CBS News Unveils a New Studio for Election Night
Nov 02, 2020
The state-of-the-art studio in Times Square will be the broadcast center for Tuesday’s primetime coverage on Nov. 3.
This year, CBS News will cover election night from a new, state-of-the-art studio in the ViacomCBS building in Times Square. The CBS News team will use augmented reality, real-time data, and high-resolution maps tracking the vote to tell the complex stories behind this election.
“We’re empowering our top political journalists with the latest data visualization and storytelling tools, to bring as much clarity as we can,” said Susan Zirinsky, CBS News president and senior executive producer. “We’re committed to being transparent—telling viewers in real time what we know, when we know it and how we know it.”
Norah O’Donnell will anchor a special edition of the CBS Evening News from the new studio on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., ET. O’Donnell will then lead the primetime coverage, starting at 7:00 p.m., on the CBS Television Network. In addition, CBS News Elections and Surveys Director Anthony Salvanto will be at the helm of the new Election Night Tracker, which combines exit poll data and vote tallies with CBS News’ proprietary polling. The tracker builds on the industry-leading CBS News Battleground Tracker, which will have surveyed 100,000 people from all 50 states by election day.
CBS News will also have correspondents contributing live reports and original reporting from battleground states, across the country and around the world, covering the global reaction.
Here are some photos of team and the new set:
Margaret Brennan, John Dickerson, Norah O’Donnell, Gayle King, and Ed O’Keefe will anchor CBS News’ coverage on Election Night.
David Bohrman, executive producer, CBS News Election Night:
“This is the biggest team effort in broadcast news, but we are finding ways to do it in a COVID-safe way.” (Source: Broadcasting + Cable)
The outside of the new studio as seen from Times Square.
Susan Zirinsky, CBS News president and senior executive producer
“We’ve been focusing on critical issues in the run up to Election Day to help inform the audience, such as Major Garrett’s reporting on voter integrity issues, Jeff Pegues on use of misinformation aimed at influencing the electorate. Our polling is as deep as we have ever done, talking to voters in all 50 states. By Election Day, we will have talked to 100,000 people.” (Source: Variety)
Margaret Brennan, Face the Nation moderator and CBS News senior foreign affairs correspondent
“All of us are doing our homework. Our focus is on transparency. We’re going to try to be transparent and talk through the difficulties as we report through them.” (Source: 92Y)
Norah O’Donnell, CBS Evening News anchor, managing editor, and lead anchor for political coverage
“We are trying to prepare our viewers for what could be a drawn out election night process. And that means having some patience and knowing that we may not have the results on election night or may not be able to predict a winner on election night. We want to convey a sense of patience and also convey a sense of transparency.” (Source: NPR)
Anthony Salvanto, CBS News elections and surveys director
“We will be very transparent. We’ll tell you what we know and what we don’t, and we’ll be able to describe to you not just what’s happening, but why. And that’s the other point of this. You’re gonna get the results, which you can ultimately get any place. But will you understand what’s happened? That’s the role I see us trying to fill and I think we will.” (Source: 92Y)
