See how U.S. networks broke the news of Pope Francis’ death

Pope Francis died at around 7:35 a.m. local time in Rome, with the announcement of his passing coming at 9:45 a.m. local time.

In New York, that was around 3:45 a.m. eastern, which meant the U.S. networks were largely caught off guard. 

Because of the time the news broke, there may have been some inconsistency with how network-level coverage was handled across the country. Most stations switch to carrying a network-provided feed starting sometime between 1:30 and 3 a.m. local time, but isn’t a hard and fast rule and can vary.

It’s likely most stations in the U.S. were airing either repeats of programming from the previous day or first-run network newscasts.

These overnight or early morning newscasts are often produced at least partially live or live-to-tape, with some segments repeated. As you head farther west from New York, however, the likelihood that viewers in a particular market will be seeing a tape-delayed version of the broadcast typically increases, though networks maintain the option of airing live feeds if the news warrants it.

In some cases, this could mean that anchors were cut off in the middle of a story. To lay viewers, this would likely simply look like an abrupt but necessary change in direction due to the breaking news, even though at least some of them were likely seeing non-live content at the time the news broke. 

There can also be differences in whether or not a local station opts to carry a special report, which is often determined by how “big” a story the news is. 

ABC

ABC managed to beat its rivals, first reporting the news at around 4 a.m. eastern. “Good Morning America First Look” anchors Andrew Dymburt and Alison Kosik initially broke the news to viewers under the network’s special report banner. About a quarter of an hour later, George Stephanopoulos anchored another report.

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Affiliates could carry that report until “Good Morning America” started at 7 a.m., though some broke away for local news. 

“GMA” devoted its entire tease headlines segment to the story.

CBS

CBS News’ initial report of the news came about four minutes after ABC’s, with Jessi Mitchell, filling in for “CBS News Mornings” anchor Michael George, telling viewers about the pope’s death. The network then offered a special report about 16 minutes later.

Another special report started at 6 a.m., with “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil handling anchoring duties.

The network then started “CBS Mornings” with a cold open at 7 a.m. that did not include its normal fanfare music, before Dokoupil, Gayle King and Nate Burleson appeared briefly on-camera, quickly throwing to the special report slate, allowing stations across the country not already carrying the feed to join. After the normal special report slate aired, a custom open designed around Francis’ death was used before rolling into coverage.

The trio then continued anchoring coverage, essentially offering a version of the broadcast that doubled as a special report. The network did not use the “CBS Mornings” graphics package initially, instead using the red special report look.

The video walls in Studio 1515 in Times Square were used to showcase violet and gold graphics, with the vertical slats in the practical set walls shifted to a similar palette. 

NBC

On NBC, meanwhile, “Early Today” anchor Frances Rivera handled an initial report at 4:15 a.m.

The network offered a special report at 6 a.m. with “Today” anchors Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin.

Coverage continued on “Today,” which was billed as a “special edition” with its tease headlines completely turned over to the breaking news.