New Generation of Political Campaign Coverage

1. New Generation of Political Campaign Coverage Tim Hennessy Kelsey Johnson Emily Cholerton Christina Haslerig

2. How Campaigns are changing • Booms in technology and the prevalence of social media have sparked new changes • Citizens want information fast and direct • Demand for competent journalists capable of harnessing social media has bred inexperience within the ins and outs of election campaigns • News organizations scrambling to compete with ever growing changes

3. New Generation • New generation seeking information from digital sources (Faster and readily available) • Reporters are being hired at younger ages to keep up with technology • News organizations forced to scramble to keep up with changing environment

4. Downfall of digital Age • Organizations hiring younger, inexperienced reporters to cover campaign. • New reporters lack of experience within the campaign trail leads to a disconnect between old school-new school forms of reporting • Disconnect leads to confusion on the information being presented

5. Adapting News Organizations • News outlets forced to change campaign coverage tactics in order to keep up • “Embed” journalists from other organizations • CNN’s “Zone Defense” • Swapping reporters from campaign bubble, to key primary states and campaign home base • Reporters hired to gather behind the scenes information and leave campaign bubble completely (Globe)

6. New Techniques for Reporting on Campaign Trail • Modernized campaign techniques have left inexperienced reporters unable to interpret what’s going on • Sasha Isenberg, reporter for Slate, “Over the last decade, almost entirely out of view, campaigns have modernized their techniques in such a way that nearly every member of the political press now lacks the expertise to interpret what’s going on.”

7. Innovating Techniques • Voter Contact; science behind getting people to polls • Media Tactics; reporters should find niche area of media to report in so information isn't lost • Down ballot Races; Report on a few senate and house races to illuminate broader mood of country • New Political Movements; paying attention to less relevant sects of Republicanism/Liberalism broadens horizons • Polling; use caution when examining poll numbers, they’re often wrong • Political Science; dig into political science research documenting new trends • Money Trail; report on not only where campaign funding originates but also where it goes

8. Twitter: Good or Bad on Campaign Trail? • While twitter has revolutionized the way campaigns are managed, it hasn’t come without its own side effects. • Twitter breeds opinionated coverage (Whose side are you on?) which leads to irrelevant arguments • Short term information/comments, rather than looking at broader context • Harder for news editors to edit content, leading to oversaturation of material, as well as credibility concerns (Restrictions)

9. Overall • Technology, like social media, has revolutionized the way campaigning for elections is done. • Keeping up with these innovations has caused strain on news organizations, as well as a new generation of reporters sticking their feet in the political spectrum • Social media’s dominance of quickly accessible information has caused a rift between old and new school journalism • More adaptations and changes will come surrounding advancements in tech and the campaign trail