United States — news channels live

ABC News is the news division of the ABC network, owned by the Walt Disney Company. Its evening bulletin, World News Tonight, has long been among the most watched evening news programmes in America and is one of the strongest representatives of traditional network journalism — bulletin-based and measured in tone, unlike cable.

Long-running programmes such as Nightline and 20/20 are established American examples of the news magazine form. Its streaming service, ABC News Live, carries rolling coverage and stays live for hours during major events.

Unlike cable, network news has historically addressed a broad and politically mixed audience, and that is the main factor shaping the tone and story selection of its bulletins.

Bloomberg Television is the broadcast arm of Bloomberg L.P., the financial data and news company. The firm's core business is the data terminals used by finance professionals, and the news service is built on that infrastructure — which shapes its journalism: data, charts and market moves are a permanent part of the screen.

Broadcasting from centres in New York, London and Hong Kong, it covers the global market day without interruption. It specialises in economic policy, central banks, commodities and corporate news.

Where a general news channel treats an economic story as a short item, the same development here gets long and technical treatment — a distinct source for readers who want to see that difference.

C-SPAN is a not-for-profit public service network founded in 1979 with joint funding from cable television companies. Its purpose can be stated in a sentence: to broadcast the proceedings of the United States Congress exactly as they happen, with no commentary, presentation or interruption.

That format makes it unique. Sittings of the House and Senate are carried gavel to gavel, and even camera angles are constrained so as not to editorialise the debate. Beyond Congress it applies the same approach to press conferences, committee hearings, book interviews and campaign events.

For a reader who wants to see what a politician actually said, from the source rather than from a channel's summary, C-SPAN keeps one of the most open records in the world. Its archive is public and heavily used by researchers.

CBS News is one of the founding institutions of American broadcast journalism. Edward R. Murrow's wartime radio reports from London and his later television work are counted among the turning points that set the profession's standards in the United States.

Its best-known output is 60 Minutes, the investigative news programme broadcast since 1968 — the most recognised example of sustained investigative journalism on American television, and one that has held a primetime slot for decades.

Its streaming service, CBS News 24/7, carries rolling coverage. The division sits today within Paramount.

CNBC launched in 1989 as a channel devoted to business and financial markets and sits within NBCUniversal. Its schedule is set by market hours: live coverage from the opening to the close of the New York exchange, corporate earnings, central bank decisions and market analysis form its spine.

It publishes separate editions for Europe and Asia, a direct consequence of global markets trading around the clock. It is one of the few international channels specialising in business journalism.

For a reader who wants to follow market moves live, it is a primary source alongside Bloomberg Television.

Fox News launched in 1996 and quickly became the most watched cable news channel in America, a position it has held for a long time. It is owned by Fox Corporation.

Its schedule divides in two: news blocks during the day and opinion programming in the evening. The second defines the channel's identity and openly represents a conservative political line. Because the regulation requiring impartiality of American broadcasters was abolished in 1987, that division is legally possible, and the channel does not disguise it.

Fox News's influence on American politics and its relationship with Republican voters are among the principal subjects of media sociology. Its YouTube account carries clips and event-driven live coverage.

LiveNOW from FOX is a streaming service run by Fox's local television station group, built on an unusual editorial choice: to publish raw live footage from the scene with no anchor and no commentary. Press conferences, natural disasters, protests, rocket launches and court proceedings are carried uninterrupted and unedited.

The format does for general news events what C-SPAN does for Congress: it makes visible the difference between an event and its presentation. For a reader who wants to see a development before channels frame it, it is a direct source.

The service is free and streams continuously on YouTube.

The channel launched in 1996 as MSNBC, a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC — the "MS" in the name comes from that partnership. Microsoft later withdrew and the channel remained within NBCUniversal. Its identity settled over time into a liberal, opinion-led line positioned as the counterpart to Fox News.

Following Comcast's decision to move its cable networks into a separate company, the channel was rebranded as MS NOW.

