Fox News Channel has inked a new, multi-year deal with anchor Martha MacCallum.

Under the terms of the new agreement she will stay on as the co-anchor of “America’s Newsroom” from 9-11 AM alongside Bill Hemmer.

“Martha brings unique enthusiasm and talent to delivering the news and connects incredibly well with our viewers,” said Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in a statement. “We look forward to her continuing to play a valuable role in the network’s success.”

MacCallum joined FNC in 2004, anchoring “Fox News Live” and later “The Live Desk” before joining “America’s Newsroom.” In addition to covering the 2004, 2008 and 2012 elections, she has covered Hurricane Katrina and the Royal Wedding, and interviewed a slew of prominent newsmakers.

Before joining FNC McCallum was an anchor at CNBC, as the co-anchor of “Morning Call” and the anchor of “Checkpoint.”

Credit: Shannon Hicks, The Newtown Bee

With the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, CT, the broadcast networks and cable news channels are changing up their plans tonight.

All three of the evening news anchors, Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer and Scott Pelley, will be anchoring from Connecticut tonight.

“The CBS Evening News” will expand to one-hour, and CBS will air a one-hour special report at 10 PM ET. “ABC World News” will also be one-hour, and ABC will be pre-empting Barbara Walters‘ interview with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for a special on the shooting, with Sawyer and Chris Cuomo anchoring from CT. There will also be a special edition of “Nightline” with Cynthia McFadden anchoring from CT. “NBC Nightly News” will also be an hour, and “Dateline” will be pre-empting its holiday special for a report on the shooting at 10 PM.

On cable news tonight, the shooting will be the big story, if not the exclusive one.

MSNBC will be sticking with its normal lineup of hosts, with the shooting expected to be the primary story. Chris Jansing will host the 10pmET hour live from Newtown.

CNN will also be staying with its normal lineup, though the 10 PM edition of “AC360″ will be live instead of taped. With Erin Burnett in Afghanistan, Ashleigh Banfield will fill-in at 7 PM.  ”Piers Morgan Tonight” will be discussing the latest regarding the shooting, as well as gun control. Banfield will also anchor at 11 PM.

Fox News is pre-empting “The Five,” instead having Jon Scott anchor the hour. Bill Hemmer will anchor at 7 PM from CT.  ”The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity” will be live instead of on tape, and will be talking about the shooting, and “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” will originate from Connecticut and air from 10PM-midnight. In addition tonight’s edition of “Red Eye” is being pre-empted.

We will update this item as we get more information on coverage.

Original story posted at 11:11 AM: The second mass shooting in a week is rocking the country, this time at an elementary school in suburban Connecticut. The cable news channel quickly pivoted from politics to the shooting this morning, as word spread.

According to TVEyes, Fox News reported news of the shooting at 10:23, CNN at 10:35 and MSNBC at 10:37. As of 11 AM, all of the networks were citing local “reports” of the shooting. MSNBC eventually handed over its coverage to a local NBC affiliate, which was all over the story.

Shortly after 11 AM, Fox News returned to coverage of Susan Rice’s withdrawal yesterday as a nominee for Secretary of State, while MSNBC and CNN stayed on the school shooting. At 11:15 FNC returned to the shooting, throwing its coverage to a local affiliate in Connecticut.

Update: The broadcast nets have broken in with special reports, as the situation gets more dire. Reports of more than a dozen people, including multiple children, killed.

CBS News says Scott Pelley will anchor the “CBS Evening News” from Connecticut this evening. FNC’s Bill Hemmer will also anchor from CT.

As of 1 PM Fox news has Rick Leventhal in Newtown, CT. CNN has Susan Candiotti in Newtown, and Ashleigh Banfield and Jason Carroll on the story. Fox, CNN and the other networks have correspondents en route.

Update 2: CNN IDed the shooter as Ryan Lanza at 2:15 PM, FNC followed suit at 2:21 and MSNBC at 2:25. Important Update: At 3:30 reports are that Ryan Lanza was not the shooter, but that his brother Adam Lanza was.

