Just about anybody who is on ABC News was in a photo studio on Manhattan’s West Side this morning for what ABC News president Ben Sherwood calls a one-of-a-kind photo shoot. “Never in the history of the industry has there been a photo like this,” said Sherwood to his team, according to someone who was there. “It is a real Mt. Olympus shot,” he added.

Among the ABC News talent on hand Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour, George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, Sam Champion, Lara Spencer, Josh Elliott, Cynthia McFadden, Bill Weir, Terry Moran, Bianna Golodryga, Dan Harris, Ron Claiborne, Chris Cuomo, Elizabeth Vargas, Bob Woodruff, John Quinones, David Muir, Brian Ross, Jake Tapper and Rob Nelson.

Expect to see the photos in marketing a promotional materials on air and online, soon.

In a letter sent to the New York Post and obtained by TVNewser, Amanda Knox‘s father Curt Knox disputes what was written in Page Six today about news organizations allegedly “babysitting” his two youngest daughters.

Specifically, Knox argues that while ABC News provided its producer’s hotel room for his daughters to stay in during the trial, at no time did the producer “babysit” the children. He writes that a CBS News producer also provided a hotel room for them to stay in during the day (a claim CBS denies, below), and that an NBC News producer offered them a room to use if they needed one, (NBC’s response, also below):

One of ABC’s producers, Nikki Battiste, was very kind to offer to let the girls stay in her hotel room during court sessions. However, the NY Post article refers to this kind gesture as “babysitting”. This is an outright lie, as at no point in time did Ms. Battiste stay in the room and babysit my younger children. She was accomplishing her required job functions in the courtroom and during shoots with Elizabeth Vargas and various other talent. I would like to clarify again that at “no point in time” was Ms. Battiste EVER babysitting my younger daughters.

Further clarification to this NY Post article is the mis-information related to the other networks, NBC and CBS. During one of the morning court sessions, Ashley

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Josh Elliott and Elizabeth Vargas are back from Italy where they covered the acquittal of Amanda Knox. And this morning on GMA — with Vargas in for Robin Roberts — they took viewers behind the scenes of what it takes to get an international live shot on the air. These days it takes a camera, a backpack and a willing anchor-turned-field producer.

Elliott: The return of Amanda Knox happened moments before air time. I’m getting ready first to discuss her departure on the outskirts of Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport. But look at what is happening behind the scene. A backpack. And look at my field producer:

Vargas: Yep. That’s me.

And while Vargas was talking with the control room in New York, giving cues to Elliott in Rome, the producer — who you see wearing the backpack and holding the camera — is Rich McHugh. He learned how to use the TVU technology on the way to Rome. He called ABC’s News Acquisition Center (NAC) in New York for a run-thru before GMA went on the air Tuesday, and in McHugh’s words, “It worked! Amazing.” Jon Meyersohn, who is Vargas’s producer, snapped the photo.

Video after the jump…

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The jury in the Amanda Knox trial has reached a verdict, and the broadcast networks will all offer special reports when the decision is announced (expected around 3:30 p.m.ET).

Lester Holt will anchor from Perugia, Italy, on NBC. Special reports from ABC and CBS will both originate from New York, with correspondents reporting from Perugia — on ABC, Diane Sawyer anchors with Elizabeth Vargas contributing, and on CBS, Bob Schieffer anchors with Peter Van Sant contributing.

>Update: All three networks went to their respective special reports around 3:45 p.m., shortly before the jury overturned the murder conviction. Knox, now a free woman, is reportedly headed back to the U.S. CBS wrapped up their special report at 3:52 p.m., followed by NBC at 3:55 p.m. and ABC at 3:57 p.m.

Diane Sawyer returned to “Good Morning America” today to talk about her interview with Jaycee Dugard, the California woman who was kidnapped at age 11 and held captive for the next 18 years. But Sawyer is saving the first soundbite for “World News” tonight. Sawyer also revealed that ABC’s Chris Cuomo has launched an investigation into the dozens of times law enforcement came to the house where Dugard was being held, but didn’t find her. The full two-hour special airs Sunday night on ABC.

