MARTHA MACCALLUM

Former President Donald Trump's decision to back out of Fox News Channel's first GOP primary debate this week likely costs the network a chance at a very large audience for the end of summer.

The two leading GOP presidential contenders had very different interview experiences with Fox News this past week.

Democracy issues were once an afterthought in election night coverage, with an occasional report on broken voting machines in a polling place or two.

Television viewers will find nearly blanket prime-time coverage of a Congressional hearing Thursday on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Fox News Channel has named Jesse Watters as host of a 7 p.m. Eastern opinion hour, leading in to its prime-time opinion lineup of Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.

(AP Photo)NEW YORK – To Fox News Channel's Janice Dean, New York Gov. “He needs to go to jail!” she thundered on “Fox & Friends.”Dean isn't a political commentator — she's Fox's senior meteorologist. AdYet Dean has made some dubious public claims about the impact of Cuomo's nursing home order and another news organization's coverage. Stories emerged about the lengths to which the governor and his staff went to conceal the number of virus deaths among New York nursing home residents. Best is also seen holding a sign saying, “Cuomo killed my mother.”___Dean waves off thoughts of a political future, but others don't.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)NEW YORK – At the end of Donald Trump's presidency, television networks left the mute button unused. CNN's Wolf Blitzer, meanwhile, called it “totally inappropriate” and said it was “pretty repulsive” that Trump didn't cite Biden. The Washington Post updated its count of lies and misstatements by Trump: 30,534 heading into his last day as president. Over on CNN, Dana Bash watched Trump leave the White House for the final time as president and walk to the Marine One helicopter.

(David Tulis/Pool Photo via AP)NEW YORK – After Air Force One took Donald Trump out of Washington, an unusual Inauguration Day quickly felt more traditional — even comforting — for people watching at home. "What we're seeing today is an ejection of insurrection.”Trump skipped the inauguration of his successor, the first president to break that tradition since 1869. “If Democrats need thousands of troops to occupy the Capitol on Inauguration Day, then it seems possible that their candidate wasn't actually elected by the people,” Sharp said. “He said that there is truth and there are lies, lies that are told for power and lies that are told for profit,” Wallace said. The Washington Post updated its count of lies and misstatements by Trump: 30,534 heading into his last day as president.

Both Fox and CNN announced schedule changes on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. Both Fox and CNN announced lineup changes Monday, as is often the case for news organizations with a new president about to take power. For years, first with Shepard Smith and then with MacCallum, Fox has stressed news instead of opinion in that hour. In fact, Newsmax issued a statement that its improved daytime and 7 p.m. ratings since the election has triggered changes at Fox. Since the election, CNN has averaged 1.92 million viewers in those daytime hours, with Fox and MSNBC both at 1.53 million.

A man stops to watch election returns on electronic billboards in Times Square, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in New York. Cable and broadcast news divisions followed the story closely, even as they learned that election night coverage was a relative dud with viewers. An estimated 56.9 million people watched coverage over 21 networks during primetime hours Tuesday, down sharply from the 71.4 million viewers on election night 2016, the Nielsen company said. For weeks, media outlets had warned that Americans would need patience on election night and beyond, and that turned out to be their most accurate prediction. Even if Biden won the presidency, Democrats were sure to face questions about why the race was so close and why predicted gains in Congress didn't materialize.

FILE- People pass the News Corporation headquarters building and Fox News studios in New York on Aug. 1, 2017. Several Fox News Channel executives and on-air personalities were exposed last week to a person on a private plane who later tested positive for COVID-19. Fox cited privacy concerns in not identifying who had tested positive or was exposed. Fox News Media President Jay Wallace was also on the flight, the Times said. Only people critical to the broadcast will be allowed in at Fox headquarters on election night, the memo said.

LOS ANGELES The Democratic and Republican conventions will lack for crowds but not television coverage. The Democratic meeting will be virtual, with Biden planning to make his acceptance speech from Wilmington, Delaware. Broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC plan an hour of nightly coverage of the conventions at 10 p.m. EDT. CNN's commentators for the Democratic meeting include Van Jones, Jennifer Granholm, Andrew Yang, and Scott Jennings. Commentary for the Republican convention will be handled by Rick Santorum, David Urban, Amanda Carpenter and Granholm.

NEW YORK Weeks before political conventions, television networks would typically be confirming hotel reservations, booking experts and pounding the last nails in temporary studios for their top anchors. Networks expect Democrats to host a mega video wall event, with feeds of speakers from across the country. Fox News' Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, who are booked for the Democrats' convention site in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are currently the only network anchors expected to travel. Despite the mystery of what the conventions are going to be, news executives anticipate a high level of interest among viewers. Either way, that challenge puts an enormous amount of pressure on Ricky Kirshner, who's producing the convention for Democrats, and the Trump campaign.

Black Lives Matter leader states, If U.S. doesnt give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. Hawk Newsome has no relation to the Black Lives Matter Global Network, Scales said. Reached by phone Thursday night, Newsome said Black Lives Matter Greater New York is now under the leadership of Black women. He also said Black Lives Matter is not a movement over which anyone can claim ownership. In Washington, D.C., the mayor ordered the words Black Lives Matter painted across a street near the White House, which also has been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza.

Monday represented a key phase in New York City's reopening, with many offices bringing employees back for the first time. Despite the CBS and Fox moves, most news employees continue to work remotely, and the television programs that originate here have a patchwork of approaches that have quickly become familiar. A majority of the show hosts on MSNBC including Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist of Morning Joe work remotely. Other morning shows have varied approaches. Hoda Kotb of NBC's Today show has worked out of that show's Rockefeller Center studio, but most of her colleagues are at home.