The Good, the Bad and the Thirsty: How News Anchors Became the Breakout Stars of Election Week 2020 – By Megan McCluskey (TIME) / Nov 12 2020
As the results of the 2020 presidential election slowly rolled in over the course of election week, Americans seemed to be glued to cable news like never before. And now, with the benefit of hindsight and the declaration of a winner, it seems like the right time to take stock of how news anchors shaped one of the longest weeks in a very long year.
Ahead of President-elect Joe Biden winning the election on Saturday, the main reason for many people’s network news obsession was, of course, to get minute-by-minute updates on the race between Biden and President Donald Trump. But there was an additional draw that came as a surprise to some viewers: the reassuring presence of some of the election news anchors themselves.
From CNN’s John King to MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki, news anchors spent the week tirelessly breaking down votes in battleground states on huge touchscreens. As multiple states remained uncalled for days on end, many anchors became the surprise stars, both famously and infamously, of the election.
On social media sites like Twitter and TikTok, memes, criticism and even so-called “thirst” posts about these anchors’ commitment to delivering viewers the most up-to-date election information began inundating people’s feeds. And while cable news favorites like CNN’s Anderson Cooper and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow had their moments, it was the “chartthrobs” like King and Kornacki who kept viewers coming back for more data-driven analysis of the electoral map.
Continue > https://time.com/5910121/election-news-anchors-john-king-steve-kornacki/
