Next week, NPR will cover the election on air, online, through mobile and email updates and on Facebook Live. And with that last place, they’re going to have a little fun.
The afternoon of Election Day, the news organization will use Facebook Live to share some live art. An artist from No Kings Collective, based in Washington D.C., will set up, paint the outline of the U.S. map, and as results come in that evening, paint state-by-state returns.
A spokesperson for NPR said the art installation will reside in a studio on the newsroom floor of the building, and the art will double as the background for NPR’s Facebook feed that night as NPR journalists report on the race.
The art installation is part of an ambitious coordinated effort from NPR to cover the election that will incorporate a variety of features from the public radio network:
- Member station participation: Reporters from a variety of NPR’s 900 member stations will supplement the network’s coverage:
NPR correspondents and member station reporters will join the broadcast from around the country with reaction to the national race, as well as results, interviews and analysis relating to local, Congressional, Senate, and gubernatorial races in New Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and more.
- A standalone election site: NPR.org will feature a breaking news blog with analysis from reporters:
It will also include a live-updating election results map, with tools that allow users to view returns by state and key counties, as well as historical results from previous elections. Additional site graphics will update with Senate, House and gubernatorial results.
- Live broadcast coverage: NPR has trotted out some marquee names to anchor terrestrial radio coverage:
NPR hosts Robert Siegel, Audie Cornish, Rachel Martin, and Ari Shapiro will co-host the Special Coverage from NPR headquarters in Washington, DC, from 8:00 pm ET/5:00pm PT until 2:00am ET/11:00 PT. The program will feature up-to-the-minute results, speeches, newsmaker interviews, reports from candidate sites, and analysis from NPR’s Politics team.
Other news organizations are also planning multi-platform approaches to the election this year. BuzzFeed News will cover the election live on Twitter. Slate will provide real-time projections. USA Today Network will use Facebook Live across 11 newsrooms. The Washington Post will stream five hours of live coverage. CNN will be on the messaging app Kik. And The New York Times is using Facebook Messenger.
