Coverage of Friday’s tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, will continue Saturday on the broadcast and cable networks.

On ABC, weekday anchor George Stephanopoulos will anchor “Good Morning America” from Newtown. Elizabeth Vargas will join him from New York. ABC’s Josh Elliott, Amy Robach and Dan Harris will report from the scene in Newtown.

NBC’s “Today” will also have the weekday team in, with Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie anchoring from Newtown. Lester Holt, Erica Hill, Ann Curry and Willie Geist will contribute to the program.

Anthony Mason and Rebecca Jarvis will anchor “CBS This Morning Saturday” from Newtown. CBS will also preempt “48 Hours” Saturday night for a special report on the shooting at 10pmET.

Fox News will be live at 5amET with “Fox & Friends First.” An expanded edition of “Fox & Friends” will air from 6-10amET, and will be simulcast on FBN. The 10am-noon business block will be preempted for live coverage anchored by Jon Scott and Jenna Lee. Scott will also host an expanded two-hour “Fox Report” beginning at 6pmET. Mike Huckabee‘s program will be live from NYC at 8pmET and Jeanine Pirro and Geraldo Rivera will host their primetime shows from Newtown.

MSNBC will focus on the shooting during regularly-scheduled programming and will be live until at least 7pmET Saturday night.

On CNN, Ali Velshi and Jon Berman will anchor from 6-9amET. Soledad O’Brien will anchor from 9-11amET, Wolf Blitzer will anchor from 11am-1pmET and Don Lemon will anchor from 1-3pmET. O’Brien will anchor from 3-5pmET, and Blitzer and Kate Bolduan will anchor from 5-8pmET. Anderson Cooper will anchor from 8-9pmET,  Lemon and O’Brien will anchor from 9-10pmET, and Cooper will take over again from 10-11pmET.

On HLN, Nancy Grace will host a special on the shooting tonight at 8pmET. Dr. Drew Pinsky will host a special live hour at 9pmET.

CNN has announced a slew of assignments for network correspondents in advance of the Presidential election. The network will have anchors and reporters in every swing state, as well as some floaters that will travel to multiple states, and the correspondents embedded with the campaigns. The network is launching segments branded as “The Final Battlegrounds” starting on Monday.

“CNN is deploying its vast resources and top-notch reporters into the states that the campaigns are targeting as the election nears,” said Mark Whitaker, executive VP and managing editor of CNN Worldwide in a statement. “Our in-depth reporting and analysis will keep voters informed of the up-to-the-minute developments that will determine the outcome of this extraordinarily close presidential race.”

The correspondent assignments, after the jump.
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Yes, there was a very high-profile goodbye on a certain network morning show yesterday, but in the early evening, there was one more. CNN’s John King ended his show “John King USA” in a fitting way, playing a clip from his very first program.

That clip was an interview with Vicki Kennedy, the wife of former Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, the subject was health care reform.

“This is my last day anchoring this program. Like the first day, health care reform was the day’s driving story,” King said, setting up the clip.

WATCH:

King ended the show with a back and forth with correspondent Kate Bolduan:

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“We want to reset what has just happened,” Wolf Blitzer said on CNN at 11 AM.

Blitzer was refreshing viewers on the events that transpired this morning with the Supreme Court effectively upholding President Obama’s healthcare reform law. It could also be seen as something of a metaphor for CNN, which needed a refresh after erroneously reporting that the individual mandate had been overturned.

CNN released a statement apologizing for the error:

“In his opinion, Chief Justice Roberts initially said that the individual mandate was not a valid exercise of Congressional power under the Commerce Clause. CNN reported that fact, but then wrongly reported that therefore the court struck down the mandate as unconstitutional. However, that was not the whole of the Court’s ruling. CNN regrets that it didn’t wait to report out the full and complete opinion regarding the mandate. We made a correction within a few minutes and apologize for the error.”

After Blitzer’s introduction at the top of the hour, he threw to Kate Bolduan standing outside the Supreme Court, who walked viewers through what had just happened. She said Supreme Court producer Bill Mears was sending the information about the decision to her and other reporters (appearing to place the burden of the incorrect information on his shoulders), although Blitzer cut her off to throw to Senator Tom Harkin at a rally by the court.

Unfortunately, the Harkin feed didn’t have any good audio, so Blitzer returned to Bolduan. A few minutes later, John King and Jeffrey Toobin (making his first appearance since the ruling) appeared on camera to explain what happened inside the courtroom. The issue, according to Toobin, was that Chief Justice Roberts began to read the decision, and it sounded like it would be overturned. He then took “a left-hand turn” and upheld the law.

Given that the popular opinion among cable news talking heads–including Toobin–was that it would be overturned, CNN staffers may have been primed for that result. A source at CNN tells TVNewser that they had a number of stories ready to go, depending on how the Supreme Court ruled.

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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.

FishbowlDC called it last month and now it’s official. Kate Bolduan has been named Congressional correspondent for CNN.

“[Kate] has excelled at everything from filling in at the White House, to covering the Supreme Court and even anchoring,” said David Bohrman, senior vice president of programming and Washington bureau chief, himself about to take on a new role at CNN.

Bolduan has been a general assignment reporter in the DC bureau. She came over from affiliate service CNN Newsource.

Bolduan joined CNN in 2007 from WTVD-TV in Raleigh. She began her TV news career as a production assistant for NBC News and MSNBC in Washington D.C.

Bolduan joins Dana Bash on the Capitol Hill beat and will be a part of CNN’s 2012 election team.

After a warm-up from the Legendary Roots Crew and some audience stunts put on by the MythBusters guys, Jon Stewart bounced on stage at 12:55pmET to kick off the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Before delivering any one-liners, Stewart introduced the 4Troops who sang the National Anthem. Stewart’s Comedy Central partner, Stephen Colbert then emerged from a “fear bunker” in a Chilean miner capsule. After a benediction by Fr. Guido Sarducci (see here if you’re too young to remember who he is) this political rally comedy show got underway.

As for cable news coverage CNN’s Kate Bolduan, who covered the Glenn Beck rally in August, was back on the mall today reporting hourly live updates beginning at 8am.

MSNBC, which yesterday announced it planned to be live all day today ahead of Tuesday’s midterms, has Luke Russert on the mall. His reports began in the 10amET hour. Russert telling, anchor Alex Witt he’d gotten some odd looks from a crowd he deemed as skeptical of the mainstream media: “When I was walking through the crowd, I got several glances at my NBC badge saying, ‘what exactly are they doing here?’”

Fox News mentioned the rally a couple times during Fox & Friends and correspondent Molly Henneberg began reporting for the network in the NoonET hour.

In addition to streaming on the homepage of Comedy Central, in stunning HD, the rally is being carried on C-SPAN.

> Update: During an “awards” presentation, Colbert chided several news organizations for choosing to not cover the rally, because, in Colbert’s words, viewers might perceive a bias. The outlets included ABC and CBS and NPR. Said Colbert. “Oh no not NPR!, If their employees attend the rally people will think they’re liberal!” He gave the award for courage to a 7-year-old girl instead.

> Update: A fear medal was given to Anderson Cooper‘s tight black t-shirt. Anytime you see Anderson Cooper reporting from a scene of devastation, “you should stock up,” said the announcer. A t-shirt was then brought on stage, and given the award. “Say hi to Anderson Cooper’s tight black t-shirt,” said Colbert.

> Update: Despite what Colbert said on stage, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews is covering along with a number of CBS News video journalists onsite. As we reported earlier this week, CBS News has once again hired AirPhotosLive.com to deploy their balloon over the mall, to photograph the rally, and generate a crowd estimate.

> Update: The two-hour event drew to a close with Stewart defining what his rally was all about: “We live now in hard times, not end times,” he said. “We can have animus and not be enemies.” Stewart saved his angst for the group he assails each night on his Comedy Central show: cable news. “The country’s 24-hour politico, pundit, perpetual, conflictanoid did not cause our problems. But its existence makes solving them that much harder.”

> Update: ABC News covered as well. Claire Shipman and Karen Travers reported for ABC TV and Steve Portnoy covered for ABC News Radio.

At 10amET Glenn Beck‘s 8/28 “Restoring Honor” rally got underway. Here’s how it looked on the cable news channels.

• The rally is being carried live on C-SPAN.

• On MSNBC, reporter/producer Domenico Montanaro reported from the Beck rally on the Lincoln Memorial, while MSNBC contributor Richard Wolffe reported live from Dunbar high school for the Rev. Al Sharpton-led rally.

• CNN has two correspondents at the Lincoln Memorial: Kate Bolduan and deputy political director Paul Steinhauser

• Fox News stayed with the #1-rated pre-taped business block of “Bulls & Bears” and “Cavuto on Business”

Developing…

> Sarah Palin takes to the stage at 10:35amET. CNN carries it live.

> At 11:23amET, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa presents MLB vet Albert Pujols with the Hope Award: “12 years ago I made the best decision of my life and that was following Jesus Christ.”

> At 11:45, Beck voices over a short piece on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. followed by a short clip from Dr. King from his speech, in the same place, 47 years ago today. Beck: “Today August 28, 2010 we stand here on the same hallowed ground with our heads held high and our hearts open.” Beck had been criticized for holding his rally on the anniversary of the King speech. Beck then introduced King’s neice, Dr. Alveda King who spoke at the rally.

> 12:37 – Beck: “I know that many in this country think that I am a fear-monger. It is not a label that I think applies. I do talk about frightening things. But I don’t think the man who saw the iceberg as the Titanic was about to hit it, said, ‘it’s an iceberg’s is a fear-monger. He was warning the people on the ship.”

• From a tipster: Glenn Beck speech is visible also overseas… Voice of America TV is simulcasting C-SPAN right now and thus carrying it in Europe.

> 1:18pmET: The event, which ends as more revival than rally, concludes. Beck: “America your choice is clear. We can only concentrate on the scars or we can see what is within and what lies just ahead. Make your choice. Set people free. And spread the word. God Bless. Good night.”

Are You Watching the Glenn Beck Lincoln Memorial Rally?customer surveys

CNN’s Lisa Sylvester has left the Situation Room … for a few months anyway. Yesterday, the CNNer gave birth to a 7 pound 9 ounce baby girl, Amelia Marie Tedesco. Mom and Dad are doing great. Amelia joins an older brother.

Wolf Blitzer broke the news on his show yesterday, along with Kate Bolduan who will be filling in for Sylvester as The Situation Room’s news anchor.

Baby picture, after the jump…

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Today, Fox News took out a full page ad in the Washington Post as well as the News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal and New York Post asking, “How did ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN Miss This Story?”

Well, those other networks were there.

NBC News had crews on the mall and correspondent Tom Costello reported live for NBC Nightly News Saturday. A Nightly News spokesperson tells TVNewser, “and more than 5.2 million viewers watched our coverage.” It was Weekend Nightly’s best Total Viewer delivery since April. MSNBC covered the gathering Saturday morning getting live shots from a reporter from NBC-owned WRC-TV.

ABC News was there too with reports for Good Morning America Saturday and Sunday. Kate Snow interviewed GOP Sen. Jim DeMint who was a speaker at the rally. ABCNews.com even had to correct a report about the number of attendees which was erroneously attributed to the network. Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks, the organizer of the event, made that claim. He would later say, “I regret misrepresenting the network as [ABC's] coverage that day was fair and honest.” And from NoonET Saturday to NoonET Sunday, ABC News Radio referenced the rally in 69 separate newscasts.

And CBS News was there — with multiple crews — TV and radio. Congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reported it as the lead story on Saturday’s CBS Evening News. CBS Radio News provided hourly reports throughout the day and CBSNews.com reported the story as the rotating lead all day, using Cordes’ video before it appeared in her Evening News story.

CNN was there as well, their Radio correspondent even got up close with the crowds. CNN also tells us deputy political director Paul Steinhauser was live at Freedom Plaza, CNN correspondent Kate Bolduan was live from the West Front of the Capitol, CNN All Platform Journalist Jim Spellman provided live hits all day after traveling for weeks on the actual Tea Party Express and filing reports for CNN and CNN.com along the way. “We had camera crews at various additional locations: shooting live video of the marchers, live video of the rally speakers, live video from the CNN Express, and two robotic cameras were in spots around the city capturing the magnitude of the event,” CNN tells us.

Reached for comment about the ad, Michael Tammero, VP of Marketing for Fox News tells TVNewser, “Generally speaking, it’s fair to say that from the tea party movement … to Acorn … to the march on 9/12, the networks either ignored the story, marginalized it or misrepresented the significance of it altogether.”