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

At the end of a CBS Evening News story about where he got his start, it was announced that CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston would be leaving the network. Pinkston, 63, joined CBS in 1980. He spent 10 years as a reporter at WCBS and, since 1990, has been a correspondent for CBS News, including a stint at the White House.

Pinkston’s final story was about where he got his start — at WLBT in Jackson, MS in 1971 — and why. It was due, in part, to the fact that 50 years ago tomorrow civil rights leader Medgar Evers asked for, and received equal time — unheard of at the time for a black man to appear on TV in the segregated South. Less than month later, Evers was assassinated.

At the end of that story, anchor Jim Axelrod announced Pinkston is leaving CBS. “He’s always been one of the true gentleman in this business and we will miss his warmth, his grace and his class,” said Axelrod. It’s not known if Pinkston is leaving for another opportunity or leaving the business.

After the jump, watch Pinkston’s last story for CBS News, which focused on civil rights leader and broadcaster Medgar Evers.
Read more

• Fox News’s Chris Wallace will be presented with this year’s RTDNA Paul White Award, recognizing a lifetime of achievement and service in TV news. Wallace will accept the award later this summer at the RTDNA convention in Anaheim.

• ABC News anchor and chief national correspondent Byron Pitts was honored last night at a gala for National Stuttering Awareness Week. Pitts recounts overcomming a stutter, as well as illiteracy, in his 2009 memoir “Step Out on Nothing.”

• “The Ed Show” returns to MSNBC this Saturday at 5pmET with host Ed Schultz. Schultz had hosted the show nightly at 8pmET. Karen Finney‘s program is still in the development phase and will now premiere Saturday, June 8 at 4pmET.

A holdup at a Cambridge 7-11 store around 10pm Thursday set off an all night pursuit for the suspects in the Boston Marathon blasts. By sunrise, an MIT police officer was dead, an MBTA officer was wounded, one of the suspects was dead  and another suspect remained on the loose, both have been identified as brothers, originally from Chechnya, living in the Boston area. With multiple crime scenes in multiple locations, one suspect still at large, and the area in virtual lockdown, the overnight events kept local and national news crews on the air nonstop.

The first reports began coming in after 1am. Networks were cautious of not connecting the shooting of the MIT officer with the search for the bombing suspects. CNN International broke in to CNN/U.S. at 1:13am. MSNBC’s Mara Schiavocampo broke in at 1:18 with the news along with correspondent Kerry Sanders. At 1:24am Fox News’ Marianne Rafferty broke in to a re-air of “On the Record” with news of the MIT shooting.

At 2:24am, as it was becoming clear the holdup, carjacking and MIT incident were related to the blast investigation, CNN’s Jake Tapper held up his iPad to show new photos of the suspects that he’d been emailed.

ABC’s overnight show World News Now kept viewers up to date throughout the night with help from affiliates. George Stephanopoulos anchored his first special report for ABC at 4:30am. NBC’s Lester Holt anchored an NBC News special report around 3:30amET and CBS News broadcast a special report at 4:40am with Anne Marie Green.

Developing…

More, 8:27am: CNN’s Jake Tapper and John Berman, anchoring coverage, are talking to a Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School friend of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect still on the loose: “To think he’s capable of something like this is beyond belief.”

More: 8:35am: A Fox News is trained on a home in Watertown, MA where local and FBI officials have guns drawn. “Our cameraman is being told to back off,” said Brian Kilmeade.

FNC’s Griff Jenkins was near the firefight last night and this morning explained his rental car “is in the middle of the crime scene.”

More, 9:12am: On CNN, via an interview with CBS owned station WBZ-TV, the uncle of the brothers says his 19-year-old nephew had called another relative last night after his older brother was killed and said, “Forgive me and from now on we will be together.” After reporters apologized to him, the uncle added: “I’m sorry too, if he did this, I’m sorry too. I can’t believe it. It’s so crazy. It’s not possible. When I heard this on TV news, I was thinking how can it be like this?”

Update: ABC and CBS have expanded their morning shows beyond 9am as the manhunt for the 19-year-old suspect continues. NBC’s 9am hour of “Today” is also devoted to the breaking news. At one point, new ABC News correspondent Byron Pitts was reporting live as police officers moved him and other reporters away from an active location. A police officer could be heard telling the reporters: “Come on. Let’s go. Off the sidewalk, please. Around the corner.”

More, 9:35am: ABC showed what it called exclusive video of a bullet-riddled SUV being taken away by investigators. Brian Rossreported: “Our cameraman caught a shot of that car being towed away, a Mercedes SUV that the two brothers hijacked — carjacked at a gas station in Cambridge near Memorial Drive.” Explosive devices were reportedly thrown from car by the suspects. The driver was released by the brothers, unharmed.

More, 10:50am: All networks have their cameras trained on a neighborhood in Watertown, MA. CNN has said it is putting programming on a 5-second delay as local and federal authorities have their guns drawn imploring media to stay back.

More, 12:24pm: On CNN, correspondent Deborah Feyerick reported that, after being pushed back from an area in Watertown, police are now allowing reporters to return to their original positions closer to the search scene.

More, 1pm: CBS special report ends. Diane Sawyer continues on ABC; Brian Williams picks up across NBC.

