Covering the 'digital election': Skynews.com's plans for November 4

Given the growth in online news providers since the last US election four years ago, the end of the current presidential race next week, on November 4, promises to be a significant night for online journalism.

With websites now firmly part of the news industry's publishing and broadcasting strategy, news organisations covering the election will use online to serve an international audience with 24-hour breaking news as the votes roll in, and analysis after they are counted.

This election could be classed as the first truly digital election for news organisations, Julian March, executive producer for skynews.com, told Journalism.co.uk. As such the site will endeavour to, and be expected to, deliver faster and more interactive content.

March sees Sky's coverage of the election up until now as a collaborative effort between television and online with correspondents in the US contributing to both platforms.

This is the first US election, however, where all journalists covering the story are 'tapped into' developing content for online.

"We are doing a whole bunch of things that the television [Sky News] couldn't possibly do. We hold innovation very close to our hearts, but it's very important that all the new features actually deliver something and aren't gimmicky," says March.

March explained how the site would be handling the build-up and finale of the US elections:

Video
The key crossover between Sky News' broadcasts and the website will be White House TV, says March, which will bring TV experts and correspondents online.

The online edition of the show White House Unplugged is being streamed every day this week at 8-9pm – half an hour after its televised broadcast.

Built around a 'hub for analysis and commentary', other videos featuring interviews with American voters and breaking election news are prominent features on the landing page of the site's US election channel.

The user-generated 'Your Videos' section will be 'oxygenated' on election night following similar experiments at this autumn's UK political party conferences, adds March. Footage from US election parties - from London in particular - will be requested of users.

Interactive
The site is planning to bring many of its existing interactive election features to a climax on November 4, says March.

A map is being created to plot the progress of Jon di Paulo, Sky News producer, who is currently blogging his road trip across the states for the site's Frontline blog and uploading images to Sky New's Flickr channel.

In addition, the site is hosting daily web chats with former Bill Clinton adviser Jon-Christopher Bua – who today goes head-to-head with Yeltsin adviser Alexander Nekrassov.

An interactive map of the states, which allows users to plot how voting patterns will effect the outcome in different areas, will be updated as results are announced on Sky News. According to March, the graphic will be included on every election story published online during the voting.

Using a Sky News branded version of liveblogging software CoveritLive, a reporter will cover election night, updating with both text, images and responses to user comments.

To make the most of all the images taken and used by Sky during the election process, the site will make use of aggregation tools supplied by Daylife, which it implemented during for its relaunch in June.

Creating a similar archive to the one used by the Washington Post for the Beijing Olympics, there will be a searchable gallery of all photos from the elections using the software, says March.

Competing with the US media
Despite Sky's ties with the US, trying to attract a US audience with election night coverage will be a struggle, says March.

Recent election news from the site, such as the video of John McCain being interviewed as a prisoner of war picked up by the Drudge Report, has gained a wider US audience, he says, and the daily webchats will be hosted at 4pm to catch both sides of the Atlantic.

"It's a pretty tough battle for the US audience particularly when you are not a US service. The US services are cleaning up because in a lot of cases American nationals go to the brands that they trust," says March.

"But we are going to chuck everything at it: all our weight and imagination will go into covering this election. Unlike the UK election this is more of a marathon than sprint. We need to maintain the energy levels in our online coverage all the way through.

"We have got to deliver breaking news - that's what we live by, but we have also got to deliver the analysis. We've got to get there first and then get the analysis first too."

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