President Obama is scheduled to comment on the disaster in Oklahoma at 10 AM and it is likely that all of the broadcast networks will break into regular programming to cover it.  ”CBS This Morning” went into the 9 AM hour to cover the fallout. We hear that “CTM” will stay live until 12 PM on the east coast covering the damage, and 10 AM pacific.

Update: “Our prayers are with the people of Oklahoma today,” Obama said. “Oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away.”

“If there is hope to hold onto, not just in Oklahoma but around the country, it is the knowledge that the good people there in Oklahoma are more prepared than most, and what they can be certain about is that Americans around the country will be right there with them,” he added.

Meanwhile, the news channels are sending their A-teams to Oklahoma to cover the fallout from the tornado.

As we noted yesterday, NBC has Brian Williams,  Lester Holt, Ann Curry, Harry Smith, Kate Snow, Anne Thompson and Dr. Nancy Snyderman in Oklahoma, as well as the Weather Channel team of Jim Cantore, Mike Bettes, and Mike Seidel.

ABC News has Sam Champion, Ginger Zee, David Muir and Alex Perez in Oklahoma. Byron Pitts, Mike Boettcher, and Cecilia Vega are also either in Moore or en route.

CBS has Norah O’Donnell anchoring from Moore, and Anna Werner on the ground, and Scott Pelley will anchor the “CBS Evening News” there this evening.
Read more

The conclave to elect the next Pope will begin Tuesday after morning mass. Here’s what the broadcast and cable networks have planned for coverage.

ABC’s Diane Sawyer will broadcast “World News” from the Vatican beginning this evening. Sawyer is joined in Rome by Terry Moran, Josh Elliott, David Wright, Cokie Roberts, Rob Claiborne and Cecilia Vega. The network plans to broadcast special reports for the cardinals’ twice-daily votes.

CBS’ Scott Pelley will also be live from Vatican City starting today. Norah O’Donnell and Charlie Rose will host “CBS This Morning” live from Vatican City, with CBS News correspondents Allen Pizzey and Mark Phillips contributing to coverage.

Chris Jansing and Lester Holt will lead coverage for NBC News and MSNBC from Rome.  Anne Thompson, Keir Simmons, Claudio Lavangna and George Weigel will also contribute to NBC-MSNBC coverage. Both networks will provide special reports for the cardinals votes. Jansing and Holt also led coverage of the last papal conclave in 2005, which Jansing talks about in a lengthy Q&A with Inside Cable News.

On Fox News, Shepard Smith will anchor from Rome. He will be joined by correspondents Amy Kellogg and Lauren Green to cover the conclave. Bryan Llenas will be reporting for Fox News Latino.

Chris Cuomo and Anderson Cooper will lead CNN’s coverage from Rome. Ben Wedeman, Miguel Marquez, Dan Rivers and Becky Anderson will report, along with CNN en Español’s Adriana Hauser and Jose Levy. CNN Vatican analyst John Allen will also contribute to coverage.

‘Tis commencement season, and so without further ado, we present TVNewser’s fifth annual list of who’s-speaking-where-and-when at America’s colleges and universities (in alphabetical order):

ABC/CNN’s Christiane Amanpour: University of Southern California - Annenberg School of Journalism,  May 11

NBC’s Tom Brokaw: Arizona State University , May 3…Vanderbilt University (TN) – Senior Class Day, May 10

FNC’s SVP of News Editorial Michael Clemente: Warren County Community College (NJ), May 19

ABC’s Katie Couric:  University of Virginia, May 20

NBC’s Tom Costello: University of Colorado, Journalism & Mass Communication, May 10.

NBC’s David Gregory: Emerson College (MA), May 14

CNN/CBS’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta: University of Michigan, previously on April 28

NBC’s Savannah Guthrie: Hobart and William Smith Colleges (NY), May 13

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry: Wellesley College (MA), May 25

PBS’s Maria Hinojosa: Simmons College (MA) – Morning Commencement, May 18

NBC’s Lester Holt: Pepperdine University (CA), previously on April 28

PBS’s Gwen Ifill: Holy Names University (CA), May 12… Bates College (ME), May 26

More after the jump, including Koppel, Lehrer, Sawyer, Schieffer, and three Williamses (Brian, Juan, and Pete)

Read more

With the 10th anniversary of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks approaching, TVNewser reached out to anchors, reporters, producers and executives for their thoughts on that day, and what they believe has changed in the last 10 years.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, who told TVNewser that he rushed to work after it became apparent that the attacks were a major story:

I ran upstairs and started packing a bag, because I figured I am on my way to New York. I ran out of the house, started driving and talking to producers, saying I am going to run over to the shuttle and get up to New York. As I am doing that, and I am already in the car, we hear about the Pentagon.

I am a former Pentagon correspondent, so I drove right over to the CNN bureau, which was easier said than done because the traffic was crazy. It took forever, at one point I was just going to leave my car and start running over to the CNN bureau. I did manage to get through some back streets and find my way over to North Capital, and eventually I got here and got on the air. We started working nonstop. We didn’t really understand the enormity of it until later, but it was pretty scary, forget about being a journalist, just being a person.

Read more

The Russert family in the Vatican Library in June 2008. (Courtesy: Russert family/NBC News)

This morning, about an hour before the “Today” show went on the air, co-anchor Matt Lauer had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, a rare event for most anyone. But the groundwork for this reporting trip goes back more than three years.

