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Five Weeks and Counting

by Chris Gabettas
Reprinted from RTNDA Communicator, all rights reserved, © October 2000
 

Ask a roomful of journalists what they look forward to most on election night, and many will tell you “the morning after.” Some think extended political coverage bores viewers. Others, saddled with small staffs, worry about being outgunned by the competition. And others fret over filling hours of air time once the polls have closed. Then you talk to guys like Doug Fox or Thor Wasbotten. “Election night is like going to the candy store,” says Fox, chief political reporter at WFAA-TV in Dallas. “I love election night,” echoes Wasbotten, news director at KTRV-TV in Boise, Idaho. Why the enthusiasm? Fox and Wasbotten say election night can be television at its best — an opportunity to engage viewers and show how their votes are shaping the political landscape. “Our responsibility is to inform viewers and get them involved,” Wasbotten says. “If we don’t, we’ve failed.”

So how do you meet that challenge? How do you keep viewers from reaching for the remote when an election story airs? How do you get the edge on the competition election night?

Develop a Strategy

Most newsrooms do try to develop a strategy for election night coverage. They assign reporters to cover watch parties, schedule technical crews to handle live shots, and invite political experts to appear on set with anchors. Also, more and more commercial stations, such as Boston’s WCVB-TV and Kansas City’s KCTV-TV are partnering with public television stations in their markets to provide election specials or expanded coverage.

But those steps are just single plays in a bigger game plan, says Wayne Youngquist, senior political analyst at WISN-TV in Milwaukee. There’s still more you can do.

He recommends beginning your most intense political coverage two to three weeks before an election. “People want information then,” says Youngquist, the station’s political analyst since 1978. “It doesn’t make sense to hit them when they’re not listening.” When viewers are ready to listen, educate and inform them. Don’t waste their time rehashing the canned speech of the day or reciting a candidate’s travel itinerary.

Look for New Story Angles

Turn photo opportunities and campaign stops — especially in the weeks before an election — into stories relevant to viewers, says Fox. Localize the story for your audience and tell them how the candidates’ programs would affect their community.

Take this example from a recent piece Fox did on the education platforms of presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore. Fox began the piece with a comparison of their positions, then interviewed three local teachers, who face the challenges of the classroom every day. How did they rate the platforms and how would they improve education? “I found the teachers wanted strong parental involvement for one thing,” says Fox, who’s covered politics for 36 years. “It was a nice way to present the teachers’ and the politicians’ points of view.” Bottom line, he says, when covering a story, ask yourself: What information can you give your audience that will help them make more intelligent decisions at the ballot box?

Earlier this year, Seattle’s KING-TV took a new approach to profiling the candidates in the Washington governor’s race. Rather than doing a video résumé on a candidate’s background, the station found independent families willing to invite a candidate to dinner, says Mike Cate, KING’s specials producer. Over a hot meal, family members grilled candidates on education funding, taxes and the state of the economy. “The experience was an opportunity to see each candidate interacting face-to-face with a family without playing to the media,” says Cate, who notes as dinner and the discussion progressed, everyone seemed to forget cameras were rolling. KING will re-run the profiles during an election special.

Break Free of the Spin

Drive a story yourself. Don’t let the candidate dictate your coverage. That becomes more of a challenge as the election draws near and candidates work feverishly to get their message out. But Randy Shandobil, political editor at KTVU-TV in Oakland, Calif., says you can break out of the spin.

He recently wanted to do a story on what it was like to be a candidate on the campaign trail, but knew that talking to the current roster would result in a puff piece. Candidates would talk, but they were less likely to be candid because they didn’t want to alienate viewers. “So I talked to retired politicians, who had no image to polish,” says Shandobil. The product was a look from behind the scenes — where candidates spend grueling hours retooling their message or responding to some crisis in the campaign.

At WFLA-TV in Tampa, voters drive election stories. Before the Democratic and Republican conventions, the station hosted a call-in, during which viewers phoned or e-mailed issues that were most important to them. Hundreds responded, says managing editor Susan DeFraties. Hot-button issues included education vouchers, social security and the high cost of prescription drugs. So as the election draws near and candidates swing through Tampa, reporters will question them about those issues, says DeFraties. “A 26-year-old man called and said he was tired of the high prices of prescription drugs and the difficulty of buying health insurance. We will do his story,” she says, pointing out the call-in is also an ideal way to find real people affected by issues. By gathering their phone numbers and addresses, you can contact them later for stories.

Involve the Public

“Involve the viewer” is the mantra in many newsrooms come election time. WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh organizes political forums and debates. Citizens — and not political experts — question the candidates, says Carrie Moniot, executive producer of special projects.

