Women's NCAA championship sets a ratings record, The LAT names Terry Tang as its next executive editor, news outlets suggest Donald Trump offered more specificity on abortion than he actually did, lawmakers propose sweeping data privacy bill, Jonathan Majors gets sentenced, and so much more. But first, the A1.

Total Eclipse of Coverage

CNN Photo Illustration/CNN

Millions of viewers on Monday tuned into special news broadcasts to watch the once-in-a-generation total solar eclipse as it cast a shadow across North America. National news networks deployed anchors and crews along the path of totality from Mazatlán, Mexico, to Indianapolis to Vermont, capturing the awe-inspiring and quasi-religious experience millions felt with live cameras.

But while the pros behind the scenes might have made the coverage look easy, putting on a seamless broadcast was not without challenges.

We spoke with the leaders of CNN's celestial coverage, who offered insights into how the network deployed teams and resources to track the eclipse as it swept across the U.S. Below is a Q&A, lightly edited for length and clarity. 

How many people were involved in covering this celestial event? 

Lyndsey Read, senior producer for content strategy: Experts from across the company representing all of our platforms jumped in to create and optimize our content for audiences everywhere including producers, shooters, writers, reporters, editors, andhors, programmers, art designers, podcast producers, photographers, researchers and many more.  It was a true collaboration. 

What was the biggest challenge in organizing coverage around the eclipse?             

Vivian Kuo, senior director of coverage for national newsgathering: We wanted to make sure we were touching on narratives within the path of totality that would offer unique perspectives. From the majesty of Niagara Falls, to a mass wedding in Arkansas with more than 300 couples, to hanging with giraffes – we wanted each location to give viewers special perspectives in case they couldn’t be there in person. 

Did you have to make any last minute adjustments due to the changing forecasts? How down to the wire were those changes made?

Kuo: We did have a robust plan to be in Texas up until near the end of last week, but with the cloud cover forecast being a little too ominous for comfort, we audibled to the biggest watch party in the Midwest, in Indianapolis. The field teams did a heroic job of being nimble and scrambling despite the last-minute changes.              

How does this compare to planning coverage around a severe weather event or a political event like a debate?

Kuo: Very similar – except since this is really such a feel-good story we had a lot of staff reaching out from all over the network asking to play! It was nice to do something that was fun and such a collective cultural moment.  

Read: Compared to other big news events on our calendar, it’s so refreshing to build a plan around a positive news story — especially one that impacts so many people across North America. From kids and adults of all ages, to scientists, zookeepers, eclipse-chasers — it’s been fascinating and delighting to get swept up in the excitement around this.   

What lessons did you learn from the 2017 eclipse that helped this time around?

Read: 2017 seems like such a long time ago. When we reviewed the 2017 coverage and insights, we were reminded that the audience has an incredible appetite for such a visceral and visual story.  And CNN is one of the few outlets that really has the resources to own this.  Next up – 2044 eclipse! 

In what ways did CNN aim to educate its audience about the science and significance of a total eclipse?

Read: CNN published one of the first eclipse stories nearly a year ago so this is about so much more than one day of coverage. There has been a steady drumbeat – led by our Science and Video teams – of informative, entertaining and educational features, interactive products, newsletters and much more. Our daily news show for students, CNN10, dedicated an entire episode to the eclipse. 

During live coverage, what was one element that took you off guard or surprised you?

Kuo: It’s fair to say Brianna Keilar and Boris Sanchez in their sun and moon getup was simultaneously surprising and amazing. I also loved Ed Lavandera feeding the giraffe and the ostrich egg laying moment. And of course, you can’t forget Kristin Fisher’s incredible interaction with her astronaut parents and unbelievably precocious daughter. 

Read: I was bouncing between several different video offerings and the live story, and I was surprised to get caught up in the suspense of it all! Thankfully I also had a pair of eclipse glasses so I could join in the fun. 

In your opinion, which CNN personality looked best rocking the solar shades?

Kuo: That’s so hard. Rosa Flores owned the whimsical ones, Brianna’s pink ones were probably the most stylish – but I might give it to Derek Van Dam, whose aviator-goggle style looked all too comfortable on him. 

