These are the nights that local newspapers dread. In all probability, most East Coast papers will not be able to go to press with the announcement of a winner in the presidential race, although they will likely have significant results to report about the balance of power in Congress. They will focus a lot of their energy on updating their online results.
If the election results do not determine a winner in the presidential race tonight, local TV stations will have tough decisions to make about when and whether to air their early morning news programs.
“We have to be there for our viewers/users no matter what time it is — so we are ready and staffed for all hours of the night/morning,” Tracey Rogers, vice president and general manager for WKRN-TV in Nashville, told Poynter. “From my perspective, this is going to be a national story. If we don’t have a decision, we may be in national coverage through the morning hours and I’m OK with that since our viewers/users will be focused on the presidential race.
“If network coverage runs past 4 a.m. Central, we will produce and livestream our local newscasts and stick with network until it makes sense to break away. It will be an hour-by-hour decision-making process with lots of communication with our network.”
Ellen Crooke, vice president for news at TEGNA, told Poynter that the local TV stations’ web operations will be working throughout the night, anticipating a morning user surge.
“People will go to bed and need the latest numbers and information,” she said. “They will want answers: Who won? How close? How is my city? Was there violence? If no winner yet, what happens next?”
Crooke said morning newscasts at TEGNA stations will include more reporters than usual to sort through whenever results are in. She also said that this year, morning anchors have been doing a lot more prep work for this election than in years past.
“We prepped all morning anchors,” she said. Morning shows will also include “diverse experts regarding constitutional law and the vote count process.”
If network programming spills into the usual morning newscast time slots, Crooke said the local TEGNA stations will respond by being ready to do “cut-ins” that networks will provide in-between national reporting.
I should point out that the November ratings period just started last week, so big morning audiences Wednesday could be useful to stations that have built a reliable audience.
