The Election SOS newsletter is a dedicated resource for journalists covering the 2020 election. Here, we update you on our upcoming programming, share our favorite election-related stories, and provide critical resources to help with your coverage as we move closer to November.
Congratulations to Election SOS Fellows
We are thrilled to announce our Election SOS fellows and newsrooms. Thirty nine finalists were paired with 20 newsrooms across the country to support local election coverage. Check out the full list of fellows and newsrooms here.
Scenario Planning Guide
We don't need to tell you that this election season is unprecedented, and newsrooms need to be prepared for unexpected challenges before, during, or after the election. To help you, Election SOS has created this downloadable guide to fill out, customize, augment, and use as a strategic plan to prepare. Don't forget to share with your colleagues.
If you are looking to build an audience-first voter guide and need help finding resources and fresh ideas, sign up for our five-day self-paced email course.
We have a busy month ahead! Explore and sign up for our upcoming workshops.
Free and open to your colleagues, too. Spread the word!
Covering Disinformation Ahead of the 2020 Election
Join Ian Vandewalker, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, for a workshop on how to recognize and cover disinformation. Learn how can state and local election officials, Congress, and internet companies prepare for disinformation and protect voters. Find out steps the press and the public can take to stop the spread of lies online.
Bolster Your Digital Safety: An Anti-Hacking, Anti-Doxing Workshop
Join Harlo Holmes, Director of Digital Security at Freedom of the Press Foundation, and Viktorya Vilk, Program Director for Digital Safety and Free Expression at PEN America, to learn tools and tips to protect yourself from hackers, doxers, and other abusers. Find out how to audit your social media accounts, track down your personal information, and tighten your privacy.
Physical Security During Protest And Poll Coverage
JoinDr. Michelle Ferrier, a digital content architect with 30 years of experience in media entrepreneurship and a founder of Troll-busters.com, for a conversation on how journalists can protect themselves, their equipment and their sources from physical damage and violence. This workshop won't be recorded and is a one-time only event.
Our pitch database is here to provide you with fresh story ideas every day! Spread the word and bookmark the page to always have great ideas at your editorial meetings.
Now that President Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19, the Department of Justice is almost certainly focusing on the 25th Amendment, which focuses on the transfer of presidential authority to the vice president. No one who works for a sitting president wants to think about that Amendment. But in any administration, worst-case scenarios get attention, and if the president is sick, the lawyers and the vice president have to be clear on what the 25th Amendment says and requires.
President Donald Trump remained in the hospital Monday after arriving Friday.
Trump announced early Friday morning that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for coronavirus, sending Washington and the rest of the country into fresh turmoil just a month before the presidential election. Hours earlier, the president said Hope Hicks, one of his closest advisers with whom he had recently traveled, had been infected. Questions remain regarding who the president and others who tested positive have been in contact with. Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination ceremony at the White House was a common event for many of those who tested positive. Very few people were wearing masks that day.
Six months after the first coronavirus shutdowns went into effect across the United States, unemployment data is painting a picture of how quickly — or not — the economy is recovering from pandemic job losses. Looking beyond the overall number can provide a view of the dynamics shifting beneath the surface. Early in the pandemic, employers thought the virus’s impact on business would be short-lived and that they would be able to bring back their workers within a few months. Now, despite consistent monthly gains in jobs, the number of job losses that are permanent is increasing as the virus shows few signs of going away soon.
The coronavirus pandemic is not going away before Election Day. While voting by mail is the safest option to avoid Covid-19 transmission, some individuals will be unable or unwilling to vote in this manner. Clear, evidence-based information about how to safely conduct in-person voting at polling places in November is more critical than ever.
Battleground states that could decide the presidential election face a shrinking window to take action to allow the processing of absentee ballots before Election Day to cut down on the days or even weeks it could take to have final results.
But in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, two key swing states, efforts have stalled in Republican-controlled state legislatures. And in a third crucial state, Michigan, a push to begin the counting process several days before the election is dead. Lawmakers there instead chose to give election officials just a 10-hour head-start.
Engagement is highest in times of need. Trump's positive COVID test prompts an avalanche of questions from your readers. Here are three steps you can take to center your coverage on your audience. This post is continuously updated with additional resources.
Along with the many physical and logistical challenges that election officials, voters, and journalists face this election, we also have to contend with rampant misinformation. In this resource, we highlight some common misconceptions about voting by mail and explain the reality in each case.
During an election, accuracy matters. Too often, we are prone to sacrificing nuance for the sake of brevity or a deadline. We put together this resource to highlight simple changes to wording or coverage approaches that can have a significant impact. Read on for suggestions and find real-world examples of journalists and newsrooms using this type of specificity and nuance in their own work.
Our partner First Draft News, a non-profit focused on fighting misinformation, has several resources for reporters and newsrooms on how to tackle and report on the topic.
Did you know that social media platforms are not legally required to report political ad information? Use these tools to track trends on how political ads are targeting voters in your state.
New offer on Election SOS Switchboard
If you missed last week's offer, don't worry. You can still learn how to sell your editorial plans to the business side from our engagement manager Bridget Thoreson! Take two minutes to join Switchboard and ask Bridget to:
Learn what that business jargon you've heard flying around the boardroom actually means
Understand how marketers structure their pitches to the c-suite - and how you can do the same for your journalism
Find out what you can borrow from the marketers' toolkit to reach new audiences and deepen your existing ones
