WASHINGTON—The open impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump scheduled to begin next Wednesday are sure to grab headlines, but Americans will be able to watch the proceedings live as a result of the announced plans by many broadcasters to provide sweeping coverage of the proceedings.
In a blog post written on Common Dreams, Michael Winship and Bill Moyers explained how the Watergate impeachment hearings that were covered “gavel-to-gavel” by PBS in 1973 was public television’s “shining hour” and that PBS should repeat that practice once again with these new impeachment hearings.
However, it seems PBS needed little convincing. Friday, the same day Winship and Moyers’ story was posted, PBS announced its plans to cover the impeachment hearings, saying that it would provide live coverage of the hearings on TV and digital. The hearings will also be reaired during primetime on WORLD, the digital channel carried by 157 public TV stations; they will also be available on-demand on all PBS digital platforms.
Other broadcasters have set their coverage plans as well. CBS News will offer live “wall-to-wall” coverage on its CBSN streaming news service, while it will also preempt regular daytime programming for coverage of the hearings. C-SPAN has also announced its impeachment coverage plan.
The hearings will begin Wednesday, Nov. 13.
