Just between us, I’ll let you in on some secrets about election night in a newsroom, insights that were true of the AJC’s newsroom last week.
Journalists are citizens, just like you, and so they tend to care a lot about things like elections and the direction of our country. So there’s always plenty of excitement and tension around big races like the presidential contest and important local votes, and last week was no different.
Of course as journalists, we put aside our personal views and focus on the job at hand. Everyone gathers before the polls close at 7 p.m. — we all come to the office for a big election night — and we work relentlessly to provide every possible update as fast as possible to online readers. Months of preparation go into setting up all the tables and processes that bring you those results almost instantaneously.
We monitor county web sites for results. We track social media for reactions and breaking stories. We call our sources over and over again to learn what’s happening. We watch the competition.
Some of our journalists are in the field, at campaign headquarters or with candidates and voters, and others are writing and analyzing furiously in the office.
There’s no cheering or booing as results come in; just as our journalists refrain from sharing their political views outside the newsroom, they are pretty circumspect internally.
And, honestly, we really just hope for one important outcome on each Election Night: early results. More about why that matters so much in a minute.
But first, an important election-night tradition: fueling the staff. As Editor, I long ago recognized that a well-fed staff is a happy one, and the menu is an important part of any election plan. Journalists are quick to critique the pizza topping selection or complain if food runs out.
This year, I was aided by Food and Dining Editor Ligaya Figueras, who provided homemade cookies to supplement the mounds of pizza and pasta.
As urgent and important as the up-to-the-minute results and stories online are, election night is always a balancing act between print and digital priorities. The print edition is an important reflection of history, a memento for some readers, and so we always want to get that right.
We pore over plans for the printed newspaper, staying in contact with the folks who operate our printing presses and lead our corps of delivery folks. Press runs and deadlines are timed to the minute.
Perfection always eludes us in the challenge of providing you with the best, most insightful information and the necessity that the newspaper be waiting for you when you wake up on Wednesday morning. In this business, we take great pride in concealing from you the furious effort behind getting that paper to your porch in the morning. It’s just our job, after all.
Last week, our election night job turned out to be tougher than usual.
The early results in the presidential race were counter to what the most recent polls had indicated.
None of that troubled us. Our plans at the AJC, for our web sites and print editions, accounted for both possible outcomes in the presidential race. We had even prepared two rough-draft front pages, as most newsrooms do.
But the results in the presidential race also came later than expected, and were getting slower.
And in the heat of the moment, it remained unclear who the winner would be as the night unfolded. It eventually became obvious that we wouldn’t have a winner for our first printed edition, which was scheduled to begin printing at midnight.
We settled on the headline “STUNNER” for that edition. We didn’t have a winner yet, but it was clear that the results to that point had been a surprise to both sides.
We updated with a second edition that began printing at 1 a.m. That allowed us to give readers a number of key updates, including that Donald Trump had won in important battleground states (and Georgia), and he was “closing in on an upset win.” We stuck with the “STUNNER” headline.
At that point, we knew that none of the newspapers going to our home-delivery subscribers would include final results or declare a clear winner.
Finally, The Associated Press, our standard for calling the race, made the call about 2:30 a.m.: Donald Trump would be the next president.
We wanted to have newspapers with a final result, in part for our e-edition and because some readers would want a souvenir. So we printed a "final" edition at 4 a.m. with a headline that said "TRUMP WINS." Here's a link to a video discussion of our front page: http://www.accessatlanta.com/news/watch-ajc-editors-discuss-the-historic-front-page-the-2016-election/om1ZgjkMWvDerLOuHpfKSJ/
Distributors picked up the papers to deliver to high-traffic grocery stores and retail locations. Hawkers picked up the copies to sell downtown, and we got some to the airport.
Because results came so late, we immediately made ambitious plans for Thursday’s print editions. We published a 12-page edition with a keepsake, historic approach that also covered all key aspects of the election.
Today, we take advantage of our large Sunday audience in print to provide insightful follow-up, especially about how things played out in Georgia.
As we go forward, we’re taking on an even bigger job.
Our nation and community have reached an important inflection point. Much has changed, and not all of what’s happened is understood. Citizens hold widely varying outlooks about what this election showed and means for our country.
Plenty of questions need answering.
We’ll work hard to contribute to a deeper understanding, and to inform our community with urgency, insight and depth. I hope you’ll spend some time with the newspaper we have provided you today.
We have the job to serve you every day, but when the presidential race comes every four years, we know you rely on our coverage. We work hard to live up to your expectations.
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