Introducing Election Exchange by Pop-Up Newsroom: Our largest, most ambitious project yet
As Pop-Up Newsroom gathers international momentum, with major projects and awards in places like India, Indonesia and Mexico, we now embark on our largest, most ambitious project to date: the 2020 U.S. elections.
Together with Meedan and Dig Deeper Media, Pop-Up Newsroom has spent the last six months galvanizing a massive, national network of newsrooms, journalism schools and technology partners for a syndicated reporting initiative leading up to the US 2020 elections.
Unlike in past Pop-Up Newsroom projects, where tackling misinformation was the primary focus, Election Exchange looks beyond misinformation monitoring and instead improves information infrastructure by connecting local communities, journalists and political candidates.
Check out more details about Election Exchange here
Election Exchange does what Pop-Up Newsroom does best: mix editorial and technical innovation into one project. In 2020 we will embed veteran and trainee reporters in communities that are otherwise lacking adequate resources for local news coverage. We will combine that effort with the use of emerging tech platforms, to provide a crucial online, interactive center for the multi-stakeholder, country-wide initiative.
A mission of this size is no small task. It requires massive cooperation and collaboration between entities that are, in other settings, direct competitors. But we firmly believe that trust is not competitive. Trust in media benefits us all — from voters to editors, from publishers to platforms. We have to earn that trust, and we don’t have to build it alone, and it doesn’t have to be a one-way transaction. This unique fusion of technology and academic and newsroom partnerships will reimagine the way information is exchanged between voters, media and politicians. It will rebuild trust.
The network of reporters providing boots-on-the-ground information will be organized and syndicated through technology that has a record of success providing on-demand exchange of information such as stories, fact-checks and data between media and voters.
This initiative exists to listen to the concerns and stories of the people choosing the next leaders of the United States. In exchange, we serve new audiences with information tailored to their questions and requests.
Election Exchange will also be an opportunity to track local candidates and campaigns across the country at a scale not previously seen. We plan to build the largest database of claims, in the form of memes, videos and text, made by politicians and voters about the 2020 elections.
At Pop-Up Newsroom, the core of our mission is innovating and driving forward the way journalism and democracy is understood and executed. We believe this project is going to serve as a marker for how to fundamentally reinvigorate the journalism industry.
