The media and tech plans for US election night
The media and tech plans for US election night
A Future News special: How Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, CNN, Fox News, NBC News, BBC News, ABC News, CBS News, NPR, The New York Times and The Washington Post will cover the vote
Will work with the Associated Press (AP) to provide authoritative results.
A dedicated feature will be provided to users searching around the election.
Will feature real-time election night live streams from major news providers on YouTube (see below) and link to coverage from news sources on Google Search.
There will be a dedicated elections page on Google News.
Voters can use Google Assistant and Google Maps to find polling places.
Google’s global Trust and Safety teams and Threat Analysis Group will monitor its platforms around the clock for potential abuse.
Full details of Google’s election plans can be found here.
YouTube
Will surface a new election results info panel at the top of search results for a broad range of queries related to the election and under videos that discuss the election.
Will elevate authoritative sources, including news outlets like CNN and Fox News.
Recommendations systems will limit the spread of harmful election-related misinformation.
Full details of YouTube’s election plans can be found here.
Will have a Elections Operations Center up and running at its HQ in California.
Around 20 people will work out of the office, with wider support from 300 FB staff.
The platform has partnered with Reuters to deliver results throughout the coming days.
Results shown on FB’s Voting information Center and shared in push notifications.
Will include exit polls and winner projections from the National Election Pool.
Political ads will be banned across its network, including Instagram, on election night.
Political and social group recommendations have been turned off ahead of the votes.
The latest details of FB’s election plans can be found here.
Users will be able to access curated information from the Election Hub.
Twitter will flag misinformation and attempt to combat bots (à la 2016) on election day.
The platform will use the below sources for election results:
State election officials (as determined by the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors)
National news outlets that have dedicated, independent election decision desks, including ABC, AP, CBS NEWS, CNN, Decision Desk HQ, Fox News and NBC News
Full details of Twitter’s latest plans can be found here.
CNN
Is prepared for a long-haul, with resources deployed to reflect longer vote counting.
The network’s special, Election Night in America, will kick off at 4pm Eastern Time (ET).
The show will be anchored by Dana Bash, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Abby Phillip and Jake Tapper and will be broadcast live from Washington.
CNN has also placed reporters and analysts in key swing states, most likely including Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio.
Jim Acosta and Kaitlan Collins will be live from Trump HQ in Washington, DC.
Arlette Saenz and Jeff Zeleny will be live from Biden HQ in Wilmington, Delaware.
The network also has a dedicated vertical to counter misinformation and fact-check.
Politically Sound, Political Briefing and Election 101 will publish audio analysis.
Full details of CNN’s election plans can be found here.
Fox News
Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will headline marathon coverage and co-anchor FOX News Democracy 2020 beginning at 6PM/ET from New York.
Reporting will be across FOX News Digital, FOX News Radio and FOX News International.
John Roberts will report live from Washington, where Trump is expected to be.
Peter Doocy and Jacqui Heinrich will report from Biden’s HQ.
The schedule for election day will look like this:
1-4AM/ET – FOX News Democracy 2020 with Arthel Neville and Rick Leventhal (LA)
6PM-2AM/ET– FOX News Democracy 2020: Election Coverage with Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum (NY)
2-3AM/ET – Democracy 2020: Election Coverage with Shannon Bream and Jon Scott
3-5AM/ET – Democracy 2020: Election Coverage with Jon Scott
5-9AM/ET – Extended edition of FOX & Friends with Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade
Full details of Fox News’ election plans can be found here.
NBC News/MSNBC
NBC News, MSNBC and NBC News Digital will deliver full special coverage.
Decision 2020 will be hosted from NBC News World Headquarters in New York.
Coverage will start at 7pm ET with Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie, Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell anchoring rolling coverage.
MSNBC’s own Decision 2020 will start at 6pm ET with Rachel Maddow and Brian Williams, along with Nicolle Wallace and Joy Reid.
NBC News Digital will deliver live results, live blog updates, live streaming and comprehensive analysis over the web at NBCNews.com and MSNBC.com, as well as on the NBC News mobile app on iOS and Android and the NBC News apps on connected TVs.
NBCNews.com will stream election coverage, including dedicated special coverage in the morning with Joe Fryer and Savannah Sellers and coverage throughout the day from Joshua Johnson, Alison Morris, Chuck Todd and dozens more correspondents and experts from NBC News and MSNBC.
NBCNews.com/Decision2020 will have national and state results pages, a battleground state scoreboard, the latest exit polls across the country and a live blog providing minute-by-minute updates, election results and more.
Full details of the NBC News/MSNBC election plan can be found here.
ABC News
Primetime coverage will start at 7pm ET with George Stephanopoulos alongside David Muir and Linsey Davis from New York.
The outlet’s star analyst will be FiveThirtyEight Editor-in-Chief Nate Silver.
FiveThirtyEight will lock-in its presidential, Senate and House of Representatives forecasts.
ABC News will provide on-the-ground coverage reporting on battleground states and competitive races across America with Byron Pitts.
