Earlier this week, TVNewser covered what ABC and Fox News Channel had planned for their Midterms Election experience. Tonight, we stopped by CBS and NBC News/MSNBC to give you a look at what was happening behind the scenes on election night. First stop: The CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street in New York.
We stopped inside the control room before it got crazy (around 7:15 p.m. ET), and spotted CBS Evening News ep Mosheh Oinounou and Face the Nation ep Mary Hager, among others.
We chatted with CBS Evening News Jeff Glor for a bit before he went into Studio 57 to join the CBS This Morning team of Norah O’Donnell, John Dickerson, Bianna Golodryga and Gayle King to prep for the network’s prime time coverage.
Michele Crowe/CBS News
“I think we’re trying to be as open and transparent with the process as we can,” said Glor, when asked what he took away from 2016 coverage that he’ll take into account tonight. “A lot of folks consider the calling process and how we end up projecting. It can be mysterious and I don’t think it should be, but I think if we’re as upfront with all of the information that we have and that we’re looking at, it’s really going to be helpful for folks.”
Glor also spoke about how thankful he was for Bob Schieffer joining the network’s coverage for the 25th time. “It’s helpful to have his depth of experience to help back us up and inform us, and Bob is someone who can take massive amount of information and distill it,” he said.
Why should audiences choose CBS when there are so many other options out there on election night?
“I think that people can rely on us to present a broadcast that is accurate, that is fair, and that brings an enormous amount of experience to this night,” Glor added. “That’s important.”
Before departing the CBS News HQ, we engaged with a few CBS News producers who were hard at work.
We left CBS at around 8:30 p.m. ET, and made the brief trip to Rockefeller Center to check out NBC News’ election night coverage from the network’s brand new election night set in Studio 1A, which is where the Today show originates from.
We stopped by the NBC News control room, and encountered a very busy environment filled with all of the execs you might expect (and of course others): NBC News president Noah Oppenheim, Rashida Jones, Election Night executive producer and svp of specials for NBC News and MSNBC, Libby Leist, executive producer of Today, Meet the Press ep John Reiss, and NBC News chairman Andy Lack, who was in good spirits and told us he was as excited about this Midterms broadcast as any he’s been a part of in years.
Nathan Congleton/NBC News
Similar to Glor, the NBC News chairman stressed the importance of being totally transparent with the audience, and letting the story tell itself.
To be frank, the whole event is probably a welcome experience for Lack, particularly in light of recent controversies his network has had to deal with, most notably the Megyn Kelly saga.
Upon learning that Fox News called the House for the Democrats, we asked Lack when NBC News was going to do the same. He seemed a bit surprised to learn Fox had made the call when it had, but admitted that result looked more and more likely. “We’re at about 90 percent,” Lack told us.
About 40+ minutes later, in the 10 p.m. ET hour, the powers-that-be gave the thumbs up to the quartet of Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie, Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd, who called the House for the Democrats.
We walked from Studio 1A to 30 Rock for a pit stop at the MSNBC studio and saw Rachel Maddow anchoring her network’s coverage with Brian Williams. The duo received assists from Nicolle Wallace, Ari Melber, Eugene Robinson and of course Steve Kornacki at the “Big Board.”
One amusing instance during the broadcast came just after midnight ET. Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic challenger for Texas senator, gave his concession remarks which MSNBC aired live. He told his adoring supporters “I’m so fu*king proud of you guys,” much to the delight of the crowd, but to the consternation of news executives.
“Sorry for the f-bomb,” Williams said later.
Elsewhere, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace delivered some notable remarks during his network’s coverage tonight, undoubtedly much to the chagrin of most FNC viewers:
Well it’s a big deal and if the president had to win one house and lose the other, I think he clearly would have preferred what he’s got which is winning the Senate because it does allow him all the nominations to the courts, perhaps another nomination or two to the Supreme Court. He’s able to get new members of his cabinet appointed if he decides and we hear that there’s going to be a significant shuffle. If I may just put the brakes- tap on the brakes a little bit, I think we are overstating the importance, not the importance but giving too much credit to Donald Trump for holding onto the Senate. The fact is, this was a historically difficult year for the Democrats, the Democrats had 26 seats that they had to defend, the Republicans had nine seats they had to defend and Donald Trump won in 10 of the states the Democrats were trying to defend. What we’re talking about tonight is, and I’m not in any way diminishing Donald Trump’s efforts or the fact that he’s held onto the Senate and the importance of it, what we’re talking about- the fact that the Republicans have taken seats in North Dakota, Indiana, and Texas which are very red states so yes it’s a victory for Donald Trump but I think it’s a tremendous overstatement to say that Donald Trump pulled a hat out of the bag, this was something he should have been expected to do, he did it, congratulations to him but let’s temper our excitement over Donald Trump’s performance tonight.