Oliver Darcy/CNN

CNN Photo Illustration/Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Women for the Win: Women's college basketball is attracting historic audiences. The women's NCAA tournament has set record after record for viewership this year — and Sunday's title game between South Carolina and the Iowa Hawkeyes did it yet again. The game averaged a staggering 18.7 million viewers, peaking at 24 million people, according to preliminary numbers from Nielsen. To put those numbers into perspective, ESPN said that the game was the second most-watched non-Olympics women's sporting event ever — just after the 2015 Women's World Cup between the U.S. and Japan. Further, it was the most-watched basketball game since 2019, averaging more viewers than any NBA game since. "With a record-setting audience of 18.7 million viewers, Sunday’s Iowa-South Carolina title game was a fitting finale to the most-viewed ever NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament," ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro commented. CNN's Jordan Valinsky has more here.

► The question moving forward: Will record ratings change the way women's sports are treated by media bigwigs who have often dismissed the leagues as incapable of resonating with mass audiences?

CNN Photo Illustration/Kirby Lee/AP

Tang Takes the Torch: The Los Angeles Times, after a period of significant turmoil, named Terry Tang as its permanent executive editor. Tang, the first woman to lead The LAT, will take over a newsroom rattled by the sudden exit of former top editor Kevin Merida earlier this year, a round of brutal layoffs, and several other high-profile resignations. Billionaire owners Dr. Patrick and Michele Soon-Shiong, however, expressed confidence in Tang's ability to get the newspaper back on track. "She understands our mission to be a thriving pillar of democracy and the critical role that the L.A. Times’ voice plays ... in bringing attention to issues that matter most, especially for those whose voices are often unheard," they said. Tang said it is an "honor" to lead the outlet. The LAT's Meg James has more here.

CNN Photo Illustration/Truth Social

Trump's Abortion Ambiguity: Did Donald Trump actually take a position on abortion? A number of headlines from major news outlets on Monday suggested that the GOP frontrunner had said in his anticipated Truth Social video that the issue "should" be left up to the states. But a closer examination of his actual remarks isn't so clear. Trump, in fact, said the issue "will" be left to the states. Which, as Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann noted on X, is just a refinement of "what the law is." Kaitlan Collins agreed, noting at the start of her program "The Source" that Trump "basically just stated where things currently stand on the matter." As Collins put it, "Trump did what he promised he would do. He said something about abortion. What he didn't do was tell anyone what he would do about it if he was president again." Which is really what matters. Does Trump support a federal election ban? He didn't say. And shouldn't that be the headline?

► It's also worth noting that Trump released his abortion policy video, which has angered some on the right given he did not endorse an outright national ban, just ahead of the solar eclipse. And he did so without any reporters present to press him for more specificity. It wan't quite a Friday afternoon news dump. But if one was trying to hide a major piece of news, dropping it right ahead of the once-in-a-generation celestial event is not a bad way to do it.

CNN Photo Illustration/Maskot/Getty Images

Protecting Online Privacy: A sweeping new bipartisan data privacy bill is aiming to curb Big Tech's power. In fact, "if it succeeds, the proposal could establish the U.S. equivalent of the European Union's landmark privacy law known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)," CNN's Brian Fung noted. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, one of the lawmakers involved in crafting the legislation, explained that it would rein in companies like Google and Meta by "prohibiting them from tracking, predicting, and manipulating people's behaviors for profit without their knowledge and consent." Fung has more here.

🔍 Zooming in: "The draft legislation breaks a yearslong deadlock between Republicans and Democrats over the scope of any national privacy bill," Fung pointed out. "The two parties had long disagreed over two key issues: Whether a federal privacy law should override existing state privacy laws that may provide tougher protections, and whether private citizens should be able to bring their own lawsuits against companies accused of violating their privacy."

CNN Photo Illustration/John Nacion/Getty Images

Majors' Sentence Mandate: Jonathan Majors won't be going to jail. The one-time Marvel actor was sentenced Monday to attend a 52-week mandatory in-person domestic violence prevention program after being convicted in December of the assault and harassment of an ex-girlfriend. While the judge allowed Majors to avoid jail time, the judge ruled that if he violates the rules of his sentence, such a punishment could be back on the table. Majors, the judge ruled, will also have to provide his DNA to the state of New York. CNN's Jeff Winter and Kristina Sgueglia have more here.