The cable news networks pivoted to breaking news in Massachusetts shortly after 3pmET Monday afternoon as two explosions went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Fox News was the first cable news network to report the news at 3:06:18 p.m., followed just seconds later by CNN at 3:06:53 p.m. MSNBC reported the news at 3:08:45 p.m. All three cable news networks were several minutes minutes behind the first reports of the explosions on Twitter.

Fox News and CNN are relying on live pictures from Boston local stations. MSNBC has video from New England Cable News, which is owned and operated by NBC Universal.

> More: The broadcast networks also broke in with news of the explosions. CBS News was first at 3:10pmET, followed by ABC News and NBC News at 3:13 p.m. Scott Pelley is anchoring on CBS, Brian Williams on NBC and Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos on ABC.

> More: Matt Frucci, the incoming executive producer of CNN’s new morning show, is doing eyewitness reports from the scene for the network. Wolf Blitzer is anchoring. And on Fox News, Shepard Smith is talking with WGBH’s Emily Rooney, former network executive and daughter of Andy Rooney.

> More: Anderson Cooper is on his way to Boston and will anchor at 8pmET and 10pmET.

> More: Here’s affiliate video of one of the explosions, as seen on CNN:

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Jansing talks about the difficulty of covering tragedies:

When Chris was on location reporting on the horrific shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, last December, keeping a dry eye throughout the nearly weeklong broadcast was almost impossible. “You cannot interview people directly affected by such a thing and not feel the pain they are feeling. As a reporter, I have to allow that to happen so I can communicate the emotion authentically to the viewers,” Chris emphasized. “You meet family members of the victims; you meet members of the community. You cry with them. At times, it can be a challenge to find the balance of being a communicator and establishing that necessary distance.”

Hayes talks about his show’s name:
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Pope Francis marked the start of his papacy with an inaugural mass at the Vatican this morning. The cable and broadcast networks that had special reports anchored coverage of the event, which began around 4:30amET, from New York.

CNN covered the mass during an expanded version of “Early Start,” with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin anchoring beginning at 3:30amET. Fox News’ special report, anchored by Shepard Smith, began at 4:20amET. Chris Jansing anchored on MSNBC beginning at 4:30amET.

On the broadcast networks, ABC’s Terry Moran anchored beginning at 3:51amET. Cecilia Vega and Ron Claiborne reported from Vatican City. On NBC, Savannah Guthrie anchored beginning at 4:31amET, with Keir Simmons in Vatican City. CBS News did not air a special report, but correspondent Vinita Nair did live shots from St. Peter’s Square for the network’s affiliates during the inaugural mass. CBS also streamed the ceremony live on its website.

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And now the wait begins. At 12:34pmET, the doors of the Sistine Chapel closed as 115 Cardinals began the process of choosing a new pope. Now, TV news anchors, analysts, producers and bookers are at the ready for the first signs of smoke.

The news networks produced special reports as Cardinals made their way to the Sistine Chapel for the conclave with live video provided by Vatican TV. NBC’s Lester Holt and ABC’s Diane Sawyer, both in Rome, anchored special reports for their networks beginning at 11:30am. CBS’s Scott Pelley anchored a special beginning at NoonET. Now all the anchors, including Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo from CNN, Chris Jansing from MSNBC, and Shepard Smith from Fox News will be seated and dialed into their respective control rooms awaiting the smoke signal: black smoke for no pope, white smoke for a new pope.

Having been on the other side of this process as Jansing’s producer at the conclave that elected Benedict XVI in 2005, I can tell you the next 24-48 hours will be one of great anticipation, and, in some cases, frustration; with no warning of when the smoke will fly and when it does, finding that what appears white smoke is really black. It can be one of the most exciting and memorable moments of live TV, for its history and rarity. It’s like election night, without exit polls or precinct-by-precinct data to tell you which way the wind is blowing. And it can also be fraught with too early or wholly incorrect reporting, made more challenging this time by the wide open field of the Papabili. When the smoke clears, we will have a new pope. Before then, don’t be surprised by some misinformation from an always plugged-in global media relying on a smoke signal for news.

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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.

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Unprecedented in modern times, the Papal departure was covered by a thoroughly modern media. From the complex (multiple live cameras and locations) to the simple (Twitter.)