Sawyer’s interview with Elizabeth Vargas after the jump…

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The Huffington Post reports that former “CBS Evening News” anchor and soon-to-be ABC News contributor Katie Couric attended something of a star-studded lunch Tuesday:

On Tuesday afternoon, Couric—who will have both a syndicated talk show and a presence within ABC News itself—sat down to grab a bite at the Rosa Mexicano restaurant at Lincoln Center, right near ABC News’ headquarters. Joining her for her fine dining experience? Just about every top ABC News star who isn’t on “Nightline” and/or out of the country.

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On GMA this morning, ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff talks with Elizabeth Jennings, the daughter of legendary ABC News anchor Peter Jennings. Elizabeth, and her brother Chris, are speaking out now during national lung cancer awareness month. The disease took their father’s life in August, 2005. In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, Jennings, who’d quit a decade earlier, began smoking again. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in April 2005 and died four months later.

In December of that year, Woodruff was paired with Elizabeth Vargas to take over the anchor duties on World News Tonight. Just a few weeks into their pairing, Woodruff was seriously injured in an IED attack in Iraq.

Chris Jennings writes an essay about his father’s fight to quit on ABCNews.com, while his sister talked with Woodruff on today’s “Good Morning America.”

Woodruff: What’s it like to not have your father anymore?

Jennings: Well, the obvious answer is that it’s very difficult. And I sometimes always think that, “maybe, you know, maybe he’ll walk through the door.” Or there are times when you really need a dad’s advice. So you have this dialogue inside. And in my head, he’s still there in a lot of ways.

Woodruff: Given the fact that your father was so well known, do you think that people really woke up about lung cancer because of that?

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Elizabeth Vargas, filling in for Robin Roberts on GMA this week, hosted a segment with two lawyers about Michael Douglas‘s battle with his ex-wife Diandra, over the proceeds from his new, yet-to-be released film, “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.”

What Vargas failed to mention was that she dated Douglas a decade ago, before his divorce with Diandra was finalized. An ABC rep tells Page Six, “It was a mistake. It should have been disclosed [to viewers]. Elizabeth did tell her executive producer she had dated Michael, but he made the decision she should host the segment. George [Stephanopoulos] should have done it. But she did a fair and unbiased job.”

This Friday, ABC, NBC, and CNN will all have special coverage commemorating the one year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s passing.

NBC will air a special “Dateline” titled “Michael Jackson: A Mother’s story at 9pm Friday night. The special, which is reported by Josh Mankiewicz, will feature an interview with Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, that was licensed by NBC and conducted by a woman named Sonia Lowe. Roger Friedman reported today on Showbiz 411 that the interview was produced by former MJ business partner Marc Schaffel and is “the only one with Mrs. Jackson made for the anniversary of Michael’s death.”

The only information we’ve been able to find about Lowe is that she’s the co-creator of “Never Can Say GoodBye: The Katherine Jackson Story” a coffee table book which was co-written by Mrs. Jackson.

TVNewser wondered if NBC is risking any credibility by giving up a portion of a primetime broadcast to a non-NBC journalist — who has a business relationship with the subject — to get a high profile interview? A network spokesperson tells us, “Our special will meet NBC News standards, and we will disclose to viewers the circumstances in which the interview took place.”

It’s not entirely uncommon for the news networks to air licensed interviews done by non-staffers for specials like these, but it is rare.

In addition, ABC and CNN will both also have specials on Friday evening:

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FishbowlDC reports that CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, who had been rumored to be in talks with ABC News, has told colleagues that she received an offer for the “This Week” hosting job: “As of this moment she is declaring a 50-50 chance that she’s going to accept the offer.”

The position was vacated by George Stephanopoulos at the beginning of the year after he departed to co-anchor “Good Morning America” full-time. Since then, ABC has rotated a number of anchors including Jake Tapper, Terry Moran, Barbara Walters, Matthew Dowd, Jonathan Karl, and Elizabeth Vargas. Both Tapper and Moran were rumored to be in contention early in the process.

CNN decline to comment on the report and ABC says, “We will announce something when we have something to announce.”

More at FishbowlDC. Developing…