The news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation caught even his closest aides off guard leaving the world media scrambling to confirm the news. The Pope announced in a meeting of Vatican Cardinals today, “After having repeatedly examining my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.” The pope will resign Feb. 28.

CNN went with the news at 6am as “Early Start” went on the air. John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin reported the news confirming with CNN sources in Vatican City. HLN’s Robin Meade reported the news at 6:01 as did “Fox & Friends,” citing “a wire service.”

MSNBC was hesitant to report the news at first but then at 6:04 Joe Scarborough reported the Reuters flash: “We weren’t sure whether we were going to go with [this] or not because Reuters has gotten some information wrong before on the pope. Mika, why don’t you confirm.”

“Pope Benedict is going to be stepping down as head of the Catholic church,” said Brzezinski.

The broadcast networks all produced special reports in the 6am hour. NBC’s Claudio Lavagna and CBS’s Allen Pizzey reported from their networks’ Rome bureaus by the 7am start of the morning shows. “Good Morning America” did not have a correspondent in Italy, but spoke to an American priest in Rome.

ABC News “20/20″ anchor Chris Cuomo is planning to jump to CNN, according to TMZ.

The gossip site says that Cuomo will host a new morning program for the cable channel, potentially alongside Erin Burnett. Cuomo has been a stalwart at ABC since 2000, in both primetime and in the mornings, where he was the news anchor for “Good Morning America” from 2006-2009. If TMZ is correct, he would be returning to the early shift.

If Cuomo leaves it will be the third major on-air talent to leave ABC for CNN in the last year. John Berman and Jake Tapper switched to the cable network last year. Berman is currently at the anchor chair in the early mornings on the channel. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi also departed ABC for “60 Minutes Sports” earlier this month. Andrea Canning left ABC for NBC last year as well.

Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper will lead CNN’s coverage of President Obama’s second inauguration. Coverage of Sunday’s swearing-in ceremony begins at 10amET. Cooper and Blitzer will be joined by John Berman, Kate Bolduan, Gloria Borger, Erin Burnett, Candy Crowley, John King, Don Lemon, Piers Morgan and Soledad O’Brien. Crowley will anchor “State of the Union” from the National Mall. Special Sunday editions of “Piers Morgan Tonight” and “Anderson Cooper 360″ will air in primetime.

On Monday, Blitzer will be live with Berman, Bolduan, O’Brien and Jessica Yellin from the U.S. Capitol West Front beginning at 9amET. Cooper will be live from the National Mall with Borger, King, Lemon, David Gergen and Brooke Baldwin.  Blitzer will  anchor “The Situation Room” from Lafayette Park, the location of the President’s viewing stands. Cooper, Morgan and Burnett will anchor from 7-1opmET. Cooper will be live from the Mall, with Morgan and Burnett from the inaugural balls.

More from CNN after the jump. Read more

CNN will be keeping its usual primetime lineup on tonight to cover Sandy, and will be live until the worst of the storm passes, whenever that may be. Anchors Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett will be reporting in the field tonight across primetime. CNN International will be simulcasting CNN/U.S. from 11AM-2PM and again starting at 4 PM.

The list of correspondents in the field for CNN is after the jump.

Update: HLN is blowing up its primetime lineup to provide hurricane coverage. Those details are also after the jump.
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Tonight is the third and final Presidential debate of this election cycle. CBS’ Bob Schieffer moderates at Lynn University in Boca Raton. Here’s a round up of what the cable and broadcast networks have planned…

Scott Pelley anchors on CBS from 9-11pmET. With Schieffer moderating, certain CBS programs — including yesterday’s “Face the Nation” and today’s “CBS This Morning” — originate from Florida. Pelley will be joined by Major Garrett of National Journal and Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg, among others.

ABC’s coverage kicks off at 9pmET with Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos anchoring. They will be joined during the two-hour broadcast by VP debate moderator Martha Raddatz, Christiane Amanpour, Jake Tapper, David Muir and Jonathan Karl.

Brian Williams anchors on NBC from 9pm-11pmET. Williams will be joined by David Gregory, Savannah Guthrie, Tom Brokaw, Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell and Richard Haass.

PBS’ coverage runs from 9-11pmET, with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff anchoring and political editor Christina Bellantoni contributing.

Plans for the cable networks after after the jump. Read more

Covering the Presidential debates is tough for the cable news channels. Unlike on an election night, every channel is showing the same thing. The only real differences are in the content that goes into the pre and post-debate programming.

CNN is planning to differentiate its programming by making fact-checking a big part of its debate coverage. John Berman and Tom Foreman will comprise the “reality check” team, and will be looking to call out President Obama and Mitt Romney for the inevitable stretches of truth that will occur.

