Fox News tells TVNewser a Crain’s New York Business report that Bill O’Reilly will be “in the anchor seat” for Tuesday’s primary coverage, is not true. The story by Matthew Flamm claims FNC is trying to “spice up its coverage,” and that “Brit Hume…would be relegated to a senior analyst role.”
FNC spokeswoman Irena Briganti tells TVNewser, “Flamm is so far off the mark it’s embarrassing and his ‘reporting’ lacks any semblance of credibility. The notion that O’Reilly would ANCHOR election coverage of any kind is beyond absurd and wildly inaccurate.”
After the jump, an internal memo which lays out FNC’s coverage plan for Tuesday night. It shows Hume will be anchoring coverage of the crucial Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island primaries. Hume has anchored all of FNC’s prime time election coverage except for the Potomac primaries Feb. 12. Hume had a previously scheduled vacation, so Chris Wallace anchored.
Flamm writes that an “insider” told him, “They want to copy the success that MSNBC has had with [Keith] Olbermann and [Chris] Matthews anchoring their coverage.”
“If Flamm is so off base with this ‘fact,’ you’d have to question all of his other ‘reporting’ when it comes to Fox News,” said Briganti.
Fox News: Super Tuesday II Coverage
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*America’s Election HQ*
Fox News Channel
– Pre-Super Tuesday II: New 5pm Show, America’s Election HQ launched Monday, February 25th. Sunday, March 2nd, full day of special programming with FNC star talent previewing and building momentum for Super Tuesday. At 10pm, Sunday night, Primetime special, America’s Election HQ hosted by Bill Hemmer LIVE with special guest Frank Luntz and his focus groups. Fox puts the “uncommitted voter” front and center focusing on 30 uncommitted voters live in the studio, audiences will see the latest campaign ads and speeches “dial tested,” as well as segments examining the role of the media and the candidate’s spouses.
– Tuesday, March 4th, full day of special America’s Election HQ programming starting at 6am, et LIVE thru 2am,et. Brit Hume anchors our LIVE special primetime coverage from America’s Election HQ’s in NY.
– Anchors on the Scene: In addition to our team of reporters and embeds, Fox & Friends, Alisyn Camerota on the scene in Ohio and Shepard Smith on the scene in Texas, anchoring LIVE hours. Shep will come from Texas A&M from 3-5p and will do reports through the evening from our event. Shep will be tracking the phenomenon of the youth vote and the impact it is having on this historic election.