Metro.co.uk’s Post

With the election coming up I've been really thinking about the roles of media in connection to elections. Media, specifically journalism, is integral to campaigns/election, not only due to news coverage, but in terms of moderating debates as well. This a podcast I listened too, that analyzes the supposed role of media in combination with the reality of what journalism actually looks like today. https://lnkd.in/gb657iAh

North Carolina to begin sending out mail-in ballots today, first state to do so for Nov. 5 elections. Vice President Kamala Harris has been under scrutiny for avoiding serious interviews and press conferences since President Biden endorsed her for president. Despite the lack of interviews, Harris's campaign has been relatively successful, raising significant funds and gaining traction in polls. She is supported by mainstream media and a cohort of never Trumpers. The one staged interview required a controlled setting with her VP pick Walz. However, as the election cycle progresses, the pressure for Harris to participate in unscripted interviews and press conferences is mounting but will it be too late? Maybe that is the plan, another presidential election with one of the candidates hiding! 🤔 Independent journalism plays a crucial role in holding public officials accountable and providing transparency to the public. As the Vice President, Harris will eventually need to face the press to communicate her agenda and plans effectively.The absence of interviews and press conferences has sparked debates about Harris's campaign strategy and transparency. Moving forward, it remains to be seen when Harris will address the media and engage in open dialogue with journalists and reporters and if they will remain partisan political supporters of the liberal socialist running the election. https://lnkd.in/eR6Z6Jdx

CRUCIAL ⏰ pro-bono advice for candidates running in 2024 and beyond... from a former investigative news reporter, now a political consultant and PR strategist (yours truly) 😊 : There are 236 seats in the Georgia State Legislature. The average voter can't name their State Senate District #; State House District #; Congressional race district #, etc ❗ So here is the solution 💡: If, for example, you're identifying yourself as a candidate for GA House District ##, SPELL OUT the major counties and cities in your district. Put this on your website, social media profile bios, anywhere and EVERYWHERE. Put a map on your campaign websites showing your district. Make it simple for voters to remember you and who you represent. This will help reporters, voters, and donors alike. It'll also help with SEO metrics. It'll help us all keep candidates straight 🗳 ☑ Don't believe me? Go to a dog park 🐶 (my favorite test) and ask a potential voter to tell you what state senate district, state house district, and Congressional district they are in: the exact numbers, and names of who is representing them. Tell me how many can give you the correct answer within 30 seconds. If they can't do it, you can't rely on voters on the campaign trail knowing who you are either. Please share this 🗣 Help candidates win. Need more advice or political strategy consulting? 🧠 Contact me via Spotlight Communications Group LLC 🌟 #politics #georgia #gapol #candidate 💌 : Emerge EMILYs List Vote Run Lead Represent Georgia @herterm

News leaders: Here are ideas to consider for focusing your election coverage, addressing your workload and strengthening how you serve your community year-round. 🙌

3 steps every campaigner and public affairs team needs to take now 👇 The upcoming election manifesto releases will be a key campaigning moment. Here's what you need to do now: 1️⃣ Map your stakeholder relationships Roughly 1 in 5 existing political relationships in the House of Commons will be redundant after the election. Public affairs teams need to ensure their position is secure regardless of the election outcome. Policy positions and manifestos will help you determine who is sympathetic to your policy asks, and how to frame your argument with less supportive stakeholders. 2️⃣ Analyse policy promises This election will be heavily focused on cost of living, jobs and quality of life. Public affairs teams need to position their message within this context to get cut-through and engage candidates, parties, the media and the general public. With the polling data, policy intelligence and information we already have, you should be making your message relevant. Once the manifestos are announced, you will be in a good position to act as ‘critical friend’ – encouraging those parties that have taken up policy asks you support, and encouraging others to do the same (within the parameters of the Electoral Commission regulations). 3️⃣ Prepare to leverage media moments Work with your agency or comms team to start pitching in your company or charity now, so that political correspondents can call on you for expert comment when the manifestos are announced. Use polling data to frame your message to be relevant to voters’ front-of-mind concerns – and don’t forget to brush up on media training for anyone you’re pitching in. Prepare your messaging ready for television debates - these are significant ‘news jacking’ opportunities to get your voice heard at key moments of public attention. Our team has extensive experience media training politicians, CEOs, business and charity leaders. If they can’t explain and defend policy asks or opinions in 5 words or less, the message won’t get cut-through, especially during the mile-a-minute election news cycle! 💡 Stay ahead! Our General Election Briefing includes all the policy positions we know so far, so you can be prepared 👇 #PublicAffairs #GeneralElection #GeneralElection2024 #Campaigning

Presidential Debate Tonight President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are scheduled to debate tonight at 9 pm ET on CNN.  Tune in here: https://lnkd.in/gAfXCdA3   Tonight marks the first general election debate of 2024, one of two such planned debates, with the second (hosted by ABC) scheduled for September. Tonight is also the first debate since the 1980s not organized by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. Instead, the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees have coordinated directly with news outlets on the dates and terms, agreeing to forgo opening statements, debate notes, and an audience. There will be a mute button to cut candidates' microphones off after their allotted response time expires.    The debate—hosted by moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash—comes as recent polls predict a tight race, with Trump leading by 1%-2% nationally. Trump is currently leading in seven key swing state polls by 1%-5%.