Update 3: At 3:15, president Obama gave an emotional statement on the shooting. Every news network picked it up:
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Fmr NYC Mayor David Dinkins, FNC Chairman Roger Ailes and the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the Ailes Apprenticeship Program graduation

This morning a 12th floor studio at Fox News Channel hosted the commencement ceremony of the Ailes Apprenticeship Program. Established by Fox News co-founder and chairman Roger Ailes in 2003, the program selects a small, diverse group of candidates and puts them through the rigors of working in a news environment, paring them with seasoned mentors. And unlike Donald Trump‘s apprentices, at the end of the year-long program, all Ailes apprentices get hired.

Today’s ceremony was emceed by FNC anchor Bill Hemmer and the keynote speaker was the Rev. Jesse Jackson who admitted, “I’m quite nervous. I’m a lamb and I’ve come to the lion,” as he looked towards Ailes. Ailes tells TVNewser he’s known Jackson for decades and has kept up “a backchannel conversation for years.”

Jackson called Ailes, “a tough-minded, caring individual,” who is “preparing leaders for the diverse world in which we live.”

Speakers included world-renowned mathematician, Mexico City-born Hewlett-Packard researcher Dr. Pano Santos talked about his mentors: Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard; and Capt. Gail Harris who at her retirement was the highest-ranking African-American woman in the U.S. Navy told the four graduates they need to now be mentors for the next generation. Also participating, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner who joked, “if you have not been inspired by today’s remarks, you must be sleeping.”

After the ceremony, we spent a half hour in Ailes office talking about a range of issues including election night, his re-signing with Fox News, whether he entertained any offers from CNN for their top job and about what the Apprenticeship Program means for his legacy.

“I don’t care about my legacy,” Ailes says. “It’s too late. My enemies will create it and they’ll push it. What I care about however… what I want to do is expand” the program. “If every company did this, could you imagine what that’d do to minority unemployment and success?”

More from our Q&A after the jump, and in subsequent posts…

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Melissa Francis jokes that she wants to be writer when she grows up. The Fox Business Network anchor is already on her second career. And with the publication of her memoir, “Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter,” she’s on her way to fulfilling that adulthood dream. Francis was feted last night at Astra, an event space overlooking Manhattan’s East River. The memoir is a brutally honest, sometimes painful, yet touching story of life as a child actor. After dozens of commercials, her first big break came on “Little House on the Prairie.”

In a Media Beat interview this summer Francis told us the book, includes “the typical family dramas, set against the backdrop of a very unusual childhood.”

But last night, no drama, just celebrating. Among the guests, FNC/FBN c0-founder and chairman Roger Ailes, FBN EVP Kevin Magee, anchors Neil Cavuto, Liz Claman, Lori Rothman, Cheryl Casone, Elizabeth MacDonald, Tracy Byrnes, Sandra Smith, Nicole Petallides, Tom Sullivan and Dennis Kneale.

From FNC, we spotted Bill Hemmer and chatted with Megyn Kelly about election night, and the moment that took her from the studio through the bowels of Fox News to the decision desk as they explained calling Ohio for Pres. Obama, giving him the election and giving Karl Rove agita. Following many long months of election coverage and, more recently, of Hurricane Sandy, which left her without power for a week, Kelly was looking forward to taking today off.

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Fox News Channel will have Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier anchoring on election night, while Shepard Smith will be anchoring on the Fox Broadcast Channel.

On FNC, Kelly and Baier will be joined by senior political analyst Brit Hume, “Fox News Sunday” moderator Chris Wallace, as well as contributors Joe Trippi, Karl Rove, Juan Williams, Stephen Hayes and Kirsten Powers. “O’Reilly Factor host Bill O’Reilly  and “On the Record” host Greta Van Susteren will be providing commentary, and Van Susteren will also interview Fox News contributor Sarah Palin during the evening.

Correspondent Martha MacCallum will report on exit poll data, with Bill Hemmer manning the “bill-board,” FNC’s touchscreen. Carl Cameron and John Roberts will report from Romney HQ in Boston, with Ed Henry and Wendell Goler reporting from Obama HQ in Chicago. There will also be a number of correspondents in the field (after the jump).

On the Fox Broadcast Channel, FNC contributor Ed Rollins, Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh, and The Hill editor A.B. Stoddard will contribute to coverage.

