American newsrooms may hope to offer extensive election coverage this year, but find it challenging to lock in the right resources.
The Knight Foundation is attempting to make it easier.
On Thursday, it rolled out knightelectionhub.org, a collection of tools, resources and services for local, state and national newsrooms that want robust election coverage but potentially lack all the resources to provide it for their audiences.
It’s a comprehensive marketplace of tools — provided at low or no cost — to help underresourced newsrooms cover the election. The collection of data, software, polling, training, and access to expertise should help newsrooms fill needs gaps, from creating graphics to publishing voter guides to polling help to live election night coverage.
In addition, the election hub provides networking opportunities to newsrooms and journalists who might want to connect on coverage, and offers a space for service providers to reach newsrooms with their products at subsidized rates.
The portal is open to U.S. newsrooms that:
- Are “substantially engaged in original news gathering and publishing for a place-based audience”
- Are clearly nonpartisan
- Have a published ethics policy
- Are not for profit or have an annual revenue of less than $5 million, including parent companies and subsidiaries
Access to the portal is granted via a free MuckRock account.
The website states: “Local newsrooms that are doing innovative work informing and connecting with communities often don’t have access to the services that newsrooms in earlier times took for granted. Small newsrooms are often so busy with daily coverage they don’t hear about all the resources available to answer their community’s hardest questions. That’s why we created the Election Hub.
“We’re building a collection of more than 100 selected products and services that will help you cover the election better than you thought possible. Many services are already freely available to newsrooms—for the ones that incur costs, we are picking up the check.”
Partners and services include: Center for Journalism & Democracy, Hearken, the Institute for Nonprofit News, The Elections Group, LION Publishers, Newspack, OpenNews, ElectionSOS, Democracy Day, MuckRock, and others.
Poynter is getting involved as well.
Join Beat Academy on July 11 for details on how to make the most of the new Knight Foundation tool. Anyone can enroll for just $18 using code 24voteBA18 at checkout. Staff members at nonprofit newsrooms or for-profit newsrooms that have less than $5 million in revenues can enroll for free using the code 24BEKnight100, thanks to the Knight Foundation.
