Election 2020: The 100-Year Storm
02/09/2020
The pandemic has killed off campaign rallies, reduced the conventions to a somber virtual shell of the usual festivities and is threatening to rewrite the script for election-night coverage, as news organizations prepare to handle mail-in ballots and voter suppression problems that may prolong their coverage into what one news executive referred to as election results month.
Not surprisingly, the 20 news executives interviewed for this report are calling the 2020 election unprecedented, like no other, unimaginable and completely bizarre.
Usually in the latter part of the election year, the election is the story, sometimes the only major story, said Sam Feist, CNN's Washington, D.C., bureau chief. But this year that is not the case. The election is competing with COVID and our national reckoning on race and policing.
The magnitude of these problems-the largest racial-justice protests in half a century, an economic collapse that sent gross domestic product into a 33% tailspin in the second quarter and a pandemic that has killed nearly 160,000 people-is also prompting news executives to make radical changes in their election and political coverage.
Most notably, that has put issues front and center in the election cycle, as opposed to the usual horse race coverage of stump speeches, rallies and campaign strategies.
The issues we are dealing with in many ways are bigger than the election, said Martha MacCallum, who is co-anchoring Fox News Channel's election coverage and anchors The Story. People have a strong sense of the gravity of this moment and they are looking to President Trump and former Vice President Biden to provide leadership and answers on those issues.
Similar sentiments can be found at most other news organizations. In 2016, there was a big focus on the horse race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and the back-and-forth of that popularity and unpopularity contest, Justin Dial, senior executive producer at the ABC News Live streaming service, said. But in 2020, viewers are more interested in the issues. You have to get beyond the horse race and really dig into the issues.
Significant as it may be, news organizations are not solely focused on the election. We are devoting the vast majority of our journalism resources to the pandemic, the fragile economy and the racial-justice movement that are top of mind with voters, Newsy VP of news and programming Christina Hartman said. In that sense, this will be the first election where the majority of our election coverage is not explicitly about the election.
Sam Feist, CNN's Washington, D.C., bureau chief, says the election isn't the sole story this year. (Image credit: John Nowak: CNN)HOME ALONECovering these once-in-a-lifetime issues has created enormous challenges. About 95% of the staff at NBC News and MSNBC is working from home, the network said. It's changed the way we produce and broadcast our news programs and report from the campaign trail, Rashida Jones, senior VP of NBC News and MSNBC, said.
But many news executives also stress that the work-from-home environment has provided them with a welcome opportunity to rethink the way they tell stories. If you look back four years ago, I think the mistake our industry made was to focus too much on the personalities and the tweets, E.W. Scripps VP of news Sean McLaughlin said. What people missed was that there were a lot of unhappy people.
This time around, we are doing a better job of listening, he said. We are tackling it differently and packaging it differently. And I like that, because it is not about responding to a convention or a press conference or following the candidate on campaign trails where we listen to the same canned speeches. It is better journalism and better for the American election cycle.
One major example of how news organizations are taking a different tack on election coverage can be found in the coverage of the racial justice issues and in the role that Hispanics are likely to play in the election. The projection is that about 32 million Latinos will be eligible to vote this time, Univision VP of politics Lourdes Torres said.
That is making their experiences a center piece not only for Spanish-language networks, but all news outlets. We saw a huge increase in turnout among Latinos in 2018 in key states, Torres said. In 2020, how they engage with the candidates will be very interesting and important to the election.
Younger viewers want those vital social issues covered in-depth. In some sense, this is the election we've been working towards at Vice for a long time, Susie Banikarim, executive VP and global head of news gathering at Vice News, said. Vice has been deeply embedded in issues like racial justice for a long time. We have a young audience that doesn't come to us for the traditional horse-race coverage or pundits shouting at each other. So we really feel like we're leaning into things that we've been covering for a long time.
The reporters who helmed ABC News Juneteenth coverage. (Image credit: ABC News)LOCAL FIRSTWith the pandemic imposing travel restrictions on coverage, having local reporters or ties to TV stations is another key trend. We now have 10 local versions of CBSN and those have been augmenting what we are already doing in terms of going deeper into local politics, Christy Tanner, executive VP and general manager of CBS News Digital, said.
H
LINK: | https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/election-2020-the-100-year-storm... |
See more stories from tvtechnology |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
02/06/2024
AE add 3D motion to still photographs
AE add 3D motion to still photographs Brie Clayton June 2, 2024 0 Comments AE add 3D motion to still photographs May 30, 2024COW Featured Resume: Pa...
02/06/2024
Power Tool: Generative AI Tracks Typhoons, Tames Energy Use
Weather forecasters in Taiwan had their hair blown back when they saw a typhoon up close, created on a computer that slashed the time and energy needed for the ...
