When the winner’s name isn’t enough: How the AP is leaning into explanatory journalism to call races

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

When the winner’s name isn’t enough: How the AP is leaning into explanatory journalism to call races “We’ve learned, especially in the last few cycles, that it’s not necessarily possible or a good idea to let [the electoral] process play out in silence.” By Neel Dhanesha.

Votebeat assembles nearly 100 election experts to answer reporters’ questions (now, and in the weeks ahead) “The problem with voting stories is that the people who make themselves most available don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.” By Sarah Scire.

Student journalists, filling local news gaps, step up to cover the 2024 election The Center for Community News at the University of Vermont is leading “the first nationally coordinated effort to strengthen university-led election coverage.” By Sophie Culpepper.

What We’re ReadingTwitter / Greg Giroux“I watched 2,145 U.S. House & Senate ads this campaign. Some takeaways” →Plus screenshots.TechCrunch / Manish SinghIndia sure seems to want to regulate Wikipedia →“Wikipedia is facing mounting regulatory pressure in India as local authorities question whether the platform should continue to enjoy legal protections as a neutral intermediary rather than being classified as a publisher…The notice follows a contentious case in the Delhi High Court, where judges have described Wikipedia’s open editing feature as ‘dangerous’ and threatened to suspend its operations in India.”The New York TimesWhat to expect from The New York Times’ Needle →“Publishing the Needle live on election night relies on computer systems maintained by engineers across the company, including some who are currently on strike. How we display our election forecast will depend on those systems, as well as incoming data feeds, and we will only publish a live version of the Needle if we are confident those systems are stable.”Giant Freakin Robot / Joshua TylerHow Google’s algorithm shifts have strangled one indie entertainment news site →“After relaunching Giant Freakin Robot in 2019, the site grew to a readership of more than 20 million a month, through 2021 and 2022. Then Google decided they didn’t want independent publishers around anymore. Most entertainment keywords have now been given to one big company, whose numerous sites own the top slots for nearly every entertainment-related query of any substance. No one can find our site to read it so that 20 million unique visitors is now a few thousand a month.”The New York Times / Elisabeth EganHow Uvalde’s newspaper kept going, despite unimaginable loss →“While friends and neighbors were reeling, while lawmakers offered thoughts and prayers, the Leader-News staff put one word in front of the other, covering the shooting and mourning its seismic ramifications at the same time. They kept going when they learned that their colleague’s daughter was among the victims. They kept going when members of the national media went home.”The Washington Post / Jeremy BarrFox’s 2020 Arizona call was a political earthquake. Could it happen again? →“Fox News declined to make any of its journalists or election number-crunchers available for interviews for this story. But in other interviews, the network has telegraphed that things will be different this time around — though Mishkin will be back at the helm.”What Works / Ellen CleggAt The Minnesota Star Tribune, a non-endorsement leads 15 former staffers to write their own →“The authors — including two retired editorial page editors, prominent columnists, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist — submitted their commentary to the Star Tribune, which declined to publish it in full.”Twin Cities / St. Paul Pioneer PressHow Aaron Rupar went from Minneapolis blogger to professional Trump watcher →“There’s a difficult conversation around when is it irresponsible to amplify Trump versus when is it basic journalism. I always try to provide context in terms of fact checks or pointing out when Trump is lying and explaining the motive behind his lies when there clearly is one.”The New York Times / Alyson KruegerHow Town & Country tries to stay relevant →“I think [editor-in-chief Stellene Volandes] has taken a traditional Town & Country attitude and made it young and contemporary, but hasn’t abandoned the blue bloods and royals.”Bloomberg / Mark GurmanApple is preparing to follow Meta into the smart glasses market →“When Apple is considering whether to enter a new category, it often hosts secret focus groups to understand what people like about existing products. The company typically relies on employees — rather than customers — so it can avoid making its plans public.”Press Gazette / Charlotte TobittThe Athletic is now profitable for the first time →“NYT Co bought the loss-making sports news brand, which launched in 2016, for $550m in January 2022 and it has taken two-and-a-half years since then to get it into quarterly profit of $2.6m. This is an improvement from a loss of $2.4m in Q2, of $8.7m in Q1, $4.4m in Q4 2023 and $7.9m in Q3 last year.”Press Gazette / Dominic PonsfordSemafor’s Ben Smith says old-fashioned political reporting is back in fashion →“The kind of people who made fun of going to diners and talking to Americans about what they’re thinking are now kind of wondering what Americans in diners are thinking. And so I do think there’s a full circle there.”The Verge / Umar ShakirTwitter is now allowing people you’ve blocked to see your posts →“Musk claimed that stopping people from seeing your public posts ‘makes no sense,’ but due to a post-Musk change that stops logged-out users from scrolling even a public profile, this could make it easier for blocked users to continue harassing someone.”Axios / Sara FischerMeta will extend its block on new election ads past today →“The ban on new political ads was initially supposed to expire at 11:59 p.m. PT on Election Day, but Meta is extending the ban to prevent any confusion or misinformation from spreading while votes are still likely being counted.”The Verge / Nilay PatelFCC commissioners aren’t supposed to run around threatening to punish broadcasters for their speech →“The funniest thing about all these Trump threats to revoke licenses is that the days of broadcast TV dominance are obviously long gone. They were already gone 20 years ago, when Republican FCC Chair Michael Powell started arguing that consumers don’t make a distinction between regulated broadcast channels and unregulated cable channels and TV networks should all just compete for audience free of government interference.”

Nieman Lab / Fuego

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