NBC News' messy hiring and firing of former Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel puts a spotlight on television's practice of paying on-air political contributors.

Designer Sergio Hudson, known for high-profile clients like Michelle Obama and Beyoncé, has unveiled his latest collection at New York Fashion Week.

Democracy issues were once an afterthought in election night coverage, with an occasional report on broken voting machines in a polling place or two.

CNBC says it is pulling the plug on Shepard Smith's weeknight general interest news program, saying it wants to focus on the network's core strength of business news.

Television viewers will find nearly blanket prime-time coverage of a Congressional hearing Thursday on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

CNN announced that its CNN+ streaming service will start operating on March 29.

This past weekend's Janet Jackson documentary was the most popular non-fiction show on Lifetime since its “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary three years ago.

MSNBC says it has hired former Biden aide Symone Sanders to host a weekend television show and another on its Peacock streaming service.

Both Maddow and CNN's Daniel Dale aired lightning-round fact-checks following President Donald Trump's acceptance speech on Thursday night. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)NEW YORK Rachel Maddow ended her fact-check mission with a lightning round after President Donald Trump's nomination acceptance speech 12 corrections in about a minute. You can't win.Some of the efforts also stretch the definition of fact-checking, like when MSNBC interviewed Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan after a convention speech where South Dakota Gov. There he goes, lying again, anchor Sean Hannity said in cutting off a speech by former President Bill Clinton. Maddow's anchor colleague, Joy Reid, said as the convention's third night was coming to a close that she saw why it was necessary.

(Democratic National Convention via AP)NEW YORK An unexpected travelogue connected as a television event during the second night of the Democrats' virtual convention, livening up a show that so far is struggling in the ratings. Four years ago, opening night drew just under 26 million viewers. NBC's telecast drew 2.28 million viewers, down from 4.29 million four years ago, Nielsen said. The left-leaning MSNBC, where Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid and Nicolle Wallace were anchors, led the way Monday with 5.1 million viewers, up from four years ago. Fox News Channel's audience was unimpressed; the 2.1 million viewers it reached for its hour of convention coverage compared poorly with the 3.4 million viewers that time slot occupant Laura Ingraham had on an average July day.

(Scott Olson/Pool via AP)NEW YORK After a night in which television struggled to keep up with the Democrats' virtual convention, networks were rewarded with the most traditional of political events a powerful speech. This will not be like any convention we have seen before, ever, CNNs Anderson Cooper said at the opening of his networks coverage. Segments spent on broadcast networks previewing speeches by Obama and Sanders seemed like time-wasters when there were other things to show. Wallace's colleague, Dana Perino, stumbled into an unfortunate word choice in an effort to convey enthusiasm for Obama's address. Four years ago, when Hillary Clinton was nominated, 25 million people tuned in to the first night.

LOS ANGELES The Democratic and Republican conventions will lack for crowds but not television coverage. The Democratic meeting will be virtual, with Biden planning to make his acceptance speech from Wilmington, Delaware. Broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC plan an hour of nightly coverage of the conventions at 10 p.m. EDT. CNN's commentators for the Democratic meeting include Van Jones, Jennifer Granholm, Andrew Yang, and Scott Jennings. Commentary for the Republican convention will be handled by Rick Santorum, David Urban, Amanda Carpenter and Granholm.

Joy Reid is making history. The host and political commentator is the new host of MSNBC's nightly evening show, The ReidOut, making her the first Black woman to anchor a primetime news show on the network. Rocking my idol Gwen Ifill in my avi in honor https://t.co/SrDL1hhmcN Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 9, 2020Reid joined MSNBC in 2011 as a contributor and has been a weekend anchor for her AM Joy show since 2016. Rachel Maddow tweeted that she couldn't be more excited. https://t.co/P5WDz1gfD1 Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) July 9, 2020You go, gurl!

FILE - In this April 20, 2018 file photo, Joy Reid attends the Tribeca TV screening of "Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story" during the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival in New York. MSNBC has picked Reid to fill the 7 p.m. hour that was vacated by longtime host Chris Matthews in early March. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)NEW YORK MSNBC says Joy Reid will move into the early evening time slot vacated in March by former Hardball host Chris Matthew's retirement in March. I'm honored and thankful for this opportunity, Reid said in a statement. Matthews retired on-air in early March following a series of gaffes and an article written by journalist Laura Basset that accused him of making inappropriate comments to her and other women who were on his show.

NEW YORK NBC News leader Cesar Conde, in one of his first public acts in the job, has committed to building a workforce at the news organizations he supervises where at least half of the employees are minorities. Conde set no deadline for achieving his 50 Percent Initiative.He also wants women to comprise half the employees at NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC, and he's already nearly there. The plan, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, makes Conde a leader in the current movement to diversify the news business. Given where NBC currently stands, particularly with Black employees, Truong said she understands why the initiative has no deadline and is glad that progress will be checked regularly. What I would like to hear is whether other people at NBC are committed to this moving forward, she said.