Brian Williams' executive producer dishes on Amazon's leap into live news

• Amazon is testing news pinch a Brian Williams election-night typical connected Prime Video.
• The typical touts much than a twelve contributors for illustration James Carville and Shepard Smith.
• Its executive shaper told BI really Amazon plans to onslaught a nonpartisan tone.

Amazon is getting person to jumping into news sum pinch an election-night typical hosted by Brian Williams.

"Election Night Live pinch Brian Williams" will aerial connected Prime Video astatine 5 p.m. ET connected November 5. It will characteristic much than a twelve journalists and contributors, including governmental advisor James Carville, erstwhile Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, and comedian Baratunde Thurston.

Williams' longtime producer, Jonathan Wald, shared plans for nan upcoming typical successful an question and reply pinch Business Insider and emphasized it would return a nonpartisan approach.

"We don't promote some side-ism," said Wald, who will executive nutrient nan special. "We person a reasonably clear instruction and that's to study what's happening arsenic it's happening. When you do speculate, make it clear you're operating from a constituent of view."

He said that successful a highly divided country, striking a down-the-middle reside should springiness participants much credibility to telephone things arsenic they spot them. He besides stressed that nan arena wouldn't awkward distant from fact-checking aliases calling retired a campaigner who misspeaks aliases makes an egregious statement. The programme won't strive to telephone races earlier others, but alternatively return cues from established news networks.

"Election Night Live" is simply a bet for Amazon, which has nary history successful news. A one-off news programme is successful keeping pinch its strategy of getting into unrecorded arena programming for illustration sports and unrecorded shopping, though. It's nan type of programming that has nan imaginable to scope large audiences and advertisers, particularly those pinch time-sensitive merchandise launches consenting to salary precocious prices to scope them. Amazon will usage its tract — which Comcore said had 236.9 cardinal unsocial US visitors successful June — and this week's NFL "Thursday Night Football" programming to thrust viewers to nan special.

Details of nan typical began leaking respective weeks ago. It will beryllium offered successful English successful astir countries wherever Prime Video is available, sloppy of whether viewers person a Prime subscription, which should vastly grow its imaginable reach.

Some mainstream news outlets person faced backlash complete governmental sum successful an progressively polarized time. Amazon laminitis Jeff Bezos was pulled into governmental contention successful caller days aft The Washington Post, which he owns, announced it wouldn't endorse a campaigner for president.

Wald said Amazon played nary domiciled successful deciding nan format aliases attack of nan predetermination special.

Williams is simply a low-risk prime of big for Amazon. He was nan longtime anchor of "NBC Nightly News" who was suspended aft embellishing immoderate specifications of a chopper thrust successful Iraq. He had different enactment hosting "The 11th Hour" connected MSNBC from 2016 until 2021. Overall, he spent 28 years pinch NBC.

"He's nan correct prime because of a number of factors, not nan latest of which is, it's 1 of nan things he does best," Wald said. "I don't deliberation there's a YouTuber aliases X big aliases Instagrammer who could do a amended occupation of keeping way of everything that happens pinch dignity and grace and fairness and do it successful a down-the-middle measurement that's entertaining."

Along pinch acquainted TV personalities, viewers will spot immoderate interactive elements and an accent connected reporters from integer news outlets including Puck, Axios, and Politico (which shares a genitor pinch Business Insider).

"We're putting them each together arsenic a de facto connection network," Wald said. "That's wherever nan action is editorially. They're often first to break news. We want to leverage that."