Milwaukee, WI will become the center of America’s political universe from July 15-18 as the 2024 Republican National Convention moves into town. Naturally, all of the major news networks are Brew City-bound to provide around-the-clock coverage as former President Donald Trump prepares to accept the GOP nomination for the third time. TVNewser assembled the following questionnaire to see how the different outlets are preparing to cover the event, as well as what goes on behind the scenes.
Matt Carluccio, executive producer Weekend Today and NBC News Specials
1. What are some of the narratives you’re expecting to see heading into the Republican National Convention?
I expect we’ll see a convention and party in the firm control of Donald Trump, perhaps even more so than in the past two cycles, which will be reflected in every possible way—from the platform details to the program of speakers and even the speeches.
We’ll also be watching to see how well Trump can capitalize on what has been several weeks of reckoning for Democrats around their candidate’s age and fitness for office. Conventions traditionally give a boost to candidates and Trump will be looking to score “bigly” on the timing of this RNC.
Finally, there’s the fact that Republicans have made the very conscientious choice to hold their nominating event in Wisconsin, perhaps the best microcosm of the American electorate with deep blue urban pockets in Madison and Milwaukee entirely surrounded by more conservative leaning rural and suburban areas. That means there’s a very strong on-the-ground story to tell and we’ll be able to give our viewers across all our platforms a phenomenal look at what’s driving the minds of voters in these areas.
In that sense, we’ve been preparing for this moment for the better part of a year with teams of reporters that have frequently been returning to Wisconsin, tight collaboration with our local stations and more.
2. What’s the story you’re most excited to tell?
What voters are thinking and feeling on the ground. Conventions—at least in recent history—are predictable affairs with plenty of opportunity for reporting. But the real story in these moments is how voters are responding at a time when the party has unusually tight control over its message and public perception. So how folks are reacting, both in Wisconsin and around the country, gives us really good clues as to what story threads we’re pulling on from now until November.
3. Production-wise, what goes into preparing for a convention that viewers might not know about?
I think what people don’t see is the months of preparation that go into covering any large-scale political event. From securing locations to designing a set, liaising with the host party on logistics to preparing for unforeseen, it’s a massive undertaking from dozens of people around the organization led by an incredibly dedicated Specials team who set the industry standard for live production around big election moments like these.
4. As the EP, what will your typical day at the convention look like?
We’ll be on air for at least 8 hours every day between our NBC News Now streaming arm and network coverage, so we split it up among separate control rooms. We’ll be in constant contact with our producers on the ground in Milwaukee and the editorial teams who are flagging and chasing all storylines that bubble up that could impact the race.
Back in the control room, we’ll take that information and incoming video feeds to make fast decisions about who’s in the best position to tell a particular story or to analyze and provide context on any given development—all the fluid decision-making that needs to happen instantaneously.
5. Coverage of the 2022 RNC was heavily impacted by the pandemic. Nevertheless, are there lessons you learned from that convention that you’ll be able to apply to this one?
We learned a number of lessons from 2020, some of which have been applied in this cycle. Most have to do with our ability to do more production with less by leaning on new technologies. In turn this allows us to dedicate even more resources to the editorial and reporting effort and therefore resulting in more robust coverage.
6. What new formats/coverage types will you be experimenting with?
NBC News Now will provide several hours of daily coverage anchored from the convention site, which will give viewers unprecedented access to nearly every hour of the event and, of course, available on any digital device.
On the network side, we’re looking forward to reporting from all aspects of the convention as most Americans do from outside the fishbowl, and also going inside Fiserv Forum, which will provide a balanced and unique perspective.
(Courtesy NBCUniversal)
7. Do you plan to fact-check any of Donald Trump’s speeches in real time? How do you expect his various court cases to be addressed by your network, as well as GOP leaders and delegates?
The former president’s legal challenges remain a huge unknown—they’re obviously impacting the race, but by how much? That’s a question that our reporting teams continue to probe with voters and that shows through in our coverage.
We always try and fact-check remarks—whether we can in the moment or following remarks or on our live blog. Viewers know that we can’t possibly jump in every time we hear a lie or truth. We know that will happen, we prepare our audiences for it and we give them the context and information needed to make up their minds based on that reality.
8. Do you expect 2024’s ratings to be higher or lower than 2020? What factors contributed to your answer?
We are offering more news and content on more platforms and to more audiences than ever before. For example, we have 8+ hours of coverage on NBC News Now, with NBCNews.com featuring around-the-clock reporting. There are no longer apples to apples comparisons given how much the media landscape has changed in the past decade.
9. The viewing public has seemed disengaged from election news so far. Will the RNC move the needle?
We have the same responsibility to spotlight the stakes of this race and make them clear to our audiences, no matter how static people might think it is. Our commitment and dedication to informing our audience will continue to be top priority.
10. What are you personally looking forward to doing while you’re in Milwaukee?
Our coverage will be produced out of our NYC control rooms where I’ll be for the four nights, but I had the good fortune of visiting Milwaukee in preparation for the RNC. Aside from picking up a few Giannis Antetokounmpo jerseys for my sons, I was most looking forward and curious to see if Milwaukeeans really are that nice. In fact, they are and then some!
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