"CNN called it first, at 11:24 a.m. on Saturday, quickly followed by NBC, CBS, ABC and The Associated Press. Fox News waited until 11:40 a.m," reports The New York Times' John Koblin, Michael M. Grynbaum and Tiffany Hsu. "The projection that Joseph R. Biden Jr. would become the 46th president of the United States came after days of slow-burning suspense on the cable news networks and broadcast channels. As millions of anxious viewers watched, the anchors and pundits filled hours of airtime by tracking the vote counts in battleground states. All the while, President Trump fumed and filed legal challenges in the background of the incremental ballot-count developments in Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona. Going into Saturday, Fox News and The Associated Press were in a position to make the declaration for Mr. Biden before any other news organization: They were alone in projecting that Mr. Biden had won the Arizona vote, with Fox News making the call at 11:20 p.m. on Tuesday and The A.P. following hours later. Because of those calls, Fox News and The A.P. had Mr. Biden with 264 electoral votes, six shy of the 270 necessary for a White House victory. Other news organizations had Mr. Biden at 253 electoral votes early on Saturday. But Fox News and The A.P., which had come in for criticism by Mr. Trump and some data journalists for possibly jumping the gun on Arizona, held back on Saturday, playing it safe and waiting until the other major media organizations made the call."
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TOPICS: Joe Biden, CNN, Fox News Channel, Kamala Harris, Norman Lear, Van Jones, 2020 Presidential Election, Biden Presidency, Cable News, Trump Presidency