Elections
The American Press Institute helps news organizations transform for an audience-centric future, and election coverage plays an important role in this shift. We organize and support many initiatives working toward this goal:
- Trusted Elections Network: In 2020, API coordinated a real-time network that connected newsroom leaders to each other and to experts to address misinformation and other threats to secure, trusted elections.
- Trusting News: A joint project of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and API, Trusting News works to help newsrooms demonstrate credibility and earn trust through research and training. Trusting News is a partner in the Trusted Elections Network and ElectionSOS programs.
- ElectionSOS: API was the fiscal sponsor of Hearken’s election training and cohort program to help newsrooms learn and implement strategies to design election coverage built on engagement, trust-building and reporting on election integrity in a time of uncertainty.
- Factually (archives): Building on our history in fact-checking innovation and accountability journalism, API co-produced Factually, a weekly email newsletter and resource for fact-checkers and journalists combating misinformation.
- Metrics for News: API’s analytics dashboards and consulting program helps newsrooms make data-informed decisions about coverage by showing them who their journalism is reaching and why. This includes election coverage.
Covering the gears of democracy: How three election reporters are connecting readers to politics by explaining the right to vote
They’re not conventional political journalists, but they might have the most important beat of 2020. This election year was going to be different even before the pandemic. Legislatures in several states had changed election laws in 2018 and 2019 in ways that made voting for many people more complicated. But those passed under the radar […]
Announcing the first round of grantees for the Trusted Elections Network Fund
The American Press Institute’s Trusted Elections Network today announced the first round of micro-grants to support local news outlets with special projects to provide accurate information to voters or address misinformation at the local level. The Network, which brings election experts and newsrooms together to ensure accurate election news, received 100 submissions during a two-week […]
Apply for immediate election project funds or coverage support
The American Press Institute is offering micro-grants and free expert support to news organizations seeking to strengthen their coverage of Election 2020 in service of the American electorate. Micro-grants will be awarded in amounts from $2,000 up to $10,000 USD. The pool of available funds is up to $110,000. The grants are part of API’s […]
Providing nuanced information to voters to address voting disparities and difficulties
Summary In the midst of a national reckoning over voting by mail, the complicated, localized picture of how people actually vote needs more attention than ever. Some voters, especially first-time voters, may lack the knowledge to comfortably vote by mail or vote at all. Voters from some communities may prefer to vote in person. Others […]
Trusted Elections Network Round-Up, 8/05/20
API’s Trusted Elections Network connects journalists with experts in elections and misinformation to help audiences participate knowingly and meaningfully in elections this year. As part of that effort, we’ll publish occasional roundups of elections- and misinformation-related news we’re tracking, especially from participants in the network. If you’d like to learn more about the Trusted Elections […]
9 tips for covering election misinformation
Experts warn that much of the discourse voters see this election will be laced with false information, misleading or out-of-context claims, and targeted disinformation. Most of that will be designed to suppress voter turnout and undermine confidence in our election system and election results. And it is spreading. According to ProPublica and First Draft, nearly […]
The primaries so far: Are states ready for November?
The 2020 primaries so far in states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have shown a lack of readiness for voting in a pandemic. Many states are, at the same time, implementing new rules or laws, meaning voters and elections officials were already dealing with change before the health crisis hit. Journalists, advocates and policymakers are all […]
Trusted Elections Network Round-Up, 6/16/20
API’s Trusted Elections Network connects journalists with experts in elections and misinformation to help audiences participate knowingly and meaningfully in elections this year. As part of that effort, we’ll publish occasional roundups of elections- and misinformation-related news we’re tracking, especially from participants in the network. If you’d like to learn more about the Trusted Elections […]
Talking about misinformation with First Draft
The spread of misinformation can be a black box. Bubbles, filters and algorithms form the boundaries of our online life, and they tend to delineate what we see when we’re browsing. We may try to reflect on what we’re missing and seek news from an atypical source to keep ourselves in check. But even if […]
Nine lessons from Wisconsin’s chaotic spring election
Wisconsin’s election on April 7 was a test of how a democracy functions in a pandemic. Democracy held on, but at a price. The election offered a window into the logistical challenges of trying to forge ahead with voting at a time of social distancing, and it was a closely watched battleground in the larger […]