What do you do when high quality information may not be readily available, or if you are unsure of the veracity of a news outlet in your area? Both good questions, especially with November elections on the horizon. Sit in on The News Literacy Project's April 24 panel discussion, 'Finding Water in a News Desert.'

America, we are going to have to start holding the media responsible for manipulating elections and the public. That means you stop watching their channels, their streaming services, and stop supporting any business they own. In these recent examples of posts you can see that CBS, a national news channel, owned by parent Paramount Global, decided that they should take what was an appealing and innovative policy position by Donald J. Trump and criticize it with unnamed "non-partisan" sources to make the policy appear to be potentially destructive. The Trump post, from 2 months ago, basically implied that it was a bad policy that will cost the country 250 billion dollars. There is no other way to read that post, it made the policy look bad. Miraculously, 2 months after the Trump post, they created a post that implied a "new" policy from their preferred candidate TODAY, would "fight to end taxes on tips". The post was crafted in a way to make it seem that Kamala was fighting for the service workers and this is a good thing. More importantly, no mention that Trump rolled out the policy months ago or their original negative post on it. It was so blatantly obvious that hour by hour after getting called out they started to craft several new posts in a different way that slowly began attributing some form of the policy to Donald J. Trump. Why try to frame it in a negative light for one candidate, and a positive light for the other. Why attempt to give credit to their candidate when it is well documented, as in this photo and hundreds of other sources, that this was Trumps's policy? Whether you like the candidate or the policy, do you really want to support a media that influences our political elections? Do you actually believe that there is any way this deceptive practice will end well for society? Every single media platform, channel, streaming service, search engine, newspaper, any company that tries to manipulate the election process or the people in this country should be held accountable, and called out every time they do this. Whether for one side or the other, the country needs us to come together on this. Common Sense Quote: While driven by a professed sense of altruism, journalism may have been so absorbed in its own conception of an "interpretive-watchdog" role that the overall health of the democracy was taken for granted. At least, that appears to be the interpretation emerging from some scholars and even critics within the profession itself

🔥 House Democrats are pulling out all the stops to secure a majority in the upcoming elections. House Majority PAC, the super PAC linked to Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, has reserved a staggering $146 million for TV ads and $40 million for digital advertising in almost 60 media markets across the country. With only four more seats needed to win big, House Democrats are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to come out on top. Let's see how this battle unfolds! #Election2022 #HouseDemocrats #PoliticalAdvertising https://lnkd.in/gRYHBSbe

Election Day is in 138 days. It will be yet another “most important election of our lifetimes.” But as elections grow in both consequence and complexity, the local newsrooms that do the critical work of informing and connecting local communities are more pressed for time and money than ever. That’s why Knight Foundation and other organizations have created the Knight Election Hub, which is launching today. In the Hub are almost 100 resources that a newsroom can use to do great election coverage starting today. Data, software, training, and other services that many newsrooms may not have known about, or assumed were out of their reach. And because cost is always a factor in overstretched newsroom budgets, Knight is picking up the tab on thousands of dollars of paid services, like Ballotpedia and DecisionDeskHQ’s election graphics. With materials in the Election Hub, your newsroom can do deep backgrounding of candidates before the election, create rich voter guides that help readers know how to vote and who’ll be on their ballot, help shine a light on how voting works, and even run a poll to understand how your communities feel about the issues. The Election Hub brings in advice and help from across the news industry. Knight worked with OpenNews, MuckRock, Newspack, Hearken, and many others, and it will continue to be a group effort. The Hub is starting with a formidable list of resources and will be rolling out more up until Election Day and if necessary, beyond. Did I mention it’s free? All you need is a MuckRock account, which thousands of newsrooms already have. Here’s where to find out more and sign up: https://lnkd.in/eafUCX3b. As an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Newspack I’ve been one of the people leading this project for the past few months. If you’re at IRE this week, come hear me talk about the Knight Election Hub today (Thursday) at 5 p.m. in Platinum Ballroom 2. And I’ll be doing office hours outside near the hotel pool Friday from 10-12 a.m. Here’s my post on the Newspack site about this: https://lnkd.in/e54D3hyy