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on the
web
Online
coverage came of age in presidential election drama
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By
Frances Katz
Cox Newspapers
And they
said this wouldn't be the year of the Internet election. With
the presidential election still up in the air in early December,
users around the world were logging on to news Web sites at
home and especially at work in record numbers to see if the
country would have a president-elect anytime soon.
By the time you read this, there still may not be a winner
in the election. But CNN and online magazine Slate each reported
users in record numbers. And the word is that the e-mail and
posts are more intelligent than usual and are appearing in
greater numbers. CNN.com posted
its best online ratings in weeks with about 1.9 million users
logging on at work to find out about the latest lawsuits and
countersuits.
Another 715,000 were checking in from home, according to Web
measurement firm Nielsen/NetRatings.
Scott Woelfel, president and editor in chief of CNN Interactive,
said the uncertainty keeps users coming back - not just once
but several times a day.
"I get a lot of comments from people (ranging) from the guy
working on my house to people I meet at parties, and they
say they are checking the CNN Web page eight to 10 times a
day. When I ask them how that's different from what they usually
do online, they always say the same thing - 'You never know
what's going to happen next.' "
The uncertainty has turned out to be good for business and
is involving users in the story, keeping them online and coming
back for more. CNN has a "presidential alert" option that
lets users enter their e-mail addresses to be automatically
notified when the country has a definitive president-elect.
"The Web is a great instant alert tool," he said. "When you
get on the Web you have a purpose, and the purpose now is
what's happening in this election and when it's going to be
over.
"With an e-mail alert, you might get something in the middle
of the night letting you know who the next president is."
Another unexpected bonus for CNN is the astonishing online
response to its TV show "The Spin Room," which began as an
online commentary leading to the election. But the election
story hasn't ended - and neither has "The Spin Room," which
has moved from the Web to television. It still averages about
10,000 e-mail messages daily.
The sheer volume has boggled the minds of the on-air hosts,
Democrat Bill Press and Republican Tucker Carlson. Neither
can stop talking about the volume of e-mail, and they read
some of the best, funniest or most interesting e-mails on
the air.
Notes from viewers in the real-time chat room are also posted
on screen during the program, creating what has become a truly
interactive and interesting experience.
Spin Room e-mails range from simple "Don't give up, Al" or
"Please give it up, Al" messages posted on the bottom of the
screen to more detailed messages from online viewers fascinated
by the events of the day. Some online scribes even have waxed
poetic about the election and its aftermath in the styles
of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ogden Nash and Joyce Kilmer.
The election and its aftermath have also been a boon for online
magazine Slate (www.slate.msn.com).
Always a distant second to online 'zine Salon, Slate reported
2.85 million unique visitors to its site in October, its best
month ever, according to Media Metrix. Publisher Scott Moore
says the number could be double or triple that when the November
data are released later this month.
CNN delivers the news, but Slate provides a unique take on
the politics of the event that's a bit similar to "Spin Room."
For example, last week Slate political writer Jacob Weisberg
was forced to redo his election math after a barrage of e-mails
from statisticians as well as ordinary folks taking him to
task for a story on the Florida vote tallies.
"One of the joys of writing about politics for an online magazine
is the sophisticated, nearly instantaneous feedback one gets
from readers," he wrote. He graciously thanked e-mailers by
name and proceeded to correct his errors. A running feature
called "Explainer" goes into great detail.
Slate's Moore credits the high traffic to the magazine's relationship
with sister site MSNBC as well as a software upgrade that
makes it easier for users to post messages on Slate's message
board area, now the site's second-most-popular feature. Like
"Spin Room," the pithiest posters get their messages tacked
on the end of the stories they comment on.
Moore said the election drama may have drawn more readers
to Slate, but that his post-election challenge is to keep
them there. What happens is that people become aware and try
the site.
"They may come for a political story," he said, "but we want
to make it part of their daily media habit."
CNN also said the increased usage will help long after the
election is history. "It's very gratifying to us that users
do come to CNN when the story really counts like this," Woelfel
said. "People haven't put this out of their minds, and they
don't want to miss the final bell when it rings." |
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