I’ve always loved the buzz of a newsroom on election night.
The shift always starts with a casual atmosphere and a steady, controlled workflow. Reporters prepare alternate versions of their stories in anticipation of every possible outcome and make sure they know how to reach candidates on deadline. They debate the news of the day as they wait for results to come in. And there’s always pizza.
Photographers visit polling places throughout the day to document voting in action.
As the vote totals begin to roll in, things get serious. Reporters scramble to update readers on the website and social media. Editors monitor national news and keep an eye on the clock so we don’t miss our print deadline.
In typical years, the bulk of the results come in right around our deadline, and there is a frantic, but measured, effort to get as many numbers as we can into the newspaper. Stories are written, edited and placed on a page in a matter of minutes. Most of the time, we can report final results. This year, two races were too close to call by press time. Long after the print deadline, reporters are still updating stories online.
It takes a team of reporters, editors and photographers to make this happen. On Tuesday, more than 15 newsroom staff members worked to update Madison.com and prepare results, news and analysis for the newspaper. That doesn’t include the crew that designs the paper, the national news team who provided election news from other states, and the press workers who...
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