How to Cover an Election

During incendiary times, Aspen Digital educated media companies and news consumers—and made a difference.

Give NowAs 2020 shaped up to be an electoral campaign unlike any other, news outlets and social media platforms were still stuck in an outdated model: preparing for an election “night” that actually would last weeks; making generalized statements about voting laws and deadlines that varied widely by state; and even framing some normal procedures, like recounts, as potential problems. With national tensions boiling, these approaches threatened to further undermine public trust in the democratic process.

Aspen Digital, positioned at the intersection of media and technology, foresaw these looming issues and hosted high-level educational briefings for media and tech executives, attracting every major network, most national publications, and the primary online platforms. Scores of participants heard from experts on election and recount law, voter discrimination, political protest laws, polling and forecasting, and social media psychology. These private sessions were followed by a public briefing that explained the same concepts directly to voters.

The briefings had tremendous visibility, attracting coverage from Politico, CNN, and Columbia Journalism Review; widely read posts in Facebook’s Voter Information Center; and other successful social media platforms. One major news outlet said that Aspen Digital briefings formed the “backbone” of its coverage plan. This success led to new closed-door newsroom briefings where Aspen Digital helped frame issues of national importance, like the Covid vaccine rollout and the climate crisis, to encourage more informed and responsible reporting.

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