WEB PROMISES HIGH RATE OF RETURNS ON ELECTION NIGHT

By: Todd Shields Newspaper Sites Hope To Attract Big Audiences





The last time America elected a president, the Internet was still something of a novelty and newspaper Web sites were in their infancy. When readers went online in November 1996 for election results, chaos ensued, with Web sites grinding to a halt under an onslaught of millions of hits, or requests for information. The meltdown left many frustrated readers no choice but the traditional TV broadcast for same-night election results.



What a difference four years make. Since the 1996 debacle, Web editors and architects have weathered midterm elections, presidential primaries, and this summer's national political conventions. Now practice time is nearly over.



Editorial teams have advanced far toward figuring out just how to meld journalism and the Web, and computer networks are more robust than four years ago. When election returns come in after dark Nov. 7, those running newspaper Web sites expect to smoothly welcome millions of visitors to a rich mix of video, graphics, news, and analysis.



Newspaper sites will confidently offer up results from congressional and gubernatorial races across the nation, running vote totals in the presidential race, and in-depth results from local elections - whether for school-board seats, bond referenda, or statehouse posts. Returns will be updated continually and across hundreds of contests. With such an abundance of information available, computer mice will replace TV remotes in millions of hands, at least for part of the evening.



Which is not to say that newspaper Web sites can transmit the electric sense of drama that a close race can bring to live TV. And there's no Dan Rather to declare a cliffhanging contest "tight as a tick."



For newspaper Web sites, the game lies in quickly serving up a wealth of information tailored equally to the political junkie curious about a faraway governorship and to the suburbanite tracking a bond referendum that might produce a new high school. At the same time, the experience needs to be painless for computer users at home with plodding modems, slow phone lines, bustling families, and limited patience.



"I don't think the Web is going to compete with television for that top-of-the-hour election call," said Mark Stencel, managing editor for politics at washingtonpost.com. "But where we are going to compete is availability of detailed information."



Managers, editors, and reporters at Web sites run by the Post, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune laid out for E&P a common set of features that will greet readers clicking away on election night. The sites all promise easily viewed summaries of presidential vote totals, both popular and electoral. Some will offer 50-state clickable maps that take viewers to details about the presidential vote in each state.



At the same time, all major newspaper Web sites will post results from all 435 House seats and the nearly two dozen contested Senate seats. They will also cover major gubernatorial races and referenda.



Vote totals will be updated frequently, as often as every five to 10 minutes. So anyone frustrated with the scattershot (at best) TV updates can follow their favorite race almost continually on the Web. If you are, for example, turned on by the Clinton-Lazio Senate race, even from afar, you can get fresh results in a New York minute.



Into that maelstrom of statistics, Web editors will drop commentary from in-house pundits, exit poll results, live and recorded concession and victory speeches, text files from their newspapers' reporters, background stories on winning and losing candidates, running summary stories as the U.S. House and Senate change hands (or don't), and charts and maps that evolve through the night.



USAToday.com, the heaviest-trafficked newspaper Web site with 226 million page views in September, will put up a special election home page early on the evening of Nov. 7 and keep the page in place for about 18 hours. Its plans call for unusual breadth, extending coverage to ballot initiatives throughout the country as well as every statewide race for a major office, including the likes of comptroller and insurance commissioner.



"We're going to attempt to do just about everything," said Kirk Spitzer, the site's politics editor. "We won't go down to the county level - yet. But that's the level we're headed toward in 2004."



Spitzer said goals include easy navigation and quick downloads, to avoid frustrated users. Right behind the special election main page will be a campaign front. Embedded in it will be one-click access to information from throughout the country.



At The New York Times and The Washington Post, Web editors will lean on their papers' reputation for authoritative political reporting and commentary. The Post will offer online conversations with former Managing Editor Robert Kaiser and background stories from Congressional Quarterly.



The New York Times on the Web will reach into its deep ranks to offer stories updated through the evening on each of the 50 states. Out in Los Angeles, latimes.com will seamlessly link viewers to the California secretary of state's comprehensive listing of results from throughout California.



At the Chicago Tribune, reporters and editors will cover races large and small. Chicagotribune.com will offer coverage of more than 400 state and local races, said Jill Blackman, a reporter for the site. "You can come to us for all your local races and referenda," Blackman said. The site even promises to tell us whether the village of Wilmette, Ill., will vote to renovate its municipal pool. Don't look for that result on CBS.







Todd Shields (tshields@editorandpublisher.com) is the Washington editor for E&P.







Copright 2000, Editor & Publisher.