Elections pose crucial opportunities for nonprofit newsrooms to bolster democracy
When local news organizations close, fewer candidates run for political office and fewer people vote.
Fortunately, a wave of nonprofit news outlets are helping to fill gaps in local and regional reporting in this pivotal election year.
By covering state and local elections, these newsrooms live out a key tenet of journalism — advancing democracy by providing accurate information at a time of proliferation of misinformation and marked distrust in media. It’s a tough undertaking, particularly for the typical Institute for Nonprofit News member — news outlets that staff about four people.
INN is offering a range of programs and support for the more than 425 news outlets it serves to make election coverage more manageable and to advance newsroom sustainability at this key moment. INN is responding to feedback from news organizations that help with leveraging election coverage is key to their success this year. INN’s backing is also an acknowledgment that the success of independent newsrooms is essential to our democracy.
Capitalizing on and amplifying strong election coverage
A strong editorial strategy for covering elections and democracy can foster deeper audience engagement and financial sustainability — nuanced reporting will help grow an audience and inspire donors to give. With new support from the Google News Initiative, INN will help newsrooms achieve those goals. The first of several projects to advance that goal is a partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune to share the Tribune’s learnings and toolkit for rallying donor support for its coverage of democracy and elections. The guide will be released this spring.
A second project, a partnership between INN and GNI slated for spring, will result in a practical guide for nonprofit newsrooms to optimize their election coverage to drive engagement and reader donations. Election coverage often draws outsized, but infrequent, audiences. The guide will be a definitive set of best practices from GNI’s broad publisher partnerships to convert occasional consumers to a loyal audience. GNI representatives will be at INN Days in June to review interested newsrooms’ election reporting based on the best practices identified in the guide.
Additionally, this spring the Rural News Network will launch a collaboration among 10 newsrooms to identify and report on challenges rural communities face with voting access, with funding support from GNI. INN will also work with the participating newsrooms to amplify their stories via webinars and on other platforms in an effort to inspire other newsrooms to pick up and pursue this coverage. RNN newsrooms can also receive training and equipment to help them better share their election coverage with local and national broadcasters.
Demonstrating approaches to boost audience engagement
News organizations often see a rise in audience during an election year. This year, INN wants to help newsrooms capitalize on that bump for long-term sustainability. From late spring to early summer, Sam Cholke, INN’s manager of distribution and audience growth, will host a series of training and small group sessions to help newsrooms leverage audience engagement for long-term viability.
INN is also partnering with GNI to offer training on tools available to help news outlets cover misinformation and disinformation during elections this year. Registration is open for the four-part series, which starts March 28.
On The Ground, INN’s election content-sharing opportunity, is also launching this month. More than 40 nonprofit newsrooms have already signed up. To learn more, email Andrew Haeg, INN’s network product manager, for access to a recent webinar.
Providing access to reliable election data and graphics
INN also recently announced that qualifying newsrooms will get real-time election results and related ready-to-publish graphics from The Associated Press, with support from GNI. Many local newsrooms can’t afford to pay the AP for its election data, leaving them to try to do that work on their own. With this partnership, newsrooms can focus on other areas of their election coverage and still provide critical, accurate data to their audiences.
These programs are only the beginning. INN will continue to look for opportunities to bring direct support to newsrooms of all sizes throughout the year in response to news outlets’ needs and feedback. Offering that support is essential to helping newsrooms be as prepared as possible to accurately report on this year’s election results.
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