Biden news shakes up Sunday schedules

The news that Joe Biden is dropping out of the 2024 presidential election dropped at 1:46 p.m. eastern on Sunday, July 21, 2024, sending networks into a scramble to cover major breaking political news for the second Sunday in a row.

Biden’s text-based announcement leaves networks searching for visuals

Early Sunday afternoons are typically the domain of E/I and sports programming on the major U.S. networks — and not a time when most newsrooms are fully staffed.

That left newsrooms scrambling to get anchors into chairs and figuring out how program the rest of the evening.

Given that Biden dropping out was widely expected and it didn’t happen during the Friday night news dump, it could be seen as a bit of a surprise that the networks were not anticipating a Sunday afternoon announcement, though some networks appeared to at least be partially 

The timing of the announcement also avoided having the news dominate Sunday morning political affairs shows and also came near the end of the weekend, giving the Biden camp most of the weekend to mull over the decision.

Still, it seemed that newsrooms were left largely off guard when it came to this second “July surprise” in a row.

NBC News cut into NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 coverage at 1:02 p.m. eastern with correspondent and anchor Hallie Jackson reporting from the network’s Washington, D.C. newsroom flashcam. The special report open did not feature the normal music, had the old “classic” NBC News logo and the announcer was different from the one normally used.

CBS News interrupted its LGPA golf coverage with a special report with WCBS anchor Kristine Johnson broadcasting from Studio 57, the network’s news hub. It’s worth noting that CBS’s open had what appeared to be a fully-designed “Biden Exits Race” version of its normal special report open.

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ABC stations interrupted local programming. Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott was at the anchor desk in Studio TV3 in New York.

MSNBC was airing “Inside with Jen Psaki,” who wrapped a live interview with a Biden supporter to deliver the news at 1:52 p.m. She initially read Biden’s statement off her phone before someone apparently handed her a printed copy in the studio.

Fox was airing “Fox News Live” with Mike Emmanuel hosting. He was conducting a panel with pundits Ashley Hayek and Kristen Hawn at 12:50 p.m. when he delivered the “major breaking news.” Hawn, a Democrat, was then asked for her reaction. She hesitated briefly and asked for clarification that the news was from Biden.

“And it’s from him…?” she asked Emmanuel, who began checking his on-set laptop while saying that was what he was “told in my ear,” and the news was also coming across the wires.

CNN was airing “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” which is typically pre-taped, when Alex Marquardt began “CNN Newsroom” at around 1:55 p.m. with the breaking news, which he labeled as “major, major.” In the Chicago area, Marquardt abruptly appeared on the air and any open or stinger and his opening few words were cut off. 

As the afternoon went out, networks were able to rustle up more prominent anchors. Lester Holt, David Muir and Norah O’Donnell all eventually appeared on air on the “big three” networks while Wolf Blitzer and Kaitlan Collins appeared on CNN later, with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.

“NBC Nightly News” originated from Studio 1A, its normal home and used most of the same blocking and other production techniques.

“CBS Evening News” appeared to use a simplified setup that, among other things, eliminatedwide push-ins.

“ABC World News Tonight” originated from TV3 using most of its normal setups. It’s headlines segment at the top of the show was significantly cut down and used the wordy headline “President Biden announces he will not seek reelection” — which was so wide it barely fit on the screen.

Holt, Muir and O’Donnell all anchored the Sunday evening editions of their respective newscasts, with “CBS Evening News” extended to one hour.

CBS preempted “60 Minutes” in select time zones in favor of an hour-long primetime special 8 p.m. eastern titled “Biden Exits Race.”

NBC and ABC aired two-hour specials at 7 p.m. 

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NBC used the “46”-themed look it has used since Biden was inaugurated in 2021. The special was titled “Biden Exits 2024 Race.”

ABC, in its usual verbose fashion, called its special “Biden Stands Down: The Race for the White House.”

Coverage across most networks also included profiles of Biden and Kamala Harris, his chosen replacement for the top of the ticket. 

It appeared that many of these profiles could have been drawn from pre-prepared “obituary” pieces on the two that most networks have completed and stored away on high profile figures so they are prepared if someone dies. Most networks will pull these packages and update them as need, which could have included edits to make them play better as profiles of living people.