Election resource guide: How local newsrooms can cover elections

Local news plays a crucial role in the functioning of democracy, particularly during local elections, by acting as the primary conduit of information between candidates and constituents. The significance lies in the ability to provide detailed, context-rich coverage that national media often overlook. By focusing on issues that directly affect your communities—such as zoning laws, school board decisions, or municipal budgets—local news outlets ensure that voters are equipped with the necessary information to make informed choices in the races that affect their daily lives.

We’ve pieced together a package to support your reporting during this election season, for local, state and federal races. 

Start with a plan.

The Citizen’s Agenda: A guide for generating more responsive, inclusive & useful news coverage for voters, written by Jennifer Brandel, Joy Mayer, Jay Rosen, Bridget Thoreson, and Ariel Zirulnick, is a comprehensive, workbook-style guide designed for any sized newsroom. 

This civic journalism model helps journalists recognize what’s worked and what you’d like to do differently, effectively map stakeholders and audience groups, strategies to collaborate with other organizations, how to build trust and engage your readers and more. 

It’s a great starting point to identify what products your newsroom should develop and what stories to cover. 

Know your rights.

The Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press’s 2024 Election Legal Guide provides an overview of legal issues that journalists may face while reporting on elections. The intro sections outline general information including campaign events, exit polling, access to ballots and more. The guide provides more detailed information if you’re in a battleground state: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

Collaboration is key.

To maximize your impact, engage with your community strategically. Janey Tate, publisher of Hy-Lo News, exemplifies effective collaboration in producing comprehensive election coverage, securing additional revenue, and optimizing her time—key objectives for small newsrooms.

Tate partnered with The Miami Foundation to moderate two candidate forums. The Foundation offered her a paid opportunity to lead discussions on the Property Appraisal and City Commissioner District 3 races. Tate viewed the Property Appraisal forum as an excellent chance to inform her audience, while the District 3 forum was particularly relevant to her readers, who reside in one of Miami’s predominantly Black districts. This collaboration also strengthened Hy-Lo’s relationship with the Foundation.

“If others are already leading the work, it helps to delegate tasks while still maintaining quality coverage,” Tate explained.

Additionally, Tate co-hosts a show with Papa Keith, a prominent Miami radio personality, focusing on civic engagement and local politics. She also plans to collaborate with a local nonprofit to develop and distribute a voter guide, continuing a successful initiative from previous years.

Continue learning and take advantage of trainings. 

Election SOS has curated a calendar of trainings for reporters. Previous trainings have included understanding and counteracting polarization, journalist safety covering the election: protests, policing and crowds, legal rights & resources and more. Election SOS is also hosting its own webinars every two weeks to help you and your newsroom prepare. Upcoming webinars include Democracy-frame your election coverage, Combat election misinformation with your reporting, Engaging and reaching communities of color in elections coverage and more. 

RTDNA and Google News Initiative have partnered to host workshops–either in-person or virtual–that give an in-depth training on Google tools specific to election coverage, including fact-checking and disinformation resources. All you have to do is request a training. 

Utilize accessible, credible resources. 

A collective, led by Knight Foundation, has developed an extensive election hub to provide journalists and newsrooms with tools and resources to cover the races to the best of their ability. It’s essentially a one-stop-shop that aggregates resources for a streamlined experience, easy-to-navigate. Complete with a step-by-step monthly plan, support for sharing and promoting your coverage, community-building groups and calls and more. Watch this tour to navigate the Knight Election Hub.

It also includes resources to cover issues like misinformation, election security, voting rights and more.  Most importantly, it’s free and in a case where a resource costs money–Knight will cover it.