Fox to Cover Trump Impeachment Hearings 'Wall-to-Wall'

Public impeachment hearings begin Nov. 13, Rep. Adam Schiff said Wednesday (Nov. 6), and, not surprisingly, C-SPAN immediately announced plans to cover them gavel-to-gavel.

A Fox News Channel spokesperson told Broadcasting & Cable that it will be also covering the hearings "wall-to-wall," specific anchors yet to be determined.

House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) tweeted that the first witnesses will be top Ukraine envoy William Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent.

Related: C-SPAN Launches Impeachment Coverage Page

The second hearing will be Nov. 15 with former Ukrainian ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

Taylor was much in the news Wednesday after transcripts of his closed-door testimony to the committee revealed he felt there had definitely been a quid pro quo--an investigation into the Bidens in exchange for freeing up money for Ukraine--which he said was directed by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani presumably at the direction of his boss, though he said he had not talked directly with the President.

A representative for PBS, which covered the Nixon impeachment hearings back in the 1970s gavel-to-gavel, or pretty close, and made a pop culture star out of Sen. Sam Ervin (D-N.C.), said it was still working on its coverage plans at press time. Representatives from the commercial broadcast nets either had not responded by press time or were working on getting an answer.

Related: Support for Trump Impeachment Slips

The hearings will likely be several hours apiece, so cable news nets are more likely to roll with long stretches while broadcast nets are more likely to provide their affiliates with shorter bites, cut-ins, updates and special reports as necessary.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.