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Here we go! The election you never thought would arrive has. Early voting is underway in many states and as we approach November 5 news and talk radio shows need to get their ducks lined up.
Here’s a list of things to prepare and some details to keep in mind. It’s by no means comprehensive. You’ll have more ideas of your own and probably improvements to mine. These are thought starters.
BETWEEN NOW AND ELECTION DAY: (Managers, show hosts, producers, reporters, writers, and editors)
- Develop assignments for street reporters and newsroom staffing for Election Day and night. Designate inside reporters to provide specific live coverage from the studio and/or newsroom.
- If you haven’t already, establish relationships with expert resources such as state and local elections officials and college political science professors. Get them on the air as often as practical leading up to Election Day and hourly on November 5. If you have one or two who are especially sharp and articulate invite them into the studio on Election Day and evening.
- Hosts, explain to your audience how early voting works and when it begins and ends in your state and county. Do this often. Make more information including polling station searches available on the station’s website.
- Though we usually have a good idea of who will win the major national elections shortly after the polls close on election night remind people that these are unofficial results even with 100% of all precincts reporting. The process of certifying final tallies can take days or even weeks, as we’ve seen in the past.
- Prepare your audience to be targeted on Election Day by misinformation aimed at discouraging certain groups of people from voting. Social media can be a sewer of calculated and just plain ignorant misinformation. Remind listeners that there are forces that will intentionally circulate false information about voting times and locations, for example, or the presence of law enforcement at polling
places. There might also be false or exaggerated claims of long lines and violence at voting precincts. Urge listeners to report fake news or suspicious information and rumors to official election hotlines. Follow up on the predominant ones and report the facts you’re able to establish. - Several journalism organizations offer guidance and training on confronting election misinformation. Check out the American Press Institute’s Guide to Covering the 2024 Elections. Joan Donovan, research director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein
Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, outlines six strategies for combatting misinformation. One of them is: Construct a “truth sandwich.” That means stating what is true, followed by the misinformation you’re setting out to refute, and then
stating the truth again.
PRODUCERS:
You are the link between your hosts and the constant flow of information developed in the newsroom. Prepare to interrupt the show with breaking information delivered by you, street reporters, and/or phoners with outside officials. Chase down those leads. More
voices make your show more compelling and allow your hosts a couple of moments to regroup.
Breaking news can be delivered on the air by any member of your news team unless union contracts prohibit it. Producers, editors, and writers should be ready to go without a script and give even a bare sliver of developing information with a promise to follow up
asap. Just tell it. Nothing says breaking news like hearing the hosts learn new information at the same time the audience does.
“Freda Ross is in the newsroom with some breaking news. Freda, what’s going on?” This should be how your news and talk shows work every day, not just during elections. Writers and editors are often mic-shy or reluctant to jump on the air without first taking time to gather the whole story and write it up. That defeats the purpose which is to get the information on the air transparently and lightning-fast while impressing listeners that your station’s news team is a dynamic professional organization. If you wait until a story can be written and inserted into the news queue it loses its impact. This is something that should be standard procedure, especially during developing events such as election coverage.
TALK HOSTS:
On Election Day stick to the business at hand and respect the process. You can still be your opinionated self but tamp down the fiery rhetoric and focus on discussing election news as it develops in your community, state, and across the country. Don’t lose sight of
the fact that your job is to react to news and explain it, not create it.
A FINAL PRO TIP:
I began to prepare this piece this past Saturday, October 5, by trying to learn how many U.S. states were already accepting early votes. I prompted the question, “How many U.S. states will have begun early voting in the general election as of October 8, 2024?”
Here’s what I was told:
– The New York Times informed me that 31 states were already accepting votes.
Checking three AI systems I learned:
“As of October 8, 2024, five U.S. states will have started early voting for the general election.” – ChatGPT
“As of October 8, 2024, at least 14 U.S. states will have begun early voting for the 2024 general election.” – Perplexity
“I can’t help with that right now. I’m trained to be as accurate as possible, but I can make mistakes sometimes.” – Google’s Gemini. (I know. Shocking, right?)
Word to the wise: Don’t depend on AI to provide your details.
Oh, and fact-check the NY Times
