Moving the needle: Use engagement to inform your post-election coverage strategy

This piece was inspired by the decades-long practice of action research in education. Educators use this cyclical, multi-step approach to improve outcomes in both the classroom and schoolwide. Some of these desired outcomes can be achieved by using a tiered intervention strategy, where students with the greatest amount of need receive the most support. This is not how newsrooms traditionally think about reaching people who aren’t getting quality news and information, but we think it’s worth exploring.

As we prepare for Election Day and all that follows, journalists across the country are facing the world’s most hellish game of Whac-A-Mole. We are reacting to a parade of catastrophes while also trying to predict what stories will arise and what challenges we will face providing relevant, trustworthy information.

With an ever-growing list of world-changing developments unfolding both at home and abroad, it can feel overwhelming. Add to that news avoidance, declining trust, not to mention the systemic challenges facing the news business and “fried and frozen” newsrooms, and figuring out how to deploy limited newsroom resources represents an exhausting challenge.

We have some advice and framing that can ground both you and your work: find clarity in the chaos by harnessing engagement best practices for your post-election coverage.

Over the last five years, Election SOS has worked with newsrooms across the U.S. on community-centered, engaged elections coverage. We have seen that newsrooms that commit to listening to their communities and meeting their information needs are better able to successfully navigate the twists and turns of an uncertain election cycle. This is absolutely crucial as we head into the uncertainties of the post-election period in 2024.

Instead of Whac-A-Mole, we recommend using a simple dial to understand where to devote your reporting resources. The settings on this dial represent the gap between the information people have and the information they need to make decisions in their lives.

If you were to rate your audience’s setting on the dial today for the most consequential, life-or-death issues, where would they land? What about the communities outside your existing audience?

Journalists are needed so people have access to the information and answers they need to guide their lives. Often we treat Election Day (or “the last day of voting”) as the final moment when regular people have a say in our democracy. But people don’t stop making choices after casting their votes.

Of course the people who consume news coverage aren’t all the same. Some may be very active politically, going to demonstrations. Others may be active online, sharing social posts. And still many are also largely ignoring the news. No matter where the people you serve fall on the political spectrum, everyone wants to know if the election process is working and if candidates are respecting the public’s choices at the ballot box.

Newsrooms need to uncover election information gaps and do our part to bridge them. Instead of relying on our news judgment alone to guess what people will need to know, meaningful engagement focuses your reporting on what gaps exist, and how to respond.

We encourage newsrooms in the months ahead to use this action research question to guide coverage decisions: how can we move the needle so more people can make informed choices?

Often, as journalists, we focus on the green portion of the dial; that is — on people whose information needs are already well met. One reason for this comes down to efficiency: it’s extremely challenging and often time-consuming to reach out to the people who have critical information gaps.

As we get into those orange and red zones, it’s going to take a lot of time and effort to move the needle. That doesn’t mean we should abandon these groups. If anything, it means we should practice extreme discipline to protect our limited capacity so we can devote the most effort to those most in need.

“We don’t think that articles are the most effective way to move people from uninterested in participating in democracy to actively participating in democracy,” said Nuestro Estado Publisher Fernando Soto regarding their 2022 elections coverage. Instead, they showed up at community events and learned that Spanish-speakers they spoke with were not necessarily aware of how elected offices related to their lives.

You may wonder, “How am I supposed to know what people need to know?” One of the first steps in action research is gathering information. Start by asking.

Questions: The atomic unit of journalism

When WBEZ in Chicago asked people what they wanted their local elected officials to talk about during the campaign, it soon became apparent that people needed to know which officials had a say in the issues. In response, they partnered with City Bureau to create Field Guides To Local Government In Chicago.

We recommend reaching out to people about their questions related to what you’re covering. If you ask for issues, you’ll get a few words like “health care” or “environment,” which doesn’t exactly narrow down your possible stories. But questions are specific, actionable, and directly translate to your interviews.

Here are a few ways newsrooms have turned to their communities to inform their election coverage:

• “What do you want the candidates for Milwaukee mayor to be talking about as they compete for your vote?” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, based on The Citizens Agenda)
• “What questions about climate, environment and public health do you have for candidates this election season?” (Planet Detroit)
• “What do you wish voters in other political parties understood about your beliefs? Why?” (The Dallas Morning News)

And here are more approaches from Hearken partners to show examples of various sizes and levels of complexity, from small to extra large, depending on what your newsroom is ready to implement.

Pursue partnerships

Particularly when it comes to reaching beyond your existing audience, you may need some help from groups that already have connections and trust in communities you’re trying to reach.

Free Press’ News Voices: New Jersey project included multiple partnerships to uncover community information needs. Capital B’s 2024 Black Political Power Tour includes partners in several cities for events exploring Black political impact.

It’s essential to follow up with those you engage around their questions to clearly show how their input shaped your work (or you risk being an askhole). For more on building equitable partnerships, see the Center for Cooperative’s Media Collaborative Journalism Kit.

Incremental progress is still progress

WITF in Pennsylvania is pursuing a “work in progress” approach to reach out to right-leaning listeners. As Special Projects Editor Tim Lambert notes in this interview with Better News, “It has been slow, steady work. Often, it’s on a person-to-person basis. But, we have had some success.”

Will you ever be able to be entirely confident that you have perfectly identified information gaps in your communities? Probably not. But you definitely won’t be able to begin addressing those gaps unless you take the time to ask. This is the engagement ring, which operates much like a pizza stone: each time you use it, your product gets better.

Every story, event and post is a chance for you to decrease information gaps with your post-election coverage. Continually engaging with your audience — and those you could serve who need high-quality information — can focus your efforts where the greatest impact is possible.

Massarah Mikati and Alyssa Thoreson contributed to this post.