In an intensely visual news world, a seismic week of politics was transformed again in an instant on Sunday by something almost old-fashioned a printed statement.
President Joe Biden's announcement that he would not run for a second term was dropped into his social media feed at 146 p.m. Eastern, followed 33 minutes later by an endorsement of his vice president, Kamala Harris. Still recovering from COVID, the president did not appear on camera. Which meant, for news outlets, scant to no visuals.
There was also virtually no warning, leading to initial concerns that the president's X feed had been hacked. The Associated Press filed a "flash" alert at 154 p.m. Eastern. Television networks broke into programming between 150 Fox News Channel and 204 p.m. ABC.
It was, the Associated Press wrote, "a late-season campaign thunderstrike unlike any in American history." CBS News analyst Ashley Etienne called it "an incredible day in American history."
Hungry for visuals, and not finding them