As Pope Benedict XVI began his final day as the leader of the Roman Catholic church, the broadcast networks produced special reports early this morning, while the cablers went into rolling coverage for much of the morning. CBS broke in for their special report at 10:44amET as Benedict departed for the final time. ABC and NBC followed at 10:53 and FOX at 11:02am. Vatican TV provided a multi-camera, multi-vehicle production which was carried by all the networks. From the Papal residence, through the Hills of Rome to an awaiting helicopter, and the short flight to Castel Gandolfo, cameras followed, anchors commented, priests analyzed. As Norah O’Donnell explained on CBS, “19 high definition cameras carefully choreographed so that we can see this historic moment.”

On cable news, we saw the pairing of Chris Cuomo and Erin Burnett, perhaps a sign of things to come for CNN mornings. (As the Papal departure was unfolding, Jeff Zucker was introducing the new EP of the morning show, veteran producer Jim Murphy). On MSNBC, the news fell in Chris Jansing‘s hour. A veteran of Papal coverage, Jansing will return to Rome for the Conclave. Fox News had Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum anchoring in New York while Fr. Jonathan Morris, who has been with Fox since shortly after Benedict became Pope, gave analysis from Rome.

By 11:50am, the broadcast networks had returned to regular programming and by Noon the cable networks moved on to the other news of the day.

And as he was being driven away from the Vatican for the final time, a Tweet was sent from @pontifex, the Pope’s Twitter account:

Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives.

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) February 28, 2013

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“There are so many moving parts to the story, you can’t really cover it all,” says CBS’s Allen Pizzey, based in Rome since 1989. “Access is limited, and the Vatican is a very secretive organization.”

Says NBC/MSNBC’s Chris Jansing: “It’s not like we know that Obama or Romney is going to be elected. It all happens behind closed doors. This is a complicated organization at a very complicated time, when many are calling for change.”

Pizzey, 66, a “non-religious” Anglican from Canada, and Jansing, 56, a devout Catholic from Ohio, were both shocked when Pope Benedict XVI announced last week that he would step down Feb. 28, citing ill health. Pizzey and Jansing had covered his election in 2005.

“Never a dull moment in the Roman Catholic Church,” Jansing says. “The idea of a Pope resigning was stunning. Popes don’t resign. It used to be they got sick, and it didn’t take very long before they died.. .. This represents a sea change in the way we view the office.”

In retrospect, Pizzey says, “the signs were there, but we didn’t read the symbolism the way we should have.” Based on the information he has since gathered, the Pope “decided some time ago that if he couldn’t do the job the way it should be done, he didn’t want to do it.”

Pizzey labels the decision as “a lesson for a lot of CEOs.”

Adding to the story’s difficulty factor, neither Pizzey nor Jansing covers the Vatican as a full-time beat. He travels to hot spots throughout the world; she anchors her own weekday show on MSNBC and reports for NBC News.

Part-time Pope-ologists “will never infiltrate the machinations of the Vatican,” Pizzey explains. He gets intel from European journalists on full-time Vatican duty. “It’s a relatively collegial atmosphere,” he says. “Not like something you’d experience in the States.”

By church canon, the conclave to elect the next Pope is supposed to begin March 15 in Rome. Given that Benedict is still living, however, it may start earlier, according to the Vatican. A total of 117 cardinals from around the world will gather.

To Jansing, a lifelong Catholic, the Vatican holds special significance. (Her first visit “was extremely emotional,” she recalls.) In 2004, she arranged for her mother and her sister, who was

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NBC News correspondent/MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing, who also covered the last Papal transition will be leaving this afternoon for several days of reporting/anchoring and will also cover the election of the next pope. In a Media Beat interview, Jansing told us covering the death of John Paul II and election of Benedict was the most fulfilling assignment of her career: “It was just an extraordinary global event and also had some personal meaning to me.” Jansing will join NBC Rome correspondent Claudio Lavagna already on scene. Richard Engel will also report.

CBS has Allen Pizzey in Rome and London correspondent Mark Phillips will be joining him.

“GMA” Weekend Anchor Dan Harris, along with David Wright, Jeffrey Kofman, and Nick Schifrin will be reporting from the Vatican. Wright covered the 2005 transition. ABC’s Cokie Roberts, whose mother served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, will provide a historical perspective.

CNN’s Rome-based correspondent Ben Wedeman will cover and will be joined by Jim Bitterman, Max Foster and Jose Levy for CNN en Español are all en route.