Online, Jonathan Hunt and Harris Faulkner and Rick Folbaum will anchor video coverage on FoxNews.com, while Rick Sanchez will anchor on FoxNewsLatino.com in Spanish.

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As they did in Tampa for the RNC, Fox News has decked out a fleet of SUVs for use by delegates and attendees of the DNC.

I noticed the SUVs parked in downtown Charlotte, and the drivers asking people if they wanted rides. Fox News tells us they have 10 cars offering free rides. All of the vehicles are fully marked with Fox News hosts and shows: two for Bill O’Reilly, and one each for hosts Sean Hannity, Neil Cavuto, Greta Van Susteren, and Shepard Smith; also one with the “Fox & Friends” hosts, one for “The Five,” one for  Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum and, the one you see here emblazoned with primetime hosts Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly.

The cars will shuttle attendees to hotels, bars and restaurants in Charlotte through Thursday evening.

Alex has written about how CNN got it wrong this morning in reporting the Supreme Court health care ruling. Now Fox News has issued a statement of its error, or more accurately, its inaccurate report.

As we reported in our first post on this mess, FNC’s Bill Hemmer reported at 10:07, “The individual mandate has been ruled unconstitutional.”

Shannon Bream then reported that news further from the steps of the Supreme Court.

At 10:09, Megyn Kelly jumped in: “Wait we are getting conflicting information, we are getting conflicting information. If you follow SCOTUSBlog.com which covers the high court they say that despite what Shannon just read that the individual mandate is surviving as a tax. This is not confirmed by us yet this is according to SCOTUSBlog which also has the opinion…”

Instead of admitting the network’s error, Michael Clemente, EVP of News for Fox News, took a shot at other networks:

“We gave our viewers the news as it happened. When Justice Roberts said, and we read, that the mandate was not valid under the Commerce clause, we reported it. Bill Hemmer even added, be patient as we work through this. Then when we heard and read, that the mandate could be upheld under the government’s power to tax, we reported that as well — all within two minutes.

By contrast, one other cable network was unable to get their Supreme Court reporter to the camera, and said as much. Another said it was a big setback for the President. Fox reported the facts, as they came in.”

Unlike CNN, which misreported the news on air, online and through social media for about six minutes before a clarification, FNC’s two minutes of inaccurate reporting was solely on TV. Here’s how it played out on air:

The expediency of TV news is not meeting well with the depth involved in the ruling on the Affordable Care Act of 2010, more commonly known as Obamacare.

“Be cautious with us, we’re trying to do the best we can,” said Bill Hemmer on Fox News, at 10:11am. “We may need to update our lower third, which may not be correct,” added Megyn Kelly, which stated the court had ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional.

At 10:07, CNN’s Kate Bolduan reported the same: “It appears as if the Supreme Court justices have struck down the individual mandate.”

“Wow, that’s a dramatic moment, if in fact the Supreme Court has ruled the individual mandate is in fact unconstitutional,” said Wolf Blitzer.

In fact, they didn’t and it was more complicated than that.

At 10:11am, a breathless NBC justice correspondent Pete Williams got it right in an NBC/MSNBC simulcast, “They have said that it can’t be upheld under the commerce clause, the individual mandate can’t. But [Chief Justice John Roberts] said it can be upheld under the court’s taxing authority. So the bottom line here is the Supreme Court has upheld the health care law. It is a penalty, not a tax.”

That clear enough?

Probably not. Our suggestion: see how the three evening newscasts report it, or read the New York Times.

As for the broadcast networks:  Matt Lauer anchored on NBC until 10:26am, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos on ABC, with Terry Moran at the court also aired their special report until 10:26. On CBS, Scott Pelley was in Washington along with Jan Crawford at the court with their special report running until 10:30. And FNC’s Jon Scott anchored on FOX stations until 10:27

HLN, CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg and C-Span, are also giving the decision extensive coverage.

Fox News will air an hour-long primetime special tonight on the 2009 Fort Hood killings. Co-anchored by Bill Hemmer and Catherine Herridge, with commentary from Greg Gutfeld, the special features interviews with victims and witnesses and an investigation of the threat of enemies within the U.S. military.

“Fox Files: The Enemy Within” airs tonight at 10pmET. Watch a preview here: