US Midterms 2018

Here's the ABC studio in action on yesterday's This Week, courtesy of NewscastStudio.



There are workstations at the sides, similar to the BBC Election Centre.

Faux News tried to mime NBC's Democracy Plaza and failed with FOX Square
Its basically a bbq marquee set up with a huge sign around the top and a video ribbon. Right next to the pavement on Ave of The Americas. I kinda think they are asking for trouble. NBC can seal off their location. Not sure why FNC didnt use the huge set they built. But Im certain it will be used for jib shots of the screens. Weather is meant to be rainy early in the day. Dont get electrocuted guys. Ehh. FNC...the Walmart of News Channels.

I really like what NBC is doing with 1A - while it's smaller than their newsroom set-up for 2016, it looks sleeker in my view.

As for ABC's huge set, I don't think anyone's ever gone to so much effort for the mid-terms before. I wonder whether they plan to use this in 2020 too, much like the BBC has used their Election Centre set for three general elections and the EU referendum. It also reminds me of the kind of scale that some of France 2's election sets have had in the past.

I'm assuming CBS's coverage will come from the CBS This Morning/Evening News studio - they never seem to use anything else nowadays.

It seems as though they are. Face the Nation came from Studio 57 Sunday.

BBC’s Philippa Thomas, Emily Maitlis, Christian Fraser and Stephen Sackur have (so far) turned up Stateside.

In addition to Katty Kay, Soapy and Laura Trevelyan who are already there as resident “anchors”. Not forgetting Jane OBrien and Rajini Vaidyanathan as occasional anchors.

CBS News really has pulled back in building big elaborate sets for Election coverage. Most of the networks used to build these huge Election Night sets. ABC News seems to be the only one that does this anymore. But NBC does put forth a lot of effort with the Democracy Plaza.
Here is a look a back what CBS News has done over the years.

CNN Election Night History. Not many set/studio views with this compilation.

NBC News Election NIght History.

Here is ABC News Midterm Coverage from 1966. Its a fairly elaborate set.

Here is an elaborate double height set from 1988 Elections with the amazing Peter Jennings.

BBC's Washington studio is very uninspired

Sky did an unadvertised Midterms Special live from Washington this morning 12-12.40am with Adam Boulton and guests from a rooftop position in Washington. It seemed to be a dry run for Tuesday/Wednesday. Press Preview started at 12.40am, with the normal schedule following from 1am.

Those are all for Presidential elections, though - these are midterms, and although I'm not particularly au fait with past American politics, I wouldn't be surprised if these are by far the most intensely covered midterms in history - with the most elaborate midterm sets to match.