Yes, it was inevitable (but then again, maybe it wasn’t), but ABC News was first to report that Sen. Hillary Clinton would be dropping out of the race.
TVNewser received an email with the report from ABC News at 6:26pmET, just minutes before World News began. But the show did not make mention of the breaking news until four minutes into the broadcast. After a portion of Charlie Gibson’s interview with Barack Obama aired, correspondent Kate Snow reported, “ABC News has just learned that Hillary Clinton will hold an event on Friday surrounded by supporters, congressional supporters in which we believe, all indications are, she will concede the race once and for all.”
Minutes later, CNN sourced Snow’s reporting, then filled the remainder of the Situation Room discussing the ABC news report.
While on MSNBC, for much of the night anchors sourced the AP or the New York Times story on the matter, which included the new detail of a Saturday rally to unite the party.
CBSNews.com is sourcing the AP while FoxNews.com reports on the Friday v. Saturday timing of the announcement…
> Update: The cable news call times:
FNC (sourced independently) — 7:00pm 6:42pm
CNN (citing ABC News) — 6:40pm
MSNBC (citing NYT) — 7:20pm