Election Night 2006 :An Evening in the Life of the American Media

For the blogosphere, a fairly smooth election night 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. 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. Source: Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism

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