01/06/2024
How Spotify is Protecting Election Integrity in 2024
Dustee Jenkins, Chief Public Affairs Officer, Spotify With billions of people from over 50 countries heading to the polls to cast their vote, 2024 is shaping u...
01/06/2024
TV Tech Weekly Product News Wrap-Up
Busy this week catching up from the Memorial Day holiday? Our TV Tech weekly wrap-up of all our coverage of new products, services and deployments will get you ...
01/06/2024
Guy Ritchie Behind Young Sherlock' Series on Prime Video
Young Sherlock, with Guy Ritchie directing and executive producing, is a go at Prime Video. Hero Fiennes Tiffin plays Sherlock. Prime Video calls it the origin...
01/06/2024
Caitlin Clark-Cameron Brink WNBA Matchup Draws 724,000 Viewers
The Los Angeles Sparks-Indiana Fever game on Friday featuring the top two WNBA draft picks, Caitlin Clark and Cameron Brink, was the most watched WNBA game on I...
01/06/2024
Lionsgate Names Brian Weinstein Co-CEO of 3 Arts Entertainment
Lionsgate, which increased its majority stake in 3 Arts Entertainment in January, said it named Brian Weinstein co-CEO of 3 Arts....
01/06/2024
Netflix to Launch Video Games For Perfect Match', Too Hot to Handle', Other Unscripted Hits
Netflix is launching four video games based on unscripted series this year. They...
01/06/2024
Broadcast Networks Go Live for Donald Trump Verdict
ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates switched from their regular programming to carry live coverage of the verdicts in the porn star hush-money trial of former Pres...
31/05/2024
Orange County Expansion Helps Aerojet Rocketdyne Boost Solid Rocket Motor Production
A U.S. Marine fires an FIM-92 Stinger missile during a training exercise in Yuma...
31/05/2024
IAB Tech Lab Expands Open Measurement SDK Capabilities to Support Samsung and LG TVs
NEW YORK The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising h...
31/05/2024
Study: Max, Apple TV+ Have Fewest 'Committed Customers'
In a new analysis of what services might make up a good bundle and what services might benefit the most from bundling, Antenna has released new data that highli...
31/05/2024
Report: Older SVOD Subscribers Unfazed by Price Hikes Will Drive Revenue Growth
Global SVOD revenues will increase by $116.6 billion by 2031, a growth rate of 13.3% per year over the next eight years, according to a new report from MIDiA Re...
31/05/2024
FCC Media Bureau Incorporates 2020 Census Data into TVStudy Software
WASHINGTON, D.C. The FCC Media Bureau has announced that effective August 1, 2024 the Commission's TVStudy software will incorporate the most recent U.S. Ce...
31/05/2024
NBCU's FAST Channel TNBC to Rebrand as NBC Comedy Vault
NBCUniversal has announced that its FAST channel TNBC will be rebranding to NBC Comedy Vault on June 1 and that the free streaming service will officially launc...
31/05/2024
TVRI Taps Ateme for Transition to 4K UHD OTT Streaming
PARIS Ateme has announced that the Indonesian public broadcaster TVRI is making the transition to 4K UHD OTT streaming using Ateme technologies....
31/05/2024
Marlow Film Studios considering next steps' as council blocks plans
The proposal had received support from James Cameron, Andy Serkis, Paul Greengrass, Richard Curtis, and Jeremy Irons By Matthew Corrigan Published: May 31, 2...
31/05/2024
Skydance submits new Paramount Global bid, Sony talks still progressing'
According to multiple reports, the new bid from Skydance offers a better deal to Paramounts Class B shareholders, who were said to be unhappy with the companys ...
31/05/2024
2024 Rise Awards open for entries
The awards recognise women and companies who are stand-out performers, innovators and leaders in the broadcast media technology industry By Matthew Corrigan ...
31/05/2024
Samsung, LG Adopt IAB Software Kit for CTV Ad Measurement
NEW YORK The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising has expanded the reach of its measurement software development kit to include Sam...
31/05/2024
The Old Investment Cycles of Broadcast Technology are Being Run Over'
The rise of digital platforms is fundamentally changing the broadcast newsroom and its investment in technology according to Jon Roberts, director of technology...
31/05/2024
Study: Max, Apple TV Have Fewest 'Committed Customers'
In a new analysis of what services might make up a good bundle and what services might benefit the most from bundling, Antenna has released new data that highli...
31/05/2024
State Broadcasters Urge Passage of Broadcast VOICES Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. Fifty state broadcasters associations, including the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, have sent a letter to Congressio...
31/05/2024
EVS Names Richard Katz SVP Operations for NALA region
EVS has announced the appointment of Richard Katz as senior vice president of operations for the North and Latin American (NALA) region. This appointment is par...