“Today” show EP Jim Bell tells TVNewser the Vatican was “a particular passion of Tim Russert‘s.” Russert, the Washington Bureau chief for NBC News, had his own audience with Pope Benedict XVI just days before he died, three years ago this month. Russert died of a heart attack in the Washington Bureau. His family — wife Maureen Orth and son Luke Russert — were still in Europe concluding what had been a family vacation.

“Tim and I had been working on a trip for TODAY that he was going to be a part of,” Bell says. But the 2008 election started to heat up. “So we decided to hold off until after the election.” Russert died June 13, 2008.

“A trip to the Vatican and an audience with Pope Benedict still ranked high on the show’s ‘to do’ list,” Bell says. The show had been planning it for this past March, but the news cycle — the Arab Spring and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan — led to another postponement.

Lauer along with Al Roker were in St. Peter’s Square this morning, and afterward shared a private moment with the pontiff and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan. Today, Dolan will give Lauer and Roker a private tour through the Basilica including a look at Pope John Paul II’s newly installed tomb — the first look for an American broadcast. NBC’s Anne Thompson will examine how the church has embraced social media. Those stories air tomorrow on a split edition of “Today.”

While the U.S. networks have big plans for next Friday’s royal wedding (or hadn’t you heard), a mere 48 hours and 1,100 miles away in Vatican City another big event will unfold: the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Beatification is the first step to Sainthood.

• FNC will carry the Beatification Mass beginning at 4amET Sunday, May 1. Jamie Colby and Eric Shawn will anchor the Mass from New York while religion correspondent Lauren Green will report from Vatican City. Rome-based correspondent Greg Burke will report and FNC analyst Father Jonathan Morris makes a return to Rome to contribute.

• MSNBC’s Chris Jansing who will be covering the royal wedding, travels from London to Rome Saturday morning and will begin appearing on MSNBC Saturday. Jansing will anchor live coverage of the Beatification Mass beginning at 4amET. She’ll be joined NBC’s Vatican analyst and author George Weigel and Vatican Art Historian Liz Lev. Jansing covered the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI in 2005.

• CNN/U.S. and CNNI will broadcast the Mass Sunday with Jon Mann anchoring. Jim Bitterman will be the correspondent at the Vatican and author John Allen will provide analysis. CNN en Espanol will cover with Jose Levy.

• ABC’s David Wright is the correspondent for TV and other platforms. ABCNews.com will live stream the Mass with ABC News San Francisco-based producer Ariane Nalty reporting. (Interesting note: Nalty’s brother is Monsignor Christopher Nalty who worked at the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy. Ariane’s father-in-law is Charles Zewe a former correspondent for CNN).

• NBC’s Anne Thompson and CBS’s Allen Pizzey will report for their networks.

The Alliance for Women in Media (formerly American Women in Radio and Television) has announced its  2011 Gracie Allen Award winners for “programming created for women, by women, and about women.” Awards will be presented in Los Angeles in May.

Among the national TV news winners, NBC/MSNBC led the pack with four nods.  Here’s a breakdown:

• At NBC News, Meredith Vieira was named Outstanding Anchor-News, and Anne Thompson, Outstanding Reporter. Awards also went to the “Today” show for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage (Reporting from Haiti) and to MSNBC for Outstanding Hard News Feature (The Assassination of Dr. Tiller).
• CNN/HLN netted three nods:  CNN for Outstanding Investigative Program or Feature (Sold on Craigslist) and Outstanding Special or Variety (CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute), and HLN for Outstanding Series (Breakthrough Women).
• CBS News received two Gracies. Katie Couric won Outstanding Host-News/Non-fiction, and “60 Minutes” was cited as Outstanding Interview Program (Interview with Kathryn Bigelow).
• Also of note: former GMAer Joan Lunden was honored for Outstanding Talk Show-Entertainment/Information for her “Taking Care with Joan Lunden” program on Retirement Living TV, and former CBSer Hannah Storm earned a nod for Outstanding Producer-News/Non-fiction for her work on ESPN.

TV news analyst Andrew Tyndall released his 2010 year in review report. The report examines which news stories got the most coverage last year, as well as which reporters got the most airtime, among other things.

So which reporters got the most time in front of the cameras last year?

ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper led the way with 335 minutes, followed by ABC News domestic correspondent David Muir with 334 and ABC News Capitol Hill correspondent Jonathan Karl with 251.

Rounding out the top five are CBS News White House correspondent Chip Reid with 235 minutes, and NBC News environment reporter Anne Thompson with 234.

One other reporter of note: CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Nancy Cordes came in at number eight with 218 minutes… despite spending three months on maternity leave last year.

So which stories received the most coverage from the network evening newscasts in 2010?

Read more

NBC’s Brian Williams, a  Middletown, New Jersey native, will head to his home state tonight to lead a journalists’ roundtable and to accept an award.

Monmouth University is honoring Williams with its Award for Communication Excellence,  established in 2004 “to honor individuals who have made significant lifetime contributions in the field of communications”.

Williams will also lead a roundtable discussion about TV news, featuring NBCers Anne Thompson and Dr. Nancy Snyderman, plus two New York newsers, WWOR’s Brenda Blackmon and WNBC’s Brian Thompson.

NBC News president Steve Capus traveled down to the Gulf Coast earlier this week to visit the NBC talent and crew that have been reporting on the BP oil spill. We hear Capus was with the “Nightly” news team on Sunday afternoon in Venice, LA and then stopped by NBC affiliate WDSU and the NBC New Orleans bureau on Monday.

Here’s a photo of Capus, next to correspondent Anne Thompson, along with the NBC News crew including correspondent Kerry Sanders and Brian Williams who is anchoring from Pensacola, FL tonight.