washingtonpost.com

Political Coverage

2004 -2008

Overall Audience

• 85 percent national/international

• 15 percent local

• Local Audience Intense & Loyal

Politics Audience

• Local/National-International

• National Audience - General Interest Readers

• Local Audience – General Interest– “Insiders”

Evolving Content Areas

• Video

• Data

• Interactive Features (Tools,Games, Etc.)

• Blogs

• Reader Involvement

Digression – Reader Involvement

• Is reader comment and conversation an inherent good – for your readers, for your organization, for your community, for society?

• Is it Journalism and/or does it (or can it) serve a journalistic purpose?

• Can you/should you commit resources?

2004 Video

• Speeches

• Battleground Documentary Reports

• Ad Watch

2004 Data

• Charting the Campaign

- Tracking Poll

- General Campaign Finance Numbers

- Most Visited States

2004 Interactive Features

• Spheres of Influence (view)

• Compare the Candidates

• Veep-o-Matic

• Swing State Analysis Map

2004 Blogs

?Campaign Diary (view)

Digression – What is a Blog?

• Written in a Certain Style: more conversational, lighter edit.

• Updated Often: at least daily.

• Interaction With Readers: readers comment, writers comment back

• Published With Special Tools: via blogging software – quicker, more flexible, different format

2004 Reader Involvement

• Online Discussions

• Message Boards

2006 Overview

• Content Areas Evolve and Converge– “Standing Alone” & “Integrated”

• Explosion in Data, Blogs, Reader Involvement

• Print/Online Relationship Blossoms

- Projects jointly conceived, produced

- Staff sharing

- Cross publishing

2006 Examples

• Video– Issues Documentaries (view)

– Ohio River Ramble (view)

• Data– Congressional Votes Database (view)

– Key Races (view)

– Mixed Messages (view)

2006 Examples (cont.)

• Reader Involvement– Articles – Blogs

• Blogs– The Fix (view)

• Interactive Features – Midterm Madness (view)

2008 Taking Shape

• Video– More “original programming” (view)

– Stand Alone, but Much More Integration (view)

• Data Explosion– More projects (Campaign Finance)

– More programmer/journalists in the newsroom

• Blog Mania– Flexible format/publishing platform– Effective way to interact and explain ourselves to

readers

2008 Taking Shape (cont.)

• More Reader Involvement– Blogs, Article Comments, Niche Communities

• Interactive Features– Move Toward DIY Tools for Readers

• Even Closer Relationship with Print– Invasion of Online Newsroom– Productive v. Painful

2008 Lessons

• Blogs– Must have an identity– Build a community (niche areas)– Good way to begin interaction with readers

• Video – Have a Strategy (Stand Alone v. Integrated)– Multimedia Training– Hire Video Journalists

• Reader Involvement– Build Communities– Find Ways to Do Journalism

2008 Lessons

• Data– Find Free Data– Hire programmer/journalists– Give readers a crack at it

• Interactive Features– Hire Designer Journalists– Tell Stories in New Ways– Use to Back Up Other Content