CNN Plans Six Hours Of Coverage For Each Night Of Conventions

CNN will provide six hours of coverage each night of the Democratic and Republican conventions, which will be nearly all virtual.

The network typically has a major presence at convention sites, setting up its own restaurant, the CNN Grill, to serve as a backdrop for its anchors and correspondents. The coronavirus crisis has forced both parties to cancel just about all events and speeches at the chosen convention cities, Milwaukee for the Democrats and Charlotte for Republicans, while networks are basing their coverage from their studios in New York and Washington.

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CNN’s coverage will be from 8 PM to 2 AM ET starting on Monday, when the Democratic National Convention starts and runs through Aug. 20. The Republican convention runs Aug. 24-27.

Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, Dana Bash and John King will host coverage, with Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon joining from midnight to 2 AM. They will be joined by the network’s team of reporters and analysis. Commentators for the DNC will be Van Jones, Jennifer Granholm, Andrew Yang and Scott Jennings. Rick Santorum, Granholm, David Urban and Amanda Carpenter will join RNC coverage. Daniel Dale will provide fact checking through the evenings and Dr. Sanjay Gupta will provide COVID-19 updates.

CNN Audio also will debut two new podcasts — CNN Political Briefing, launching on Monday, is a five minute daily brief from David Chalian, and Politically Sound, premiering on Aug. 21, will be a weekly series hosted by Chalian and Nia-Malika Henderson. Axe Files with David Axelrod also will feature convention programming. On YouTube, The Point with Chris Cillizza will take an answer questions with Republican and Democratic strategists, while CNN Politics will feature updates.

Other networks announced their plans in recent days. In line with previous cycles, the major broadcasters will air one hour of convention coverage per night.

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