UPDATE, with more details Friday PM: Networks continue to add to their coverage of the passing of Queen Elizabeth.
ABC News’ David Muir will anchor World News Tonight from London tonight and then host a two-hour primetime special, starting at 9 PM ET, and featuring reports from Amy Robach, Robin Roberts, James Longman, Robert Jobson, Victoria Murphy and Ailsa Anderson. Good Morning America will feature coverage through the weekend and next week, with Robach in Edinburgh on Saturday. This Week with George Stephanopoulos will broadcast from London on Sunday with co-anchor Martha Raddatz. Linsey Davis, Kyra Phillips and Diane Macedo will anchor ABC News Live from London, with plans for coverage over the next 10 days.
UPDATED with additional details, Thursday PM: Networks are dispatching anchors to London as they plan days of special programming to pay tribute to the life of Queen Elizabeth.
Norah O’Donnell will fly to London tonight and anchor CBS Evening News and other coverage from there starting on Friday.
CNN has scheduled a special for 7 PM ET tonight, A Queen for the Ages: Elizabeth II, reported by anchor and royal correspondent Max Foster.
ABC is devoting its entire primetime to the Queen tonight. George Stephanopoulos is anchoring a special at 8 PM ET on the her life and legacy, and at 9 PM ET will be a two-hour 20/20 special, Queen Elizabeth II: A Royal Life. The latter special will include reporting from David Muir, Deborah Roberts and Amy Robach.
The network also said that Robin Roberts will be in London on Friday to co-host Good Morning America. Muir also will anchor World News Tonight from London on Friday, and he will anchor a live two-hour primetime special that evening. Robach also will report for Good Morning America, with a location to be announced. ABC News’ This Week also will broadcast from London,
Savannah Guthrie will anchor Today from London on Friday and Monday, with reporting from Keir Simmons, Richard Engel, Kelly Cobiella and Molly Hunter. Today with Hoda & Jenna host Jenna Bush Hager will be in Edinburgh. NBC News Now anchor and senior national correspondent Tom Llamas is in Edinburgh, and the streaming channel has been carrying the Sky News feed and special coverage.
More plans will be announced.
PREVIOUSLY: “Tonight, the way I feel at the moment, I can sum it up in one word: deep upset and sadness,” said CNN’s Richard Quest live on TV from Britain today of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life And Duty To Service Photo Gallery
In a fast-moving day that saw the announcement just hours before that the 96-year-old monarch was “under medical supervision,” the impromptu response of Quest was typical of U.S. media.
When the official announcement of “London Bridge is down” went out, almost two weeks of long-planned coverage on the death of the Queen started to fill UK screens.
U.S. news executives have been meeting throughout the morning to make plans for extensive coverage during the next few days, with expectation that major news anchors of both broadcast and cable news outlets will travel to London. CBS News announced that Norah O’Donnell will fly to London on Thursday evening and will anchor the evening news from there, along with coverage across network platforms starting on Friday. The network will feature coverage in partnership with the BBC of the Queen lying in state, her state funeral and the transfer of the throne to King Charles III. There also will be coverage on CBS Mornings, Face the Nation and 60 Minutes, while CBS Sunday Morning will devote its full 90 minutes to the Queen’s life and legacy.
CNN will air the special report A Queen for the Ages: Elizabeth II, at 7 PM PT on Thursday, reported by anchor and royal correspondent Max Foster. The network also is streaming its coverage without the need for a cable login.
Queen Elizabeth II Death: Obituary, Photo Gallery, Reaction & More
All of the broadcast networks cut into their regularly scheduled programming this morning with special reports on Elizabeth II’s death. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes anchored the ABC News special report, Lester Holt was on air for NBC News, and O’Donnell anchored for CBS News. “With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, a 70-year chapter of history comes to a close and a new chapter has begun with the reign of King Charles II,” Holt said after he came on the air at 10:32 AM PT, with coverage that continued for 2 1/2 hours.
Each network had a ready stream of guests on hand, with the likes of former New Yorker editor and royals writer Tina Brown showing up on CBS. CBS News Senior Foreign Correspondent Mark Philips had a slip of the tongue and referred to now-King Charles III becoming “Queen” upon his mother’s demise, perhaps a reflection of just how long Elizabeth reigned.
Since early today CNN, MSNBC and obviously black-suit anchors on BBC World News have been almost solely centered on the state of the Queen’ health at her Balmoral home. As more and more members of the Royal Family began to arrive at the Scottish retreat, Fox News moved off domestic news to focus exclusively on Elizabeth’s decline and then death.
Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery
Later, CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s voice cracked on live TV as the official statement of the Queen’s death was posted on the gate of Buckingham Palace at about 10:39 a.m. PT today. About nine minutes before, CNN anchor and royal correspondent Max Foster reported her passing. “The Queen has died, very sadly. She died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.” He read from emails and then said, “The Queen has died, and long live the King.”
In the first minutes after the British monarch’s passing was announced, various outlets could be heard scrambling in their coverage, with sounds of producers bleeding over in to the coverage. Later, just before newly minted UK PM Liz Truss spoke to the world, CNN read out live King Charles III’s statement on “the moment of great sadness” of the end of his mother’s life and 70-year reign.
A statement from His Majesty The King: pic.twitter.com/AnBiyZCher
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 8, 2022
Jake Tapper is anchoring the network coverage from Washington, with Foster, Christiane Amananpour, Bianca Nobilo and Anna Stewart outside Buckingham Palace. Matthew Chance is at Downing Street, Scott McLean at Windsor Castle, and Nic Robertson and Isa Soares are en route to Balmoral Castle. Quest has been in Singapore, and Zain Asher and Julia Chatterly are in New York.
A pre-recorded statement from Charles will be shown on UK TV this evening, as has been prepared for ages. Elizabeth II’s funeral is expected to take place in about 10 days, as has been set by the Operation London Bridge plan for the long-serving monarch’s death.
