Skip to main content

Your Instagram Stories could make it into CBSN's live coverage of the presidential debates

cbsn instagram
John Paul Filo/CBS
CBS News’ streaming service CBSN is joining forces with Instagram to feature the app’s Stories within its live coverage of the presidential debates.

In an election season teeming with digital partnerships between news organizations and social media platforms, CBSN’s Instagram tie-in still manages to stand out from the crowd. The deal marks the first time the relatively new Stories feature will be used by a network as part of its live coverage.

Related Videos

Launched in August, Instagram Stories allow you to share video and image slideshows that disappear after 24 hours, much like Snapchat Stories. Brands immediately took to Instagram’s version of the feature in a bid to provide even more content to the app’s massive audience.

For its part, CBSN will incorporate Instagram Stories created by its anchors — alongside Stories by voters and experts from across the nation — in its pre-debate and post-debate coverage. CBSN is partnering with real-time audience engagement platform Connect Live to deliver Stories live on air.

Among the CBSN and CBS News correspondents you can expect to see Instagramming the action will be Gayle King, Norah O’Donnell, Nancy Cordes, Vladimir Duthiers, Major Garrett, Reena Ninan, Will Rahn and Bob Schieffer.

“Throughout this campaign, CBSN has highlighted new voices on new screens to bring politics to life, making a partnership with Instagram, which focuses on stories, a natural fit,” said Christy Tanner, senior vice president and general manager of CBS News Digital.

CBSN’s full coverage of the debates kicks off at 7 p.m. ET. The first of three scheduled presidential debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will take place on Monday, September 26. Additionally, the network’s anchor Elaine Quijano will moderate the vice presidential debate on October 4.

Unlike its social media counterparts, Instagram’s short-form video format ultimately means it cannot host actual livestreams of the debates themselves. Partnering with a news network is therefore a great way for the popular photo-sharing app to be part of the action during a series of events that will no doubt dominate the chatter online.

Editors' Recommendations

Instagram’s new Close Friends List lets you decide who should see your Story
how to get followers on instagram 1

Sharing to Instagram Stories no longer means blasting that short video or photo to every follower. On Friday, November 30, an Instagram update brought the option to create a "close friends" list for those stories that you don’t want widely shared.

Instagram says the new feature is designed to help users share stories that are more personal with a smaller group of friends. To create the list, users can navigate to their profile and access the new Close Friends List option from the menu. From there, users can see who to add to the list and can also edit that list. A separate tab contains suggested friends to add to the list.

Read more
Shazam hooks up with Instagram Stories for another way to share songs
shazam hooks up with instagram stories for another way to share songs

Shazam's latest update for iDevices lets you add songs to Instagram Stories in a few taps.

Version 12.3 of Apple-owned Shazam landed this week, and the new feature is super-simple to use.

Read more
Instagram’s question stickers bring comment-like interaction to Stories
how to get followers on instagram 1

Instagram Stories launched with all the visuals of the Instagram feed but with little interaction -- but that is quickly changing with polls, emojis and now, a sticker that feels a lot like a comment tool. Instagram users can now start conversations inside Stories using a new question sticker, announced on Tuesday, July 10 after rumors of the feature leaked last week. The sticker allows users to ask a question, then add the answer to another image inside Stories.

Asking a question inside Instagram Stories follows the same steps for adding a sticker. Inside the sticker options, a new "questions" option brings up a sticker that allows you to type in a question or statement. The question sticker can be customized with different colors, and like other stickers, can be moved around the image.

Read more