In April, the NBC affiliate invited viewers to phone in or e-mail questions for Pennsylvania senate candidates. Reporters then posed the questions to candidates as they made campaign swings through Pittsburgh. Moniot says viewers liked the idea, and the station may do the same thing in the weeks ahead.

Expand Your Web Use

Many stations are turning to the Internet to help with this year’s political coverage. They’re posting candidate profiles and voting information on web sites and hosting live chats on issues.

A few are approaching cyber coverage even more aggressively, like KTRV-TV, the Fox affiliate in Boise, which is trying to reach its key demographic — viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, who’re Internet savvy. “We’ve hired an e-reporter, who writes stories exclusively for our web site,” says news director Wasbotten. Anchors and reporters tease the stories in newscasts, driving viewers to the web’s more in-depth versions.

And thanks to a $2,000 investment in computer equipment and software, KTRV was able to post election returns on the web and TV screen simultaneously during Idaho’s election primary last May. It was such a hit with viewers (visits to the web site quadrupled from the day before) that Wasbotten plans to do the same thing on November 7. The station is also planning to install four 32-inch monitors at Republican and Democratic headquarters on election night. Two monitors will carry the station’s on-air coverage, but the other two will link directly to the station’s web site through desktop computers. That will allow visitors watching returns at election headquarters to walk up to a computer, select a race and access the results at any time, says Wasbotten.

Viewers watching KTRV’s coverage from their living rooms will also benefit, adds Wasbotten. The station will simultaneously report numbers on the web and television screen, leaving more time for anchors and reporters to analyze key races and voting trends instead of reading numbers over and over. A computer positioned on set will alert anchors to changes in vote tallies. Anchors can report that information instantly without waiting for a producer to relay the numbers through an earpiece or for a chyron operator to plug in the numbers. Anchors can also use the computer to pull up the latest tallies whenever they want — a great way, says Wasbotten, to keep an eye on the dynamics of the closest contests.

Do Exit Polling

But technology alone won’t get a station through election night. It takes reporters, anchors and analysts who can get beyond the horse race and report the dynamics of the election.

One way to do that is with exit polls. They’re a valuable tool to measure voting trends and bring depth to your election coverage, says Lee C. Shapiro, media director of Voter News Service, a corporation that does exit polling for local stations and television networks.

WISN’s political analyst Youngquist, who has used exit polls since the late 1970s, agrees, noting it’s important that stations have in-house experts who can interpret the information accurately without confusing viewers. However, exit polls are expensive, says KING’s producer Cate, whose station doesn’t plan to use them on election day. But the station, like many, will probably do some limited polling in the weeks before the election to determine key issues and how they should be covered.

WOOD’s political reporter Albin used exit polling in Michigan’s Republican presidential primary last February. “I’m always surprised because they’re so accurate,” he says, noting that his station’s exit poll accurately predicted Sen. John McCain’s substantial win over Bush, despite earlier predictions that the Michigan race would be much closer. “But polling in general is a double-edged sword,” he adds. It can focus and narrow an issue, but it can also diminish the excitement or importance of a race if the poll is lopsided, Albin says.

Know Your Races, Work Your Sources

Preparation is the key to successful election night coverage, says Tim Geraghty, vice president of news at WTVJ-TV in Miami. He relies on experienced reporters and producers who know and understand the area to help pinpoint key races and issues to cover. “But you also have to be ready for the dark horse,” he says. That’s one reason Geraghty prepares an election manual — which includes the major races, past voting trends and biographical information on candidates — and distributes it to staffers about two weeks before the election. Reporters and producers are never left scrambling for information at the last minute. Finally, keep in mind that some of the biggest coups on election night are still scored the old-fashioned way — working your sources. Doug Fox recalls the race for Texas governor in 1994 when Bush unseated incumbent Ann Richards.

Fox, who was covering the Bush campaign, had traveled with the candidate for weeks, interviewing him on numerous occasions. One day he asked Bush, “On election night, I’d like to get a few shots of you watching returns and a little interview if that’s possible.” Election night arrived. Bush’s camp invited all the reporters to get video of Bush watching the numbers. As they were leaving, Fox heard, “Hey Foxie, hold up a minute.” It was Bush, who gave him a five-minute exclusive.

Will Fox, who’s covering Bush’s presidential bid, have the same luck on November 7? “Probably not,” he laughs. But he’ll still put in a request.

Chris Gabettas, a television reporter for 14 years, is a freelance journalist in Florida.

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