Cable News Networks Plan For Convention Coverage

As the U.S. grapples with record numbers of coronavirus infections, this year’s Democratic and Republican conventions are bound to be very different from the traditional, made-for-TV rites featuring crowds waving signs amid falling balloons and reams of crepe paper, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Democratic convention will be held in Milwaukee, where former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to travel to accept his party’s presidential nomination. But organizers have told state delegations they shouldn’t plan to attend in person and should instead conduct official convention business remotely—including casting their nominating votes.

Republican National Convention, meanwhile, moved its marquee events to Jacksonville, Fla., after President Trump battled with North Carolina’s Democratic governor over social-distancing precautions that could have limited crowd size. Some events will still be held in Charlotte, including nominating the party’s candidates for president and vice president—with a limited number of delegates.

“It’s not at all clear that the events in Milwaukee and Jacksonville are going to be anything like a normal convention,” said Sam Feist, CNN’s Washington bureau chief. “That will affect our coverage.”

Rashida Jones, senior vice president of MSNBC and NBC News said MSNBC would have a “light footprint” at the events in Milwaukee, Charlotte and Jacksonville. The network is planning to cover the conventions mostly from outside the venues, relying on pool cameras for key footage and positioning reporters outdoors where they can socially distance from one another.

Total Viewers (WSJ Graphic)

Fox News is planning to produce its coverage of the party conventions remotely, though it will have some correspondents on-site, said Cherie Grzech, vice president of politics and the Washington bureau at Fox News. Ms. Grzech said Fox News would reduce its footprint at the conventions.

Network producers are already beginning to look past the conventions to the general-election debates and election night. The coronavirus has caused mail-in voting to increase, which has resulted in longer delays for deciding elections, said Joe Lenski, co-founder and executive vice president of Edison Research. That means cable news networks might have to produce coverage that drags on days past election night.

CNN is already planning for that possibility, preparing for a scenario in which the network could hand off coverage from one team to the next over the course of days until a winner is declared.

The competing news stories of the pandemic, nationwide protests and the campaign have driven cable-news ratings well past their peaks during the 2016 presidential election. CNN, MSNBC and Fox News have all attracted more viewers in prime time in the second quarter than they have in the past five years as of June 21, according to Nielsen.