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• Total day: FNC: 132 | MSNBC: 132 | CNN: 104 | HLN: 113

• Primetime: FNC: 105 | MSNBC: 92 | CNN: 112 | HLN: 94

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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.

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MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews anchor the network’s election night coverage beginning at 6pmET Tuesday, along with Rev. Al Sharpton, Lawrence O’Donnell, Ed Schultz, and Steve Schmidt from New York City. Chuck Todd focuses on the battleground states and Tamron Hall provides exit poll results. Melissa Harris-Perry will contribute from Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago and Chris Jansing will report from Romney headquarters in Boston.

MSNBC’s coverage begins way too early on Tuesday morning, with “Way Too Early” at 5:30amET, then “Morning Joe” and the rest of the dayside schedule devoted to the election until a special “Hardball” at 5pmET.

Much more after the jump…

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“We’ll be using the extraordinary resources of the NBC News Group including our friends with NBC News and the Weather Channel to help with our coverage,” said a network statement.

O’Donnell quipped about his hurricane coverage on Twitter earlier:

I will be doing dramatic live weather updates for @alexwagner at 12 noon. Trouble is I can’t find even slightly inclement weather in midtown

— Lawrence O’Donnell (@Lawrence) October 29, 2012

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TVNewser attended the screening and a Q&A with Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays Lincoln, and screenwriter Tony Kushner moderated by TIME’s Rick Stengel. Stengel called first on O’Reilly who asked Day-Lewis how long it took to prepare for the role. “It took a year,” Day-Lewis says. “It seemed preposterous at first … growing up in Southeast London” to play the 16th president of the United States.

O’Reilly then gave his seal of approval: “You know you’re going to win Best Picture.” Then, to Day-Lewis, “and you’re going to win Best Actor.” And to Spielberg: “And you’re going to win Best Director and [Tommy Lee] Jones is going to win Best Supporting Actor.” Jones plays “Radical Republican” Pennsylvania Congressman Thaddeus Stevens.

Before the screening we had a chance to talk with O’Reilly, author of “Killing Lincoln” on its 55th week on the New York Times Best-Sellers list, this week at No. 5. His “Killing Kennedy” is No. 1 on the list for the second straight week.

We asked the Fox News star if he was excited by the news that FNC chairman and CEO Roger Ailes had signed on for another four years. “Excited? We’d be shocked if he hadn’t,” said O’Reilly.

Other notable tvnewsers at the event, “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl, who had a revealing feature on Spielberg last Sunday, “CBS This Morning’s” Gayle King, Charlie Rose, and EP Chris Licht. MSNBC’s Chris Jansing and Lawrence O’Donnell, who ducked out during the Q&A to make it back to 30 Rock for his 10pm show. CNN execs Mark Whitaker, Ken Jautz and Bart Feder and ABC’s “This Week” EP Sandy Cannold.

And, after an early morning co-hosting “GMA,” Oprah Winfrey also attended. She gave a bear hug to Kushner. Then, exiting the theater — appropriately at the Loews Lincoln Square on the Upper

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Not surprisingly, there were a lot of boldface names in attendance. MSNBC president Phil Griffin, executive editor Yvette Miley, VP Elena Nachmanoff  and anchors Tamron Hall and Chris Jansing were there, as were CNNers Don Lemon, Sara Sidner, Holly Firfer and Asieh Namdar. Other guests included “Good Morning America”‘s Sam Champion, former talk show host Nate Berkus, reality host Carson Kressley, former MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer and Roberts’ agent, Rick Ramage.

You can check out a slideshow of photos from the wedding here.

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The interview will be conducted at the Tower of London, two days before Romney attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games, which NBC is broadcasting.  Williams will anchor tonight’s broadcast, before flying to London overnight.

On Thursday, “Rock Center” will dedicate its entire hour to the Olympics, and will feature previews of the games from Tamron Hall, Meredith Vieira and Tom Brokaw.

Also in the NBC family: “Today’s” Matt Lauer began broadcasting from London Monday. MSNBC’s Willie Geist is there too, where he will anchor his MSNBC show as well as coverage on NBC Sports Network. And MSNBC anchor/NBC News correspondent Chris Jansing is on her way to London. Until yesterday, she was in Aurora, CO covering the aftermath of the movie theater shootings.

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