Evening opinion programming is the defining element of its schedule. Watching it alongside Fox News is instructive for seeing how political identity shapes editorial line in American cable news.

NBC News is the news division of NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast, and one of the oldest news institutions in American broadcasting. Its evening bulletin NBC Nightly News and the Sunday political programme Meet the Press, on air since 1952, are its best-known output; the latter is the longest continuously running programme on American television.

Its streaming channel, NBC News NOW, carries rolling news without a cable subscription and runs long live coverage of major events.

The organisation maintains a broad network of foreign bureaus and relies on its own correspondents in war and crisis zones.

Newsmax is an American news channel broadcasting on a conservative political line. It was founded in 1998 as a news website and began television broadcasting in 2014. The channel states its line openly and addresses a conservative audience.

The absence in the United States of any impartiality obligation on broadcasters is what makes channels with such explicit political identities possible, and readers are best placed judging it in that context.

NewsNation is a cable news channel launched in 2020 by Nexstar Media Group. At its founding the channel positioned itself explicitly to fill a gap: to offer an option that does not take sides in polarised American cable news. Its identity rests on that claim.

Nexstar owns a large number of local television stations across the United States, and NewsNation draws on that network's field capacity, carrying local reporting from around the country onto a national screen. That is its most concrete distinguishing feature.

PBS NewsHour is the evening news programme of the American public broadcaster PBS, with roots reaching back to 1975. It has deliberately chosen a format apart from commercial network bulletins: fewer stories, longer interviews, detailed discussion with expert guests. With no commercial breaks, stories are treated without haste.

It is funded by viewer donations, foundations and public sources — a structure that keeps it clear of commercial ratings pressure while making it a subject of political argument in every federal budget cycle.

For a reader looking for measured, in-depth journalism on American screens, it is the principal destination.

Scripps News is the national news service of E.W. Scripps, a long-established American media group. The group owns a large number of local television stations across the country, and Scripps News forms its national arm.

The service adopts a short, direct presentation format, distinct from the long opinion blocks of cable news. Its local station network gives it strong field access to events across the country.

The Hill is a publication focused on covering the United States Congress, taking its name from Capitol Hill. The legislative process, committee work, votes and lobbying in Washington sit at the centre of its output.

That narrow focus makes it valuable for detail that general news channels skip: for a reader tracking what stage a bill has reached or how a vote is taking shape, it is a direct source.

The New York Times was founded in 1851 and is considered one of the most influential newspapers in the world. Its international correspondent network is larger than that of any other American outlet, which is the source of its weight in foreign coverage.

It is one of the few large publications to have completed the transition to a digital subscription model successfully, a case frequently cited in arguments about the collapse of print. Its video and podcast output has expanded in recent years; the daily podcast The Daily is among the most listened-to examples of the form.

Its YouTube channel carries documentaries, analysis and event-driven live coverage.

USA TODAY was founded in 1982 as a nationally distributed American newspaper. The form it adopted at launch — short stories, colour graphics, heavy use of images — provoked argument in American journalism and was subsequently imitated widely.

The paper belongs to the Gannett group and works in an integrated way with the group's network of local newspapers across the country. Its YouTube channel carries news clips and event-driven live coverage.

Voice of America was created in 1942 during the Second World War and is funded by the United States government. Its founding purpose was to carry an American perspective against Nazi propaganda, and the organisation continued after the war.

Its structure includes a notable provision: statute establishes a "firewall" intended to prevent government interference in its news content. How well that provision works in practice has periodically been debated, and readers are best placed watching with both the state funding and the legal protection in mind.

VOA publishes in many languages and functions as an important source in countries where access to independent news is restricted.

The Washington Post was founded in 1877 and is one of the best-known institutions in American journalism. Its Watergate investigation entered the profession's history as the example of investigative reporting driving a president from office.

As a natural consequence of being based in the capital, the paper specialises in federal politics, Congress and national security. Its digital operation has expanded video and live output in recent years; the YouTube channel carries press conferences, hearings and analysis programming.