Project for Excellence in Journalism

How the Media Did on Election Night

The 2006 campaign, and its climax, marked a transition in the news outlets covering it

November 27, 2006

For the blogosphere, a fairly smooth election night, free from allegations of wrong doing and disputes, made things something of a disappointment. For top newspaper Web sites, finding the balance between speed and offering a rich narrative still has to be reconciled. For television, slow results and a lack of prepared material tilted coverage toward chatter, especially for the cable networks.

Perhaps the destinations best suited to Election Night 2006 were the Web sites of TV news operations, plus one aggregator, Yahoo! They offered a combination of quick access to results plus the ability of users -- largely through access to exit poll data or Associated Press material -- to plumb a wealth of statistical information on their own. These conclusions -- plus five lessons about the media -- are among the findings of a widespread review of media outlets on Election Night 2006 by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

If the mid-term election of 2006 marked a transition in American political life -- the loss by the Republicans of both the House and the Senate -- the campaign also marked a transition in the rapidly changing landscape of the news media covering it. For the first time in a quarter century, new anchors hosted the coverage on all three broadcast networks. The three cable news channels, while still trailing in Election Night viewers, now dominate the evening in their dedication of time and resources. The number and categories of Web sites covering the evening has exploded. The traditional news media have now generally come to recognize the Web as the platform of the future, and election night as a moment when old media like newspapers can compete.

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