Whitney Houston’s funeral is underway at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ.
CNN’s coverage began at 11amET with Soledad O’Brien, Piers Morgan and Don Lemon anchoring from Newark. Lemon described the scene outside the church, where the streets have been blocked off since last night, as filled with “hordes of media from all over the country, from Germany, from China, everywhere.”
On Fox News, Jon Scott said Houston’s “near-perfect voice brought tears and joy to people around the world.” Scott and Uma Pemmaraju anchored from New York, with Kelly Wright reporting from Newark.
MSNBC’s coverage, anchored by Alex Witt, began at 12pmET following this morning’s debut of “Melissa Harris-Perry.” Craig Melvin, reporting from Newark, did a live interview with Shaun Robinson, the “Access Hollywood” reporter who was the last person to interview Houston.
HLN’s coverage — anchored by Ryan Smith and Susan Hendricks, with Jane Velez-Mitchell and AJ Hammer in Newark — begun at 9amET and has featured a series of retrospectives on Houston’s life.
About 1500 people, including ABC’s Diane Sawyer, are attending the service.