The pre-debate and post-debate programming will be anchored by Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, John King, Erin Burnett and Candy Crowley. For the first debate next week in Denver, Crowley and Burnett will be in the Mile High City. Jessica Yellin and Jim Acosta will be reporting from the debate floor, and from the “spin room” afterwards.

More information, after the jump.
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Campaign Carl Cameron, who’s been on the political beat for Fox News, even before there was a Fox News, counts some of his colleagues among his fans. In a profile in the New York Times, Jeremy Peters writes,

At a network that prizes the telegenic appeal of its on-air talent — men square-jawed with perfectly coifed hair, women blond and sealed in a heavy coat of makeup — Mr. Cameron’s less polished appearance stands out.

“It’s nice to see that there are other guys in TV who didn’t get there for their looks,” said Chuck Todd, NBC News’ chief White House correspondent, who considers himself a big “Campaign Carl” fan.

And CNN newbie John Berman has Campaign Carl to thank for staying hydrated covering the RNC.

Despite the fierce competitiveness of his network, his rivals describe him as collegial. John Berman of CNN recalled an interaction with him this week in which Mr. Cameron committed a mortal sin: aiding the enemy.

Mr. Berman said he needed a Coke, but his network’s cooler was empty. Mr. Cameron offered him one of Fox’s.

“It didn’t matter what letters were on my microphone,” Mr. Berman said. “What mattered is that I was thirsty. That’s more than fair and balanced. That’s awesome.”

(Photo: Todd Heisler/The New York Times)

The first sentence of CNN’s just-released press release for convention coverage reads like this:

CNN will offer viewers nonstop, unbiased programming across on-air and digital platforms at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions beginning later this month.

It’s as if CNN is saying, if you watch Fox News or MSNBC during the conventions, those networks will lean right, or left, or forward (never backward), so watch us if you want it down the middle. Our TVNewsers Alex Weprin and Merrill Knox will be at the conventions — ahem — keeping them honest.

Anyway, CNN has big plans. Read about them after the jump…

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The network morning shows have devoted much of the first hour of their broadcasts to the massacre at an Aurora, CO movie theater. During a midnight screening of the new Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises,” a 24-year-old gunman opened fire. Initial reports put the death toll at 14 with 50 others are injured. The gunman is in custody. Update: At 8:09 on “Today” an Aurora police officer updated the number of killed to 12. “We know there are 10 inside the theater that are dead, with two additional that died at local hospitals.”

The networks dispatched correspondents to the scene: Barry Peterson on CBS, Clayton Sandell on ABC. NBC had a report from Jace Larson a reporter for KUSA. The networks brought in crime, justice and medical correspondents: former FBI spokesman John Miller now a correspondent for “CBS This Morning” reported that Dan Oates, the police chief in Aurora was an NYPD Deputy Chief serving during 9/11. NBC’s Pete Williams reported on the weapons used Update: At 8:03, Williams identified the suspect as James Holmes, born Dec. 13, 1987. On ABC, Dr. Richard Besser reported on the injuries. The youngest shooting victim is a 6-year-old and is being treated.

Network bookers worked overtime bringing in eyewitness reports. Rounding out the reporting were cell phone videos and urgent 911 calls recounting the horror. Denver news choppers hovered over the suspect’s apartment which had been evacuated as police searched for explosives.

Fox News anchor Anita Vogel broke in with the news at 4:30am. CNN “Early Start” anchors John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin started their program early with the news at 4:44am. ABC’s Jake Tapper reports Pres. Obama was made aware of the news at 5:26amET by his Homeland Security adviser. The next news conference is scheduled for 1pmET.

> Update, 9amET: “CBS This Morning” is producing a third hour at 9am. The third hour of “Today” is devoted to the shooting aftermath. ABC News talked with a San Diego woman identifying herself as James Holmes’s mother. “You have the right person. I need to call the police,” she added. “I need to fly out to Colorado.”

> More: “Today” passed on airing its Friday concert this morning with Hot Chelle Ray. Said Al Roker “Because of the severity of the news we’ve decided — they’ve been performing for the crowd outside so they’re not disappointed — we’re going to bring that to you a little bit later sometime next week.” At 8:30am, “GMA” promoted its summer concert with Karmen and Dragonette, but did not broadcast any of it.

> Update, 10:05ET: The network morning shows are going live on the west coast for the 7 AM hour, with the full anchor teams in place.

John Berman made his early morning debut on CNN today, co-anchoring “Early Start” next to Zoraida Sambolin. “You know, you come back from vacation, and you have a new anchor,” said Sambolin at the start of “Early Start.” “There’s some new guy, speaking French,” added Berman, referring to his “Mon Dieu!” comment about the story of sabotage on the Tour de France. Here’s Berman talking politics with CNN’s Peter Hamby.