TV news coverage is cautious as election night turns into a weeklong epic

Arnon Mishkin, head of the Fox News decision desk, went on camera to explain his early call of Arizona for Joe Biden. Many states were categorized as “too close to call” or “too early to call.” At the start of ABC News’ coverage, chief anchor George Stephanopoulos attempted to prepare viewers by telling them the wait for the results should not be taken as a flaw in the voting system, mitigating repeated claims by President Trump that he would only lose if the process was rigged. “We’ve made after basically a half-hour of debating — ‘Is it time yet?’” Mishkin told Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. “The president going through some of the states, stating that he has prevailed in those states, naming Georgia, saying they’re winning Georgia — or that they won Georgia, ‘there’s no way they’ll catch us, that they’re winning Pennsylvania, won Michigan.’ The fact of the matter is those states have not come close to counting all of their vote.” Oppenheim said NBC News anticipated Trump’s remarks and was ready to swing into action. “In the control room, we had the director make the necessary audio adjustment, and she made the real time fact check.” On Fox News, anchor Chris Wallace was also taken aback by Trump’s remarks.