President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration will stream live on his favorite social platform: Twitter. PBS NewsHour will be the exclusive broadcast partner for the six-hour event.
Live coverage of Inauguration Day 2017 will commence at 11 a.m. ET and conclude at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, January 20. The coverage will be anchored by NewsHour managing editor Judy Woodruff, with correspondents John Yang reporting from the steps of the United States Capitol and Lisa Desjardins from the National Mall.
The Twitter live-stream will include the swearing in of Trump as the 45th president of the United States, and Mike Pence as the 48th vice president on the steps of the Capitol. It will also span coverage of the inaugural address and Parade, and the arrival of President-elect Trump at the White House.
As is the norm on Twitter, the entire live-stream will be available to view at its own unique URL alongside a timeline of #Inauguration tweets — allowing logged in users to tweet while they watch. Non-users will also be able to tune in without worrying about signing up. Additionally, the official @NewsHour Twitter profile will broadcast the live coverage.
“NewsHour’s broadcast will integrate dependable, thorough coverage with the live Inauguration Day conversation on Twitter,” said Twitter COO Anthony Noto.
Twitter stepped up its coverage of political events last year by live-streaming all three presidential debates in partnership with Bloomberg Television. The first two debates nabbed 344,000 and 369,000 average viewers per minute respectively. The platform also teamed up with BuzzFeed to broadcast its election night live coverage, which drew an average-minute audience of 165,000 viewers.
“We are delighted to partner with Twitter for Inauguration Day coverage,” said Sara Just, executive producer, NewsHour. “The peaceful transition of power from one president to the next is a powerful moment in the American democratic process. And this year, it comes at a time when the country is embroiled in political discourse like we have rarely seen. Streaming public broadcasting’s thoughtful coverage on Twitter will allow more Americans to experience the inauguration and join in discussion around it.”