31/05/2024
CommScope to Buy Cable Business Assets of Casa Systems for $45.1M
CommScope has announced that it was selected by Casa Systems, Inc. as the highest to acquire Casa's cable business assets and that the two companies have en...
31/05/2024
NAB Withdraws De Niro's Service Award
Robert De Niro won't be receiving the Service to America Leadership Award from the NAB Leadership Foundation after all....
31/05/2024
Viant Integrates With Google Cloud's BigQuery Clean Rooms
Viant Technology said it formed an integration with Google Cloud's BigQuery data clean rooms...
31/05/2024
The CW To Broadcast Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl
The CW said it will broadcast the 2024 Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop Last year, The CW aired the game when it was called Bar...
31/05/2024
Allen Media Makes Carriage Deal With Amazon Fire Channels
Allen Media Group said it made a deal with Amazon's Fire TV Channel that will make content from several of Allen's outlet available via Fire TV and Echo...
31/05/2024
Robert De Niro Will Not Receive Service to America Award
Robert De Niro, announced as the winner of the NAB's Leadership Foundation's Service to America Leadership Award on May 28, will not get the award. The ...
31/05/2024
Comcast Technology Solutions To Manage Channels for AccuWeather
Comcast Technology Solutions was selected by AccuWeather to create, manage and distribute linear and over-the-top video channels....
31/05/2024
Attention to Connected TV Ads Grew in Q1, TVision Study Finds
Connected TV is becoming a bigger deal for consumers and advertisers, according to a new report from TVision....
31/05/2024
A Guitar Solo Trick You've Never Heard Before
By Craig Anderton Let's get right to what this sounds like. It's not quite feedback or tape reverse, it's well, listen to what it does in this blue...
31/05/2024
VEON discloses April YTD trading update at its AGM
31 May 2024 VEON discloses April YTD trading update at its AGM Amsterdam, 31 May 2024 07:00 CEST - VEON April YTD 2024 Highlights Total revenue of USD 1,278 ...
31/05/2024
VEON Announces Its New Board, Names Founder Augie Fabela as Chairman
31 May 2024 VEON Announces Its New Board, Names Founder Augie Fabela as Chairman Amsterdam, 31 May 2024, 16.00 CET: VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam...
31/05/2024
Tribeca Festival and Open AI Announce Sora Shorts
May 31st, 2024 TRIBECA FESTIVAL AND OPEN AI ANNOUNCE SORA SHORTS' Five Commissioned Short Films Created Using Sora Debut at 2024 Tribeca Festival New ...
31/05/2024
In-Venue Technology Wrap-Up: How 4K, IP, and More are Changing the Game Pres Game
In-Venue Technology Wrap-Up: How 4K, IP, and More are Changing the Game Pres Gam...
31/05/2024
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: The Facts and Figures Behind This Weekend's Knockout Between Real Madrid CF and Borussia Dortmund
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: The host broadcast facts and figures for Real ...
31/05/2024
UEFA Europa Conference League Final 2024: Bringing the Broadcast to Global TV Screens With the Production Facts
UEFA Europa Conference League Final 2024: Bringing the broadcast to global TV sc...
31/05/2024
Willow Offers Free 2024 ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Preview via DirecTV, Verizon, Optimum
Willow Offers Free 2024 ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Preview via DirecTV, Verizon, ...
31/05/2024
Women's College World Series: ESPN Brings Live Drone, Two-Point Cabled, and Cinematic On-Field Cameras to Oklahoma City
Women's College World Series: ESPN Brings Live Drone, Two-Point Cabled, and ...
31/05/2024
SVG College Summit Brings Video-Production Industry Together in Atlanta in the Midst of Unprecedented Change
SVG College Summit Brings Video-Production Industry Together in Atlanta in the M...
31/05/2024
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: CBS Sports' UCL Today Studio Show Is Pitchside at Wembley Stadium
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: CBS Sports' UCL Today Studio Show Is Pitch...
31/05/2024
Master of the House' Unveils a Scandalous Tale of Power and Greed on July 18
Back to All News Master of the House' Unveils a Scandalous Tale of Power and Greed on July 18 Entertainment 31 May 2024 GlobalThailand Link copied to ...
31/05/2024
JEEtu Bhaiya is Back: Kota Factory' Season 3 Arrives on Netflix June 20
Back to All News JEEtu Bhaiya is Back: Kota Factory' Season 3 Arrives on Netflix June 20 Entertainment 31 May 2024 GlobalIndia Link copied to clipboar...
31/05/2024
Thales has completed the sale of its Ground Transportation Systems business
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn With around 9,000 employees, Ground Transportation Systems is a global leader in Rail Signaling and Train Control Systems, Telec...
31/05/2024
RT 2FM is the home of music this summer
RT 2FM is the home of music this summer, entertaining listeners across the day and night, with the best music, chat and interviews providing the soundtrack to ...