
- Guests will include FNC’s chief political anchor Bret Baier, who covered the second term of the Bush administration in 2006, as well as FNC senior political analyst Brit Hume and FNC anchor Dana Perino, who served as White House Press Secretary under the George W. Bush administration and knew the former First Lady personally. Additional contributions will be made by chief congressional and senior political correspondent Mike Emanuel and FNC senior correspondent Adam Housley live from Houston.
- Leading up to the main coverage, The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino will present a special Remembering Barbra Bush show live from Houston this Friday, April 20.
- Additionally, Dallas-based correspondent Casey Stegall will make on-air contributions live from Houston this week leading up to the memorial.
NBC News/MSNBC
- NBC News and MSNBC will deliver live coverage of the funeral for former First Lady Barbara Bush with special programming, Remembering Barbara Bush, on both networks.
- NBC News correspondent Craig Melvin will anchor the network special report as the funeral begins at the scheduled time of 12:00 p.m. ET, joined by NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw from New York.
- NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell will report from the site of the funeral, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, in Houston, and NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss will contribute to the coverage from Washington.
- Beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET on MSNBC, Brian Williams anchors special coverage from New York joined by Hardball host Chris Matthews and Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace former communications director for President George W. Bush, live from Texas. Andrea Mitchell also joins MSNBC’s coverage along with NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell live from Houston.
- NBC News has been offering coverage on the legacy of the former First Lady throughout the week, including a heartwarming letter from Today correspondent Jenna Bush Hager to her late grandmother, which she shared in a phone call this morning on Today Show.
- NBCNews.com will live stream the network’s special coverage.