The network will have complete digital coverage of Election Day across the country on ABCNews.com, the ABC News mobile app and Apple News.
The team will launch its live blog Tuesday morning and keep it running with continuous updates until a winner is declared.
Start Here, hosted by Brad Mielke, and Powerhouse Politics will cover the election in podcast form.
Full details of ABC News’ election plans can be found here.
CBS News
Will broadcast from a new election night studio in the ViacomCBS headquarters in Times Square, New York.
Beginning at 7pm ET, CBSN will have continuous coverage with exit poll analysis and up-to-the minute calls from the CBS News Decision Desk.
This work will be overseen by Anthony Salvanto and the main anchors will be Norah O'Donnell, Gayle King and Margaret Brennan.
Full details of CBSN’s election plans can be found here.
BBC News
Katty Kay (in Washington) and Andrew Neil (in London) will be leading the BBC US Election 2020 programme on BBC One, BBC News channel, BBC World News and BBC iPlayer from 11.30pm GMT/6.30pm ET.
Jon Sopel and Clive Myrie will be with the Trump and Biden campaigns.
Emily Maitlis and Nick Bryant will report from crucial battleground states.
Radio 4 and the BBC World Service will simulcast their election night programming hosted by Jamie Coomarasamy in Michigan, Nuala McGovern in northern California and Ros Atkins and Philippa Thomas anchoring from London.
BBC Radio 5 Live’s Anna Foster will lead the station’s results night coverage and simulcast Radio 4 and BBC World Service in the early hours.
The BBC News website will have a dedicated US Election live page.
NPR
Hosts Ailsa Chang, Lulu Garcia-Navarro,Michel Martin, Sarah McCammon and Ari Shapiro will co-host the special coverage from NPR headquarters in Washington from 7:00 pm ET.
Reporters in the field will include Don Gonyea, who will be in Detroit; David Schaper in Milwaukee and Jeff Brady in Philadelphia.
NPR Member stations around the country will provide local, on-the-ground reports about voting and races in their states.
NPR's interactive election site will be live on NPR.org, featuring a special breaking news blog with analysis from NPR's team of expert reporters.
Full details of NPR’s election plans can be found here.
The New York Times
Will have more than 20 campaign reporters on the ground in battleground states, over 50 photographers and videographers across the US.
The Times will report on results and reactions with live analysis, fact-checks and graphics on its free election vertical.
The outlet will take into account several factors in reporting on the state of the race and any outcome, including outstanding votes and race calls made by Edison Research, which supports the National Election Pool, and by The Associated Press, as well as reporting from its own journalists.
The Daily podcast, anchored by Michael Barbaro and Carolyn Ryan, will broadcast live between 4pm and 8pm ET.
Expect updates and analysis from Maggie Haberman, Astead W. Herndon, Alexander Burns, Jennifer Medina and other Times journalists.
Full details of The New York Times’ election plans can be found here.
The Washington Post
Will broadcast live coverage of the election from 7pm ET.
Stream will be anchored by Libby Casey, with reporters providing updates from key states including Arizona, Delaware, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
The outlet will also present a first-of-its-kind visualization of the electoral vote count via its election hub.
Audio analysis and commentary will be provided by the Post Reports, The Daily 202 and Can He Do That? podcasts.
Full details of The Washington Post’s election plans can be found here.
Axios
(@Axios)
Will run special mini-podcasts on Axios Today, hosted by Niala Boodhoo, with five-minutes bits of info.
The outlet is also encouraging consumers to download its app.
The Axios team will be update subscribers via ‘breaking news’ emails and newsletters.
Full details via Mike Allen.
The FT
(@FT)
Will allow readers to watch the election results alongside their favorite columnists from 7pm ET.
Hosts will include Edward Luce, Rana Foroohar and Peter Spiegel.
The outlet is also running a live blog to capture the latest news.
Full details via FT Press Office.
Sky News
(@SkyNews)
Will go live at 10pm GMT with America Decides, anchored by Dermot Murnaghan and Cordelia Lynch.
Sky News studio in Washington DC will overlook The White House.
Guests include ex-Trump aide Omarosa Manigault Newman and the former British Ambassador to the US Sir Kim Darroch as well as polling expert Ashley Koning.
Coverage will be complimented by Ed Conway’s Augmented Reality set-up at Sky’s HQ in London, where a ‘Race to the White House’ will allow viewers to visualize which presidential candidate is leading as the state results roll in.
Full details of Sky News’ election plans can be found here.
ITV News
(@ITVNews)
Tom Bradby (in Washington DC), Robert Moore and Julie Etchingham will present Trump vs Biden: The Results from 11pm GMT
Guest include Washington correspondent, Robert Moore and political analyst Dr. Keneshia Grant as well as Anthony Scaramucci, Ann Coulter and Martin Luther King III.
Julie Etchingham will report live from the swing state of Florida.
Rageh Omaar will follow Trump and Emma Murphy will follow Biden.
Psephologist Jane Green and Anushka Asthana will be on hand to spot data election trends.
Full details of ITV News’ election plans can be found here.
Illustration: Macrovector