More, 1:45pm: ABC’s Bianna Golodryga, who speaks fluent Russian, spoke to the father of the two bombing suspects, Anzor Tsarnaev, on three separate occasions today. Tsarnaev, who lives in Russia, tells Golodryga that neither the U.S. government nor the Russian government has contacted him at that time.

More, 2:09pm: Anderson Cooper cuts away from remarks from the suspects’ aunt in Toronto, who claims her nephews are innocent. “Clearly she is in a state of denial or not really aware of the whole impact of what has happened here, what is going on,” Cooper said. Megyn Kelly comes to the same conclusion on Fox News: “That’s the aunt,” she said.

As we first reported Saturday, ABC News is now announcing that Rebecca Jarvis is joining the network as chief business and economics correspondent. Jarvis spent the last three years at CBS News, as a business and finance correspondent and co-anchor of “CBS This Morning” Saturday.

“Deeply knowledgeable about financial news, Rebecca is a versatile and aggressive reporter who will contribute immensely across every program and platform,” writes ABC News president Ben Sherwood in a note to staff, obtained by TVNewser. “I’m delighted Rebecca is joining ABC News as we expand the strongest team in journalism.”

Jarvis is ABC’s second high-profile pick this week from CBS. It was announced yesterday that Byron Pitts will join the network as national correspondent and anchor.

CBS News veteran Byron Pitts says he jumped ship to ABC for three reasons, in order of importance: “God, diversity and Diane Sawyer.”

Pitts, 52, the lone correspondent of color on “60 Minutes” and a CBS staffer since 1997, officially joined ABC yesterday as chief national correspondent. He begins April 15.

In addition to reporting, Pitts will anchor prime-time news specials as well as fill in as news reader on “Good Morning America” and on weekend news. He signed a four-year deal with a “significant” salary bump, he says.

A devout man, Pitts prays over all major decisions. ABC was no exception. “For me, God is the ultimate closer,” he says. “Once I felt I had His blessing, it was full steam ahead. I’m grateful for my time at CBS, and I’m excited about this opportunity grace has provided.”

In the Gospel According to Pitts, diversity ranks a strong No. 2. In his talks with ABC News president Ben Sherwood, Pitts says he was impressed that Sherwood made a point to bring up his (Sherwood’s) commitment to the hot-button issue.

“It was encouraging to have a network executive talk to me, openly and with enthusiasm, about the importance of racial diversity,” says Pitts. “I never had that conversation at CBS.”

Not with his division leaders, anyway.

Pitts says he and CBS Corp. chieftain Les Moonves have discussed diversity, and he admires Moonves’ passion about it. As for CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager and his lieutenant, David Rhodes, here’s how Pitts puts it:

“I don’t want to seem critical. They were certainly nice and supportive of me. But the facts are the facts. Sixteen years ago, when I joined CBS, there were 10 people of color on the air. Now there are seven. Why is that? It’s discouraging. America is becoming more diverse, not less diverse. “

According to CBS News spokesperson Sonya McNair, CBS has “more than double” Pitts’ estimate of seven correspondents of color. “We wish Byron well,” she adds. ABC News has a total of 29, says division rep David Ford.

Read more

New ABC News hire Byron Pitts talks about diversity to the Maynard Institute’s Richard Prince. Pitts says that ABC has made diversity a key component of the organization:

“I don’t think any news organization is where it should be, but the people at ABC are at least talking the talk and making efforts to walk the walk,” Pitts said by telephone.

Pitts also said that CBS, his former employer, has not kept up its strong track record when it comes to diversity.
Read more

Byron Pitts‘ jump from CBS to ABC is official, ABC News president Ben Sherwood announced this morning.

Pitts will be a New York-based anchor and chief national correspondent for ABC News. He begins at the network later this month.

“An accomplished reporter and brilliant storyteller, Byron has a unique talent for stories about people and communities facing the longest odds,” Sherwood wrote in a note to staffers. “In his new role, he will file for all platforms, bringing his signature thoughtfulness, seriousness of purpose, and flair.”

Politico’s Dylan Byers scoops that longtime CBS News correspondent Byron Pitts is moving to ABC News.

Pitts will serve as both chief national correspondent and anchor at ABC News, and will appear across the network’s programming. ABC News president Ben Sherwood is expected to announce the news next week.

Pitts is currently a correspondent for the “CBS Evening News” and has a set number of stories per year on “60 Minutes.” In his 2009 autobiography, “Step out on Nothing,” Pitts writes about growing up as a functionally illiterate child and ascending to the ranks of network correspondent. Pitts worked in the local news circuit and for CBS Newspath before joining CBS News in 1998. Wife Lyne Pitts is former executive at CBS News and NBC News.

It’s Pres. Obama’s second inauguration, but it’ll be the first time CBS’s Scott Pelley has anchored an Inauguration Day. Pelley will lead CBS News coverage beginning at 10amET Monday following a three-hour “CBS This Morning” with hosts Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell in Washington, DC.

Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett, Wyatt Andrews, Sharyl Attkisson, Margaret Brennan, Jan Crawford, John Dickerson, John Miller, Byron Pitts, Bill Plante and Chip Reid will all contribute to the coverage.

CBS will also broadcast the official swearing-in Sunday at NoonET. The full plan, after the jump…

Read more